Page 34 of Top Shelf

Shit.

She’s walking down the front steps when she sees me and freezes.

She forces a half a smile and nods in my direction.

“Tyson,” she says with a curt nod as she walks past me to get in her white Benz convertible that’s parked behind me.

“Hi, Mrs. B,” I say, same old charming smile I used to flash her years before. It never worked then, and it certainly doesn’t work now. Most guys would kill for the approval of their girl’s mom. But years of experience has taught me that it’s not attainable. Now, when I see Debbie, when I come to this house, all I want to do is get Sadie as far away from it as possible. All I want to do is take her away from it all.

She appears on the front step, and I have to stop myself from smiling too big. She’s got on this tight little black dress, strappy shoes, and has her hair pulled back. She flashes me a quick smile, but it’s gone as soon as it appears on her face.

Fuck.

“Hi,” I say.

“Hey,” she whispers back. And that’s it.

I lead her to the truck, opening her door and closing it for her.

I reach for the gearshift, but then I freeze. I can’t let this go on any longer. I turn to her.

“Did I fuck up the other night, Sade?” I ask. Nothing like getting it out in the open. But I need to know.

She turns to me, her mouth dropping open.

“What?” she whispers.

“Should I not have…should I not have done what I did?”

She swipes a hand over her face.

“Oh, no, Ty,” she says. “Honestly, that, uh…moment in the bathroom? That’s what’s been getting me through the last couple days.”

My eyebrows knit together. I’m confused as hell. She lets out a long sigh. She turns back to me, and I see her bottom lip quivering. And my insides flip.

I hate seeing her cry.

I reach out across the center console and take her hand.

“Hey, Sade,” I say, “what…what’s going on?”

She lifts her eyes back to me.

“I’m not… I’m not ready to see him again,” she says. “The other night in the bar was just…a lot. The way…the way that man makes me feel? I just… I’m not strong enough yet. I’m not healed enough to not believe him. I know in my head that he was wrong. So much of what he did and said was wrong, but I—”

I’m seeing red.

“Did he…did he put his hands on you, Sadie?” I growl, keeping my voice as calm as I can so that I don’t scare her.

Her eyes drop down to our interlocked fingers.

“Sadie?” I say again. She looks back at me.

“Once,” she says. “Right before I left. It was just a shove. He didn’t…there were no marks or anything.”

I grit my teeth, listening to the way that she is still justifying it.

I squeeze her hand tighter, trying to fight off the idea of sucker-punching him right in his smug fucking face.

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