Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
“A beer sounds fantastic,” she told me.
I grabbed two, popped the top off both of them, then slid her one. She took it with a grateful smile. I leaned against the counter by the sink, my body turned to face her. “We should probably talk,” I started, wanting to ease into what I wanted to talk to her about.
She sighed. “I felt it coming all day.”
I snorted. “It’s nothing bad. I just… we really need to press charges against Zac while the statute of limitations is still in play.” She stared down at her beer. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. I set my beer on the counter, then crossed my arms over my chest. “I know it means a trial unless he pleads guilty, Trinity, but if you just let him walk away, he’s going to haunt you for the rest of your life. And if we don’t do something to stop him, he’ll just do this to another woman.”
She nodded. “I know,” she quietly responded. “I’ve been thinking about it, too. I’m terrified to go against him in court, but I can’t live with this fear.” She looked up at me with those pretty, brown eyes I adored so much. “I can’t do this alone, Jimmie.”
“Baby, you’ve always got me,” I promised her, hoping my tone revealed the conviction behind my words. “No matter what. That’s never changed, and it’s never going to change.”
Tears welled in her eyes, but my brave girl didn’t let them fall. “I’m so sorry I ever friend-zoned you.”
I barked out a laugh. “Trinity, we have a kid that’s literal proof I was never one hundred percent in the friend-zone.”
A small smile broke out across her lips, lighting her eyes up. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She shrugged one delicate shoulder. “Just now, I wonder where Wyatt and I would be if I’d just given you the opportunity you deserved when I found out I was pregnant. Instead, I just shoved you to the side and put up a twelve-foot wall between us.”
Yeah… she had. But I’d let her have what she wanted so long as she never kept me from Wyatt. And she never had. She and I even had a great friendship, and we coparented extremely well. After she’d fallen pregnant, she was right. She had friend-zoned me. But I had never pushed her boundaries. I’d done my best to respect them, even if I would have loved nothing more than to give Wyatt a two-parent household with his biological parents.
Because I firmly believed she and I could’ve made it work.
“Tell you what,” I said, grabbing up my beer bottle again. She looked at me expectantly. “If you ever decide you want to take me out the friend-zone, baby, just say the word. I’ve been game since the moment we met at that college party and you rode my dick like a fucking porn star.”
Her cheeks flamed all while she laughed, the sound like beautiful, soulful music as it filled the air. I winked at her, then headed for my room, looking at her over my shoulder. “I’m going to shower. If you can’t sleep again tonight, just come crawl in my bed. No judgment from me, and I won’t expect anything from you.”
She smiled a little. “Thank you, Jimmie.”
I just lifted my beer in acknowledgment before heading to my bedroom so I could strip, shower, and rub one out in case she did decide to come get in my bed tonight.
Fuck knew the last thing she needed was me getting a boner when she was only seeking comfort and security.
Chapter Ten
Jimmie
Propping my arm behind my head, I stared up at the ceiling fan, watching it go round and round while trying to lull myself to sleep with the repetitive motion. But I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t stop worrying about whether Trinity was sleeping. And if she was sleeping, was she truly resting, or was she having flashbacks and nightmares? If she wasn’t sleeping, would she come to me and let me hold her so she would feel safe enough to get the rest she needed?
Loving her was stressful, but I couldn’t not love her. It was fucking impossible. She was the sweetest woman I’d ever known, all while being headstrong and stubborn. There wasn’t anything she couldn’t accomplish if she put her mind to it. And seeing her be a mother to our son? Fuck, it rocked something deep in my core every fucking time.
Loving her was inevitable. I knew it the first time I ever slept with her, even if I refused to acknowledge it at the time.
I sighed and closed my eyes, but they popped right back open when my bedroom door slowly creaked open. Turning my head, I watched as Trinity stepped into my bedroom, quietly shutting the door back behind her with a barely audible shnick. When she turned to face me and saw I was, in fact, awake, she jumped in surprise, her hand slamming over her chest in fright as if doing so would somehow keep her heart where it was supposed to be.