Page 161 of GAF Factor

“You can get a job as a mechanic or a seamstress.”

“I’m fucking shit with a needle.”

“Then you can learn to be a barber.”

He snorted. “Like anyone would let me near scissors.”

I grinned and kissed him again. “My parents are inside. They’re probably watching through the window.”

“Shit. Do I look presentable?”

I stepped back and straightened his crooked tie. “You have a little blood on your collar.”

“I’ll say I cut myself shaving.”

“Then I think you’re perfect.”

He blew out a steadying breath. “Okay, time to meet the parents.”

“Just shake hands and whatever you do, don’t shoot them.”

“I make no promises.”

41

KAVANAUGH

I wipedthe sweat from my face after another grueling workout. That seemed to be the only thing that kept me on the level these days, but that was my own damn fault. I looked back on all my mistakes over the past few months and wished I could go back, but that wasn’t the way life worked. I’d really lost her, and there was nothing I could do about it now.

“Hey,” Red nodded, stripping the wraps from his hands. “You wanna grab a beer?”

“Not tonight.”

“Got plans?”

I didn’t, but grinned. “Oh, yeah.”

He chuckled, shaking his head. “Don’t take this one around the senator.”

“I don’t plan to.”

I watched him walk away and my smile faded. The fucking senator. If it hadn’t been for him, maybe everything would have been fine. I shook my head. No, I would not go down the road of what-ifs. It didn’t really matter at this point. I couldn’t change anything that had happened by thinking about it to death.

I headed home and sat in the driveway for longer than necessary, staring at my sad, lonely house. There was no oneinside waiting for me. Not a single fucking person to ask about my day or kiss as I walked through the door. I was getting too damn old to feel this lonely. Something had to fucking change.

I shoved the door open and stalked up to my house, opening the door. Inside, I dropped my bag, listening to it echo around the empty hallway. I really needed to add some fucking furniture to this place. The bare essentials were no longer cutting it. But there would be time to mull over that after a shower and dinner.

Twenty minutes later, after drowning my sorrows in a steaming shower, I stepped out and wrapped a towel around my waist just as my phone rang. If it was a job, I’d take it just to escape the boredom of sitting around by myself tonight. But it wasn’t.

Olivia.

What the fuck could she be calling about?

“Hello?”

“Bradford?”

Her voice shook, barely a whisper as she spoke. I was immediately on edge.

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