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Remington smiled. “I think I would have enjoyed seeing that.”
“Probably. College was better, but two years in, my mom got sick. After a number of tests, she was diagnosed with myelofibrosis, a rare blood disorder where bone marrow scarring causes decreased blood cell production. She was in a lot of pain and too fatigued to continue working, so I left school and came home to take care of her.”
“I’m so sorry.” He took my hand and ran his thumb over the back of it. His touch was so soothing.
“I tried to find a full-time job, but she needed more care than I could give her in the hours left to me, so I did a few part-time gigs for minimum wage. Her disease progressed more quickly than average, and her best hope was a bone marrow transplant. I was in the midst of getting tested when she got pneumonia. Myelofibrosis makes patients more susceptible to infection, and she never recovered.”
Remington pulled me onto his lap. “Let me hold you while you talk.”
I nodded, swallowed hard, and kept going. “When she died, I lost the one person who’d always supported me. I was left with all the medical bills, no job, and crushing depression. She’d gotten behind on mortgage payments, and ultimately, I lost the house. I felt like I was drowning. I’d lost touch with my friends from college, and I didn’t have anyone in Birmingham I could rely on.”
I paused, and Remington ran his hand up and down my back. “It’s okay, cher. I’m going to make sure you’re taken care of now.”
I really wanted to believe that. “When I realized there was no way I could make enough money to get out of the hole I was in, I ran. My cousin told me he could give me a job here, so I used the last of my money on a train ticket. When I realized he wanted to be my pimp, I was too desperate to say no. I did what I had to, but it was awful until I met you.”
I’d fought hard not to cry, but the tears burning my eyes won out and began to roll down my cheeks. Remington wiped them away with his thumbs, but his gentle concern only made me cry harder.
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I don’t have any problem with the job you decided to take, but there are safer ways to do it. No one should have to be out on the street at the mercy of anyone who drives by, and no one should be pulled under by medical bills. Tell me what I can do to help.”
This dangerous man, who probably scared most people, could be so achingly sweet. “You’re already being very generous. The money I’m making with you will go a long way to get me back on my feet. I’ll find a way to deal with the collection agencies that are looking for me. I know I could talk to a debt counselor, but I wasn’t in a place where I could handle anything after I lost my mom.”
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him. “Of course you weren’t, cher. You were grieving. You deserved time for that.”
“I know, but… I just gave up and ran.”
“Sometimes getting out of a bad situation is all you can do.”
“But you seem like you’d never back down from anything.”
Remington shook his head. “In my line of work, I can’t show weakness, but that doesn’t mean I always choose a head-on confrontation.”
He held me, and I let myself sink into his strength as he stroked my hair. The sensation was soothing, hypnotic. When I’d cried myself out, he gently gripped my chin and made me look up at him. “I lost my mom when I was twelve. It was… I know what grief can do to you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. That was twenty-three years ago, and I didn’t have to deal with it on my own.”
I’d hated how alone I’d felt once my mom was gone. “We were never close to any other family. My mom’s parents disowned her when she married my dad, and obviously we didn’t have anything to do with my dad’s family. Mom had a sister who lived in Baton Rouge, but we rarely saw her.”
Remington kissed me then. His lips were soft and gentle, but I still felt warmth all the way to my toes.
“No one should have to go through what you did. What do you owe for the medical bills?”
I wasn’t going to tell him that. I didn’t want him thinking I was asking for more money. “The money you’re paying me for these weeks will make enough of a dent in it that I can get back on a payment schedule if I can find a job.”
