I turn my head and lock eyes with Trevor willing him to believe me. I want this over. I want to go on with my life. He sighs and nods his head.
“We will meet you there.”
I look around Sunshine’s and the tears start to fall again. It looks almost as bad as it did the day I walked in. They have broken anything that could be broken and spray painted the yellow walls. Trevor turns me away and starts leading me towards the door.
As soon as we make it to the car, I climb in, he slams the door and I cringe. The ride to the police station is quiet and I spend the next hour answering questions and some of them I answer over and over.
Chapter Eleven
“Tay, wake up baby you’re having a bad dream.”
Trevor runs a cold rag over my head and I sit up in the bed. I am soaked in sweat and there are tears on my cheeks.
“Sorry.”
He lays the rag on the bed beside him and scoots closer.
“What were you dreaming about?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember.” I take a shaky breath and look up to Trevor.
“When is enough enough, Trevor?”
“What do you mean?”
“I am done. I am at my limit.”
“Taylor, we will make it through this. You have enough in the bank to fix Sunshine’s. They are in jail. They won’t be bothering you for a long time.”
“You’re not listening to me, Trevor. I am done with this. I’m tired of looking over my shoulder. All this town has brought us is one bad thing after another. When is it okay to say I have had enough?”
“The Taylor I know wouldn’t be saying this. The Taylor I know would be pissed and doing all she can to show them they can’t bring her down.”
Trevor looks at me with a look in his eyes I have never seen before. He knows I am done. He knows this is the point I would normally walk in a bar and ask for the biggest drink I could afford.
“The Taylor you know has lost a baby, lost a restaurant. I am sick of showing people they haven’t brought me down, Trevor. I want to wake up a wife who knows when I walk outside no one knows that I have been through hell. I have lost a child. I have sent four men to jail.”
“Taylor, look at me,” he puts a finger under my chin and lifts my eyes to his, “you sent no one to jail they sent themselves there.”
“Trevor, I am done.” I slide out of bed and walk in to the bathroom and step in the shower.
The water does nothing to comfort me as I slide to the bottom of the tub and let the water run over my body. I hear the door shut and watch as Trevor slides open the curtain letting water fall all over the floor.
“Taylor, we can pack up today and go somewhere new if that is what you want but what about Marshall and Joslynn? They have their family here and I know you would never walk away from them.”
“Don’t you think we have all had enough?”
He leans against the sink and looks at me saying nothing. I know that some have had it harder than I have and they’ve made it out on top. I thought I could be one of those people who gets pissed and kicks ass and comes out on top. I wanted to be one of those people.
“Come on, Tay. Let’s get you dried off. Joslynn and Marshall are on their way.”
He turns the water off and holds up a towel wrapping it around me when I step out of the bath. I can see the concerned look in his eyes like I am a wounded animal that will run at any time.
He wraps his arms around me and leads me to the bedroom where he has laid clothes out on the bed for me. I slide them on and walk past him to the living room where Marshall and Joslynn are waiting. I sit on the couch and say nothing.
“Are you okay, Taylor?”
“I’m fine.”
“Taylor, look at me.” Joslynn sits down beside me and wraps an arm around the back of the couch.
I look to her and she wipes the tears from my cheeks and smiles. She knows me well enough that I don’t have to say anything and she can tell all that I am thinking.
“I love you, Tay, and support you in anything that you decide to do. But I can’t leave here. My life is here. Their shop is here,” she motions to Marshall and Trevor, “you don’t give up. We don’t give up.”
“Joslynn, when is enough enough? Haven’t we been through enough bullshit? Don’t we deserve to be happy?”
“Look around you, Taylor. We are happy. We have amazing husbands who have finally opened their tattoo shop and it’s doing good.”
I look around the room and think about her words. Joslynn is the one person who can say something to me in my darkest time and make me see things in a whole new light.
“I know you might not want to open Sunshine’s again and that I can understand. I think it’s time for me to stay home and be a mommy to my little boy. I am missing out on all the small things I don’t want to miss. But I do not want to walk away from my home.”
I know Trevor is standing behind me waiting for me to say something. I turn my head and look behind me and he smiles.
“I don’t want to leave home either but Sunshine’s has been nothing but a headache since the day it opened. I don’t want that any more. I want to be the wife my husband comes home to and has food done and hot ready to eat.”
Trevor leans over the back of the couch with a smile of pride on his face and kisses my head. I lean back on the couch and look around the room. I don’t need Sunshine’s to be happy. I have all I need in the living room with me. I have a husband who loves me more than life. A best friend who has been there for me since I can remember and the meanest brother in law a girl could ask for.
Chapter Twelve
Janet decided she wanted Sunshine’s so we had the proper papers drawn up and I signed it over to her. I love going in and seeing all the new things she has done with it and hearing all the new plans that she has. She still calls me “my child” and begs me each day to come work for her.
“My child, do you miss it?” she asks sliding my plate in front of me.
I love that she kept it the way it was before they came in and destroyed it.
“I am loving being at home. I think Trevor is loving it too.”
“I am sure he is. Know that your job here is always available.”
She leans in and kisses my cheek and walks away leaving me to my food. Things have been a lot better in the weeks that I have started staying home. The men who wanted to scare and hurt me are spending a very long time in jail for old charges and present ones. It will be a very long time before they are able to walk around free again.
That does a lot to comfort me. Joslynn is enjoying being a stay at home mom. Lil man has started to walk and saying mommy all the time. Trevor and I have talked about trying again but right now I want to find myself in life.
I finish my breakfast and leave a tip for Janet. She smiles and waves as I walk out the door. I walk out with my head high and know that I have not given up. I have not made myself look like a coward. Being a stay at home wife is what I was made to do.
When I walk in the front door all the lights are off and the walls are lined with candles. I walk around the kitchen and follow the line of candles up the stairs and to our bedroom. Trevor is laying on the bed naked smiling. The candle light shining on his body casts shadows.
He doesn’t move or say a word he watches me as I walk around the room looking at the walls. On each wall is a piece of paper with something written on it – how much he loves me and how beautiful I am. I turn back to the bed with happy tears in my eyes and Trevor sits up on the bed.
“Take them off.” He motions to my clothes and I slide them off letting them fall to the floor.
I crawl on the bed and Trevor spends the night showing me all the ways each of the letters on the walls are true and so much more. I have never been so in love in all my life. I know that the man in front of me is the man I am supposed to spend the rest of my life with. I may not have all that I thought I would have by now but I have more than I could ever ask for and that is enough for
me. Trevor has given me life, given me a reason to live. He has Redeemed Me.
Acknowledgements
To my street team Thank you so much for being there with me since book one! And loving the Andrews family as much as I do!
To Krys thank you for being there for me from my very first book!
To Angie thank you for taking a chance on my books! And loving them!
To the readers thank you for reading my stories! I can't say thank you enough!!
To my husband who has been with me since book one, deals with late nights and early mornings, and listening to all my crazy ideas Thank you! I love you!
Other books by Salice Rodgers
Master May I Erotic Series
Master May I
Mistress A
Lilies
Deception of Annika
Say Something Series
Say Something
Forgive Me
Revive Me
Redeem Me
Contact Salice on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Salice-Rodgers
Redeem Me (Say Something Book 4) Page 5
