Another Love Another time

Chapter 29: Prove it

Auggie

I grab her hand and intertwine our hands together and pull her back into the back yard.

"I know you're out right now, but I need to run something by you. You know when we investigated that lead last week?" She nods her head. "Well, we had a witness come in and they want to make a statement, but they want to speak with you. I hate to ask, but I feel like if we don't do this now, we may lose this lead."

She squeezes my hand. "Let me jump in the shower really quick and change. It shouldn't take me more than twenty minutes." She goes to walk into the house, but I pull her back.

"I asked Melissa to move out last night." I can see she is shocked, which makes me realize how much I have failed her. To see how surprised she is, what the fuck have I done? Mackey was right. I need to get my head out of my ass. Melissa and I still haven't talked about the timing of her moving out and by the time I got home last night she still wasn't home so we couldn't talk. I know by the way I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders I'm making the right decision.

"How did she take that?" she asks.

"You worried about me River?" I tease her.

"I've always worried about you." She teases back. "Especially when it comes to her."

"She took it better than I thought she would, but we really didn't get to get into the details. The Captain called about this witness and I had to go in. That's why you didn't hear from me last night. I was too busy trying to get them to talk."

I can see by the smile on her face she's happy about this. I feel like puffing my chest out. Like I've done something right for the first time in a long time. I'm going to show her she's the top priority in my life even if I have to remove Melissa from my life completely. I know Melissa was there for me, but if I don't, I will lose River and I'm not willing to do that. Not again. I finally feel like the void that I felt the last five years is being filled and I won't jeopardize that again. The more time I spend with River brings back all the feelings I felt before, but they are stronger now. We haven't kissed again; I'm taking this at her pace, I won't lie and say I'm not walking around with a constant hard on, but I want to build our foundation on friendship, repair and rebuild the trust that she needs again. I'll wait until she's ready. I'm a patient man.

"Well let's not keep this witness waiting any longer. Now stop slowing me down." She releases my hand and walks back into the house; I look down at my phone to see if I have missed any messages. I see I have one from Melissa, but I hear the door open and see Baxter making his way over to me.

"Hey man." I greet him.

"Hey, do you have a minute? I wanted to talk to you alone." And I know this isn't going to be a fun chat.

"Sure." I pocket my phone. I can respond to Melissa later. "What's up?"

"I want to talk about River. I know I don't know you, but I feel like I know you. River and I talk about everything so please believe me when I say I know everything, I. Know. Everything. At least from viewpoint." He looks me in the eyes trying to emphasize his meaning.

"Ok. So, what do you want to talk about?" I question. I want to be respectful. This guy has been there for River and is an important part of her life.

"Please believe this is not coming from a place of jealousy, but from a protectiveness I have for her. When I met River in basic training, you could tell that something had happened to her. It wasn't just the black eyes and bruises you could tell in her eyes something ruined her. She kept to herself and didn't really make friends. In the army you need your family. You need people to watch your back." I brace myself for what he's about to tell me.