Page 95 of Raine
I take another sip of beer and look him dead in the eyes, the little girl inside me floundering. “How can I ever trust you again, Gabe?”
“Time, Sweet Girl, with time. Will you give me that?”
“I thinkIneed some time, Gabe, alone. I have a fuckload I’m trying to work through, not to mention I’m fighting a drug addiction, ready to say fuck it and drown in the sweet bliss of any narcotic I can get my hands on.”
Gabe steps in front of me so fast, his hand grasping my chin and lifting it, so I’m forced to look at him. His eyes are rolling like a stage five hurricane, and I suck in a harsh breath, fighting to stay out of his orbit.
“If you ever feel the urge, you call me. I don’t care what time it is or what day you call me. Let me help you through it. I know you’ve got a lot going on and I’ve aided in that, but I’m here, baby. I’m not going anywhere.”
Gulping down the emotion in my throat, I nod, and he leans in and kisses my cheek, my stomach doing backflips at his closeness.
I step out of his hold, my mind filled to the brim with clusterfucks, and move away. “I’ve got to go.”
I don’t give him a chance to reply, I take off down the hall and toward the front entrance, needing to get as much space between us as possible.
It’d be so easy to fall into his arms and accept what he’s offering, spread my legs for him, and use sex like the weapon I’ve used my entire adult life. But I’m a mess, and worst of all, I don’t know if I can trust him again.
Sprinting down his steps, I race to my car and hear him calling my name behind me. I risk one last glance up and find him in the exact same position as when I left yesterday, except today there is a sorry and an apology written all over his handsome features.
A part of me hopes I can find it in myself to let him back in, but fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. And I will never be anyone’s fool.
Chapter31
Raine
After I left Gabe’s, I started driving toward Justyce’s safe house to see the girls. I needed some normalcy — something right in my life at the moment — and helping those girls made me feel like I had a purpose.
The highway was quiet for a Friday afternoon, which suites me just fine. Fifteen minutes from the house, I stop off at a supermarket to grab the girls some food and a couple of other bits and pieces. I want to surprise them by making up for how abruptly I left the last time I visited.
After filling a couple bags full of munchie food and grabbing a bottle of wine for me, I jump in the car and finish the drive to the house.
I drive down the quaint little street feeling better than I have since I found out about Avernus being my biological father and the rest of the shit that went along with it.
However, as I round the little bend that approaches the house, my heart catches in my throat upon seeing Arrow’s car there.
Our paths were bound to continue crossing, but it only enhanced the pain. It may have been my fault we ended the way we did, but I was still grieving our relationship and my best friend.
I almost keep driving, but shoving that nonsense aside, I pull into the drive. I wasn’t here for Arrow; I was here for the girls.
Snatching the bags from the passenger seat, I haul myself out of the car and carted them toward the front door, my ballet flats not providing me with the confidence my heels usually do.
I don’t bother knocking again; I put one bag down, punch in the code, and let myself in. Angelite’s girly laugh filters through the house, with Arrow’s strong voice followed after.
“You really are a pussy. House of a Thousand Corpse’s was epic!” he exclaims and my heart squeezes at the memory of us watching it together.
I round the corner, not a fuck to give, and Angelite’s face pales, causing Arrow to turn his head over his shoulder. Our eyes lock for a brief moment, and I see the sadness and pain before they gloss over with a hardness to which I was quickly becoming accustomed.
I break the contact first, glancing at Angelite before taking off and walking down the hall toward where the girls were holed up.
I hear some hushed words from Angelite, but she isn’t my problem, and I didn’t have any time to give her. Not now.
I knock once and slowly opened the door. The four girls were in the exact same space as the last time I left them, sprawled out in front of the T.V., watching a movie, all in leggings and loose tees.
Jelitza is the first to her feet, running across the room and throwing herself into my arms. I let go of the bags just in time to catch her, laughing as she wraps her thin arms around me.
“You came back,” she whispers, and I smiled.
“Of course, I told you I would.”
