5. Faith
five
Faith
R un!
My fight or flight response kicks in, and I do what I do best—I run.
This can’t be happening. Just when I thought something good might happen in my life, my father had to ruin it again. There’s no way Nate will want me after hearing about my messed-up family. He would be much better off if he let Mrs. Holt sign him up for a dating service.
I push through the crowd of children and parents, putting as much distance as possible between Nate and me.
I have a little money saved. It should be enough for a bus ticket and a cheap place to stay until I can get a new job in a new town.
Only a few more steps, and I’ll be at the carnival entrance.
Luckily, the bakery is within walking distance.
Even if it wasn’t, walking is my only option—I left my purse back at the bakery truck, which held what little cash I had, and I don’t have a phone, so I would have no way to call or even pay for a taxi. And hitchhiking doesn’t appeal to me.
I reach the entrance but stop to catch my breath when an arm snakes around my waist, pulling me tight against a warm, hard chest. “You need to stop running from me, Angel.” My damn body betrays me as I melt against Nate’s body at the sound of his voice.
“Maybe you should stop chasing after me.” I lean into his touch, feeling safe again in his arms.
“Never, Faith.” He kisses the top of my head. “Please talk to me.” The pleading tone in his voice breaks me.
He’s right. I owe him an explanation. Not caring who’s around or whether anyone can hear, I spill my story.
“My father was a good man until my mother left us when I was five. Because I look like her, not him, he took his anger out on me. Never physically, but definitely mentally. When I was younger, I was afraid to ask any of my teachers for help. As I grew older, I thought that once I graduated from high school, I would be able to find a job and move out of my father’s house.
But once again, I was wrong. He locked me in the trailer for three years, preaching that I’m trash, just like my mother.
I had nowhere else to go, so I never tried to escape until the night I heard him selling me to some unknown person on the phone.
” I pause, needing a moment to gather myself before I fall apart at the next part.
“That’s what gave me the strength to run away.
When I met you, and you told me to get on your bike, I wasn’t sure whether you were a guardian angel sent from Heaven to save me or a demon from Hell sent to ruin me. ”
He hugs me closer to his body. “I’m definitely not an angel, but I would never ruin you unless you wanted me to.”
I laugh at the absurdity of the situation—his road name is literally sin. And he’s claiming he would never ruin me, even though my father preached to me daily how sin was going to ruin my life. “Sorry.” I cough to cover up my laughter.
Nate gently turns me around to face him. “There’s no need to apologize. But if you ever run from me again, I’ll spank your gorgeous ass.”
My heart flutters at the look of possession in his eyes. “Um, right. The running away from you part. That night, I was scared and didn’t know who to trust. I wanted to stay with you, I really did. But I wasn’t in the right mindset, so I ran.”
“I can’t believe you climbed out of a bathroom window just to escape me.”
“About that. The older lady you met at the bathroom door befriended me and helped me hide in one of the stalls. She came up with the idea to tell you I’d escaped out the window.
She came back to the bathroom after you left.
She took me home, gave me a place to stay, and even helped me find a job the next day. ”
“I don’t know whether to thank her or yell at her—she helped you but hid you from me.”
“Definitely thank her. I’m happy with my new life and apartment above the bakery. The only thing I’m missing is you.” I suppress my nerves. “Would you like to see my apartment?”
With a growl, he laces his fingers through mine, “Lead the way.”
“What about your bike? Aren’t you afraid someone will steal it?”
“Viper and I brought Diesel’s truck. I wasn’t in the mood to ride it without my old lady on the back.” My heart thumps wildly in my chest. Is he saying what I think he’s saying? “Faith, I want you in my life forever. No more secrets. No more running. If there’s a problem, we work it out together.”
“Together,” I repeat.
“Good, now show me your apartment, since you won’t be living there much longer. I’ve already petitioned Savage for one of the houses on the club compound.”
“Is it white with two stories?”
“How’d you know?” He gently squeezes my hand and gazes down at me.
“Wishful thinking.” I smile and say nothing else as we walk hand in hand to the bakery and to my soon-to-be former apartment.