Page 29 of Stealing Home

“Uhm, do we have to go out?” she asks.

Dammit, she’s already backing out. “I want you to be comfortable, but I’m dying to see you.” Wonderful.Lay it on thicker, Ryan.She’ll figure out pretty fast I don’t have hardly any experience with women.

“Well, Centralia is a small town. I am trying to avoid Nando, and I really don’t want you to suffer if someone sees us together.”

“I’ll accept any alternative… except not seeing you, Low.”

“Call me that again.” Her voice has lowered to a husky whisper, and I think I just stumbled onto another piece of the puzzle that is Harlow Pierce.

“Low?” I ask.

“Only my sister still calls me that. It’s nice to hear. When do you get back?”

“We leave early Sunday morning.” This trip feels too long all of a sudden, even the prospect of seeing my family tomorrow isn’t consoling me.

“I’ll text you my new address. I guess we can get take out and have dinner at my place. Don’t read too much into it though,” she warns. “I mean it, hotshot, we’re friends.”

I smirk. Little does she know how good I am at taking things slow. “I promise you, I was raised to be a gentleman. I’m looking forward to seeing you.”

“Me too. I shouldn’t be. I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this, but I—“

“Shh, you don’t have to explain it to me. Let’s just talk on Sunday and take it from there,” I tell her.

We hang up and my phone dings when she texts me her address a moment later.

Taylor pokes his head out of the door. “Are you done talking to your mom yet? You were talking to your mom, right? You aren’t being a total dumbass and chasing after Coach’s wife, right?”

“Why do you keep harping on this? I’m not the only guy on the team who’s noticed that she’s hot.”

“Because you’re the nicest guy on the team, and the only one who would take knowing that Coach is screwing around on her as a green light to pursue her.”

“You knew?” I ask him.

He narrows his eyes. “How did you not know?”

“And everyone on the team just ignores it?”

He rolls his eyes. “It’s none of our business. Hell, she probably already knows. He’s been screwing the trainer for almost a year.”

Harlow is right, and I don’t feel the least bit bad keeping this secret, because my own team has been helping that asshole for a year.

11

Harlow

I waituntil Nando is on the bus with the team before I head over to the house to grab my stuff. I haven’t seen him off for years, so he won’t be expecting me to go with him to the bus. I am cautious enough to make sure he won’t return home for some unforeseen reason, so I wait down the block until I see his car pull away.

It’s been over a week since he pinned me against the wall and threatened to rape me. Every day since has been torture, but I needed him gone to get this done. I’ve already risked enough sneaking around to start training with Wren at the garage. After I refused to go home last night, his anger would pretty much guarantee a physical confrontation.

Once I’m sure they’re on the road, I call Wren. “All clear,” I tell her after she answers.

“Okay, we’ll be by soon,” she says.

I didn’t pack anything until after he left, and I’m not taking much. My clothes, toiletries, and some personal items. All the furniture and other things I’m leaving. I don’t have time to pack and really, I don’t want to bring anything from this life with me. I take my time going through the house to make sure I’ve got everything I want or need. After this I’m never coming back to this house.

My suitcases are laid on my bed, and I begin to grab my clothes from my dresser and put them into the suitcases. Next I dump my toiletries into a small box and set it downstairs on the table.

It takes hours even though I’m not taking much with me. I save my toiletries to pack in the morning after my shower. Since I’ve got a bathroom in my room it takes longer to clean it out. There’s two sets of linens and towels because we each have our own. Those all go in a box. I am giving the house a final check when I hear a knock on the door. My heart pounds painfully, afraid I’ve been caught, but I remind myself that Nando wouldn’t knock.

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