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That’s when I realized what I’d just said. “I guess that’s a hypocritical thing for me to say.”
“A little,” she said. “And it just happened. Conway started to show me the good side to him, and the more I saw it, the more I wanted it. We became close, became friends as well as lovers, and I never wanted it to end. I fell in love with him. When I told him, he said he didn’t feel the same way.”
“That’s why you went to New York…”
“Yeah. Until he came after me. The rest is history. My point is, it wasn’t a fairy tale. Conway’s behavior was unacceptable by most standards. But that’s how it happened…and I wouldn’t change anything.”
“Does my father know any of this?”
She nodded. “Conway told him everything.”
My heart started to slam painfully in my chest. It pounded like a steel drum. “And he was just fine with it?”
“Sounds that way.”
“Let me get this straight…” My hands were starting to shake because I was so angry. “Conway forces you to sleep with him because he paid for you, and my father is just fine with that? Because Conway was the man and you were the woman? That’s fucking bullshit. Sexist bullshit.”
“He never forced me,” she corrected. “It’s not like I didn’t want to be with him.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I snapped. “He wasn’t a gentleman. He didn’t take you out to dinner like a normal person. He just went for what he wanted.”
“I guess…”
I threw my napkin on the table. “I understand that raising a son is different than raising a daughter, but my parents never treated us differently. They raised us to be exactly the same. It’s wrong that Conway isn’t held accountable for his actions, that my parents encourage your relationship, but Bones is put on trial.”
“You’re their only daughter, Vanessa.”
“Whatever. It’s wrong.”
“Conway and I fell in love…so I guess that’s why it’s okay.”
“And Bones and I haven’t?” I asked. “It’s a double standard.”
“But you were the prisoner, Vanessa. Conway wasn’t. It’s different.”
“Different, but not right.” I sat back in my chair, feeling the pulse in my neck throb from the rage. “It’s not right at all.”
Sapphire stared at me with a look of sympathy. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you…”
“No, I’m glad you did. You made a good point. Barsettis are all the same. I’m no different. The men in my family are dark and powerful, and that’s why I want a man just like that. Makes perfect sense to me.”
She kept staring at me, her gentle eyes regarding me with concern. “If he’s really the man you want, don’t give up on him. Even if I had a family that told me Conway was no good for me, I wouldn’t have walked away. I know he’s the man I’m supposed to be with.”
Bones was the man I was supposed to be with. “I’m very close with my family, so I always dreamed of having a husband who could be another member of my family. But now I realize my vision of my family isn’t really accurate…they aren’t who they say they are. They ignore their own crimes and judge Bones for his. It’s not right.”
“They’ll come around,” she said. “Just be a little more patient.”
I didn’t think I could be patient any longer.
Bones drove the truck back to the house, and I looked out the window of the passenger seat. I wasn’t really in the moment because I was thinking about my conversation with Sapphire. Things seemed to be going well with my father, so that was why I didn’t confront him about it.
I didn’t want to provoke him.
Bones glanced at me every few minutes, taking his eyes off the road to look at my scowl. “I’m listening…whenever you’re ready.”
“What makes you think I have something to say?”
“I can tell when you’re pissed, baby. You’re practically seething.”
My man knew me so well. He could read my mood like a thermometer could detect a change in heat. “I went to my father’s office this morning and thanked him for trying so hard. I know it’s difficult for him, but he’s really making an effort. I wanted him to know how much I appreciated it.”
“Why would that make you upset?”
“It didn’t,” I said. “But when I spoke to Sapphire later…that made me upset.”
Bones drove with one hand on the wheel, his large size taking up his entire seat. He shaved that morning because his scruff was getting too thick. He seemed to do it on the days he wanted to bury his face between my legs. His coarse beard aggravated my inner thighs sometimes, so it was easier to do it when his face was cleanly shaven.
Whenever he stepped out of the shower with a clean chin, I knew what was coming.
“And what did Sapphire say?” Bones pulled off the road to the dirt pathway that led to the house. He parked the truck on the side and then hopped out, his weight shifting the truck the second he was out of the seat.
