Colton chuckled. "Well, I'm happy for you, man," he said before clapping me on the back and walking away.
Fate. I'd never been a big believer in it. Had never really given it much thought.
But the chances of us meeting the way we did-what were the odds? Every event in our lives, every decision, led us to that road in Ohio, putting us there at exactly the right time.
I knew, without a doubt, Angel was meant for me.
ANGEL
Packing up my things was surreal. And also very depressing.
It felt like a lifetime had gone by since I left Maine. I folded up the same clothes-just like I'd done weeks ago-and placed them in my backpack.
Only this time, it was so different.
The night before I left the foster home, my hands shook with excitement as I covertly packed my bag and hid it under the bed. I couldn't wait to get out of there. Couldn't wait to move on. That certainly wasn't the case now.
Another difference was the fact that my backpack was no longer big enough to hold everything I owned. As I attempted to zip it shut, I realized I would need a second bag because of all the extra clothes I'd acquired from the thrift store.
Karen had gone a little wild with the shopping. Every time I insisted she didn't need to buy clothes for me, she somehow guilt-tripped me into picking out more. By the end of it, I'd gained an entire new wardrobe. It was like some kind of Jedi mind trick.
A soft knock came at the bedroom door and I glanced up to see Travis standing there, looking sexy as always in a white T-shirt and his gray gym shorts.
He produced a black tote bag from behind his back. "I figured you might need this when I heard my mom was taking you to the thrift store."
Grateful, I took it from him and started filling it with all my new clothes and shoes. "I don't know how your mom convinced me to get this much stuff. I went in there telling myself I would get one thing. And this-" I laughed and held up and handful of shirts. "-is what happened."
"It's just because she's going to miss you so much. I'm not the best shopping partner," he said before helping me pile the rest of the clothes into the tote bag.
After setting my luggage off to the side, I looked up at Travis's face. I studied his features, trying to memorize every detail-his thick eyelashes, the way he looked with a five o'clock shadow, the shape of his lips.
I brought my hand up to his face and with a soft touch of my finger, I traced over the places where I knew his dimples would be if he smiled.
What would happen to us after I left? We hadn't really talked much about it and I wasn't sure what he wanted. Although I didn't have much experience at dating, I knew being apart would be hard on a new relationship.
Travis must have been able to see the distress on my face because he smoothed out the area between my eyebrows with his thumb. "What's going on in that head of yours?"
"I don't want to break up," I rushed out, and he let out a low chuckle.
"Well, that's good, because we're not breaking up," he replied confidently.
"Promise?" I knew I sounded like an insecure little girl, but I couldn't help it.
He nodded. "Promise. There's a lot of ways to keep a relationship going. We'll talk on the phone every day." His face broke out in a devilish grin. "There's always sexting."
"Mmm, I love it when you talk trucker to me." I repeated his words from the week before, unable to keep a straight face.
He walked forward, gently backing me up until my butt landed on his bed. He crawled over me and his lips gently met mine before his tongue slipped inside. I sucked in a breath when his teeth scraped over my bottom lip. When he broke the kiss, his face was serious.
"I mean it. We can make this work. The distance doesn't matter," he said, looking down at me. "I might be here, but I'll still belong to you."
Swoon.
TRAVIS
Panic. That's what I felt when I thought about the fact that in twenty-four hours, Angel and I would part ways.
Although we said we'd stay together, there was too much unknown.
My apartment was going to feel so empty when I got home. My whole life was going to feel her absence. Angel filled a void I never even knew was there.
It was crazy. In just over three short weeks, she'd become such a huge part of my life.
Sighing, I leaned back in the driver's seat and tried to stretch a little while staying focused on the highway. It'd been a long day of driving. We were pulling some long hours so we could get to the delivery destination by the next morning.
"So, tell me about your mom. What are your favorite memories? What do you look forward to the most?" I asked Angel while keeping my eyes on the road.
I needed to know more about the person who would be taking her away from me. Although I knew it wouldn't make me feel better, maybe it would help me understand.
And I needed to understand. Because right now, all I could do was feel overwhelming dread at the inevitable goodbye coming our way.
"She named me," she said. "I mean, yeah, all moms name their babies, so that's not special or anything. But during the whole pregnancy, she couldn't think of a name. She said as soon as she saw me-blonde hair, blue eyes, pink chubby cheeks-she knew my name should be Angel."
"I can imagine," I smiled because I was picturing her as a baby. She definitely came by her name honestly.
"She was really good at sewing," she continued. "She could take any pattern and fabric, fire up the sewing machine, and make something out of it. Like magic. She used to make all my costumes for the school plays. I've always wanted to be able to do that. Maybe she could teach me," she said hopefully. "And she was so good at piano. There was a duet we used to play together. I had the simple part, of course. You could put any music in front of her, and she could play it." She stretched her fingers out and wiggled them like she was imagining piano keys in front of her.
I laughed because she was so damn cute.
"And every Christmas morning, we had homemade cinnamon rolls," she went on. "She'd spend hours the night before getting them ready-rolling out the dough, letting it rise. I loved waking up to the smell of them baking in the oven."
"That all sounds really great," I admitted.
"She was good at baking everything. Every year we entered the cookie contest at the county fair and every year, we placed. Sometimes we won first place. Chocolate chip cookies. It was a secret family recipe," she said. "But we made them so many times, I still remember every ingredient by heart. I'll have to make them for you sometime." She stopped abruptly and then her face fell.
Tears filled her eyes as she had the same thought I did-when would it happen?
"Hey, it's gonna be okay," I told her and grabbed her hand. "This doesn't have to be goodbye forever. We can see each other again. Maybe if I have another delivery out this way I can visit. Or once you get settled, you could come see me … " I trailed off.
She nodded like she wanted to believe it was possible, but even the words didn't sound very comforting to my own ears. The uncertainty-not knowing when I would see her again-was the worst part.
I decided that I needed to come up with future plans before we said goodbye. We needed something to count on, something to look forward to.
People made long-distance relationships work all the time. I had to believe we could do this.
I wanted Angel to be happy. If being in California with her mom was what she wanted, then I'd support her.
*
That night, as we settled in for bed in my small sleeper cab, I felt sick knowing it was going to be our last night together. Wanting to make it count, I kissed her deeply, slowly, taking my time with her.
After our clothes were gone, she spread her legs wide for me and I slid into her, enjoying every inch of her tight pussy. I retreated until I was almost all the way out, then I would thrust back in again.
"Always so fucking good, baby," I groaned into her neck. "Every single time."
Angel made an impatient sound as she dug her heels into my back, urging me to go faster. As much as I wanted to savor the moment, it didn't take much for me to lose control. We weren't usually rough with each other, but neither of us could contain the desperation we were feeling.
It didn't help that she kept digging her fingernails into my ass and pulling me into her roughly with her hands. I pounded into her relentlessly and her moans only encouraged me further.
This was fucking.
I kept trying to ease up, but I was having trouble holding back. The urgency of knowing it was our last night together mingled with anger. The anger wasn't directed at her, but it was anger just the same.