Page 65 of The Complete Truth Duet
Earlier that week, I’d noticed she was running low on body wash while I was taking a shower at her place, so I’d picked it up while I was at the grocery store. She’d gotten all dewy-eyed and acted like I’d given her the world in that fucking three-dollar bottle of suds. I’d had to leave after she’d said thank you for the hundredth time for fear of exploding.
She deserved more.
She deserved better.
She deserved the fucking best.
Gaining Cora’s trust had been far easier than I’d ever thought because she expected so little from a man that just showing up every night had her falling in love with me.
And fuck me. Sitting there, experiencing the world through her reactions, bringing her that stupid soap, and watching her eyes dance with pure joy as I carried the top-of-the-line mattress that I’d told her had only cost three hundred dollars up to her apartment had me falling in love with her too.
Cora was far from naïve, but her bar was set so low in life that everything was new and magical. I couldn’t imagine the wonder that would have filled her eyes if I’d taken her to the beach, or overseas, or, fuck…to Ohio. She’d have been thrilled, laughing the whole time, bouncing up and down, racing from chain restaurant to chain restaurant like Cleveland was the new Paris.
And that shit was infectious—like the goddamn plague.
Because it was killing me.
Weeks earlier, I’d had an emotional meltdown from even contemplating spending time with that woman.
And now, every day, I was losing my mind figuring out how I was ever going to let her go.
It was safe to say Cora was no longer under my skin. She was a part of me. And regardless of how it ended—which was more than likely with me in a grave—she was going to flourish.
That meant not only did we have to make sure she got out of this okay, but that she, River, and Savannah got out of this okay.
I’d given those girls my word. I was keeping it.
I stopped with my boots and looked up at Drew. “I told you no matter the cost.”
“And I told you we’d make sure nothing blew back on her.”
“Not good enough anymore. I’ll follow through. I’ll find Catalina and her kid. I’ll do whatever I have to do. But, at the end of the day, I want her out of here. I want her in a fucking cushy pad where she can breathe free and easy, those two girls at her side.”
He raked a hand through the top of his short, brown hair. “No. No. No. We do not have the resources for that.”
Shooting to my feet, I pinned him with a glare. “I have the resources. And I’m getting them out of this mess as soon as possible.”
“Penn, she’s got a record. You know this. Cora’s staring down that third strike like a T-ball player facing a major league pitcher. And you’re gonna help her walk away with two runaways, one of whom is a junkie? That shit’s gonna catch up with her. And it’s gonna put her away for life. You’re not thinking straight. We can find Catalina’s daughter, then take Cora out of here. By herself.” He took a long step toward me. “Do not forget why we are here. You are not the savior in this story. It is not your responsibility to save those girls. I accepted your ‘nothing happens to Cora’ declaration, but this is one promise we can’t follow through on.”
When I was a kid, I used to stare at those optical illusion pictures until I went cross-eyed. I’d never been able to see the dolphin jumping out of the water or the palm tree on an island popping out in three dimensions. But every time I’d passed one of them at the mall, I always tried.
Right then, staring at Drew was a lot like that.
Only he was the palm tree in this scenario because the man in front of me, talking about leaving thirteen and sixteen-year-old girls behind, was not in any way, shape, or form the man I knew.
“Who are you right now?” I asked, tilting my head from side to side as if the picture would change.
“Who am I?” he repeated incredulously. His eyes flashed dark, and his face contorted with stone-cold fury. Hooking his thumb at his chest, he snarled, “I’m the man who spent two years rotting in prison, kissing Manuel Guerrero’s ass, all but dropping to my knees to suck his cock for one goddamn clue to find out who the hell killed my sister.”
“And she was my wife!” I moved fast, bumping my chest with his. “Vengeance does not mean turning your back on the rest of the world.”
He laughed, but it held no humor. “You need to get the fuck out of my face right now. I’m not going to let you screw this up over some fucked-up need to save these girls because you couldn’t save Lisa.”
