AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You left me.”
With words, she was right. I had. But where it counted? I balled my fist. It didn’t matter anymore.
“You really think it would’ve worked out?”
We were sitting so close we touched, but I felt the distance growing between us. And I should be happy it was. I couldn’t have her. When she was this close, it was easy to forget that.
She lifted her chin. “I guess we’ll never know.”
“We know, baby sister. We know.” I put a hand on her thigh, careful not to squeeze.
Her dad had followed her, but if it wasn’t him who inflicted these wounds . . . who did?
Someone who she was out with when she called me. Someone she ran away from, even leaving her purse behind. She knew him. Clearly. But Beau wasn’t a cheater, so surely she wasn’t in a relationship with this guy. Besides, Teague would have mentioned someone if she was. “Who is he . . . to you?”
Her eyes flared. “I’m not with some asshole who beats women.” Then she covered her mouth with her hand, horror transforming her features. “I didn’t fight. I wanted to, but I froze.”
Something in my chest cracked. I knew just how hard it was to admit that, not only to me, but to herself.
“You got away.” I took her uninjured fingers in mine. “So you must have done something to fight.”
I hoped it equated to him never being able to have children.
“I don’t think I’m the person I thought I was.”
A long time ago, she hadn’t been afraid to tell me everything she was thinking. I’d lost that privilege and couldn’t believe she was opening up to me now.
“Who do you think you are?”
Her shoulders slumped. “I thought I was strong and smart and . . . brave.”
“Keep thinking that.” She was every one of those things and more. “But you forgot all fire, independent, and fearless.”
“I-I’m not.”
I squeezed her fingers. “You are.”
“Why didn’t I fight him?” She pleaded with me for answers I didn’t have.
Her phone lit again.
Lincoln.
“I should answer that. He’ll worry.”
I picked up the phone and handed it to her.
“Are you at the office? I wanted to run something by you but couldn’t find you.”
She cleared her throat. “Um, no. I got a lead on some property and went to check it out. What’s on your mind?”
“I stumbled on another building in the Bowery. If you’re around, I hoped you’d preview it with me.”
She fiddled with the blanket. “Send me the specs. If I finish up here soon, maybe we can check it out.”
Beau was wrong. She was strong and brave. Hearing her voice, the way she spoke to her brother, no one would ever know the hell she’d been through.
“Call me. And don’t forget Eric’s piano lesson. He’s been talking about it all day.”
