Page 52 of Inked Temptation
ChapterTwelve
Killian
I frowned down at the address on my phone and tried to talk myself out of what I was doing. However, I had gone through the painstakingly long process of finding Archer’s address, thanks to a friend.
Now I was standing in front of an apartment building in Fort Collins after leaving Cora with Penny. I had hated leaving her with Penny, and Cora had given me her sad puppy-dog eyes, and though she loved long car rides, I had needed this time alone to think. She was a great buffer between Archer and me. And I didn’t deserve that buffer. I needed a moment to think and to just figure out what the hell I wanted.
My phone buzzed and I picked it up, answering, grateful for the distraction.
“Let me guess. You’re standing outside of his apartment building, wondering if you should hold a boom box over your head?”
I smiled at Penny’s words and shook my head even though she couldn’t see me. “You know I only know what a boom box is because of that movie, right?”
“You haven’t even seen it in full. You just know memes. Also, you are old enough to have seen it. You’re not that much of a spring chicken.”
“Did you somehow call me an infant and old in the same sentence?” I asked, Penny’s words soothing me even though they didn’t make much sense. I trusted her with my dog and was grateful that I could hear her voice—because it was somebody. Somebody that wanted to talk to me that wasn’t Cora.
“I’m not sure I should go inside,” I whispered.
“Of course, you should go inside. You need to grovel to that young man and explain to him that you are a good person who just had a bad day.”
Although Penny didn’t know everything that had happened, she knew enough. Had seen me standing there after I had cleaned up, my face pale, sweat slicking my back since I hadn’t put my shirt back on.
She had seen me trying to make sense of everything, and not doing a good job of it.
“He’s not going to want to talk to me. He walked away, remember?”
“I don’t know exactly what happened in that kitchen, but in my not-spring-chicken ways, I can guess, Killian.”
I winced. “Please don’t guess.”
She chuckled roughly, but I didn’t smile. I was so fucking embarrassed. Not for Penny, but for the way that I had reacted. Because I had hurt Archer. I was here to apologize, but what more did I want beyond that? That was a problem. Something I probably should have figured out before I drove all the way the fuck out here.
“So, talk to me.”
“What do you want to know?” I asked softly.
“What are you going to say to him?”
“Well, since you’re calling, I was kind of hoping you had answers for me.”
“Killian, darling. I may have the answers to the universe, but I don’t have your answers here.”
“That doesn’t seem very fair.”
“Then here’s my answer. Life isn’t fair, but you can find goodness. Especially if you let yourself be that goodness.”
“You’re very confusing, you know,” I whispered.
“I know I am. But I’m that wise hippie woman in the mountains that shows up every once in a while with the good stuff.”
I snorted. “It’s legal out here now you know. You’re not so out of the ordinary.”
“I never was, child. I was extraordinary.”
“You still are.”
“See, that was a kind thing to say. Now, what are you going to say to him?”
