Page 27 of Cruel Saint

But I wasn’t sure even my favorite cupcakes would make me less irritated with Liam.

“I’m sorry, Gin.” He approached me cautiously as I measured the ingredients I’d need for my snickerdoodle cupcakes.“I thought… I thought you’d want her to know. She’s your mother.”

I slammed the spatula onto the counter, flour flying everywhere.

“And I planned on telling her.Myself. Without you going behind my back and using this as a way to con me into moving in with you. I came out here to finally live my own life. To figure out who I am. And I can’t do that if you’re constantly trying to take care of me. I can take care of myself, Liam!”

My voice echoed in the vast space, my muscles tensing. I took several deep breaths to control my anger, then focused my eyes on his.

“You may not get it,” I said firmly. “May not understand why this is so important to me. But I need to be on my own right now. I went to undergrad just a few miles away from where I grew up. Same with grad school. I even did my doctoral program in Atlanta. I’m finally on my own. I wassupposedto be on my own, anyway, before you went and bought this place.” I waved my hand around. “While I appreciate you wanting to be here for me, I need to do this. Need to move on from…everything. So please. Let me have this.”

Several moments of tense silence ticked by as Liam stared at me. Finally, he pushed out a long sigh and enveloped me in his arms, kissing the top of my head.

“I’m sorry, Gin,” he soothed. “I’m trying not to be so overprotective. It’s just…” He pinched his lips together. “I can’t stand the idea of losing you. Of something happening to you like?—”

“And you won’t,” I cut him off before he could utter Samuel’s name. Sometimes I wondered if he would have been this upset over losing Samuel if he knew we’d been seeing each other behind his back.

“But you need to let me live my life. You do that and you won’t lose me.”

“Promise?”

“Of course.” I hoisted myself onto my toes and pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek, quickly pulling back before he could see it for anything more than a friendly kiss. “You know I adore your stubborn ass.” I threw a wink his way as I returned to the mixing bowl.

“And I love you. No matter how crazy you make me sometimes.”

ChapterTen

Gideon

I sipped on my coffee, enjoying the tranquil stillness of the predawn hours as I sat outside The Daily Grind on Monday morning. The world was just beginning to wake up, and I relished in the peaceful solitude.

Until the sound of a dog barking cut through.

But not just any dog.

I knew that bark better than I knew myself these days.

I snapped my head in its direction, my heart catching in my throat as I watched a beagle mix tug Imogene along the beach, stopping every few feet to sniff whatever caught his attention.

Just like I remembered him doing whenever I took him for a walk all those years ago.

I knew Imogene had adopted him after my supposed death. Hell, I’d spent the past several months watching Imogene practically every day.

But that was from a distance.

That was no longer the case, not when Ollie’s enthusiastic eyes fixated on me and he yanked Imogene toward me.

It was one thing to be close to Imogene again.

It was another to be near my old dog. My best friend. My companion.

“Ollie, slow down, boy,” Imogene commanded. “What’s gotten?—”

She stopped short when she noticed me, remaining dumbfounded for several seconds before snapping out of her surprise.

“Oh, gosh. I’m sorry.” She yanked on Ollie’s leash, trying to prevent him from jumping on me. His tail wagged eagerly as he attempted to greet me with sloppy kisses and excited barks. “My dog seems to like you. And sadly, he was an obedience school dropout.”

I chuckled, remembering my failed attempts to train the mutt I’d found abandoned in a cardboard box outside the gym. He was emaciated and dehydrated, and despite not having a lot of money back then, I couldn’t just leave him there.

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