Tension by R. L. Griffin Read Free Book Online Page B

was having a very difficult time dealing with her being shot and what he thinks of her “being raped” by the media. He was also killing himself flying back and forth every week to sit with her in the hospital every weekend. She knew moving back to Atlanta with her parents couldn’t happen. Besides that, they’d drive her mad. She stubbornly believed that she was an adult and could deal with her recovery by herself. Ok, maybe it’s a little bit about George .
    “I don’t understand this at all.” Her mother’s stare so was intense, Stella almost flinched.
    “Mom, my job is there. I’m trying to—I have to get back to work. I’ve got to figure out where I’m living. I NEED to be there. Please, just back off.”
    “I’m not happy,” her mother retorted, hurt evident in her eyes.
    “You’ve made your feelings painfully clear,” Stella retorted. “By the way, I’m real fucking excited about all this, too, so join the club,” she said sarcastically.
    “Your father’s going to be livid.” Her mother got up from her seat on the couch and began pacing the length of the room.
    “Well, I’ll apologize,” Stella said, not backing down.
    “So...when you get out of rehab you’ll come home?”
    “No, when I get out of rehab I should be working again,” Stella answered, watching her mother walk back and forth.
    “Well, where will you live? Are you moving back in with Patrick?”
    “No.” Stella didn’t know where she would live, but she knew she couldn’t live with Patrick anymore. “When I get to DC, George can take me to rentals in Old Town. I want to stay in that area.”
    “Well, you need to get in an apartment with the some sort of security with all this media stuff going on,” her mother instructed.
    “I really thought I’d rent another house in Old Town or an apartment around there. But I’m not really the apartment-living kind. You have to bring your groceries up on the elevator in several trips and with Cooper it’s just easier in a house.”
    “You’re impossible,” her mother said, exasperated. “So you and George are serious?” Her mother’s examination intensified and her determined pacing had practically turned to a stomp.
    Back and forth, back and forth. Please stay still; you’re making my head hurt. “Um, I guess so. I love him.”
    “But didn’t he break up with you?”
    Stella nodded.
    “Then he comes all the way out to Montana to stay with you while you’re in the hospital. That doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
    “We kind of made up before I left for Montana.” Stella fidgeted and looked at her hands, not wanting to have this conversation.
    “Oh. I’m just trying to be sure of the story, Stella,” her mother responded. She finally stopped pacing and stared at Stella. “Well, he seems very stable.”
    “Stable?” Stella cocked her head to the side. Stable isn’t sexy…
    “You know, stable. What other sort of guy would drop everything they’re doing to come out to the hospital for days at a time for several weeks to support you?”
    “You’re saying it like it’s a bad thing. He loves me and was worried. He owns a bar; he had someone watch it for a couple of days a week.”
    “I like him, I guess.” Her mother walked over to her purse, pulled out her phone, and started texting.
    “Well, that sounds like a real seal of approval.” Stella felt a little bad for being such a sarcastic bitch, but what the hell?
    “It’s just that… I think he may be in a place where you can’t go, Stella.” Her mother refused to meet Stella’s gaze.
    “What do you mean?”
    “He’s the staying kind.” Stella’s mom never took her eyes from her phone.
    “That’s good, right?” Stella stared at her mother, trying to make eye contact. What’s wrong with the staying kind?
    “The marrying kind.”
    “Oh,” Stella muttered, lowering her eyes to examine her hands again. She used to be the marrying kind; she wasn’t anymore. She couldn’t really imagine a