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I wouldn’t have gotten pissed.
I was actually kind of flattered that Rome had taken the time to make sure I was safe while I was here.
But that also meant that he knew that I was in town.
I swallowed. “Is he okay?”
Wade shrugged. “He’s getting there, honey.”
I had my doubts about that, but I wasn’t going to bring them up with Wade.
The sound of another bike pulling into the lot sent my heart into overdrive, but it settled back down when I saw who it was.
Bayou.
He grinned at me as he pulled to a stop behind my car, and put the kickstand down before getting off his bike.
I wasn’t surprised that he was here.
“Hello, Bayou,” I murmured when I looked up to see him standing almost directly in front of me.
“Hey, girl,” he rumbled. “Come here.”
I went there—straight into his open arms—and wrapped my own around his thick waist.
It was a surreal feeling, both having someone’s arms around me that weren’t Rome’s, and just having someone’s arms around me at all.
Even after all these months, I still craved his touch.
Bayou’s arms, although warm and welcoming, weren’t the ones that I truly wanted to be wrapped around me.
But even despite how good it felt to have someone holding me, I didn’t stay in his arms very long.
I didn’t want to.
The only arms I wanted to be in were Rome’s—now and forever.
I’d barely turned around when I felt something poke me in the side.
I blinked in surprise and looked down.
“Here.” Wade fanned a thick stack of envelopes in front of me. “Read these.”“What is it?” I asked worriedly.
He didn’t answer until I took them.
“My ex was over there cleaning his house after he had an accident with his tortoise tank. She found those, all addressed to you, but with no address on it…annnnd she stole them,” Wade murmured.
I didn’t know where to start.
“Is Blitz okay?” I whispered.
“Blitz?” Wade questioned, looking confused.
I nodded. “Blitz. The tortoise.”
He threw his head back in understanding. “Oh, yeah. He’s fine I believe. He was moving the tortoise over to another tank when the table holding the old tank collapsed. Glass went everywhere when it broke. I swear to God it’d been sitting there for a week with him just walking over it, so I sent my ex over there to help clean it up. That’s when she found those.”
I breathed out a shaky breath, surprised at how freakin’ scared I was for a few seconds there.
“Do I need to read these now?” I whispered.
I didn’t want to read them now. I wanted to read them in the comfort of my hotel room where I could cry all I wanted without fear that anybody would ask if I was okay.
I wasn’t okay.
I hadn’t been okay for a long time.
Wade shook his head. “Nope. You can read them whenever you want as long as you read them.”
“All right,” I murmured. “Let’s go get whatever it is I’m supposed to do over with.”
“About that…” Wade paused, looking bashful. “The prosecutor isn’t going to be here until tomorrow morning now. I found out about half an hour ago. His mother died.”
I deflated a little bit, but tomorrow wasn’t too much to ask. I was here, but I just wanted this whole trial to be over. Preferably, as painless as possible for me.
The driving thing still made me nervous, and anything over thirty set me on edge to the point where I was freaking out over every little thing.
“Okay,” I sighed. “Then I guess I’ll go to the hotel I booked.”
“You’re not staying in a hotel,” Bayou interjected. “You can stay at the clubhouse or my place. Whichever you prefer, but you’re not staying by yourself in a hotel when that piece of shit is still free to do whatever the hell he wants.”
I cleared my throat.
“Is Rome working today?”
I’d love to go visit with my brother while I was here.
It was visitation day, after all. I might as well use it to my advantage.
“Yeah.” Wade paused. “Which is a good thing if you think about it.”
I couldn’t see how.
“How is it a good thing?” I finally asked.
“Because if he’d been able to see you, he would have. He wouldn’t have been able to help himself,” Bayou was the one to answer.
And I didn’t have a thing to say to that.
I guess I wouldn’t be seeing my brother after all.
I couldn’t handle seeing Rome.
And that was that.
***
The next day, my stomach was tied in knots.
I hadn’t been able to read my letters from Rome, and I was thinking that I probably never would.
Wade asked me to, but I didn’t think I could handle whatever words he’d written in them.
What if he said that we were a mistake? What if he said that everything was a lie? What if he said that this baby should’ve never happened?
