Free Sapphire Falls: Going Too Fast (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Big Easy Book 7) by Mari Carr Page B

everything wrong.”
    “I can’t imagine you like that. Not even for a second.”
    “It didn’t last long. We’d only been back with my mom about six months. She’d passed out after a party with some random guy. Always the same routine. Stoned and sex. I was feeling like a badass and thought I’d rob the guy. He woke up. Beat the shit out of me.”
    “Oh my God. Bad?”
    Zac’s arms tightened around her, but the response seemed to be unconscious. He was reliving a bad time in his mind. “Pretty bad. Noah ran to the neighbor’s house and called Mama Lewis. She showed up with Justin, Caliph and Jett, the police and an ambulance not two steps behind her.”
    “Hooray for Mama Lewis.”
    Zac kissed the back of her head. “You can say that again. Spent a couple days in the hospital and then I went home.”
    “Home?”
    “Mama Lewis’ house became home to me from that day on. She saved my life. Saved me . I straightened my ass out, stopped being such a punk, started studying, started believing in family and love and second chances.”
    “And your mom?”
    Zac blew out a long sigh. “Still alive. Still in New Orleans. I see her about once a month. Take her food. She’s…well…she hasn’t changed at all.”
    Tacy wasn’t sure how to reply. He took his drug-addicted mother food every month? Even after the hell she’d put him through growing up?
    This was why she didn’t want to get to know Zac. Because just like that, she fell completely, spectacularly, head over heels in love with him.
    And it only took four days.
    She twisted around, cupped his cheek in one hand and kissed him. Zac deepened the embrace, the two of them kissing as if their lips had never touched before.
    When they broke apart, she gave him a soft smile. “I’m never complaining about my parents again.”
    Zac laughed softly. “It’s not a contest, Tace.”
    “I’ll admit I’m jealous of your siblings. Sort of sucks being an only child. Always thought life would have been a lot more fun with a brother or a sister.”
    “I’ll share mine. I’ve got plenty of them.”
    “I guess I used to believe maybe my parents wouldn’t have put so much pressure on me to constantly succeed if there had been another kid in the house. They were living vicariously through me—exclusively through me. Would have been nice to have someone to share that load with.”
    “Why do you think your folks felt the need to do that to you?”
    Tacy shrugged. “My dad had always dreamed of playing baseball in the major leagues, but he never made it beyond college ball. Said he wished he’d had more support from his parents.”
    “Is that what they call it? Support? Because it sounds like it was a lot of pressure.”
    She sighed. “I’ll be honest. I’ve seen some amazing places and done some incredible things. I wouldn’t have had those opportunities if it hadn’t been for my parents pushing me so hard.”
    “Why do I feel like there’s a ‘but’ coming?”
    “But sometimes I wonder if this is the life I would have chosen for myself. Growing up, I wasn’t really given options. And now…”
    “Now you have to decide for yourself what you want.”
    Tacy ran her hand through her hair, pulling it away from her face. “I don’t have a lot of experience with making my own decisions. What if I mess up?”
    Zac reached for the strand of hair she’d just moved and twirled it around his finger. “You won’t.”
    It was a simple assertion, but somehow, knowing he believed in her went a long way toward setting her mind at ease.
    “What do you want to do?”
    She didn’t hesitate to share her dream with him. She told him about Lauren introducing her to gardening, how much she loved creating beauty from the things she planted in the ground. About her desire to go back to school and her fear of failing.
    Zac listened intently and, like Lauren, he offered words of encouragement, bolstered her with his belief that she could do anything she set her mind to.