Page 30 of Sacrifice
“Corbin,” Huxton exclaims, full of excitement.
“Hey buddy.” He grins, reaching his arm out toward me. He’s holding a hose in his hands. For a brief second, my mind flashes to the scene inFifty Shades of Greywhen Christian is out buying toys for his red room.
My thoughts go completely out the window, distracting me from the pain radiating up my foot.
“You okay?” he asks, checking me over, looking down at my foot. “Damnit, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I grit my teeth. “I’ll be fine, just gotta walk it off. Right, Huxie?”
“Dats right. Sometimes ya gotta walk it off.” He grins.
I chuckle, watching his little head enthusiastically.
“What are you two doing here?”
“Mom broke the mower,” Huxton blurts out. My eyes snap over to him, silently telling him to zip it.
“Is that right?” Corbin chuckles, glancing from Huxton over to me, obviously noticing my attempt to keep him quiet.
“How’d that happen?”
“I guess it was my lucky day, and I bought it that way.”
His brows furrow, not appreciating my attempt at humor. He’s right though, my misery wasn’t funny.
“I bought it online and met some guy to pick it up earlier today at the gas station in town. I was more worried about meeting him somewhere safe and in a public setting. I didn’t even bother to check to make sure it worked. Got a few rows mowed on the front yard before it crapped out on me.”
Corbin winces, shaking his head. “Honestly, if it did that when you got it home, it probably would’ve worked at the gas station, anyway. You wouldn’t have known either way. You can’t beat yourself up over it. Do you know what’s wrong with it?”
“My trusty YouTube research has me thinking it could need a tune up or it’s an issue with the carburetor.”
“I’m not sure you’ll find what you’re looking for if it’s the carburetor, but I can swing by my place quick and grab a few things if you’d like a hand. At the very least, I can get you fixed up for today so you can finish mowing. How’s that sound?”
He tosses the hose in the air, catching it before flashing me a big smile and wiggling his brows at Huxton.
“Yeahhh!” Huxton cheers. “Can I help too?”
“Of course, you can! I’m going to need all the help and muscles I can get.”
Huxton releases my hand, flexing his muscles to show them off to Corbin. He crouches down, checking them over, giving them a squeeze before he nods his head in approval.
“I think you’re just the man for the job.”
I giggle, noticing the happiness glowing on Huxton’s face. My heart soars seeing the two of them together.
Corbin stands back up and glances over at me. “I just gotta pay for this quick. I’ll swing by my place to load up my mower and grab a few tools and I’ll be right over. Give me fifteen, maybe twenty minutes tops.”
“Are you sure? I hate to take up your Sunday evening. I bet you have other things you’d rather be doing.”
“Are you kidding? There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.” Corbin insists, finishing with a wink.
I peer over at Huxton, wondering if he caught it. He flashes me a smile, and I know he did.
“All right. We’ll see you there then.”
The entire way back to our place, all I can think about is Corbin coming over. Huxton fires off questions and then proceeds to tell me how he’s going to show him his Spiderman mask. When we pull into the driveway, I spot Makenna outside in her yard too. She shouts over at me and waves, carrying a couple of shopping bags with her into the house.
“Let’s hurry up. I need to get cleaned up.”
