After that, I’d dragged him to the bar where I’d first realized I still loved him. I was kinda surprised they'd let us in.
“Money talks,zolotse,” my husband explained.
“And no one is going to say anything?”
He smiled mysteriously. “What would they say? No one saw anything.”
I shook my head. “That's crazy.”
“What's our first here? The first time I killed someone for you?” he asked.
“What? Targen! No!”
Although... was it? Did the guys on the roadside count?
“It's the first time I realized I still loved you,” I mumbled.
He frowned. “You don't look happy.”
I sipped my drink before looking at him. “I put a lot of effort into hating you.”
“You didn't wanna love a nigga, but I made you,” he said smugly.
I kissed my teeth. “You can't make nobody love you.”
Heated gray eyes bored into me. “All this work I put in, showing you love is action and not just a feeling? Yeah, shorty. I made you love me.”
I went quiet because he had a point.
Then came dinner and the letter… the letter I had spent three days rewriting because nothing sounded just right. The letter that was the first thing I'd ever written directly to him. He sat there and read all of it, twice. The second time he read some of it out loud.
“You stormed back into my life and started calling me your wife before I had agreed to be your anything.
You scared me.
You aggravated me.
You kidnapped me.
You bought me a house
You built me a perfect office.
You 'handled' people on my behalf, ahem.
But none of those are the reasons I love you.
I love you because every time I'm afraid, you stand between me and whatever scares me.
I love you because you learned and loved every scar on my body and never asked me to hide them.
I love you because I sleep through the night now. Before you, I had forgotten what that felt like.I love you because you’ve given me peace. I don’t have to look over my shoulder anymore. You keep me looking forward.”
And I swear his voice shook when he read, “In case no one told you, you deserve to be celebrated. Happy Birthday, husband!”
Finally, we were home. Somehow, I was more nervous than I had been all day. Targen glanced toward me as he turned off the truck.
“What you worried about?”
