Page 97 of Needing Your Love
“I’ll always have your back, baby.” He assured me, gently pulling me from his neck where I’d finally found the only place that offered me escape and peace.
I’d been a fool to run. Sutton had proven his trustworthiness time and again, and my goddamned trauma, another deranged drunk, had almost taken me from him for good.
Already too well aware of what Kurt looked like sprawled face down and bleeding, I trained my gaze on my hero.
Exhaustion filled his eyes along with pain and concern.
A million questions about his ex-wife filled my head, but I bit my tongue. He had enough to deal with, and my selfishness in needing answers could wait.
He smoothed my hair off my forehead. “I wish I could drive you home and hold you in our bed, baby, but I can’t.”
Our bed.
Not his and Darla’s.
My throat went tight again. I nodded, hating that I understood his sense of duty.
“Dad—Dex is here.”
Sutton brushed a tear off my cheek with his thumb, gaze slipping to my lips and back up. A slow inhale filled his lungs, stretching his T-shirt across his hard pecs. “I want to carry you away from here, but I think you should try to walk, okay? Prove to yourself how strong you really are, Jimmy.”
I nodded even though resilience wasn’t in my vocabulary.
He clasped my hand and helped me stand. My legs were weak, muscles twitchy, but I could do this with him by my side. “Don’t look, baby,” he murmured, and I nodded, focus trained on the glass door propped open and letting in the fall’s chilly air.
What seemed like a dozen people milled inside the shop, but I didn’t glance their way. Refused to make eye contact and allow the townsfolk to see what a weak coward I’d been.
Dex stood at the bottom of the stairs, and I stumbled down the small flight before my feet settled on the ground.
“Jamie called the sheriff’s department, but I’m going to need you to give Officer Davidson your statement before you can leave,” Sutton said, squeezing my fingers.
I nodded even though I didn’t want to.
“Dex will watch over you until I get home,” Sutton promised.
I believed every word he spoke because Dex loved Sutton almost as much as I did, and while he might tease the shit out of me, I knew he would lay down his life for both of us.
“I want you to try to eat something when you get home,” he continued, his tone not allowing an argument. “Take a hot shower even though you already had one this morning then crawl into bed.”
“Okay—wait. Is she…” I swallowed hard, huddling in my coat from the inner chill that seemed settled into my bones. “Is she still there?”
“Fuck.” Sutton scrubbed a hand over his beard. “Darla showed up this morning,” he informed Dex, his voice low.
“What the actualfuck?” Dex muttered, his tone murderous.
“Yeah. I told her to clean up and get the hell out. Left her some gas money on the table, but that was it. Make sure the old Ford she was driving is gone before you let my boy into the house.”
His claim thawed some of the coldness inside me, and I shuddered as the physical strength keeping me upright waned.
“Will do,” Dex assured him.
Sutton passed me over to his best friend, who tugged me into his side, his heavy arm a comforting blanket across my shoulders, but I missed the connection with…whatever Sutton was to me.
Hero, but more than a friend. Lover, but not yet boyfriend.
I lifted my gaze to his, hoping for the answer I desperately needed.
The sun sat low on the horizon, but its rays reached us, causing his eyes to glint more green than brown.
