Fighting for You: From Strangers to Fearless Lovers by Alessa Kelly

Author:Alessa Kelly [Kelly, Alessa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-01-12T16:00:00+00:00

20

JESSE

“You okay?” I observe River touching the scar on her forehead. We’ve just come back from the clinic.

She nods.

Apart from thanking me for taking her to Dr. Maxwell, and thanking the doctor for removing her stitches, she hasn’t said much.

“Would you like some tea?” I can’t believe I have a box of that pussy-flavored drink in my pantry. Apparently it’s peppermint, and River said it had a calming effect when she tried it at Caro’s place the other day. Perhaps today it might be my ally to help me lift her mood; something is clearly bothering her.

“No, thanks.”

“What are you thinking, River?”

She paces the kitchen, looking at anything other than me. Then she settles herself at one of the breakfast stools. “Jesse, if my dad died in that house in Thunder Hill, and I had been there. I think I will remember.” She straightens herself and looks into my eyes. “Please take me there.”

I know she’ll ask for this eventually, but it’s too soon. “Those bad guys will be watching the house, now that they know I was there,” I explain.

“They know I’m not dead. So wherever I am, at some point in time, sooner rather than later I’m sure, they will come and get me—whether I go to Thunder Hill or not.”

I shake my head.

“Fine.” She grits her teeth and turns away from me. “I’ll go there with or without you.”

I cock my head, trying to figure out where her annoyance came from. “Do you even remember how to drive?”

“Watch me!” She strides to the living room.

Mood swings—something that I’ve forgotten about, and will never understand. Perhaps that’s why I never last more than a few months with a girl before. I should’ve insisted that she have that tea.

She stops at the wall key hooks by the door, snatching the truck keys.

I palm her hand. Mood swings or not, I care about her, and I do want to help her find closure. “Alright! I’ll take you there.”

“Finally!” she cheers sarcastically.

I pull her away from the key hooks, clutching her hand. “But you will listen to every word I say.”

As she tries to withdraw from my hold, she eyeballs me, as if saying that’s ridiculous.

She’s being hardheaded, so I’m fighting her with my own stubbornness. I square my shoulders. “You’ll listen to every letter, every full stop and comma I say to you, okay?”

Knowing my decision will depend on her answer, she reluctantly agrees. “Fine.”

“If I tell you to run, you’ll run. If I tell you to hide, you’ll hide.”

“I said fine!”

“If I tell you to leave me, you’ll leave me.”

“What the hell, Jesse!”

“I won’t take you there if you don’t say yes.”

“No!” She escapes me and this time she manages to pull the keys off the hook. “What if you’re dying? I won’t leave you like that!”

I catch her hand. “Especially if I’m dying.”

A look of horror paints her face. She quavers, “I can’t, and I won’t, Jesse.”

“Then we stay.”

She growls, this time like a man. Maybe she has learned it from me.

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