It’s Saturday. We’re not even working today.
I throw the blankets back and get out of bed, my jaw clenching as I stomp towards the kitchen. I stop when I get there and stare at Silas, where he stands at the counter, pouring coffee into a mug.
He glances at me and cocks an eyebrow.
“Why the fuck are you awake?” I ask.
He huffs a laugh as he reaches for another mug. “Because it’s six AM.”
“Uh, no, actually, it’s not even six AM yet,” I shoot back. “And we’re not fucking working today.”
“Yeah, I know,” Silas says, turning towards me and holding out a mug of coffee. “That’s why I slept in.”
I just stare at him.
“This isn’t going to work,” I say with a shake of my head, and Silas just huffs, pressing the mug into my hands before he picks up his own and heads outside.
Fucking farmers.
I grab my sweatpants from the hallway floor and pull them on before following him outside, finding him sitting on the porch. He’s looking out at the trees as he sips his coffee, in justhis sweatpants and bare chest, and his hair is perfectly tousled from sex and sleep. The sun is just starting to rise and peek through the trees, casting a faint glow over him that makes him look like a fucking piece of art.
Alright… this isn’tthatbad.
Now I wish Winston were here to make this even more picture-perfect. But he stayed the night with Mom and Dad, and considering what went down here last night, that’s probably a good thing.
I flex my hand as I sit next to him and take a sip of my coffee, my knuckles feeling a bit sore and stiff from their impact with Ashton’s nose last night.
Anger flows through me at the memory of that prick, and I shift my attention to Silas to see him looking down at my hand.
“You ok?” I ask him.
He lifts his eyes to meet mine and draws his brows together. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” He gestures to my hand and then vaguely towards my torso. “Your hand and your… ass.”
I chuckle. “They’re actually both ok, considering. But…” I sigh. “I meant, about last night, and seeing Ashton. And what he said.”
Silas just shrugs. “It’s Ashton. What else would I expect?”
But I catch the shift in him as his eyes move back to the trees, and that distant look enters his gaze. The look I used to see all the time when he’d fade away because things got too hard, and too much to manage.
I saw the anger bubble up inside him when Ashton went after him, telling him no one wanted to deal with him. That he had to drag me back and knock me down so he wouldn’t be alone. Those words cutmedeep, so I know they hit him harder. That fucker weaselled right into a core wound and cut it open in an attempt to plant doubt and fear. And I hope it didn’t work.
I reach out and place a hand on his arm. “Si.”
He blinks and turns back to me.
“Talk to me,” I say.
He holds my gaze for a moment before he pulls in a breath. “A lot of people didn’t want to deal with me. Teachers sent me home, kids excluded me, Bell gave up trying… and I don’t blame them for it.” His eyes drop to his coffee in his lap. “But others are harder to forgive. Mom left to start a new family, and I haven’t spoken to her in years. And for two years, my biological mom left me alone in a crib to cry instead of loving me.”
My chest tightens and tears well in my eyes.
He said he learned about his past, but he never told me exactly what that was. Just that he was left alone a lot.
And that he was left in the dark…
Now that I know what that means, my heart is fucking breaking.
“But…” he continues, lifting his gaze to meet mine, “you never just dealt with me. I always knew it was more than that. For all the reasons people left, you stayed. And you loved me despite it all.”
