My Mother Sold Me to Pay Her Dealer, and the Man Who Took Me From Him Has a Use for Me novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: Her Door

I walked the three miles.

The snow had stopped, the sky over the river was the color of dishwater, and my feet were wet through by the second bridge.

The gray car kept half a block behind me the whole way, idling along the curb with its lights off.

It never came closer.

When I reached the mill gate I turned and lifted a hand, and the driver lifted two fingers off the wheel.

I went in and slept through the day with the bolt shot.

I woke in the dark with the whole thing clear in my head.

I had decided on the walk, and I had not told myself I was deciding it.

The kitchen light was on.

He sat at the long table in his shirtsleeves with his hands flat in front of him, as he had on the morning he told me about the door.

There was no pistol, no folder and no cup.

He looked up when I came in, and he did not stand.

"You walked," he said.

"I said I would," I said.

"Your feet."

"They're fine."

"They're not," he said. "You left wet socks in the hall and the man who cleans found them."

"You have a man who cleans?"

"I have a man for most things."

He said it dryly, and something in me gave a little at the edge.

I crossed the floor and stopped at the corner of the table, an arm's length from him.

I could smell soap and wool and the cold on him.

"You said nothing happens that I don't start," I said.

"Yes," he said.

"Then I'm starting it."

His eyes did not leave my face.

Something went across his expression, fast, and was gone.

"Tell me what," he said.

"Give me your hand."

He lifted his right hand off the table and held it out, palm up.

I took it.

It was warm and heavy, with a rough ridge along the thumb, and it did not close on mine.

It lay in my fingers and let me do what I liked with it.

I turned it over and looked at the old white nicks on the knuckles.

Then I laid it flat against my own stomach, over the gray sweatshirt, and held it there with both of mine.

← Chapter 6 · All chapters · Chapter 8 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend