Page 88 of Needing Your Love
I’d let my guard down. Welcomed Sutton inside where he could root around and find a place to take up residence.
And the arms that should have been holding me had cradledheras though she still meant the world to him.
“Bitch!” I shrieked and slammed my fist on the steering wheel, grimacing as pain shot up to my elbow.
A knock on my window jerked my head to the left, and I scrubbed the tears from my face.
Sarah Kaufman stood on the other side of the glass, bent slightly to see me better. Concern lined her forehead and what I could make out of her eyes through the wetness coating mine.
Sniffing and breath hitching, I put my window down.
“Jimmy? You okay?” She sounded like a loving mom—and I started crying again because of course I couldn’t regulate myself and put on my facade today. “We just opened, so why don’t you come inside with me and I’ll make some tea, okay?”
She coaxed me from the car, and I realized I’d parked in front of her and Stefen’s Outdoor Shop.
Hunched in on myself, I managed to get a hold on the tears while following her through the glass door.
“Sarah?” Stefen called.
“Yeah?” She hollered to wherever he was. Sounded like he was down one of the aisles closer to the back of the store.
“Can you help me out for a second?”
“Be right there!” Sarah turned toward me while pulling off her coat. “Why don’t you go to the office,” she said, pointing at the door behind the counter.
I swallowed the last of my hiccupped attempts to catch my breath.
She squeezed my forearm. “I’ll only be a minute.”
Sarah hurried away, and I hung my head, feet unmoving, the deep earth calling.
I didn’t want to think about, let alone discuss, the mess in my head, what had caused it, or give anyone ammunition to start up the gossip factory. Couldn’t begin to imagine the shit that would be flying around town in the coming days.
Forgiveness at its finest from Pippen Creek’s most upstanding citizen.
The prodigal kicked out for the person who needed their chief the most.
Sutton had claimed he’d never truly loved Darla, but he and I hadn’t exchanged those words either.
Another whine rose from my chest, and my shoulders drooped lower, arms tight around my spilling guts.
Shouldn’t have let Sarah talk me into getting out of my car. Hell, I didn’t evenliketea. And?—
The door kicked in behind me, and a large body lurched inside, damn near taking me out in the process.
“Stefen! You fucking prick!”
Kurt Wallace.
Drunk off his goddamned ass and waving…
A handgun.
I stumbled back a step and fell onto my backside, what was left of my heart speeding up from a rush of adrenaline. Dizziness swept through my head. My bladder went lax, and I barely managed to keep from pissing myself.
Blazing hazed-over eyes landed on me, but the sound of approaching footsteps lured his scowl off me before I sussed out his true feelings toward me.
Fag. Fairy.
