Page 18 of Passion in Bloom

Chapter 6

Roarke

Why is she protectinghim?

I stewed over that one specific question the whole drive back to my cabin. Anger had my jaw aching with how tightly I clenched it. Frustration filled me with a sense of impatience.

It didn’t matter if Todd was there. Or Marty. She didn’t want to talk to anyone about David.

Why?

She was so clearly scared and unhappy with him showing up here at all. The only consistencies were that she refused to explain anything and that she wasn’t with him. That left far too many blanks to fill in, and I hated how badly I wanted to know more. To know it all. Just so I could make sure she wasn’t scared any longer.

Did he blackmail her or something?

What can he hold over her that would make her this stubborn?

I shook my head as I drove and let out a deep exhale. It wouldn’t do me any good to let these questions fester, but it wasn’t easy to turn off these questions and worry.

Sure, she was stubborn. Independent as hell. But I doubted it could be something like pride that would make her so adamant about no one helping her. Given what Gavin told me about her past, about her parents being awful mooches no one liked in Burton, it almost made sense. That she’d be so against having the label as needy that she’d go overboard in keeping her life tidy and without help. That she’d rail against the thought of anyone thinking they needed to help her because she wanted to prove she didn’t need anyone.

But she’s got to have common sense, too.

She had to realize that some people were better handled with a team effort, right?

The best that I could determine, she ran from Chicago to hide here, to get away from David. Running and hiding only worked for so long, and it didn’t seem like she’d revised her strategy in how she’d handle that arrogant asshole.

I parked at my cabin, frowning at the huge hole dug into the ground closer to another cabin in the distance. Todd had arranged for a crew to come out and inspect whatever issue was happening with the bigger water pipes off the main, and I hoped that it wouldn’t interfere with my cabin.

Before I walked into my place, I saw my phone ringing with a call from Marty.

“Yeah?”

“Just wanted to give you a heads up. I saw Nevaeh walking down the path.”

Great. That’s just fucking great. It wasn’t as though I was lacking a headache now.

“She didn’t look too well. Looked like she was sick or something,” Marty added. “But when I slowed down to check on her, she flipped me off and told me to go the fuck away.”

I groaned. “Sorry, man.”

“Hey, you don’t answer for her. She’s an adult.”

“Still, she doesn’t have a right to be that disrespectful.”

“Eh. That’s the least of my worries. Look, I’m going to keep an eye on this situation with Heather—”

“What situation, though? Like you said, your hands are tied. Until he does something, until she speaks up...”

“That feels like a dangerous waiting game to play,” he countered. “I’ll keep an eye out. See if I can’t find him to have a talk.”

“You don’t know where he’s staying?” I asked. I didn’t see how he’d lack that information. Burton was only so big.

“No. He didn’t say where he was staying when I asked. Said it wasn’t my business.”

I supposed it wasn’t—until he escalated. “I don’t like this one bit.”

“Neither do I, but that’s how these things can sometimes go with domestic violence.”