Page 59 of Stay for Me

Before she could answer with her words, her body did. The tears pooling in her eyes overflowed, spilling onto her heated cheeks, and that damn bottom lip of hers began to wobble. My body reacted before I could stop myself. My hand shot out, my fingers gripping her chin firmly as I stepped closer, tilting her head back.

“Your tears add to my agony,” I confessed softly, my voice rough.

“I don’t want you in agony,” she whispered, her tears still flowing.

A day without agony would be my death, but she would never know that.

“Talk to me,” I demanded. This was the first time we’d spoken in over eight months, and damn it all to hell, it felt too good to have her hazel eyes on me, her chin in my grip, her body so close to mine.

“My mother hates the woman I’ve become.”

I said nothing, holding her gaze, patiently waiting for anything she would or wouldn’t give me. I’d wait a lifetime for her to say just one word to me.

She inhaled an unsteady breath before giving me the truth. “She hates the woman I am because I’m the woman she wasn’t strong enough to be.” Her words hit me in a way I wasn’t expecting. My jaw hardened, but she continued. “I was supposed to grown up, find a husband, and be a good little wife. I was supposed to have babies and cater to my husband’s every need.”

I grunted, not trusting myself to speak. I didn’t want to offend her, but her mother sounded like a cunt.

“She’s been calling me all week. I was supposed to go home last weekend, after years of my parents convincing me to visit them. They’ll never come out here, because they refuse to acknowledge the life I’ve built for myself, to see how far I’ve come,” she explained, her voice shaking. “And then all this shit with Hallow Ranch happened, and Cathy is God knows where. But today, I had to give in. I foolishly answered the call, hoping she would ask if I was alright or at least pretend to give a shit.”

“They don’t.”

She flinched in my hold, her eyes snapping up to mine. “You don’t—”

“Stop letting people into your life who only see you as a tool. They don’t care about you, Diana. They want to control you. When you were born, they made a mold for you, and you, being the amazing woman you are, refused to fit into,” I said.

As my words hit her, she blinked, and then, suddenly, she was looking at me different. “You’re talking to me again.”

I hadn’t spoken this much to her in years, doing my best to avoid her. I’d hoped she’d moved on from her shitty ex, forgotten this connection between us, and found a man worthy of her time.

“Why are you talking to me again?” she whispered.

I jerked her closer to me, my voice low as I gave her the truth. “To remind you not to take any shit from anyone.”

She sniffled. “Does that include you?”

“Especially me, Firefly,” I murmured, scanning her face.

“Diana!”

Jig’s voice echoed throughout the barn, and a part of me was grateful for the interruption. I was a second away from taking her mouth, the craving for her nearly consuming me. She jumped away from me, yelping.

The tips of my fingers burned from her absence, the same burn radiating in my chest.

I heard the old man’s footsteps, and then, “You alright?”

I stood there silently as she stammered, “Y-yes, Jigs. I was just on a call.” She didn’t look at me when she passed, leaving me in the stall as she attempted to fix her hair. “Did you need something?” she asked, smiling towards the front entrance to the barn.

“Den is at the house. Said you had some documents for him to sign,” Jigs explained.

Diana nodded as I stared at her profile.

Fuck, why was she so beautiful? Still, after all this time.

“Right,” she breathed, still not looking at me. “Walk me up to the house?”

The old cowboy chuckled. “Sure thing, doll.”

Then, she was gone, the sound of her heels echoing throughout the barn, leaving me alone.

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