Page 53 of Sawyer
“Um, how does that work exactly?” Gabi asked.
“It’s a long story. Turns out my carwasin his driveway when I thought it was still at my house. Later, I got framed for dealing drugs just like Jaxon was. That’s why I think the General was involved in both trials. I took a plea deal and went to prison for three years. It sucked. End of story.” Well, that was the short version anyway.
Lele braced, waiting for the accusations. The snide remarks. Everything that happened whenever she’d tried to explain her side of things. The Musketiara response would be the same.
Except it wasn’t.
The girls closed in on her, everyone pulling her into hugs, telling her she wasn’t alone. And for the first time, Lele wondered if maybe this was what it felt like to have a family. A real family. People who stood beside you, in public and private, even if it cost them something.
But could she trust them with the rest? Only one way to find out.
“And then Saul… I mean, Sawyer… well, he found me. We clicked, right off the bat, which never happens to me. Last night, he asked to be my Daddy. I’d never been happier in my life. I said yes. But then…” She sighed. She felt like such a gullible idiot.
Gabi fought back tears. “Then you came to Darling and heard me talking about the General and figured out he lied.”
Lele nodded. “Yep, now I know he lied about his name. About why he came to Elk Jaw. About everything. He wants me to give him a second chance, but I don’t know if I can trust him.”
That question gnawed at her. Because if Sawyer had lied once, what else was he hiding? Still, and most confusing… every broken piece of her wanted to run straight into his arms.
“Well, I don’t think we can put off going back to the table any longer,” Bliss said. “Connor wants to know what’s taking so long.”
As mad as she was, she still got a thrill, in her heart and places further south, every time she saw Sawyer. His face tensed when he saw her, so she forced a smile on her face. She shouldn’t react to him this way. Not after everything he’d done.
It didn’t matter how many times she told herself she didn’t love him. Couldn’t love him. Shouldn’t. But at the end of the day, she was afraid she always would.
CHAPTER 18
Ten minutes into the drive, and Sawyer was still talking. About games. Food. Places she wanted to see. Hell, even his dumb “Questions Me This” game.
It got him nothing.
Oh, Lele wasn’t giving him the silent treatment. She wasn’t sulking. Or scared. It was worse than any of that. She was sad. More than sad, his Little girl was miserable.
It was his fault, and there was nothing he could do to fix it. Not until she let him.
Her body sat right there beside him on the warm bench seat of his truck, but Lele? She’d slipped away. Sure, she answered when he asked something. But her voice was hollow. Her eyes, empty. The spark that had always made her Lele had flickered out.
He wanted to shake her. To drag her back.
But all he could do was grip the wheel and bleed inside.
Finally, he did the only thing he could think of. He pulled up the playlist he’d added because, fuck him, it reminded him of her. He’d copied it from her phone while she slept a few nights ago.
The speakers blared, and seventies disco music filled the cab, high and bright, crashing through the silence between them.
Blinking out of the fog she’d been in, she turned to him. “You like seventies disco too?”
He wanted to say yes. God, he wanted to say yes. Anything to make her smile. But he’d sworn to be honest. No lies. Not with her. Not ever again.
“Since you introduced me, I’m… trying. I can make it through three songs before I need to switch.” There, that was a happy medium.
Her eyes flickered. The tiniest spark. “What do you switch to?”
Not disco. Anything but disco.
But he couldn’t say that, knowing it would hurt her. “I like variety,” he said. “But mostly? Country rock.”
That earned him half a smile. Barely there, but he’d take it. “I like country rock too, Daddy—” She broke off, her cheeks flushed. “Sawyer. I meant Sawyer. You don’t have to force yourself to listen to disco if you don’t like it.”
