Page 75 of The Complete Truth Duet
It was all kinds of wrong.
I’d spent too long trying to escape that place to become content now.
But, with Penn, the days weren’t as long.
They weren’t as hard.
And I had more than enough reasons to smile.
But staying had never been an option. I had plans. Plans that used to be my only reason for survival.
Plans I now had to force myself to follow through with on a daily basis.
Life with Penn was comfortable: the one thing I couldn’t afford to be.
“What about the girls on the third floor?” he asked as we lay in bed later that night.
Unfortunately, we were fully clothed. River and Savannah were still awake, but my fingers, toes, and everything in between were crossed that the taco coma would consume them soon enough.
I lazily traced the defined ridge of his pec beneath his T-shirt. “What about them?”
“While back, you told me about the first- and second-floor girls. But not the third.”
“Oh. They’re the ones who want out,” I admitted.
“And you help them?”
“I do what I can, but ultimately, I’m only one person.”
“Bullshit. One person,” he breathed, catching my hand to stop the movement. “You do the work of an army around this place. You need to own that.”
“I don’t know. I feel like a racehorse with four broken legs most of the time.”
His hand spasmed around mine. “How many girls have you gotten out?”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “Forty-nine.”
He let out a low whistle. “That’s a lot of lives for a legless racehorse to save. But I can see how that would be hard on you.”
My head perked up. “Hard on me?”
“Yeah. Watching people achieve something you want. That can’t be easy.”
“It’s hands down the easiest thing I’ve done. Those girls. They were mine. Sure, they were the ones who ultimately made the decision to get out. Some went back to school. Some made amends with friends and family in exchange for a place to stay. Some got clean. Whatever it was, they did that. But I helped. So that, in its own way, freed me too.”
His face got soft, his eyes warming. “What would it take to make you free, Cora?”
I didn’t have to think. I knew the answer to this question better than anything else. “One million, one hundred thousand, six hundred, eighty-four dollars.”
His eyebrows shot up.
I offered him a tight smile. “And ninety-nine cents.”
His face was priceless. “Come again?”
I laughed. “Between high school equivalency programs, housing, new wardrobes, counseling, and a few rehab programs, that’s how much it would cost to free all the girls in the building.”
“I didn’t ask about the girls in the building. I asked about you.”
“Oh. Okay. Then only… One million, one hundred thousand, six hundred, eighty-four dollars. If I’m out of here too, I can forgo the ninety-nine cent celebratory candy bar from the Stop and Shop.”
He glowered. “I’m serious.”
“I’m serious too. If I just up and disappear one day, where does that leave them?”
“I’m not talking about Savannah and River. Obviously, they’d go with you. But the rest… They’re grown women.”
“Yeah. Most of them are. But age doesn’t dictate your situation. A person can be a hundred and five and still need help.”
His face twisted in disbelief. “So you’re telling me, if someone comes in here and offers you a life raft, you’re going to refuse it because it won’t fit thirty-plus women?”
I narrowed my eyes. “No. I didn’t say that at all. But you gotta understand: I spent too many years hoping and praying for a life raft. I found a few. But they all fell apart before I made it over the first wave. To get me out of this life, I’m going to need an ark. The kind you have to build on your own. Because, when I get out of here and get my feet under me, I’m coming back until every last girl is out.” I paused and offered him a half shrug. “And who knows? Maybe I’ll pick up a drowning man along the way.”
He scowled at me, lips pursed, forehead crinkled, and something between awe and absurdity dancing in his eyes.
I huffed. “Stop looking at me like I’m crazy. I—ooph,” Before I could get another word out, I was on my back.
Penn was on top of me, his upper body pinning me to the bed. “You are crazy, Cora. There’s no other way to look at you,” he rumbled as his mouth came down on my neck.
I gasped, slanting my head to the side while he slid a hand up my thigh to hook my leg around his hip.
“You’re also beautiful,” he murmured between kisses, the scruff on his jaw teasing a path for his hot breath coasting across my skin. “And so incredible that I can’t decide if I need to have you certified as insane or nominated for sainthood.”
