Page 33 of The Leaving Road

I looked at him, he was serious. He kept looking at me and at my truck in concern, as if trying to figure out how to disable the battery, so I had no choice but to ride with him. He was right; I was exhausted, and I was too exhausted to argue with him.

“Fine, let’s go. I need to sleep.”

True to his word, he followed me the whole way back to my house and pulled up behind me, getting out of his truck before I even had the chance to turn mine off. He opened my door and held a hand for me to get out.

“Being a gentleman won’t make me forgive you.” I couldn’t help the yawn that escaped.

Despite the jab, he looked at me with soft eyes. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you to bed.”

“Uh, no thanks. I don’t need your help.”

“I just meant, let’s get you inside and in bed. I’m not leaving until I see you’re safely behind that door.”

Before I could make my escape inside, he tugged on my hand and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug. I couldn’t help the sigh that escaped. After thisgod-awfulday, I just wanted to melt into his embrace. I wanted to cry while he held me and told me that everything would be okay. Before I did something stupid and invited him in, I pulled away and had my back to him, unlocking the front door.

While wrestling with getting the key into the lock with no porch light, I felt how close Sloan was behind me—his body heat giving way to his closeness, even though he wasn’t touching his body to mine.

“I still don’t forgive you, you know.”

“I know. I see it every time you look at me.”

I wanted to lean back into him and tell him that while I might not forgive him, but tonighthelped.

“I still want that dinner, Magnolia.” Since we still weren’t facing each other, he couldn’t see the small smile that splayed over my lips.

“Give me your number.”

“No.”

“Fine, take mine.”

I heard what must have been him pulling out his wallet and fishing out a business card, which he slipped into my back pocket.His fingers seemed to pause a little over the curvature of my ass, and I was so glad I wasn’t facing him because his closeness was frying any brain cells I had left.

“Call me. Text me. Whatever. Just contact me,” he said as he backed away.

He waited until I was inside with the door closed and locked before he exited the porch and headed back to his car. His headlights shone in the darkness, and I knew he was pulling away. I felt like I could finally let out the breath that seemed stuck in my throat for the past ten minutes.

Try as I might, even after one of the hardest days of my career, I couldn’t help but fall asleep with a smile on my face.

Chapter 21

Sloan

Dropping Magnolia off and saying goodnight was one of the hardest things I had to do. After sitting at Montgomery’s, thinking she had stood me up, I couldn’t even help but smile when I thought she did. She was confident, and no one was going to tell her what to do. My cock twitched thinking about her attitude and defiance. I thought about going to hunt her down when Jason, the town drunk, stumbled in, ranting and raving about the bust that was going on right outside of town at the old mill station. After hearing some details, I knew Magnolia would be there, and without a second thought, I made my way into the kitchen and started prepping some food to take to the clinic. If the stubborn woman would have given me her phone number, I could have given her a heads-up on my plan.

Since the news had spread, it appeared that half the town was out and about for dinner and the latest gossip, meaning the kitchen was slammed so it ended up taking me a bit longer than I had originally anticipated.

It was hard to handle the look of utter devastation that rested firmly on her face when I got to the clinic, but despite all that, she was extraordinarily caring and kind. She never lost her patience with any of the animals, even though they were aggressively scared, and rightfully so.

She thought she held her tears at bay, but I noticed every single one that escaped, and I wish there was something,anything, I could do that would ease her pain. I did the only thing I could do, and made myself available for whatever she needed, no questions asked.

Seeing her work and the kindness that seemed to seep out of her without even trying just reaffirmed the fact that she wastoo goodfor me, that she had always beentoo goodfor me. It was like a knife to the chest. It was at that moment that I made a promise to the universe to try to be someone Magnolia would be proud of every day, someone she could maybe even see herself with.

I knew I had a long way to go to prove to her that I wasn’t that young, dumb, eighteen-year-old kid anymore. I knew that who I was now didn’t absolve me of my past, and I would do anything to go back and change it. I just hoped she had room in her heart to look at who I was now, but even if she didn’t, I still wouldn’t blame her.

Following her car was probably the most stressful thing for me that evening. Thoughts spun in my head:What if she falls asleep at the wheel? What if an animal darts out in front of her car, and she’s too tired to avoid it?I white-knuckled the steering wheel the entire time.

Much to my pleasure, the drive to her house was quick and uneventful. I had barely managed to throw my car into park before I swung the door open so I could reach her before she tried climbing out of her truck by herself.

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