Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“I said it because it’s true.”
East sighs. “Being with me isn’t a flex, Arch. It’s not a good look for you.”
The thing is, I don’t really give a fuck what anyone thinks. Maybe at the beginning I thought it was a good idea to keep us on the down-low, but I don’t care about that anymore. And if people at work have a problem with it, we’ll figure that out too. East is more important than anything else. “I’m proud to be with you. Now—it’s nearly the end of October, and amazingly, it’s in the sixties. Soon it’ll be too cold to do shit like this. I want to enjoy the day with you.”
He drops his forehead against my stomach. I rest a hand on the back of his neck, tickling my fingers along his nape.
“See? Ruining me.”
“If you don’t want to go, we don’t have to.”
“I want to go, Archer. You make me want to do things or learn to do things I never thought I’d want. It’s still fucking with my head.” He stands, and then he presses a quick kiss to my lips. “It’ll be good for the dogs.”
He uses them as an excuse a lot, when he does things he’s unsure about or in good situations he doesn’t believe he deserves. I plan to do everything in my power to make things easier for him, but I can’t do it alone. East needs to want it, and he needs some help, but I’m too damn scared to bring it up.
“And I get to show you off,” I tease again, trying to find any moment I can to build him up.
“I’d rather you get me off.” He smirks, and I laugh.
“I’ll do that too. That’s my plan for the rest of the night when we get home.”
“Let’s get out of here, then. The sooner we leave, the sooner we come home.”
This time, our laughter mixes together, and we grab our things and the dogs’ leashes.
“Come on, guys. Archer is forcing us to socialize.” But before we go out the door, he grabs the shirts Meadow had made for them. He tosses Pretty Girl’s to me, and I put it on her while he does the same for Casanova. I love that he wants them to wear Meadow’s creation when they’re out around town. My heart already belongs to him, and it just endears him to me more.
We take his truck into town, the dogs excited in the cab. East parks behind Birchbark Grill and looks at me. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“I’m sure about everything when it comes to you.”
He shakes his head as if I’ve lost my mind but doesn’t argue. He gets out and reaches for Casanova as I take care of Pretty Girl. While Casanova is good with me, he still prefers East to anyone else. Pretty Girl’s more comfortable with other people.
It’s a fairly busy afternoon in downtown Birchbark, people walking around and enjoying the warmer weather like we are. I see people’s gazes go from me, to East, to the dogs, then back to me again. I’m surprised there haven’t been more rumors lately, but maybe since we spend most of our time at his house, it’s helped to keep them to a minimum. That won’t be the case after today, and I wait for the worry to kick in, to feel concern about my job, but I just can’t find it in myself to care.
The patio has propane heaters between the tables, and a few other people are there, one of the couples with a dog.
“Hi, Officer Thorn,” Chip Wallace says, he and his wife, Lori, looking at us. He’s about five years older than me, and I’ve known them both most of my life.
“Archer is fine. How are you both doing?”
“Not bad,” Lori replies. “Who are these two?” She reaches out a hand toward Casanova, who is closer to her. He ducks behind East’s legs, and East takes a step back with him, making sure Casanova has space. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean…”
“He was abused. He’s unsure about new people.” East kneels so he’s closer to Casanova.
“Oh, that’s terrible. I’m so glad he’s safe with you now,” Lori replies, and damned if East doesn’t cock his head, brows drawn together as if he’s thrown by Lori being grateful to him for anything.
East looks at Casanova again but speaks to her. “He’s getting better. We’re trying to socialize him. We take him to the dog park too.”
The way they look at me says they noticed East’s use of the word we, making us sound like the couple we are. I’m not sure if he knows he did it, but I can’t deny it fills me up the way only he can.
“This pretty girl loves people, though.” I maneuver myself so Lori can pet her.