Forbidden With Me - Leigh Lennon Page 0,33
What do I say, my heart’s always belonged to you? Nope, this gives her too much hope, and I’m not about to do this.
“You’re a nosy little thing. Let’s add that to you being trouble, mouthy, and stubborn.”
She playfully slugs me. “Ah, you’re getting to know the real me, Wells. You’re a lucky man. But no more stalling. Tell me the truth. Why aren’t you dating?”
“My last big committed relationship ended, I went on the rebound with someone else, and I wasn’t able to give her what she needed. It was a snowball effect. One bad breakup led to one casual hookup turning into so much more.”
Vanessa and my demise led me to a well-known news anchor, which became public for all to know. “It was just too soon to start anything.”
She nods her head as she tightens her jaw. She’s jealous. She doesn’t meet my gaze and shimmies away from me as far to the passenger side door as she can get. This tells me she’s jealous as fuck. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Do I want her to admit she’s jealous? A part of me wants to hear her drone on about the little green monster she’s hoarding, but the other part of me wants to see the little green monster come upon her so I know I’m right.
“This is really pretty,” she says, ignoring the conversation we’ve had in the past ten minutes. “I’ve missed this.”
“The state?” I ask for clarification.
“Well, yes, I’ve missed Washington, but I’m talking about trips. Day trips. Mom and Dad planned these every weekend. We’d camp a lot. We had been all over the state. Mally’s farm couldn’t be left very long—it wasn’t a working one, but there were chickens to feed, cows to milk, gardening to attend to. Now the land for crops had been sold off, a little more each year, in the hopes she could keep the house. So, we didn’t go out much.”
“I get that; we didn’t either. My parents were out chasing their next high.” I stop at my declaration. I don’t talk about it much, but certainly, my childhood was nothing compared to hers. My hands tighten around the steering wheel, and I can’t look at her.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” It’s heartfelt, and when her hand grips my shoulder, her touch incites all the feelings this girl is stirring up in me, and it hits me how much I want her. I knew I did, but the idea of denying her will be almost impossible.
“Hey, there,” she continues, “your face is going to turn to stone, it’s so tight.” She rubs my arm, her touch not leaving me. “This isn’t a competition of whose childhood was shittier. I hope you know this. I want you to share it all with me. I want you to tell me what has hurt you in the past. You, by yourself, have been the beacon of hope, I’ve wanted in my life for so long. Let me be this for you.”
This girl—sassy, bratty, stubborn but sweet and strong and so many other things I can’t put into words—has broken me. I continue to drive because I’m a guy, and I don’t show emotions as others might. I can’t believe her words or the power behind them as if she’s just healed some of my shitty memories of my family.
“Honestly…” She pauses, and with one little squeeze, she releases her touch from me, and I miss it like I’d miss the A/C in this car on a late summer day. “My aunt did everything she could to give me the most normal childhood under the circumstances. She even had considered selling her farm and moving to Seattle, but she felt that in Seattle, I wouldn’t be able to move on as I could in a new setting. Mally loved me like I was her daughter, and though I had a mom, I thought of her as a second mom. Plus, she was my mother’s identical twin, so that sort of helped.”
She says the last part with a little bit of a chuckle accompanying it, and with all this girl has been dealt, she’s still living, but more than that, she’s thriving.
“Maybe one day I’ll open up about the shitshow that was my parents,” I admit.
Her hand connects with mine again. “Anytime, Wells. I’ll be here whenever you’re ready to talk.”
As if on cue, we’re at the beginning of the pass, and I pull over, touching the bottom of her chin to tip it