Page 72 of The Runaway and the Rugged
“Thanks for that,” I mumbled, keeping my eyes tightly shut in hopes I could disappear entirely.
“Oh, come on now. You know I had to call someone.”
Beau? Greta? Garth’s scary brother Griffin? Literally anyone else.
“I need a few minutes of sleep to prepare myself.”
He let out a grumbled laugh.
“Prepare for what?”
“A scolding, a lecture, an argument, something along the lines of ‘Why didn’t you tell me you left?’”
I was a grown woman for, Christ's sake, not a child.
“Everythin’ that you just said sounds like a man who’s worried, Emelia.”
I didn’t want a man who was worried, I wanted a man who understood, who trusted and believed in me more than I did myself.
Was that too much to ask for?
I didn’t respond, too lost and confused to think of anything to say back to that. Instead, I kept my eyes glued shut until what felt like only minutes passed and the bell on the door rang, alerting me that someone just walked inside.
“Garth, good to see you, boy,” Carl greeted as I kept my eyes squeezed shut.
“Carl,” he grunted low. “She asleep?”
I wish.
“Think so, she’s had her eyes closed for a while now.”
I didn’t want to open my eyes, not yet anyway. I didn't have anything prepared to say and I knew the second I met his gaze, every thought and word would vanish into silence.
“Thanks, for lettin’ her stay here.” Garth carried sincerity in his voice while the rhythmic stomping of his boots approaching me echoed loudly in my ear.
“No worries, it was nice to have someone to talk to, even if she did drink a whole damn slushie machine herself.”
Carl! What the hell? I did no such thing!
“Christ, sorry ’bout that, how much do I owe you?” Garth asked as my cheeks ignited.
“Nothin’, she paid me back with listenin’ to me yap.”
My mouth lifted at the side but I quickly let it fall, not wanting to be caught that I was actually awake.
“Glad to hear you two had a good time,” Garth surprised me by admitting. “She’s been through a rough patch here lately, and me bein’ an asshole to her yesterday sure didn’t help matters.”
I quieted my breathing, listening closely to each and every word he said.
“Sounds like it, but she seems like a tough woman who can handle a little rough patch. But you, on the other hand, have you apologized?”
“No, I need to. I want to, but I’m shit with words,” he confessed, and suddenly, all the anger I held slowly dissipated.
Vanished into thin air.
This was what I wanted.
I wanted something real from Garth, something from the heart, and I was finally getting to hear it.
