Page 39 of Enforce This
Fuck, I needed this.
Chapter Twenty
Trista
He held me against him, like he thought someone might rip me from his arms when it was over. We lay there in silence for a long while.
“When—Uh—When are you supposed to be back in nursing school?”
It was a good question, but it made me sniffle and I started fighting tears all over again. “That’s over with…”
“What…Why?”
I took a breath and let it out on a huff without meaning to.
“Because of me?” he quietly asked.
I opened my mouth to speak, but my lungs fought me. I ended up heaving with a deep, ragged breath.
“Bullshit,” he challenged.
“Eric, I can’t miss. Nursing school isn’t like some flippant-ass psychology class. It isn’t one of those majors that you can sleep till noon and fuck off. You have to be focused. You have to be there every day. I missed yesterday.”
“Your mother and your sister-in-law were murdered.”
I quietly shook my head, and he watched the glow recede and reality come crashing back into my eyes.
“When is your next class?”
“Just drop it, okay?” I whispered.
“Tell me,” he insisted.
“I have to do a Labor and Delivery clinical at The Nokomis Community Hospital in the morning. Five in the morning to two in the afternoon,” I admitted. “It just sucks because I was so close… You know?”
I smiled and chewed on my lower lip. It was April, I was set to graduate in May.
His hand teased over the back of mine and he locked our fingers.
“How close?”
“Three weeks.” I choked up.
“Sasha’s funeral is tomorrow. I have to be there. Your brother will be aware that I have betrayed his order and who knows what the mafia might do… It would be for the best if you did go to a very public place and stayed there until I could collect you.”
“What are these mobsters going to do when they find out I’m not going to be marrying any of them?”
He smiled and hefted his brows, “I imagine it will be an interesting couple of weeks… They’re going to come whether we stress about them now or not. So– Why don’t we do something in the meanwhile?”
He grabbed his phone and started tapping out a message
When it lit up a few seconds later, he read whatever was sent back to him and then looked up at me with a smile.
“Get dressed.” He chirped, dropping a kiss on my forehead.
I just wanted to go to sleep and forget the world, but I nodded at his encouragement and trailed off to the bathroom. I returned dressed and refreshed a few moments later and we took the short drive across town to Carlin’s Diner.
He killed the engine, and a crossover pulled in next to us. I felt eyes on me before I saw the long haired, middle-aged woman peering from behind the wheel.