He Made Me Hear Her, So I Took My House Back novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: The Part Behind His Teeth

Gabriel's POV

On Monday night Odette found the scar with her mouth again, and this time she asked.

"Tell me how you got it."

We were in my bed in the garage with the window cracked and the lamp low.

She lay on her side with her head on my shoulder and her thumb running along the ridge, wrist to elbow.

I had never told anyone, not even my mother.

"A fuel truck," I said. "Outside Kandahar, in my fourth year. I was an engineer, and I was walking the convoy line."

Her thumb stopped.

"The driver was a kid from Ohio. Twenty-two. He was trapped in the cab, and the cab was burning."

"You went in."

"I went in. I pulled him out by his collar with this arm over my face." I looked at the ceiling. "He lived a week."

She did not say she was sorry. She turned her face and kissed my shoulder.

"I put in my papers that winter," I said. "I told everyone I was tired. I wasn't. I couldn't stand in a place where someone depended on me being quick."

"You're quick."

"I was slow once."

"You were there once."

I turned my head and looked at her.

Her gray eyes held mine. They had not looked away once all week.

"What did you do after?" she asked.

"I came home. I trimmed trees. A man in a tree does not need to be quick, he needs to be careful. I liked that."

"And Rafael?"

"I gave him sixty thousand dollars of my Army savings three years ago. He said it was for a strip center." My jaw tightened. "He never paid me back. When I asked, my mother said I was selfish."

"That's when you called him a thief."

"Yes."

"And you've been alone in that garage since."

"I wasn't alone." I moved a lock of hair off her forehead. "I had a view of a porch swing."

← Chapter 15 · All chapters · Chapter 17 →

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