AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He swallowed hard and tried again. “I’m in AA. That’s where I’m going.”
Still nothing.
He let out a groan. “What?”
“I didn’t say anything. I’m glad you’re going.”
Dax’s hands tightened on the steering wheel and he tore off of the road and onto the shoulder. Shoving the truck into park, he turned on her. “Youknew?”
“No. I mean, I guess I had my suspicions. You were always a wild one when we were teenagers. And you cleaned yourself up a few years back. I guess now that you said it out loud, it makes a lot of sense.” She said it with such a matter-of-fact tone that he didn’t know how to respond.
All this time he thought he’d been keeping a secret from her that wasn’t really a secret. And there was zero judgment on her face—nothing in her tone of voice that suggested she was unhappy with his confession.
Dax blinked back the emotion that he’d been holding back. A weight of sorts had been lifted from his shoulders. There was someone who he cared about who was willing to accept him as he was, and the concept was freeing.
Brielle gestured toward the road. “Well, are you going to get going? I’m assuming these meetings happen at regularly scheduled intervals. You probably shouldn’t be late.”
* * *
Moonlight shonethrough the front window of his truck as he sat beside Brielle in the dark. He felt naked and alone in front of her. While it had been nice knowing that she wouldn’t judge him, there wasn’t much left for him to hide.
He glanced at her, then dragged his attention to his hands. “Thank you for coming with me.”
“Of course.”
“I’ve not been very stable lately.”
She snorted but didn’t say anything.
Dax continued. “I found out something about Sarah today that I was pretty upset about.”
Brielle’s eyes narrowed. “You did?”
He nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. “You’re never going to believe this, but she’s rich.” Dax had expected her to show at least some kind of surprise. But she didn’t. He scowled. “Did you knowthattoo?”
She lifted a shoulder. “Sarah said a few things to me before she left, and I promised not to say anything. But it’s bound to get out. People around here recognized her in that article.”
Just her mentioning the article made his stomach swirl unpleasantly. “I can’t believe that she tricked me.”
“What are you talking about? Sarah didn’t trick anyone.”
He glowered and faced forward once more. “She moved home for the money, Bri. If you read that article, you would see as clear as day the reason she left. If she didn’t pity us, she was definitely embarrassed by us. How much do you want to bet that she would pretend not to know us if we were to ever cross paths again?”
“Take that back. If you really think that’s how Sarah is, then you didn’t know her nearly as well as you thought you did.”
Brielle’s words were a slap in his face. He gaped at her, unsure of where to go next with this conversation.
She pulled one leg up onto the truck seat and turned to face him fully. “Sarah was a sweetheart who made a few bad decisions and fell for the wrong guy.”
His mouth dropped open. “I didn’t think I wasthatbad.”
“Not you, dummy. Kenneth.”
“Kenneth? Who in heaven’s name is Kenneth?”
“The jerk who’s blackmailing her.” Brielle slapped her hand over her mouth and shook her head.
“Blackmail?” He peered at Brielle and leaned toward her. “What are you talking about?”
