Page 54 of Hire A Cuddler

My breath shudders. “Yeah, uh, he thinks I cheated on him. He thinks that I planned all this to… get his money… I don’t know.”

“Well, that’s stupid. Anyone that has seen you two together can see you love him.”

I start to cry again. Yeah, I love him. Even nowwith every hateful thing he said, I still love him. “Well, it doesn’t matter how I feel about him… It’s over.”

She’s shaking her head, “Explain to me what happened. I don’t understand.”

Slowly, I start to explain. “I really don’t know. He showed up with pictures of me and some man, but it’s not what it looks like. I fell today outside the community center, and the guy was helping me up. I twisted my ankle, cut up my knees and hands.”

I hold them out for her to inspect, and she winces. “Oh my God, Haven. That looks horrible.”

“It’s okay. Trust me, it’s the least of my worries.”

She gets up and walks out of the room, but she keeps talking as she goes. “Well, it shouldn’t be. You don’t want that to get infected.”

She’s back shortly and sits down on the coffee table in front of me. “Let me clean it out for you.”

I feel numb as she works on my knees and my hands. Neither one of us says a word, but my mind is racing the whole entire time.

When she has me bandaged up, she lifts my foot up and removes my shoes. She tilts my foot different directions. “Does this hurt? What about this?”

I wince but shake my head. “It’s fine.”

She gently places my foot on the floor. “It’s sprained. I think I have a brace around here for when you get up and walk, but let’s get it propped up and ice it for now.”

“No! I mean, thank you, Chrissy. Really, this means a lot to me, but I need to go. Thanks for cleaning me up… but I should go.”

She’s not listening, though. “You’re not leaving. You’re staying right here. I’m going to get the spare room set up, and you’re going to stay here with me.”

“I can’t. I’m not going to come between you and your brother. I need to go.”

She throws her hands up in the air. “My brother needs to get his head out of his ass. I should have known he’d find a way to fuck this up. Look, I’m not making excuses for him. King is our big brother, and for years he’s the one that took care of all of us. I wouldn’t have been able to go to school if it wasn’t for him. Holden wouldn’t be playing in the big leagues, Dom, Ledger, and Gabe… well you get my drift. But he’s been through hell, Haven. His mom didn’t have anything to do with him until he made some kind of big list after he made his first million from building skyscrapers. I mean, the women have come out of the woodwork to try to trick him into relationships… but that’s no excuse. He should know you and know you’re not like that.”

I’m shaking my head, ready to get up and leave, but Chrissy stops me. “Please stay. Do this for me. I’ll worry about you if you leave.”

“But…”

“Please, Haven.”

I nod. “Okay. One night and then I’ll get out of your hair. I gave up my apartment, but I bet it hasn’t been rented. I’ll leave in the morning.”

“You’re not in my hair, and you’ll hurt my feelings if you leave. I’ll get you some clothes to put on and then I’ll help you get settled.”

“My bag is in the car. I can get it.”

“I’ll get it. I’ll be right back.”

She’s out the front door before I can talk her out of it. As soon as she’s gone, I fall back on the couch and throw my arm over my face. My head is killing me, my ankle is throbbing, and I feel sick to my stomach. I close my eyes and try to clear my head because if I start thinking about my husband and my disaster of a marriage, I'm going to start crying again.

30

KING

My head is pounding.

I lift my head off my desk, and everything is blurry. I rub at my eyes and am surprised that the pounding is not actually in my head, but at my front door. Before I can get up, I hear my brother Holden hollering my name.

Fuck. I’m not in the mood for this right now. If I’m quiet, will he go away? I lay my head back on the desk, and right in front of me is the empty ? bottle of Blaze whiskey that I drank last night.

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