Fostering Hope by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mariah Kingsley

Chapter Two

Two

Gabriel Preston, or the man posing as Gabriel Preston, glared at me after we fishtailed onto the paved portion of the farm road.

“You owe me an explanation! I should’ve known when you had me driving these winding roads it wasn’t just to see how the car corners on rails like some cheesy movie quote.”

I shrugged the straps of my backpack off my shoulders and shifted the weight onto my lap. Shaky fingers fumbled to unzip the front pocket for the burner phone and card of minutes. I ignored his incredulous expression and shoved the pack into the back seat, then straightened my clothing and buckled my seatbelt.

“Should I call you Gabriel? Gabe? Preston?”

“Should I call you jail-bait?” he quipped back, eyes darting between me and the road. “Why else would someone pull a gun for a man being on the property when his daughter ran inside? Are you even old enough to work at the dealership, or is Lansing hiring under-aged girls for his private delight after the doors lock for the night?”

“Ew. Please, don’t insult me. I’m not a kid. I’m a grown-ass cliché, thank you very much. Lansing gave me a job and no, I didn’t go down on him for the opportunity, but I believe the way I dress and being young bumps his numbers. Stan’s jealous because his lack of boobs only takes him so far.”

“That or he wants to bang you.”

My nose shriveled.

“Who pulled the gun? Is he coming after us?” Gabriel’s gaze flitted back and forth to the rearview mirror and the waves of heat rising from the pavement we pounded.

“The man who pulled the gun isn’t my father. He’s a pervert who played me after I aged out of the foster system.”

Gabriel stretched his fingers on the wheel while his palms kept their grip. “Boyfriend? Husband?”

“Boyfriend who wanted me to marry him. He proposed to me at Applebee’s like it’s some cute country thing after that song. I was so shocked. He was on his knee. The whole restaurant was watching and waiting. I couldn’t even utter a word. No, no, no kept cycling through my brain. I shook my head by mistake. He was so humiliated when I didn’t say yes and throw my arms around his neck, after we got home, he created a hole in the wall with my head.”

Gabriel’s mouth opened, closed, opened, closed again. His eyes narrowed on the road. “I’m so sorry. Were you okay? That’s a dumb question. I’m not sure what I’m asking, but are you— were you— okay?”

I pointed to a scar on my forehead behind my bangs. “Seven stitches. Made me tell the doctor I fell down the stairs of our mobile home. You know, the steps in front of the door?”

He nodded. I watched his Adam’s apple bob behind his collar.

I stretched my forearm over the center console. “The next time I had to tell them I spilled boiling water on my arm when I was cooking.”

Gabriel glanced once, then twice at my scar.

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