I glance at her and force my thoughts back to safer ground.“Hey,” I say, voice low, casual—like I’m not trying to keep from reaching over and tracing her thigh with my fingertips. “You remember when we first met? I think I was fifteen, and you were what—thirteen?”“Yeah,” she beams at me, eyes catching the soft glow of the dashboard lights. “It was a cold winter night. Trent brought you home with your two little siblings—Jack and Dory. How could I ever forget that night?”I nod, letting the memory tug me back.“My dad had been on another drunken rampage,” I say, the words falling heavier than I mean them to. “He’d already been going at me and Mom, and then he turned on the twins. Jesus, they were only five. He’d have put them in the hospital or worse. I couldn’t let that happen.”She doesn’t interrupt, just listens—eyes soft, hands folded in her lap, like she’s hearing it for the first time even though she already knows every beat of the story.“I wasn’t some strong kid back then. Ju
Last Updated : 2025-08-07 Read more