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She tossed something on my stomach, and I looked down to see the letter I’d written to her mom, accusing her daughter of incest. Underneath it was the letter I’d written to Rowdy’s parents with the same message and another to the radio station.
She sneered down at me. “I guess all’s fair in love and war, huh?”
My lips parted, and I lay frozen while Atlas lifted the gasoline can I didn’t know she was holding and tipped it over. I was helpless to move as she doused me in gas, so I screamed. I cried for help as loud as I could, not caring if Rowdy shot me. It would actually be a blessing if he did.
But he didn’t.
I looked into the eyes of the man I had loved my entire life, and for the first time, I found a soulless monster staring back at me. He didn’t love me, didn’t care for me even a little bit. If only I had realized it sooner.
“A-A-Atlas…Atlas, please! It was never my intention to hurt you! I just wanted—”
“I understand, Professor. I used to think grief made you do things, but love…” She looked back at Rowdy, and he stared back at her, his green eyes softening as they watched each other. “Love will have you follow it into the depths of hell if that’s what it takes.”
She tossed the can aside and lit a match while my mouth parted in horror. Our gazes met briefly over the flame, and then she said, “See you in hell, Professor.”
Atlas tossed the match, and all I knew was pain.
Iburst through the doors of Pride of Kings, escaping the freezing winter rain I’d traveled through to get here. Tuesday stared after me, wide-eyed, but didn’t try to stop me as I went through the blue door that led into the workshop.
It felt like déjà vu.
“Owen! Owen! Owen! Owen! Owen! Owen! Owen!”
Big Punisher’s “Still not a Player” was blasting through the speakers, but my voice still carried, drawing the attention of the other mechanics as I ran past their stations until I reached Rowdy.
Hearing me, he climbed out of the black Ford F-150 he was working on and caught me when I slammed into him.
“What’s up, Dream? What is it? Someone fucked with you? Let me get my gun.” I caught his arm when he turned to do just that.
So crazy.
I wouldn’t have him any other way.
Panting, I wordlessly held up the sealed blue envelope I’d been clutching for dear life all the way from home. “It’s here,” I told him when I finally caught my breath.
“It’s here,” he echoed slowly, still not catching on. The light went off in his head when I nodded and bounced up and down on my toes. His next breath left him in a rush. “About fucking time.”
What we thought would take weeks had takenmonths,and it was finally here. The answer to if God had either blessed our union or forsaken it. We’d already had our appointment with the lab and were still waiting for those results to reconfirm the ones that were already in my hand.
“Well, what does it say? Did you open it?”
“No. I wanted to wait for you.” Our eyes met, and we both seemed to ask each other the same question. Do we, or don’t we? “It worked for a while,” I whispered eventually. “But we can’t stay, Owen. We can’t live in the gray. We don’t belong here. I had a father. I don’t need another. I’m going to love you no matter what.”
Rowdy sucked in a breath, pushed me against the truck, and laid his forehead against mine. “And I’m going to marry you someday, Dream. No matter what.”
I swallowed down the pain of the happiness his promise had evoked. “So we do this.”
He pecked my lips. “We do this.”
“Together.”
“Together.”
“What’s going on?” Roc’s nosy ass had ambled over before I could open the envelope.
A light bulb went off in my head, and I pushed Rowdy aside and thrust the envelope out at his boy. “Open this.”
Roc’s ignorant ass looked me up and down. “Your hands don’t look broke.”
