Page 62 of Badges
“I’ve been thinking—” I pause, chewing on my lip.
I hate this new tension.
He doesn’t look at me. “Me too. About a lot of things. I should have told you—”
“Not about that.” The hem of my shirt rolls between my fingers. “About Cynthia.”
His gaze lifts to mine. “Yea, and your mom—”
My palm flies up to face him. “No. I don’t even want to go there right now. Knowing you had her first is weird as hell.” Just the thought makes me nauseous.
His jaw tightens. “Elena, you were ten for fuck’s sake,” he says hoarsely. “If I hadn’t once cared for your mom, you’d have never been here,” he grumbles, grabbing his hat from the dresser and turns to me. “I had a whole damn life before you were even born. I’m almosttwiceyour age. You can’t hold shit against me for that far in the past.” His eyes narrow. “I don’t hold your actionsagainst you,” he growls, then pushes past me into the living room.
That stings.
“It’s crazy to me. All I can picture now is that you’re comparing us.” I cross my arms over my chest and drop my chin to glare at him.
This isn’t going how I thought it would.
He shakes his head, then sinks onto the couch to pull on his boots, hiding his expression with the brim of his cowboy hat.
“I never once thought about her last night. It was just you. From the feel of your skin, to those little moans you made.” He tilts his Stetson far enough to glance up at me.
Why does that make me want to squeeze my thighs together? Fluttering works through my belly pushing me to reach out to him, but I don’t give in.
“I just wanted you, Elena. You had one hundred percent of my focus.” Gravel tinges his words and he clears his throat as he stands.
I don’t know what to say. My arms slide down to hug my waist.
This is all so much.
On one hand, everything is more complicated.
On the other, a new option exists to save my sister.
“Wade, I—”
This time, he raises his palm to silence me. “We’ll talk about it later. I gotta get to work.”
“But, I think—”
He stops me a second time with a hard stare. “I’m not gonna argue about this.” His chest rumbles as he leaves.
When the front door slams shut, I stand there stunned.
Fuck him.
Throwing it open, I chase him across the porch and into the driveway.
“Wade, you listen to me!” I yell, stomping my bare foot to the dirt. “You’re herfather!You can fight for custody now!”
His leg is perched on the running board of his truck, his grip on the steering wheel.
But he stops.
Slowly, he lifts his head, his mouth thinning into a line.
His Adam’s apple bobs with a hard swallow.
