Page 46 of The Love Duet
“Because I’m not lying about that?”I challenged.
“I can’t see how when Officer Morton did a check on you,” she flung back, thinking herself victorious with that little gem.
“And what about the rest?”I asked.“How do you know that I’m not homeless because I’m a drug addict or alcoholic?How do you know that I didn’t enjoy killing all those people overseas?How do you know that I’m really a decent person, Pepper?”
“Don’t do that,” she practically yelled.“You’re painting a narrative that’s not true just to win this argument.”
“I’m trying to save you from yourself,” I corrected, and it was probably the worst thing that you could say to a grown person.No one liked to be treated like a naïve child.
As expected, Pepper’s head reared back as those blue eyes of hers came alive with fire.“Excuse me?”
Taking a step back-lest she slap the shit out of me-I said, “I just want you to be safe, Pepper.Not everyone that you meet is a good person.”
“I know that,” she snapped.“I’m not an idiot, Josiah.”
“Then quit acting like one,” I fired back.“Set your sights on someone that has something to offer you, Pepper.Find a man that can, at the very least, invite you back to his house to watch a movie or whatever.Don’t let your gratefulness for what I did confuse you into thinking that you have any real feelings for me, because you probably don’t.You’re just feeling extremely thankful for what I did.”
The woman looked pissed.
“So, not only am I too stupid to trust my instincts, but now I don’t know what I feel,” she replied, an angry heat lacing each word.“Is that it?”
“Maybe it’s me who doesn’t know what they feel,” I said, driving the knife in deeper.“Have you ever thought about that?Maybe I’m the one confusing what I feel with gratefulness.Maybe instead of genuine attraction, it’s just me feeling appreciative of the first person that’s been nice to me in years.”
Instead of coming back with the fire still in her eyes, she said, “Maybe you’re right.Hell, maybe we’re not even friends, and I really am nothing but your boss, making you nothing but my employee.”
Yeah, I hadn’t been expecting that.
Quickly backtracking before I ruined the only good thing to happen to me in years, I said, “That’s not what I meant.I very much consider you a friend, Pepper.”
“Yeah, sure,” she replied, that fire gone like it’d never existed.
“Pepper-”
“We better lock up and head home,” she said, talking over me, done with this conversation.“I’ve got some errands that I need to run, so we better get going.”
Yeah, rejection really was a motherfucker, no matter who delivered it.“I think I’ll walk,” I said, needing some air.“I could use the exercise.”
“Yeah, because loading up trucks and fixing shit around here all day clearly isn’t exercise,” she retorted, but didn’t fight me on it.“Well, since you’re a big boy, I’m sure you can find your way without my help.”
I watched as Pepper grabbed her phone and purse, then walked out of her office, leaving me to close up shop, and that’s when I realized just how upset she was.She’d left me alone to secure one of the most important things in her life, and it wasn’t because she trusted me.It was because I had hurt her enough for her not to care, and the pressure in my chest was making it hard to breathe.
I needed to talk to her as soon as she got home.
I also needed an emergency counseling session.
Chapter 8
Josiah~
I had walked around town for over three hours, but that hadn’t been anything unfamiliar to me.I also knew every inch of the town, so used to not wanting to be seen, I had managed to hide from the world for a short while before having to return to face the music.
I had also wasted a lot of minutes on my phone by logging onto Veterans Together, doing everything that I could to stave off an episode.While it was often said that stress or high emotions were a trigger, I wasn’t that blessed.The nightmares came when I was dead asleep, no high emotions or stress anywhere in sight.So, for me, it was more like a roulette wheel kind of illness.
At any rate, walking through the unlocked gate, I rounded the corner to see Pepper sitting on the back porch step, waiting for me, and I had to give it to the woman, she had balls and wasn’t afraid of a confrontation.
As soon as she saw me, she said, “I wasn’t sure if you were coming back.”
I walked over to where she was sitting, then sat down next to her, looking out at the pristine landscape that I now kept for her.“I’m stubborn, not stupid.”
