Broken Dreams (Broken 2)

He sauntered up, leaned down, and kissed Mimi on the cheek. “Good morning, Miss Mimi. You look as beautiful as ever.”

Mimi let out a little giggle. “Oh, Reed, you always were such a sweetheart.”

Reed gave her that smile of his that had been driving me insane for months. He turned and looked at me. He placed his finger on my chin, leaned down, and gently kissed me. “I missed you,” he said on my lips.

“I’ve only been gone for a few minutes,” I barely got out, totally forgetting that Mimi was sitting right there.

“Doesn’t matter. I still missed you.”

The moment he moved away, I felt the longing for his touch grow ten times worse.

“There goes that beautiful red blush again,” Mimi said.

I couldn’t pull my eyes away from Reed. Has Reed always been such a gentleman like this? I tried desperately to remember him with Mimi in the past, and then it hit me. He has always been this way. I just chose not to see it.

When Reed laughed, I was pulled out of my trance. I looked between him and Mimi. Is this really happening? Are we finally together?

I felt a hundred times better after telling Reed about Noah. And how Reed had made me feel last night after I told him was amazing. He was amazing. He’s better than any book boyfriend could ever be. I decided to keep that little bit of information to myself.

“Court, I’m going to go make sure Ryan and Johnny have everything ready for the feeding. I won’t be gone too long,” Reed said.

I chewed on my lower lip and nodded my head. We were in public now, and I had a feeling as soon as Reed stepped out the back door, I was shark food for Mimi.

As he began walking away, I called out, “Be careful. I love…um…” I turned to Mimi and then back to Reed, who was standing there with his cowboy hat in his hand, smiling. I couldn’t help but smile back. “I love you, Reed. Be careful.”

His smile grew about ten times bigger. “I love you, too, Courtney, and I will.”

After he left, I waited a good five to ten seconds before I turned and looked at Mimi.

She was grinning from ear to ear. “Well, land sakes alive, it’s about damn time.”

“What’s about time?” I asked, knowing she was talking about the exchange I just had with Reed.

“Oh, don’t play coy with me, young lady. You and Reed, huh?” She wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

My mouth dropped open. “Mimi! You didn’t just—”

Right then, we heard a gunshot.

“What in the hell? Was that a gunshot?” I jumped up and looked out the window. I let out a small scream when I saw Reed lying down on the ground with Ryan standing next to him, holding a shotgun. “Oh my God! Reed!” I yelled as I ran out the back door.

I started calling out Reed’s name, and it should have registered in my head that he was okay when he jumped up and turned around, but my heart was beating so fast.

I skidded to a stop and looked him up and down. “Are you…have you been shot? Are you hurt? Oh my God.” I didn’t see any blood anywhere on his body. I quickly looked back and forth between Reed and Ryan.

Ryan looked confused as hell.

“Who did you shoot? Why did you shoot?” I asked Ryan. I looked all over Reed’s body again. Nope. Still no blood.

Reed grabbed on to my shoulders. “Court, baby, look in my eyes. I’m not hurt. Ryan was trying to shoot a rattlesnake, and I was looking to see if it had gone under the car.”

I shook my head and tried to calm my beating heart. “What? A snake?” I asked.

Mimi was laughing behind me.

I took a deep breath in and let it out. “Wait, what if it had struck you?” Tears were burning my eyes, and I wasn’t sure where this pussy-ass girl had come from. The thought of losing the man I’d waited so long for overtook my body, and I lost it. “Reed, I don’t ever want to lose you—ever. God, I was so scared when I saw you on the ground, and I thought…I thought…”

I choked back the tears as Reed grabbed me and pulled me into his arms.