Read Through The Grapevine: A BWWM Romance for Free Online Page B

mind off everything that he was heading into, but they weren't an hour down the road before he turned to look at Shannon, pushing his glasses further up his nose so he could get a clear view of her.
     
    "How long did you know about him?"
     
    Shannon let a big breath out and looked straight ahead on the road. "I just found out about him."
     
    "When?" he insisted.
     
    "The day of your pool party,” she answered.
     
    He lowered his brows at her. "Why didn't you tell me then?"
     
    Shannon put her elbow against the window on the doorframe, and rubbed her temple.
     
    "There were a few reasons. First, and this is the biggest reason, I didn't want to see you get hurt. Second, I felt like I would be betraying Tiffany's trust. She made me promise not to tell anyone, ever, and I broke my promise to her."
     
    "Some promises are worth breaking,” he replied, watching her. "I might have been able to stop her and try to fix whatever it is that's wrong between us if I had known sooner."
     
    Shannon thought back to the way that Ron and Tiffany were with each other when they embraced and kissed at the hospital. "No, you wouldn't have been able to fix it."
     
    "Why not?" he asked defensively.
     
    Her voice got quiet and she frowned, wishing he would quit his line of questioning. "Because she wants him. She wants you both."
     
    Colby hadn't expected her answer. It was something else that he couldn't understand, and he turned and looked out of the window at the world passing by the car. It was quickly becoming desert, and with nothing in particular to look at, it enabled him to think quite clearly about everything that was happening.
     
    They played music and talked about light fare as they passed four hours and entered Las Vegas. They stopped for dinner there, and then got back on the road and directed the vehicle toward Utah. The weather turned on them almost instantly, once they passed Saint George, Utah, and small flakes began to buzz through the air, followed quickly by big fat flakes that filled all of the space outside of the vehicle, and covered the ground beneath them.
     
    Colby was growing increasingly nervous and Shannon had slowed down to a crawl on the road. She made mention of the fact that they hadn't seen another car in over two hours, and the snow was getting much worse by the minute.
     
    He was focused like a hawk on the road ahead, even though he wasn't driving, and aside from the music playing, there was no sound inside the vehicle. After another hour of driving at less than twenty miles per hour, Shannon shook her head and yawned.
     
    "We have to stop. I can't keep driving in this, it's pitch black outside except for this raging blizzard and I'm exhausted. We've got to pull over in the next town and get a room."
     
    Colby agreed and changed the music for her to help her stay awake. Thirty minutes later, they happened upon a wide spot in the road where they found a gas station and a motel with six rooms total. She parked the car and they went to the front desk.
     
    An old woman with a permanent frown took her time shuffling out of the room behind the counter where she was watching late night TV. She stopped in the doorway from her room into the tiny reception area and stared at the two of them, as they stood there, freezing and tired.
     
    She looked them up and down for a long minute and then shuffled over to the counter and leaned herself on it.
     
    "What can I do for you?" she asked.
     
    Colby stepped forward and smiled at her. "We'd like a room for the night, please." 
     
    The old woman looked suspiciously from him to Shannon and then back to him again. "This ain't that kind of establishment," she said, with a snide voice, narrowing her eyes at them and deepening her frown.
     
    Shannon, realizing what it must look like to the woman, smiled brightly and shook her head. "Oh, no... ma'am, we're married."
     
    Colby looked down at her in surprise and she kicked his shoe softly. His head shot straight