Faster, I pumped into her, feeling her grip down around me and tense in my embrace. She cried out against my lips, and a tear fell down her cheek. So many emotions were spilling out of her, and I slowed down.
“No,” she said. “Please, don’t stop again.”
So, I hesitantly continued until I was about to explode. I wiped a stray tear from Mia’s cheek with my thumb and was about to pull out of her to come on her stomach when she wrapped her legs around my waist and pulled me down to her.
“Come inside of me,” she said.
I groaned in her ear and rested my forehead against hers, coming inside of her. She lightly moved her fingers over my jaw and gave me a sad smile. I took a deep breath, pulled her against my chest, and rolled us over until she was lying on me.
She stared down at me through huge brown eyes with tears streaming down her face, and I pushed each one away. I didn’t know how to feel. Part of me wanted to feel so damn good about breaking her and Mason up, but the other half of me was devastated that I had stooped so low to get Mia to make a difficult decision for herself. I had been the cause of these tears. I’d made her vulnerable.
“Michael,” she said. She grabbed my hand and placed it firmly on her chest, right above her heart, her fingers intertwined with mine. “I am so scared.” Her voice wasn’t more than a whisper. “What if he tries to do something to Mom? What if …” I could hear the questions coming right off her lips before she even said it. “What if something happens between us”—more tears—“and I end up on the streets?”
Her chest was rising and falling so harshly that I pulled her to me and refused to let her sit back up.
“Calm down, Mia,” I said into her ear. “Nothing will happen between us.”
“But-but what if … what if it does?” Her cries turned into hiccups. “You don’t know what will happen, and I don’t want to end up homeless with Mom. I won’t be able to support her. I can’t afford all these bills. I don’t have anyone to help me.”
“Mia, I promise you that I won’t let that happen,” I said.
Even if whatever we had ended between us and if Mia wanted nothing to do with me, I would never let her live alone on the streets. It wasn’t the type of person I had been for the last thirty-eight years. I’d be damned if I started to act like that now.
I could still feel the tension in her entire body, unsure if I was telling the truth, scared that I would leave her, terrified that I’d be another one of the men who treated her like garbage.
I pushed some hair out of her face and smiled up at her. “You have to promise me something too.”
She paused for a moment. “What?” she asked quietly.
The words almost didn’t come out. As much as I wanted to keep Mia forever, I didn’t want her to ever feel the way Mason had made her feel. I wanted her to be happy wherever she was or whoever she ended up with.
I sucked in a deep breath and parted my lips. “If you ever feel like you don’t want to be with me, please don’t lead me on. I know you had reasons to lead Mason on—not that he really respected you anyway—but if you don’t want me anymore, just tell me.” I could feel the heat crawling up my neck, and all those bad memories with Melissa’s mother ran through my mind.
Being broken up with was tough, even when you didn’t love the person anymore. But … being lied to about how someone truly felt … thinking that you were the world to someone, only to find out that they hadn’t felt like that about you for so long … that hurt so much more. And I didn’t want it to happen again. I couldn’t let it happen again.
“I will help you as much as you need even if you want to end it with me. Just don’t lead me on.”
Her hesitant eyes softened, and she curled her fingers into my chest, nodding her head. “Okay,” she whispered, bottom lip quivering. “I promise not to lead you on.” A strand of brown hair fell into her face. “I promise to give you my all, and … I promise to trust you.”
CHAPTER27
MIA
The next morning, I woke up in Michael’s bed with his arms wrapped around me, his nose in my hair, and his husky voice in my ear.
“Morning,” he mumbled, pulling me closer.
I took a deep breath, opened my eyes to stare at the cracked window, and smiled.
After our conversation last night and after crying my eyes out some more, I finally felt good about us. It was so difficult to trust him after what Dad had done to Mom and me and after what Mason—I was almost sure of—had done to me too. But Michael had proven to me time and time again that he wasn’t like Dad or Mason. He actually cared about me. And it was refreshing to wake up to someone who didn’t smell like another girl’s perfume.
“I need to go see Mom today,” I said.
He kissed below my ear. “Let me take you out to breakfast first.”
I rolled over to face him and smiled, watching his tired eyes open. “How about we get breakfast on the way?” I asked, pushing a strand of his hair off his forehead.
I didn’t want to waste much time anywhere else. This was the longest time I had spent away from Mom since she had gone back into the hospital, and I didn’t like the thought of Mason getting there to tell her what I had done before I did.
