AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She threw her hands in the air and rushed around the chair, making her way back toward me. “I’m not trying to downplay the things you’ve been through or all the amazing things you’ve done. It’s j-just…” her voice began to crack, and I reached out, taking her hand and pulling her into my chest. She took another deep breath and looked up at me. “I watched Maddie go through this crisis after everything that happened to her. I watched her scream out for help, and the resources weren’t there to support her, and I couldn’t help with everything—”
“And you shouldn’t have been expected to,” I confirmed, brushing the hair back from her face.
She licked her lips. “I just wish there was more. And I know you do your best with the things you do. Paying for a whole hospital wing… holy shit, Reed.”
She was ranting.
I could see the fear in her eyes.
She thought she’d overstepped.
That I was waiting for my moment to tell her she was so damn wrong.
But…
“You’re not wrong,” I told her honestly, brushing my thumb over her cheek as I cradled her face in my palm. “And while I can’t promise I’m going to change my mind about this event, or even the next, I promise that in the future, I will be more aware of what I can do to use my influence to create more opportunities and help for people.”
Her body slumped, and she instantly leaned into me, tucking her head under my chin.
I couldn’t see her face, but I could feel her nodding. “Thank you. I’m sor—”
“Don’t you dare say you’re sorry for expressing your feelings,” I snapped.
A light laugh fell from her mouth. “Okay, I’m not sorry.”
“Good.”
She pulled back, pressing a soft kiss to my lips before taking a few steps back out of my arms. “I need to call Maddie,” she said, pulling her phone from her skirt pocket and holding it up with a sad smile. “I’ll just be a minute.”
“Take all the time you need.”
She already had it pressed to her ear, and I could hear it ring as she pulled my office door open and stepped outside.
I braced my hands on my desk, letting my shoulders slump and my head hang.
“Everything okay?” Martha asked from the open doorway.
“Yeah,” I answered, taking a couple of breaths before I finally looked up. “Everything is really good.”
Martha raised her brow like she wasn’t sure if I was being serious or sarcastic, but she soon nodded, “Okay,” and then she stepped away.
Having your thoughts challenged is never a fun experience. Honestly, I was exhausted but in the best way. We all had tunnel vision sometimes. We get set in our ways, and deviating from those can be scary, daunting, and make us defensive.
But when Valen crashed into my life a few weeks ago, I never considered how much my life could change. How much more of the world I’d be opened to.
New thoughts.
New ideas.
New experiences.
And I was pretty sure I never wanted to go back.
Chapter Sixteen
VALEN
“Hold it right there. You have another twelve seconds,” Abby warned me when my legs began to shake. A bead of sweat slipped down my face, tickling the skin and making me desperate to move and wipe it away. “Don’t you dare, or you’ll be doing another sixty,” she growled as if she knew the exact moment I was ready to give up.
