Page 141 of Give Me Redemption

She said she was on the way home thirty minutes ago. Where the fuck is she?

I told her I was going to cook. We were going to spend some time together because she’s been working too damn much. She pulls into the parking lot and I toss my smoke when she gets out.

“I’m so sorry,” she says, walking over to me. “I got caught up.”

“You didn’t think to pick up your phone?”

She pats her pockets. “Shit. I left it at the office.”

“How?” I ask. “How in this day and age do you forget your phone?”

I don’t wait for her to respond, I pull open the door to the lobby and walk inside, slapping the button for the elevator.

“You all right?” she asks me.

I turn to look back at her, my expression telling her that I’m not all right. I’m fucking pissed.

All the shit I do for her and she can’t fucking respect me enough to get home when she says she will? She can’t pick up the phone and let me know so I won’t worry? Sometimes I think I forgave her too soon. Sometimes I think I shouldn’t have forgiven her at all.

We both climb into the elevator cart and she pushes the button to her floor. I cross my arms and look ahead.

Neither of us says anything in the elevator, but once inside her apartment, Dalton says, “Oh, it smells good in here.” I twist around to face her. She covers her mouth. “Oh, Jace. I’m sorry I forgot you were cooking.”

“Yeah, that’s your problem. All you think about is work.”

“Hey, that’s not fair. I said I was sorry.”

“You’re sorry? I’m so sick of hearing I’m sorry from you. You lied to me, you fucked over my family, and I still forgave you. You can’t have enough respect for me to keep your promises? You can’t come home at a decent time and be with me?”

I see it when her jaw clenches. She crosses her own arms. “You either forgive me or you don’t, Jace. Which is it? You’re not going to keep throwing that shit in my face.”

“Or what?”

“Or what?” she questions.

“Yeah, what if I don’t forgive you?”

She swallows, but then she lifts her chin. “Then I guess you can leave.”

I smirk. “Fine. You’re food’s in the oven.”

I walk past her. She reaches her hand out and grabs my arm, but I shrug away. “Let me go, Dalton.” I open the door and slam it shut on my way out.

I make it to my apartment minutes later, and once inside, I punch a hole in the fucking wall.

I’m going crazy. She’s so obsessed with her job, and the only thing I care about is her. I have too much free time on my hands. I go out to the ranch when I can, but I don’t want to leave Dalton.

She obviously couldn’t care less, though. I walk to the fridge and grab a beer. I take the bottle opener from the drawer and pop the bottle open before downing half the thing.

We’ve been getting pretty serious. Either I stay at her place or she stays at mine. I want to move in together. I want to take things farther, but we’re still a secret.

And that’s my fault.

I rest my head back on the fridge and shut my eyes.

Fuck, I shouldn’t have said that to her. I have forgiven her; I’ve moved on from that. I was just mad. I knew how important her job was to her when we started this. I can’t keep throwing that in her face either, but she does need to chill the hell out.

She’s missing life. I can’t even get her to go away with me for a week. Just us two. No work, no cases. Just her and me.

---