DREA (GxG)

Molly/Mia Valentine's Day 2

TW// The first bit of this chapter touches on Mia's abusive marriage. If you're not all for that, you can skip right ahead. <3

🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼

We spent close to two hours at the range and ended up getting a few more rounds after emptying my initial clips. It was exhilarating and I absolutely enjoyed it. Who knew? Molly was proud and promised to take me back in two weeks after I begged her for a straight minute.

"Thank you!" I kiss her cheek and hop into the car, buckling my seatbelt, as she slips in behind the wheel. Her crop top slides up to show her mid-rift and while it's extremely eye-catching, I'm wondering if she's not cold. There's no snow today, and it's by far the warmest it's been all season, but it's still 11° outside. It's freezing. She is wearing a jacket that looks pretty warm, but damn. I could never.

"So," she starts, buckling herself in. "How did imaginary Michael piss you off to earn 8 bullets to the head?"

I scuff, remembering. She glances at me as she pulls the car onto the street. "It's cool if you don't want to talk about it."

"I don't mind talking about it." Which is the truth. "I just don't want you to judge me."

"I am a police officer," she replies, smiling. I could hear her voice, low and gentle, and I felt my worries melting away. "I'm not the one who does the judging."

The corners of my mouth turn up without me even noticing. She has a way of calming me without effort. Her presence does that. Her voice does it too. I'm comfortable around her and it feels safe to tell her anything. Everything. "I was angry that he got me pregnant against my wishes."

"With Max?"

"No." In the moments of my silence, the stillness of the air almost feels suffocating. The only sound in the eerie quiet is the rush of cars speeding past. Then, after taking a deep breath and mustering up my courage, I resume. "Last year."

She stole a look at me before her eyes returned to the road ahead, the only sound being the hum of the engine. "Last year as in?"

"October," I tell her.

She thinks in silence. "Fuck! Mia, even though you only had a few sips, I don't think the champagne you had tonight was non-alcoholic."

The worry in her voice, on her face, makes my heart thump with life. I give her a bittersweet smile. "It's okay. I'm not pregnant.......anymore."

She nods. "What happened? I don't want to assume."

"I never wanted another baby." My throat tightens as I speak. She finds my hand to hold it, soothing me. "After I had Max," I tell her. "Everything went to shit. That's when Michael gained all his leverage over me..."

"How?"

I shrug. "Not really sure how or when it all happened. He was stealthy about it. After I had Max and decided to go back to work, I was just slapped with the restaurant, which was originally an 80/20 partnership, moving to a 40/60 one and he had the 60%. Our finances got tied up and I mean, everything was shit. Growing up and seeing your parents go through things, you kind of promise yourself you won't make the same mistakes. Seeing my mother go through her divorce and how financially crippling that was because their finances were tied up, I wanted to keep mine separate."

"He couldn't control you back then because he had nothing to pull your strings." She said thoughtfully, glancing at me. "You are a strong, independent woman. Your family was behind you every step of the way, providing emotional and practical support. You had financial independence and your own business that you ran. It intimidated him."