Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Can you feel it? How much I care about you? The words I struggle to say? whispered through my head, before his soft, “Jesus, Riv,” which to me sounded like, Yes, I feel it. Yes, I know.
Wrapping an arm around him, I helped Parrish back to his room. I sat him on the edge of the bed. He was only wearing a pair of underwear, so I found some shorts, bent down and put one leg in, then the other, and tugged them up. He stood enough so I could get them over his ass and around his hips.
He chuckled. “I can dress myself, but I’m going to enjoy this.”
“Should we go to a doctor? What if there’s internal shit wrong?”
“I’m fine. I just need a few days to heal.”
I nodded and hoped like hell he was right.
After putting a T-shirt on him, I found a duffel bag in his closet and packed clothes and toiletries. “Where’s your wallet? Anything else you need?”
“In my jeans on the floor, and no.”
I took it out and tossed it in the bag, along with his phone from the nightstand. There was a bottle of ibuprofen too, so I gave him four of those with the water, then tossed them in the bag.
“Shoes?”
“Living room, I think. I can get them.” He tried to stand, but I put a hand on his shoulder.
“Sit the fuck down, Parrish. Let me take care of you.”
He gave me a dopey smile that said he liked the sound of that.
Once his shoes and socks were on, I wrapped an arm around him and helped him out to my truck, making sure the house was locked up when we left. I tossed his bag into the back.
“I’ll come back for your truck later.”
He nodded without arguing, though I could tell he wanted to. I leaned over, grabbing his seat belt and buckling him in. Parrish held my wrist before I could pull away. “Thank you, Riv…for everything.”
“For getting you beaten up? I have no doubt this is about me.”
“You can’t make yourself responsible for choices they make. This was on them. I just…thank you for loving me, is all.”
And I did love him, didn’t I? And he knew it without me saying it, knew I would struggle with the words. But Parrish was giving me an out on saying it for now, while letting me know he saw how I felt and there was no running. He wouldn’t let me.
I gave him a quick nod, started the truck, and drove away. “Is my grandma in danger?”
“Hell, I don’t know. I think they’re all talk with anyone except me. I think they just want to show us they’re in control. That’s all they care about. They know you can’t really do anything about what happened in the past. They have you by the balls—three against one, no proof—but they want to play games with you, show their power and manipulate people to keep them right where they want them.”
I believed that. They were fucking with me because they could, not for any other reason. That was how Rex and Frank worked.
Parrish winced when I drove over a bump. “Sorry.”
“You called me baby.” His head was leaning back against the headrest, and he turned it toward me.
“No I didn’t.”
“Yes you did.”
“Shut up.”
Parrish chuckled, then grabbed his side in pain. It made a second wave of anger rush over me.
“I’ll be okay,” he said, reading my mind. “I don’t want Betsy to see me.”
Yeah, that was a problem. I didn’t want her to see him either, but I wasn’t letting him stay at home alone, and I didn’t want to leave her either. I’d feel better knowing he was with Grandma when I had to work.
“We’ll do our best. It might help that your truck isn’t there. We should come up with a story, though, in case.”
“Can’t I just tell her I got into a fight with Rex? She knows we aren’t close. She doesn’t have to know why.”
I shook my head. “If she sees him, she’ll say something to him. I don’t want her on his radar.”
“Bar fight? Some guy was hitting on my man?”
Yeah, that was probably the best scenario to use, without the part about some guy hitting on me.
We didn’t talk much the rest of the drive. Luckily, Grandma didn’t come out of the house when I helped Parrish inside. He collapsed straight onto my bed, worn out from the short journey.
“I need a nap,” he said, face in the pillow.
“Okay.”
“Come here. I can’t sleep without you.”
“You’ve been sleeping without me just fine.” I was jittery, my pulse still erratic.
“That was before you called me baby. C’mere, Riv.”
“I’m dirty.”
“I like you that way.”
I didn’t have it in me to deny him. I took my clothes off, removed his socks and shoes, and made sure the door was locked. The second I was in bed with him, Parrish cuddled close, so I wrapped an arm around him and held him while he slept. The whole time, I quietly simmered with rage, trying to figure out what I was going to do about Frank and Rex.