Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 20795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 104(@200wpm)___ 83(@250wpm)___ 69(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 104(@200wpm)___ 83(@250wpm)___ 69(@300wpm)
“Sometimes. A shove or a slap here and there.” He closes his eyes at my words, which are clearly causing him pain. When they open, he moves his hand from my hip to the little cut I still have on my forehead.
“I’ll never understand how anyone could hurt someone as precious as you,” he says as he rubs his finger across the mark. It doesn’t even hurt anymore. Nothing hurts when I’m with him.
“I just turned eighteen and I was planning on leaving. Where I was planning to go, I have no idea. Heck, I don’t know anything about anything. All my schooling has been online. I don’t even know where I am, or how long I drove when I took off,” I confess.
“What made you finally run? Something pushed you to take off like that.”
“He was giving me over to someone else. To marry. I knew then I’d never be free if I didn’t run. I’d just go from being under my father’s control to someone else’s. I’d never ever met this man and my father said he was coming to pick me up. Like I was one of the cows or something.”
Trace cups my cheek. “You wanna be here, baby doll?” I can see the concern on his face, and I know what he’s thinking.
“I choose to be here. I don’t want to be anywhere else.” I see a little bit of the tension leave his body. “All I ever wanted was a real family. To fall in love and have my own little fairy tale, like some of the books I've read. I think you’re right. I ended up here for a reason. I was supposed to find you.” I lean over and kiss him.
His hand tangles in my hair as he deepens the kiss until I’m breathless.
“What town are you from?” he asks.
“Clear Creek. Is that close?” I question, still wondering how far I made it.
“Real close. So close I’m shocked I’ve never seen or heard of you.”
“Told you. I didn’t really leave the house much. Less so in the last few years.” As I got older, my father started getting more controlling.
“I need a name, baby doll.”
“Winston.”
Trace is out of the bed before I even know what’s happening, pulling his clothes on. I sit up in bed, watching him move about the room.
“What are you doing?” I can hear the worry in my own voice.
“You’ll not spend one more fucking day worrying about anything,” he says, tugging a shirt over his head and then finding his jeans.
“What are you going to do?” I move to the side of the bed, looking for something to wear, but the dress I made looks unwearable at this point.
“I’m going to pay your father a visit.”
“What!” I jump from the bed and run towards him, wrapping my arms around his body.
“Calm down. It’s better this way. I’ll go over and set things straight. He’ll never think about looking for you when I’m done having words—and other things—with him.”
My heart starts to race. Panic is setting in.
“Baby doll, calm down. I promise you, it will be fine. I do this and it’s done and over. You don’t ever have to think about him or worry that someone is coming to take you from here. I promise, he’ll know what will happen if he comes on our land looking for you.”
“Our land?”
“Yeah, our land. You want your fairy tale, you’re about to get it. Trust me.”
“I trust you,” I say instantly.
“Of course you do because you’re all sweetness and love.” He leans down, placing another kiss on my lips. “I won’t be gone long. I’ll be back before the sun is down,” he tells me as he walks over to the dresser, pulls out a shirt, and slides it over my head before I follow him downstairs and to the front door. Boxes, the stuff he ordered, were delivered and now litter the living room floor.
“Lock the door behind me and go through some of your stuff. See what you do and don’t like.”
“I love you,” I say, because that’s all I can think about.
“I love you, too.” He leans down, placing another kiss to my lips. This one is hard and intense, almost like he’s branding me before he leaves. I flip the lock behind him and go to the window and watch him drive away.
I sit down on the sofa, not sure what to do, so I do what he told me to. I start going through all the boxes, pulling out piles and piles of clothes. It’s like he thought of everything—from dresses, to shirts and shorts, to jeans and so many shoes I don’t even know how I could wear them all.
I jump when I hear a knock at the door.
“Trace, it’s Ty.” I hear a man’s deep voice, and I know it’s Trace’s brother.