Selfishly, I felt a little vindicated watching him share his truth with the man formerly known as his father. The trauma that man inflicted on his son kept us apart for way too long and I don’t think either of us will ever truly forgive him for that. Even so, we may be better off for it now. My head turns so my eyes can take in Demetria and my heart flutters. We wouldn’t have her if it weren’t for what we’ve already been through. So, I can’t find it in me to regret it completely.
Speaking of Demetria, we arrived in Kansas City a few hours ago. Our flight was delayed overnight, so we didn’t have time to check in at the hotel. Now we’re waiting outside the Kansas state Department of Licensing and RegulatoryAffairs or LARA for short.It's totally not ominous at all.Our appointment was at one this afternoon and we’ve now been waiting over an hour. Hurry up and wait is apparently the name of this game. Or they’re purposely trying to make me sweat. Considering why I’m here, the latter seems more likely.
My leg begins to shake and I look down to see it’s not my leg at all. It’s Demetria’s. Her knee is pressed to mine as her leg bounces up and down with impressive speed. I lay a hand against her thigh with a little pressure behind it and lean into her to whisper, “Hey, it’s alright. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it.”
The other leg joins the party now. “How can you say that? You don’t even know what they could do. What if they take you away from me?” Her legs still and her brows raise. With wide eyes, she slowly asks, “Oh my god. Could they send you to prison for this?”
Fucking hell.
“Demi, seriously?” Hayes interjects with a hint of a chuckle he’s clearly trying to hold back. “She’s not a fucking felon, for fuck sake.”
He’s right, what I did wasn’t criminal, it was just unethical. I groan internally.Why does that feel worse? Dirtier?
“I’m not a felon and I’m not going to prison,” I reassure her. “But I do have to answer for what I did.”
“I’m sorry I pushed you to cross the line with me, Raegan. I was so caught up in emotions I couldn’t purge, I wasn’t ab–”
I press a finger gently to her lips, interrupting her emotional spiral. “Don’t you fucking dare apologize. I made a choice and not a part of me regrets any second of my time with you. I do have to ask you a question though. Before we go in there.”
“Anything,” she says with a reassuring smile.
“Do you trust me?”
“You know I do.”
“I’m going to need you to remind yourself of that while we’re in there.”
Demetria
Her timing is fucking impeccable. Almost as soon as she finished asking me about trust issues, she was called into the room. A much larger room than I anticipated and it’s admittedly making me nervous. For us and for her.
“I love you,” she tells us both, kissing us each softly on the cheek. “I’ve got this. I promise.”
Hayes and I regard each other with curiosity before watching her slide up to the podium, front and center in the room. Ahead of her is a large desk that seats six people. Each of those people are looking through a file, silently while we wait with bated breath for what’s coming. I know she said she’s not going to prison, but this place looks an awful lot more like a courtroom than what I thought a licensing board room would look like. It doesn’t leave me with an easy feeling.
“If she says we should trust her,” Hayes says, breaking the silence and pulling my gaze from Raegan’s back. “We should trust her. Let’s sit.”
Hayes’s hand gives mine a light squeeze before he tugs me into the front row of seating where we can see everything clearly.
“You don’t understand. This ismyfucking fault. I know she says it isn’t, but it started with me… therefore it’s mine. She’s just saying it isn’t because she doesn’t want me to feel like shit.”
“You’re right.”
“Excuse me?” I whisper yell, rearing my head back for added effect.
Hayes’ eyes roll back in his skull. “You heard me, Babygirl. Sheistrying to spare you, but I can’t say I blame her. If I were in her shoes, I’d do the same thing. No doubt about it.”
My heart flutters at his words and I’m unable to stop the slight smile that’s working its way across my lips. Knowing they both would do something like this for me… is on another level from anything I’ve ever had.
“I just don’t want to lose her,” I admit as a single tear rolls down my face.
Hayes sighs heavily. “I know. Neither do I, trust me.”
Once the board members are finally finished reading their files, they all look up, appearing utterly disinterested and like they’d rather be anywhere else but here.That makes two of us… well, maybe four.
“Raegan Adler,” says the one on the far right. “Thank you for coming in today.”
I release the puff of air I’ve been holding in my cheeks for a little too long and Hayes reaches over to rub reassuring circles against the small of my back.
