This Time, I Won't Beg for His Mark novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Day Thirty
On the thirtieth morning I woke before the sun and Joss was already up.
I heard him in the kitchen of the Wray house, clattering a pot.
He had been making coffee in that kitchen for three weeks, and it was still terrible.
I put on his flannel shirt and went down.
He stood at the stove with his back to me, and the bandage was gone from his shoulder.
My bite had healed into a clean pale crescent on the skin.
It was mine.
I stood in the doorway and looked at it for a long moment.
*She's up. She's looking at me. Act normal.*
"You're not acting normal," I said.
He turned around with the pot in his hand.
"It's day thirty," Joss said.
"I know."
"I made a bargain, and I keep my terms." He put the pot down. "No claim. No mark. Either of us can walk away any day."
"You've got a mark."
"That one is yours to take back." The corner of his mouth moved. "I'm saying it out loud, Valerie, because I told you I would. You're free to go. Today and every day. I'll drive you to the highway myself, and I'll come back for the stew."
He stood very straight, with his hands open, looking at me.
*Don't ask her to stay. Don't ask her to stay. Don't.*
I crossed the kitchen.
I took the coffee from his hand and tasted it.
"This is awful."
"I know."
"Say what you want, Joss."
He drew a breath.
"Stay," he said.
"I'm not asking for the thirty days," he said. "I'm asking for the rest of them."
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