Chasing Shade Part 21

'It would make sense,' she said. 'It would be logical.'

He laughed. Not at her, she could tell, but because he was baffled. She could see it on his face. 'Betsey, you taking time to say something to me is not going to change the fact that I love you. I love you. Period. That's it. It was fast but it was instant. Like being smacked by a tree limb.' He grinned. 'You're fine and then bam! You're reeling. You're my tree limb. You have me reeling. If you don't tell me you love me until I'm eighty, I'll still love you.'

He began to move again. Very, very slowly so that she found herself gasping for air.

'The only way you're getting rid of me is to tell me you don't want me around and that you want me to go away.'

'Don't go away,' she whispered. 'I just found you.'

He growled softly and withdrew from her. He pulled her hands off his neck and kissed his way quickly from her mouth to her p.u.s.s.y. His lips settled over her and he sucked roughly, licked softly and continued to alternate until she found her fingers warring with one another and her body slamming up to meet his wet tongue and soft lips. She came with a cry that blossomed into a sob. She was crying freely when he pushed her on to her belly and hiked her hips up high. He drove into her with a growl. It only took a few heartbeats and he was gripping her hips, saying her name, gruffly crying out his own o.r.g.a.s.m.

He emptied into her. Holding her steady and tight until they both started to s.h.i.+ver from the cold. The trailer didn't hold heat very well. None of them did.

She dropped to her belly. He covered them with a big quilt and very slowly began to unwind the twine from her wrists. Then he curled against her, held her in his arms and smoothed her hair.

'Are you hungry?' she asked, softly.

'For this,' he said. 'I'm hungry for this. Starving for you. We can eat later. Just let me hold you now.'

She gladly pressed herself to him, feeling the heat of his body. When she found herself dozing off she wasn't surprised at all. In Archie's arms was the most secure she'd ever felt in her whole life. Twenty-five wasn't old by any means, but it was old enough to recognise a good-good man when she saw one.

He insisted on dropping her off at the diner. He said it was because her hair was still wet from the shower, though Betsey thought it was more along the lines of what she was feeling as well. The urge to be with him every second she could.

'Are you coming in for breakfast?'

He shook his head. 'Can't. I have to deal with that woodpile behind some of the trailers. It's too big and folks apparently keep throwing their limb and stick debris back there. Anyway,' he said with a chuckle, 'rats. And Mrs Humphreys is freaking out, according to Charlie. So I'm going to tackle that while I wait for your s.h.i.+ft to end. Then I'm going to take you up to the prison.'

She felt cold down to her bones when he said it. The prison was someplace Betsey never thought she'd go.

'OK.' Her fingers felt numb with anxiety.

He took her hand and leaned in to kiss her. It was a nice kiss but no heat. If they let things heat up here, she'd never get to work and neither would he. It made her smile.

'It's going to be fine. You're going to figure out whatever it is you need to figure out. You'll know it when it happens and then you can make your decision. You amaze me,' he said, squeezing her fingers. When he held them, she could feel them.

Betsey laughed. 'I amaze you? I'm an amazing mess, maybe.'

'Nope. You have had a short life, a rough start when you were young, some...' He shrugged. 'Is "betrayals" a good word?'

'I think so.'

Archie nodded as if deciding something. 'You've had some betrayals and you've pieced together your own family, a nice life, and even had time to help out a stranger.' He grinned at her. 'A very handsome mysterious stranger.'

'I guess in the movie credits of my life that would be played by Archie Rader?'

'Yes, ma'am.'

She leaned over and kissed him. 'I thought so.'

'I'll be back after your s.h.i.+ft. Or maybe, if I get hungry enough, for lunch and then we can go.'

'I'll be here,' she said.

'You still don't have that crazy notion in your head that you're no good for me,' he said, snagging her arm with his big hand.

'I '

'Betsey, that's just crazy. I want you to take a squeegee and wipe that c.r.a.p out of your head.'

She smiled at him. 'I think it. But I am doing my best to banish those thoughts.'

'What makes you think that anyway?'

'That I'm no good for you?'

'Yeah.' There was tension in his jaw and she felt bad that she'd put it there.

'I don't know. I just feel like you came from some rough stuff. You need a nice normal life. A calm life. No drama.'

'Hmm, you mean boring?'

She snickered. 'No. I mean no bulls.h.i.+t.'

'Look, I'm a big boy. And you know what, before you know it, that monster will be dead and the drama will be gone.'

'I don't think the nightmares will ever go away. Not for good,' she said, suddenly serious.

He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. 'That's where I come in. I'm excellent at banis.h.i.+ng bad dreams.'

'But your life '

'Is my life. And I want you in it. So wipe that garbage out of your head now. That nonsense that you're bad for me. Betsey, you're the best thing that's happened to me in for ever.'

She blinked furiously, determined not to cry. 'I'm working on it, Archie,' she said.

He kissed her hand again. 'Good enough for me,' he said.

She stole one more kiss and then bolted into the diner, trying to figure out how she was going to get through this s.h.i.+ft. Both dreading it and antic.i.p.ating it.

Chapter 25.

Archie felt like the d.a.m.n day was taking for ever. He got directions from Charlie to the prison. The old man held his tongue, didn't ask why in the world he was going there. Archie was pretty sure Betsey would know how to get there, but, just in case, he didn't want to be sitting there like a dud wrangling with a map. And his GPS had gone along with his car...to his ex.

He cleaned out the dreadful tangle of branches and sticks, wearing large triple-thick leather gloves. He was pretty sure they were originally intended to be fireproof for dealing with logs in wood-burning stoves and fireplaces, but he'd found another use for them. He had no intention of getting bitten by a rodent on a day as important as this.

This visit to the prison could change the rest of Betsey's life. For the good. He wanted to be there and uninjured for it.

At one he took a fast shower and put on clean chinos and a flannel s.h.i.+rt. The day was grey and overcast but every once in a while the sun shot through the clouds and lit the whole place up. Then it was perfect. Bright and clear. Almost all the remaining leaves had fallen and carpeted the ground.

At ten to two he hopped in the truck and saluted Charlie, who had come out to watch him leave. He rolled down the window. 'I'll take care of the rest of that pile '

Charlie waved a hand at him. 'Meh, calm down, boy. You give me a full day's work every day. I've already had more work out of you than I ever did old Frank. Who knew all those years I was getting ripped off!' Then he cackled wildly and lit a cigar. The combination triggered a coughing fit.

Archie braked the truck to see if he was OK.

'Go, go!' Charlie croaked. 'This is normal.'

Archie sighed. 'Well, that's not good,' he muttered to himself, but he aimed the truck at the diner and off he went.

He picked at the lunch he ordered. Which was a shame, because the open-faced roast beef sandwich with fries was one of the best he'd ever had.

'Is it OK?'

He looked up into those eyes. My G.o.d, those gorgeous warm brown eyes. 'It's fine, Betsey.'

'You're making trails in it. That's what I used to do when I was a kid if something was awful.'

'I guess I'm not very hungry is all.'

She touched his shoulder. Archie leaned into that touch. 'Is it because of me?'

He smiled. 'It's more because of your field trip.'

Her mouth grew tight and he regretted saying it. 'Sorry.'

'Don't be. It's fine.'

'I guess I'm worried about you.'

'You don't have to be,' she said, wiping the already clean table. Archie could tell she was nervous. 'No one's '

He cut her off. It p.i.s.sed him off a little, how guarded she was with him. 'I know, Betsey. No one's cared for a very long time.'

Her big eyes grew larger. He'd startled her. Good. Maybe that's what she needed: to see him for what he was. Invested.

He didn't let her speak, he just kept going. 'So are you going to keep fighting me on that or are you going to accept it?' He rumpled his hair. He realised his hand was shaking a little. From adrenalin or frustration, he didn't know. 'I don't plan to go anywhere unless you make me, but G.o.dd.a.m.n it, it would make life much easier if you didn't remind me constantly that you don't need me and have been on your own all this time. Aren't you tired of being on your own yet?'

She opened her mouth and then closed it again. Her eyes were s.h.i.+ny. He was going to make her cry, Archie realised. Because he was a f.u.c.king prince.

He put his head in his hands. Sighed mightily. 'Because I am. I am tired of being on my own.'

'Do you want this wrapped up?' she asked softly, pulling the plate away from him.

'No. I've lost my appet.i.te,' he said.

She walked away without a word.

'Well,' he said to himself, rubbing his eyes like he could wipe away the vision of her on the verge of tears. After all this time he'd finally cracked at the worst possible moment. It just hurt him, more than he'd realised, how much she was fighting how she felt. He groaned softly. 'That went well.'

The jail was tall and grey and imposing. And loud. Archie figured she was mad at him, because they'd barely spoken on the way but for directions. It was when she took his hand in hers and squeezed that he realised she was not angry but scared.

He pulled her close and held her face in his hands. He kissed her while a guard looked on, not too amused. 'I'm sorry.'

'For what?'

The guard cleared his throat.

'For being an a.s.shole,' Archie said.

She laughed. It had a high, stressed quality to it. 'You weren't.'

'Oh, but I was. I'm better now.'

They showed him a place to wait and signed Betsey in. She left her purse with him and then went through a pat-down and various other hurdles before they'd let her in. She ran over and hugged him real fast before going through the door.

'Good luck, Betsey. You'll do great,' he said.

'I feel like I might throw up,' she said.

'If you do, he deserves it,' he said, keeping a straight face.

More nervous laughter and she kissed him again.

'Ma'am,' the guard said.

'Coming.'

'You can do it,' Archie said. 'You're in charge.'

He watched her walk off and tried to come to terms with how utterly helpless he felt.

Chapter 26.