AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Plus, together, they had three daughters.
Three caring, empathetic, gorgeous daughters.
Reed took my legs and pulled them over his lap, his thumb stroking my thigh as he smiled. “Sounds like she would have been the person to sit you and Jade down and really figure out what the hell happened.”
I scoffed and shook my head. “If Maddie had been here, I doubt I’d have even entertained the idea of being with Chad. I think at the point where he came along, I was in a phase of trying to slap Band-Aids on the kind of heartache that really needed surgery and stitches. It was all about the quick fix.”
He nodded. “Makes sense. It was probably close to the time you accepted that full-time job at the library.”
I paused, my entire face scrunched and my nose wiggling back and forth as I did the math. “Yeah, actually. Within a year.”
“You’d had college to focus on for those few years after Maddie’s death, so you threw yourself into that because it was the best distraction.” Even as I heard him explain my life to me, it was like he was talking about someone else. “That kept you afloat. Then, when that was done, the holes in the boat began appearing, and you were scared of sinking. So, you clogged those holes with a boring job and a lame-ass boyfriend.”
It made sense.
Somuchfucking sense.
But I never would have seen it.
I thought I was being responsible, making myself a life that was foolproof with a sensible job and a good husband. They were smart choices—I was sure of it.
When, in fact, I’d been fighting to keep myself from drowning.
“Holy shit,” I cursed, my eyes wide and tears beginning to stream down my face as I stared at Reed. “I can’t… h-how did you—”
“Because you aren’t the only one who has done whatever was required to plug the holes in their sinking ship.”
I was already in Reed’s lap before he’d finished his sentence, my arms wrapped around his neck. He gathered me in his arms, and we held each other.
We could have been there for five seconds or five minutes.
I had no idea.
But I knew then that this was where I was meant to be.
Chapter Twenty-Five
VALEN
“Karl?”
“Yeah?” He called back from the front seat of the car as we pulled away from work.
“How long have you worked for Reed?” I asked, curiosity having got the best of me while I’d sat in the library on my break today.
The man was enigmatic. He didn’t say much. He was always around, and I’d never seen him in anything but a perfectly pressed suit. I’d made bets with myself about how old he was and whether he was once a secret service agent for the president.
He just hadthat look.
Broad shoulders.
Square jaw.
Dark glasses covering a consistent frown.
Most people thought he was only Reed’s driver, but not many people knew Karl was also his bodyguard. Reed liked to keep that part quiet, under the radar, because while Reed seemed like any other corporate CEO, he wasn’t immune to crazy.
I’d seen some of the emails and a few of the hand-delivered notes he had lying on his desk. People threatened to hurt him or his family if he bought certain real estate. Women swearing black and blue that they’d had one-night stands that resulted in babies—babies they were going to abort if he didn’t pay them a lot of money.
