Time for Change Read Free

kitchen,
she started to load the washing machine. When he’d first moved in, she would
get the clothing dry cleaned because he hated her being domesticated. Over the
months he’d gotten her a washing machine. She began to think he was getting
over the death of his wife. But Chris was never going to get over the death of
her sister or his kid. She couldn’t blame him. There were times she held the
phone wanting to call her sister and then realized Claire wasn’t alive.
    “I’m sorry. It won’t happen
again,” he said, following her. She fed the washing into the machine not giving
him the time of day.
    “No, it’ll happen again and
again and again.” She shook her head. “You don’t need me here.”
    “I want you here.”
    Slamming the door closed she
turned on him. “I don’t want to be here with you fucking every slut who will
take you. Claire warned me about this, but I never knew you could be this big
of a prick.”
    Shoving him in the chest,
she moved toward where she dropped her bag near the door. Bending down, she
picked it up and put her hand on the door handle, ready to leave his life for
good.
    Opening the door, she yelped
as his hand went beside her head and closed the door hard. She tried to open it
again, but he was too strong. Rachel should have known she wouldn’t be able to
best him. He was the strongest person she knew, and she had watched him work
out more than enough times at the gym. She’d joined the gym to keep him company
and hoped to get fit. But running, while staring at him or other slim blonde
women, was not her idea of fun, and she quit.
    The jealousy had gotten to
her, and then she’d felt guilty at her feelings. Chris was her dead sister’s
husband, and she shouldn’t be having any feelings for him.
    He leaned in close. His
breath caressed along her neck. Closing her eyes, she tried to stop the
feelings running through her body. He was the only man who’d sparked any
emotion inside her.
    She wasn’t a virgin, but
even the men she dated hadn’t made her want them as much as Chris did.
    Stop this. He’ll never be yours.
    “Don’t go,” he said.
    “You don’t need me.”
    “I do need you. She was just
a distraction. You know what today is.”
    Closing her eyes, she felt
herself beginning to cave to him.
    “Please, Rachel, don’t go.”
His hand rested on her hip as his head seemed to start to nuzzle her neck, and
he stopped.
    She frowned, turning toward
him. One of his hands still rested against the door.
    “Tonight, I’ll stay tonight
so we can visit their graves, and then I’m gone.” She lived in a small
apartment near the restaurant where she worked. In the bad economy, not a lot
of jobs were available, and she had yet to finish her degree in business. This
was her third job in three months.
    “You don’t have to leave.”
    “I do have to leave. I can’t
keep doing this, Chris. You’re going to move on soon, and then I’ll be alone
anyway. I can’t stick around constantly watching you mess around with women.”
    She brushed past him,
missing his touch the moment he let her go. Would she ever stop feeling so
connected by him?
    ****
    Chris watched her go behind
the counter. She started to arrange saucepans on the stove. He stood watching
her. In the first few months when he moved in Rachel had lived with him in the
spare room. Thinking back to that time, he recalled bringing a woman home, and
within days Rachel was moving out. He’d not given it much thought at the time,
but he must have been the cause for her leaving.
    Running fingers through his
hair, he took a seat at the counter. That one woman had turned into two, until
he’d finally fucked his way through the hospital. It was much easier relieving
the stress through sex than thinking about everything he lost. He didn’t even
keep a photo of his girls. No, his only reminder was Rachel, but he couldn’t
let her go either. Every time he tried to leave her alone, he found himself
going back to her,