Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 85725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
Horror hops onto her expression so fast it stumbles her backwards. “How fucking dare you.”
“I-”
“How fucking dare you let that miserable old hussy get in your head like that!”
“I-”
“Get between us like that!”
“Ja-”
“I didn’t just go toe to toe with one important man in my life to have the other suddenly forget that he matters too! That I have been fighting for this relationship every step of the way! From persuading you to take food from me to reminding you that I love you, that I’ve been in love with you basically from the first time I saw you smile, in every way I can think of! You are my person, Archer Cox.” She grabs a fist full of my white tee and yanks me closer to her. “You make me happy. You remind me it’s okay to make myself happy. And most importantly, taught me to just be me. The real me, not the one I spent so many years turning myself into.”
Shit…I almost fucked this up because of Mrs. Prescott, didn’t I? Fuck, I swear that woman is like the herpes she claims I have. Which I don’t. I’m completely clean in case you’ve forgotten.
Rather than say something sweet or sentimental like I probably should, I good naturedly taunt, “Did you really say hussy?”
Her infamous cringe crosses her face as it reddens. “I wanted to say harlot – you know, take it back like they do in some of the time traveling novels – but it just felt…wrong.”
“But hussy felt right?”
She shoots me a glare and playfully swats at my chest.
“Careful, woman. Don’t make me call the cops in here.” The two of us can’t hold in our laughs. “I mean they’re right outside.”
Like her father could hear the joke, he reenters the house, smug smirk wedged on his expression.
Fuck. Me. Should I be worried again?
“Perhaps being fingerprinted and behind bars for a few might do them both some good.” His hands find their way into his pants pockets. “We take domestic abuse claims very seriously in this city for both men and women. And the fact they’re both just so quick to make criminal accusations about one another as well as innocent bystanders isn’t something I think should be taken so lightly. Green and Hurst are taking them down to the precinct now.” Charles’s stare swings specifically to me. “And Green will be reprimanded for his procedural misconduct, Cox. Bullshit behaviors like that are a cancer in his career. One that I’m not afraid to cut out.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Now,” seeing his expression harden has dread stirring in my system once more, “I’ve got a couple questions I want answered before I leave this morning.”
“Can you make them quick?” Jaye sweetly interrupts. “We have therapy to get to in about an hour.”
“You’re in therapy again?” He cautiously investigates.
“I am, sir.” The proclamation is far from my favorite, but I know how important it is to own it. To embrace my progress even if it’s slower than I care to admit. “I suffer from anxiety and PTSD. Help wasn’t always available; however, now that it is, I am…learning…training myself to accept it.”
An impressed hum is presented. “And this help has come from my daughter?”
“Yes, sir.”
“She’s paying for it?”
“Until I can get a job, sir, at which point I will pay her back. Every. Single. Penny.”
“You will not,” Jaye huffs from my side.
“I have kept a financial track record, sir. From groceries to medical costs.”
“Archer!”
“Impressive,” Charles compliments on a slow nod.
“No!” My girlfriend unhappily squeaks. “That’s not impressive. That’s ridiculous! And unnecessary! And I won’t be accepting-”
“Why don’t you have a job yet, Cox? Dragging your heels? Enjoy being a handyman too much? Hoping to knock her up and just be a stay-at-home father?”
“Dad!”
“No one will hire me, sir.” Placing a hand on the small of Jaye’s back is done to wordlessly help her calm down. “I have applied for everything I can think of and continue to apply for everything we come across. We pick up applications practically everywhere we go, but I have not been called in for a single interview. It’s disheartening as fuck; however, I owe it to your daughter…to myself…to keep going. To keep trying. Jaye restored my faith in humanity, sir, and I will not let it go so easily.” My head tips a little higher. “While I hope to have steady work soon, I would like to note that I do make myself useful throughout the neighborhood whenever possible. Dog walking. Weed pulling. Furniture assembling. Hell, I even watched Dane’s kids for an hour, so he could run to the office to pick something up. Thankfully, they like books almost as much as Jaye does so it was easy.”
She giggles and wiggles herself closer to me.
“I love your daughter, sir. And I respect her. And I would never do anything to use or abuse her. I’d rather eat a bullet.”