Page 14 of Treasured
A scream echoed in the air, and I knew it was her baby. She quickly said, “We probably shouldn’t.”
“You want to.”
“Text me when you arrive.”
“I will. Have a nice night, Mary.”
We hung up, and I headed to my shower. Last night I’d tasted a paradise I never thought I would experience, and now I couldn’t wait to see her again.
Chapter Six
Mary
It was five o’clock, and I swung my heels under my seat. The shelter had ten percent of its beds free, so if anyone needed a place in the middle of the night, the staff was able to process and protect more women from abuse.
Finances were in order. The shelter was cleaned from top to bottom, and we had no crises. Everything was good for the women under my care.
I’d been one of them once—one of the women I now provided for. Beaten and practically left for dead. Now my son had just turned one, and my ex almost killed my innocent baby. I finally had my trigger to change, and so I checked in here, and now a year later, I was in charge. But in that space of time, I’d been reborn too.
I’d been lucky, though, because I had family. Some of the women didn’t.
I pivoted my seat to the new security monitoring system being installed as my brother finished screwing the new stand in place. As he held the driver like he was construction and not a CEO these days, he glanced over at me. I winked at him, and he said, “You seem happy today, sis.”
Joseph knew me, but he didn’t need to know about Dwayne. I took a deep breath and decided to ignore his statement. “Thanks for upgrading our system.”
He finished with the last corner of the stand and dropped the tools, then wiped his brow dramatically. “Since becoming President of KeyLogic, I don’t get to touch systems anymore. Now, why are you this happy?”
I wheeled my chair closer to him. “Because my favorite brother is here?”
He stood up and brushed his pants off and pointed to his matching jacket on the wall. “And?”
I stood up, too, and fixed his blue tie. I couldn’t let him leave here looking a wreck, but I said, “Fine. At the benefit, I met someone.”
He put his gray suit jacket on and said, “I thought you swore off my kind.”
Dwayne had been in my thoughts every other second of the day. I sucked on my bottom lip then decided to speak. One of the hardest steps I had to learn was to not live in my head all the time, and my brother was always in my corner. I bounced on my heels. “Well, he was a one-night exception.”
Joseph held the door open for me as we exited. “But?”
I turned off the office lights as I spoke about Dwayne. “He called and asked me out this week.”
“In Virginia?”
“No, he’s coming here, to Pittsburgh.”
As we stepped into the parking lot, a blue car turned on and sped out fast. My heart pumped for a moment as I stared at the smoke from the tires, but I shook my head and stayed next to Joseph as he said, “I’m happy for you. Just be careful that he’s not like Arthur.”
Hmm. My ex had liked the color blue. I snapped my fingers like I had figured out why I had goose bumps, but as we made our way to my gray Rav4, I asked, “Well, do you want to babysit Bruce for me if I do go?”
He opened my door for me again and said, “Sure, if that means I get to meet him, whatever his name is.”
I squeezed my brother’s arm. I couldn’t keep a secret. “Dwayne, and yes.”
“Okay, well, drive safe,” he said and clicked his BMW to unlock it. “Your staff should find the updates are easy in the morning, but you know how to find me.”
I probably should cancel with Dwayne and just stay home with my son. I never wanted another man for romance. My skin was jumpy like I was making a mistake right now, but I kissed his cheek and said, “Thanks again.”
Joseph and the rest of my family were the reason I found my strength. I was one of the lucky ones.
