AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My mouth drops open just as my heart sinks. I double over, falling back onto the couch. Reese sits by my side and takes me in her arms. “There has to be some explanation for this.”
“Yeah, like he’s a thief and a liar,” Liz says.
“Aunt Liz, this is a closed file. How did you get it?”
“Does it matter?” Liz asks her.
“Yes, it does. Why was it cleared? Why did he do it in the first place?” Reese turns to me and takes my hand. “Mom, you need to talk to him.”
Shaking my head numbly, I think of how close I came to opening myself to him. Not close. I actually did it.
“Liz is right. It doesn’t matter.” I pull Reese to me and kiss the top of her head. “Good night, kid. Tomorrow’s gonna be a long day.” Looking at Liz, I muscle a smile into place. “Thank you for always looking out for me, Lizard.”
“Kitten, I’m sorry.”
“For what? He was just some guy anyway,” I throw over my shoulder as I walk away.
Dean’s promise to sleep in my bed tomorrow makes it near impossible to sleep tonight. Ten o’clock comes and goes, and so does eleven. Tick tock goes the clock in my head, because the one on my nightstand is digital and says nothing. Though it is bright. Red filters through my eyelids and straight to my brain.
“Stop it!” I yell at the time that’s doesn’t stop, and pulling off a sock, throw it over the screen so I don’t have to see it anymore.
It’s pointless. Because it’s not the clock that’s keeping me awake. It’s him. Dean, with his green eyes, sexy smile and seductive promises. I should have known better. No one is perfect, but his flaw is a pretty damned big one.
Reese thinks I should ask him about it. What would I ask? In fact, what could he answer that would make me think of him as something other than a thief?
Why did he do it? Better yet, why did the Cooper family take him in?
Ugh! I don’t care, get out of my head!
I’m angry at him. Angrier at myself because the thought of the empty bed tomorrow night, makes me ache. Even knowing what he’s done, I want him in it.
This is the kind of shit that happens when you let your guard down. Confusion, hurt, and an unexplained willingness to make excuses for someone’s poor decisions so that you don’t have to shut them out.
Sometime after midnight I finally drift off, but even in sleep I can’t escape my wrecked emotions. Dreams of a young thief fill the night, where he comes in to steal away all of my hopes and aspirations, along with my heart. And I let him.
