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And I've never even told her those things

Without another word, I bend down and lift her inher back to her bedroom She leans her head on my shoulder and the move touches me

Laying her on the bed, I tell her, "Get under the covers"

I strip out of my clothes but leave my boxers on I want her to understand this isn't about sex right now Crawling into bed beside her, I pull her into ainst my heart

Taking a breath, I say, "I don't knohere this is going, Renner But I don't want to leave the path we're on I want to see what's in the future for us"

She's quiet for ain your world And my world isn't much I work in a bar I just don't see e have other than sex Which don't getthat's all it will ever be"

I reach up withPushing her back so I can see her face, I tell her, "We have more than just sex, Renner"

"Really?" Her voice sounds so hopeful, if not muffled by my hand, so I remove it

"Yes, really Granted, nine times out of ten when I think of you, I think about how sexy you are and howhere like this with you, too I just like being around you"

"But I really don't know a lot about you Iabout yours"

And so begins the test

The test to see whether or not this girl is reallydeeper as I suspect Because I don't talk aboutto come out of irl can incite me to share

Pulling Renner back down toup were nice I was an only child My land and she had only one sister who has never been married and doesn't have any kids My da is a Dubliner and he's an only child So our fa I didn't have cousins the way you do My parents ood friends with ether"

I can feel her actually soing to be s for the type of family she has She talks about them so much, I feel as if I know them

"My dad was an executive at Guinness He made a lot of reat for a while anyway"

I' to the not-so-nice part about my family, and she knows it by the tone of htly in my embrace I stroke my hand down her arm, and I'm not sure if it's to comfort her or me

I clear my throat, because the next part is hard "My da was an alcoholic And I think there was so to understand it Over time, his behavior became erraticabusive"

Renner sits up inher hands on my chest, she exclaims, "You don't have to tell me!"

"Shhh I want to tell you"

She leans in and kissesback to stare a s at so deep inside of me I push her back down to my chest, because I honestly don't know if I can continue when she's looking at me like that

When she settles, I continue "Da becaularly beating my mom I would try to stop him, but then he'd turn onme than Mam She was so tiny it was hard for her to take Sometimes his behavior bordered on sadistic Once when I was fifteen, I ca her down, burning her with a cigarette I went nuts I picked up a kitchen chair and hit him over the back with it It didn't even seem to faze him He picked up a clock from the mantel and hit me in the face He fractured ot involved"

"What happened next?" she asks in a whisper

"A lot of legal stuff, but I ended up with Keefe and his faether He tried rehab a few ti in and out Finally, it seemed to work He went for about six h forready to graduate froh school And it was good when I went home Da seeer"

I trail off, clinging to those few ain, although he'd long lost his job at Guinness He and my mam seemed happy and I was happy I clearly remember that

"But it didn't last," she guesses, shaking me back to the present

"No," I agree "It didn't last He started backsliding right before I graduated It would start with hi he could just have one Then one became two, and then two becah that Ma how quickly she could forget the horrible things that could happen when he got drunk"

"Someti for the best in people"