Page 9 of Infatuated as They Come (Sinful Trilogy #2)

“He needs time to settle down when he moves. Until then, he needed money, and there was no one here to help him with that. And you should be fucking excited for him,” I said, teeth gritted, “but again: no one in this family seems to care that he did something so good. When’s the last time one of us got into college? When has any of us ever got in?”

He pointed a finger at me. “You need to get everything back.”

Jesus Christ, he wasn’t listening. He had never listened. Not much had changed since the last time I saw him, but I had never expected a miracle from my dad.

“It’s gone,” I said bluntly. “It’s sold. It’s done.”

“So this is what you fucking do to me?” he asked. “I come back to an empty home and a useless fucking kid? You gonna buy me a new TV? New chairs? My bed is gone .”

I gestured lazily to the carpet. “You can sleep on the floor. It’s pretty comfortable.”

“When are you getting everything back?”

“Listen to me: I’m not gonna help you with a fuckin’ thing,” I said. “I’m leaving too.”

“No, you’re not.”

“There’s nothing keeping me here. I’m done. I’m leaving in a few days.”

He eyed me up and down with a smile. “What, you gonna tell me you got into college too? You? There’s no fucking way.”

“No, and I don’t want to go to college, but I managed to graduate too if you care at all.”

“I don’t.”

I laughed, the sound all dry and cold and bitter. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“You’re not leaving.”

“I am. Flight’s booked.”

“Flight?” He snorted. “This is a joke, right?”

“Nope.”

“You’re leaving with that girl? ”

“My girlfriend? Yeah. I am.”

“You’re gonna be back here in a week wishing you never sold all that shit, because I’m not letting you back in this place.”

“I don’t wanna come back. I told you: there’s nothing keeping me here anymore. School is over, Brodie’s leaving, and Holly’s coming with me. That’s it. It’s done. I’m done too.”

“That girl out there?” He pointed behind me. “That girl is gonna wake up one day and realize you don’t mean a fucking thing. You’re not important, son, and you never have been. Not to me, not to your mother who fucking left you the second she got the chance, and not to that girl.”

He wasn’t even drunk. I knew what that voice sounded like.

All grungy and slurred and loud. It was the same voice that used to scare me when I was a kid, when I was too small to fight back and before I learned how to do it.

It wasn’t the alcohol taking a toll on him.

Every single word he was saying was coming straight from the heart.

“… Is there anything else you wanna say to me?” I finally asked.

“Your mother should have taken you with her when she had the chance,” he barked out. “Too fucking bad she didn’t want to deal with your ass, huh? Too bad I got fucking stuck with you. You know what? I’m glad you’re leaving.”

“Yeah, me too.” I nodded, turning on my heels and moving into the hallway. My eyes found the bluebells on the floor, the petals all crushed and flattened, and the sight cut right through me for some reason.

I quickly grabbed Brodie’s bags from his room—he had been packed and ready to go for weeks now—and whatever clothes he had lying around.

Then I grabbed my stuff. Giving my room one last, lingering look, I moved back into the living room.

My dad was leaning up against the counter, huffing deeply as I threw the bags to the floor.

“You’ll be back before the month is over,” he said. “I’m not letting you back inside this place, not if you leave. You leave, I’m fucking done with you forever.”

Digging my hand into the pocket of my jeans, I took the keys to the trailer out and threw them to the counter. “You were done with me a long time ago.”

“Can you blame me?”

“Earl was meant to pick up the keys in a few days. I’m sure you can talk him into signing a new lease.”

“And what if I can’t? You gonna help me find some place to stay? Or do you not give a single fuck about what happens to me?”

“He’s not gonna say no. Just ask Earl to give you some time to—”

“You’re just gonna fucking leave?” he asked, storming up to me in what felt like a second flat. “That’s it? You’re going? Just like that?”

“Yeah,” I said simply.

“You’re not gonna make her happy.”

Pushing a hand through my hair roughly, I felt his words pierce at me more than I cared to admit.

“I can’t give her everything. I know that already.

People keep reminding me like I’m a fucking idiot, but I know, okay?

I don’t think I can give her the world. I wish I could, but even though I can’t, I’m still gonna do everything I can to look after her and make her happy. That’s all I wanna do.”

For a long while, he kept quiet. He just stared at me, eyes lighting up, like he was enjoying being in the middle of an argument with me. “Do you know why your mom left?” he finally asked.

“Because she hated me?” I offered. “Yeah, you told me a thousand times.”

“She left because of the same reason that girl is gonna leave.”

My head shook. “I’d never treat Holly the way you treated Mom. I’d never lay a finger on her. Ever.”

“She took off because she wasn’t happy with this life. She wasn’t happy with me, with you, with everything. The woman was fussy as hell. Probably still is.”

“She left because you couldn’t go a fucking day without putting your hands on her.”

He stepped closer to me. “You wanna know what her last words to me were?”

“Whatever they were, you deserved them.”

“There’s no future with a poor man. That’s what she said to me. ”

My eyes narrowed. “No, she didn’t.”

“Oh, yes, she fucking did,” he said with a harsh laugh. “And guess what? That girl’s gonna say the same thing to you.”

“She never said that,” I muttered.

“You weren’t even here when she left!” he cried out. “Don’t you remember how it all went? You need me to remind you what happened?”

“No, I don’t need a fucking reminder.” I rubbed at the back of my neck, wishing the memory wasn’t so vivid. Me coming home from school expecting to see her smiling face, and then never getting a glimpse of her again for the rest of my life. I didn’t want to remember or feel any of that.

“That’s what she told me. And she meant every word of it. Don’t be surprised if your girlfriend feels the same way. In fact, I’m willing to bet that she does. Girls like that love money, and you’ve barely got any of that.”

“Mom didn’t leave because—”

“Those were her exact words when she left, right before she packed her bags. There’s no future with a poor man. And last time I checked, you were plenty fucking poor.” He moved past me, his shoulder knocking into mine as he made his way back down the hallway.

Sharp breath leaving my mouth, I grabbed the bags, pushed open the door and made my way back to my truck.

I was dumb for having any kind of conversation with him, especially one about Mom.

Everything about her always cut deep and he knew it.

I missed her. I barely knew her and I still missed her, but then I winced as those words kept repeating in my head.

There’s no future with a poor man. That one simple sentence shouldn’t have rattled me as much as it did.

Pushing those feelings aside, I dumped the bags into the back of the truck. When I slid into the front seat with Holly, her hand landed on my thigh the second I shut the door.

“Are you okay?” we both said at the same time.

My eyes searched her face, some weird, deep paranoia seeping inside of me. He hadn’t touched her, hadn’t gotten close enough, but for some reason, I found myself looking for cuts and bruises.

“Are you okay?” I asked again. “Are you alright? Are you—”

“Sawyer, stop,” she said, worry there in her eyes. She pushed her other hand through my hair, her fingers light. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m just… Nothing, I’m fine. You sure you’re good?”

“Sawyer, what he said earlier… None of that’s true,” she said softly. “About me leaving. That’s not going to happen.”

Her words sounded oh so believable, but they weren’t sinking in.

Not completely. Her fingers pushed into my hair more, her movements soft.

She was everything I wasn’t used to. Warm words and gentle touches.

Kisses to my lips and my cheeks, her hand always finding mine just like I always wanted to find hers.

They were small things. Tiny, little gestures that she and everyone else might have been used to, but they were so foreign to me.

I still wasn’t completely used to how much warmth she brought into my life.

“There’s no one better than you.” She pressed her lips to the side of my mouth, hands still tangled up in my hair.

“I could never want anyone else but you, Sawyer. And this time next week, you’re gonna be far away from him, and everything’s gonna be so much better for you.

Everything’s gonna change. I know it will. ”

I turned so I could kiss her. Softly and slowly, like it could have been the last time, like she was made of fucking glass, like she was gonna disappear right there in front of me and never come back.

My hand landed on her waist, holding her softly as I kissed her, still so fully aware of how out of place she looked sitting next to me. I was everything she wasn’t supposed to want, but there she was, practically sitting on my lap as she kissed me right back.

“Brodie can’t stay here,” I said when we pulled away from each other. “My dad’s never hurt him, but he’s pissed I’m leaving. It’ll get messy.”

Holly squeezed my hand. “I get it. We’ll go find somewhere for you guys to stay. We’ll go find a hotel.”

I’d have to pay for a good few nights until my flight to New York and Brodie’s flight to Boston, so I couldn’t afford a hotel. Not when I was still saving for New York, for everything that was about to happen. Not when he just said all that shit to me .

“A motel might be better…” I said.

“I can pay for you. I can pay for the both of you.”

“You don’t have to do that. A motel’s fine. But…” I yanked my phone out of my pocket. It was close to six. “We were supposed to leave for your dinner right now.”

“It’s okay, we’ll pick Brodie up and find a place to stay. That’s more important.”

“You’re important too. Your birthday’s important.”

“It’s fine. Forget about dinner.”

I turned to look at her. “We’re gonna miss the reservation if we don’t leave now.”

“I don’t mind if we miss it.”

“That place cancels your reservation if you’re late.”

“I know.”

“We’ll pick Brodie up quick and—”

“Sawyer, it’s okay.” She cut me off with her soft voice. Soft, but strained. I could hear it in her words, that tiny crack, and I hated that he had made her feel even the tiniest bit of worry or fear. “I promise it’s okay.”

“Let me call Brodie and see where he is. He can’t come back here when my dad’s this pissed. Then we’ll quickly drive to the restaurant and you can get whatever you want.”

“We don’t have to go. I won’t be mad or anything.”

“It’s your birthday. I don’t want him to ruin that.” My fingers moved to the steering wheel, gripping it tight. “He ruins fuckin’ everything. I don’t want him to ruin your night too.”

“Today was amazing and I loved every second of it,” she said. “I mean, before that happened. That was more than enough for me. We can have dinner at the hotel.”

“Motel, Holly. You’re not paying.”

“We’ll have dinner wherever you stay.”

I looked ahead of me. The trailer park was pretty busy.

It was nice weather and some of the kids were playing outside.

I wondered if Lindsey’s kids would be coming out soon; they usually liked to hang out the front when it got hot.

My eyes moved everywhere but to Holly’s face.

To the old, chain link fence to my left that had way too many holes and then to the white trailer further down that Earl used as his office and the trailer further down that had all the washing machines and dryers.

A big part of me was gonna miss it and the people.

How will I even get to say goodbye to everyone now if I was leaving so soon?

I’d have to come back tomorrow or something.

“I love you, Holly,” I said as I turned to her. “Love you a lot.”

She tucked her face into my neck, her skin all soft against me. “I love you too.”