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And now, she wanted to ease that ache.
She wanted to believe it wasn’t true.
I wasn’t sure she was going to get the answers she needed, but I was going to help her find them.
“Valen,” I tried again when she didn’t even look up at me from the book she was reading. “Excuse me,Mrs. Lawson.”
Valen almost leaped out of her skin. She scrambled to catch the book she was reading, which bounced out of her hands a couple of times before she finally held it tight in her grasp. “Jesus Christ, Reed,” she hissed in this angry whisper tone I’d become used to over the past couple of weeks when I’d come to pick her up after work.
Apparently, I caused a commotion.
I didn’t notice it much myself, but maybe I’d learned how to zone out the sound of clicking cameras and excited whispers of Boston University kids as they watched on, pretending to be studying or searching for books. I didn’t often get this much attention, but since news dropped about Valen and my scandalous shotgun wedding and Valen leaving her boyfriend for me—it all seemed like the magazines and social media had labeled us ‘the most wanted,’ and everyone was looking for an opportunity to snap a shot.
“Mrs. Lawson,” I said again. The term had become a running joke between us since Bronson and my event. “We have somewhere to be.”
She looked up at me with her face scrunched in confusion. “We have somewhere to be?”
“We do.”
“Where?”
I leaned in, lowering my voice, “Across town, so if you don’t move that sexy ass, we’re going to be late.”
A couple of college kids peeked around corners, and others blatantly watched as I rounded up my wife. Valen hated it. The attention wasn’t her favorite part of all this, which I knew for sure.
And I could choose not to torture her.
I could simply let Karl pick her up.
Make things a little less dramatic.
But then I wouldn’t get to see that cute frown on her face as she attempted to scold me for, once again, invading her space. And then the smile that came next when I told her I didn’t give a shit. Let’s face it—I was going to do it anyway.
“I’ll just go get my stuff.” Valen finally got to her feet, rolling her eyes as she reached over the desk. “I’ll be back in a minute,” she said, slamming her book against my chest and flashing me a smile.
It was only a few minutes later she walked out, struggling with her bag and another pile of six or so books she was attempting to balance in her arms.
“Jesus,” I muttered, hurrying around the desk and easing the books from her arms, placing the one I was already holding on the top. “Did you leave any for anyone else?”
She let out an exhausted laugh as we finally made our way out of the front foyer and through the large double doors that led outside. “I’m making up for lost time, I guess you could say,” she explained as she walked beside me down the sidewalk to my car. “Chad didn’t like me readingdirty books,” she said simply, her tone mocking.
I choked out a laugh. “What?”
“He always said the relationships and the sex were all unrealistic.” By the way she spat the words out, I could tell it was something she’d been told time after time. The intention was to make her feel embarrassed and stupid for wanting to believe there might even remotely be men out there who would treat their women like prized possessions, even during sex.
“Chad was scared because he knew he could never please you in this kind of way,” I told her, tapping my finger on the stack in my hands. “Fuck! This shit makes me want to go back to the other night and beat the crap out of him all over again.”
Valen sighed heavily, leaning back against my car as we stopped beside it. “I can’t believe I let his idiotic opinions and shit impact my life. I love to read. It’s really been the only constant in my life since I was really little, being able to pick up a book and become lost in it. But I didn’t read much while we were together. Stupid, really.”
“It’s not stupid,” I argued, putting the books on the trunk of my car and stepping around in front of her, brushing the stray strands of hair away from her face. I hooked my finger under her chin and pulled at her lip with my thumb, tugging it from between her teeth where she was attempting to chew it off. “Eventually, you’ll get past the damage he did. He thought he was gonna mold and break you into this woman he wanted. Meek and submissive.”
Her eyes fell closed for a few seconds, and she shook her head. “I really couldn’t see it, you know. Or maybe I just chose not to. God!” Her eyes flew open, her brow creased and pinched in anger between her eyes, though she still let out a sharp laugh. “Do we have to go to this appointment? Maybe we can swing by Dolores’ Diner and get some pie—”
I leaned in, grabbed her face with my hands, and quickly captured her mouth, cutting her off.
She reached for me, slipping her hands inside my suit jacket and taking hold of my waist, steadying herself as I pulled her toward me.
I could feel her smile as we kissed, and as I pulled back, a happy sigh fell from her lips. “Thanks,” she whispered, curling her hand around my jaw and scratching her fingernails over the rough bristles I hadn’t shaved off this morning.
