Page 22 of Never Let Me Go

“I know,” she whispers, peeking up from the phone. “He has to know I’m gone by now.”

I nod. “He does.”

“Is he freaking out?” she asks, her voice shaking and it sends me into a rage. Nothing in this world makes me angrier than a woman with terror in her voice and tears in her eyes. I’ve seen way too much of it for my liking and I wish there was more I could do.

“You don’t need to worry about him anymore. We’re keeping a close eye on him and you are safe.”

She sighs. “Thank you again for this. I’m sure you have better things to do with your weekend than babysit me.”

“Don’t worry about it. We just want you to be safe.”

My phone starts ringing before she can reply and I growl when Tawny’s name pops up on the screen again. Leaning forward, I silence it as her gaze bores into the side of my head.

“Girl trouble?” she asks as the cab falls silent again. I scoff, my grip tightening on the wheel.

“Yeah, something like that.” I glance over and find her studying me with a curious expression.

“Wanna talk about it?”

I bark out a laugh. “No.”

“Oh, come on. We have to pass the time somehow and it’ll be nice to think about someone else’s mess for a little while… please?”

“Fine,” I grumble, rolling my eyes and she claps her hands before turning to face me on the bench seat.

“Okay, start at the beginning. How did you meet her?”

Reluctantly, I start telling her all about Tawny - how we met at a clubhouse party after she’d tried her hand with a few other guys and how it was only supposed to be casual but then she started getting attached.

“You know what I think?” she asks, interrupting me and I shake my head.

“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

She nods. “Yes, I am.”

“Go on, then. Tell me why I can’t pick a good woman.”

“Oh, you’re perfectly capable of picking a good woman. You just choose not to.”

Turning to her, I blink in confusion as I try to process her words but she doesn’t give me any time to respond.

“See, I think you want something real. I think you want the same thing your brothers have found but there’s something holding you back. You’re scared which is why you chose someone that you knew it would never work with. You sabotage yourself.”

I suck in a breath and turn back to the road in front of us. “I’m not afraid of a relationship.”

“Mmhmm,” she hums, turning to the front of the truck. “You can deny it all you want but you know I’m right. If you truly want something real and something that will last, you have to push yourself past whatever it is that scares the shit out of you.”

“How the hell did you get that I want something real from what I told you? I was only looking for something casual.”

“Then why the hell did you pick a woman that made it very clear she wanted a relationship?”

I open my mouth to reply but nothing comes out. Shit. Why did I choose to hook up with Tawny knowing she wanted more than just sex? It was a disaster from the start and I knew it. There was always that little voice in my head telling me what a bad idea it was but the loneliness forced that voice to shut the hell up real quick.

“Now, you just need to figure out what scares you so badly about being in a relationship.”

I grunt and shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m swearing off women until I get my shit together.”

“Yeah.” She laughs. “Good luck with that. I can’t tell you how many people I know who have said the same thing and the next thing you know, they’ve met their soul mate.”