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“Your brother wants you to call him when you get a minute,” Adam reported as he walked with me.
I grunted. “Which one?”
I really wasn’t in the mood for Nix’s drama.
“Rome,” Adam answered.
I bit back a groan. To be honest, I wasn’t in the mood for Rome’s cheerfulness either. Since he married Sophia over six months ago, he’d been in perpetual honeymoon mode. It was obnoxious. No one should be that happy.
“And I just got a text from Zoe’s bodyguard,” Adam continued. “No problems at the house. They should be here in twenty to thirty minutes, depending on traffic.”
Translation: I didn’t have an excuse to duck Rome.
I pulled Rome’s name up on my contact list and hit call just to get it over with.
“Bro! How are things in Cali? How’s my bestest niece Zozo? Is she missing her favorite uncle?”
I rolled my eyes as I climbed the stairs to my trailer. “Adam said you called. What do you want?”
“Wow. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”
I moved through the trailer to the bedroom. I trusted Adam with everything to do with my life, but phone conversations in front of him were awkward. “Sounds like you woke up on the annoying side.”
Rome sighed. “My publicist told me about the article inThe Babbleryesterday. I just wanted to see if you were okay. And if the new nanny was hacking it.”
And now I felt like an ass. “Sorry, bro. I just… I guess it’s going okay.” I closed the door behind me and sprawled out on the bed. “I hired a bodyguard for Zoe and Briar. I needed someone with them when I can’t, especially with all this new scrutiny.”
“Smart plan. I was going to recommend a firm, but it sounds like you have it all taken care of.”
“Doesn’t feel that way. My publicist wants me to comment on the whole in-law situation, but I don’t know. I don’t like the idea of Zoe reading all this ugliness ten or twelve years from now. I guess I was hoping that if I ignored it, it would go away.”
“Sounds a lot like the attitude you took with Mom.”
“What the hell, Rome? Are you seriously throwing that at me? Now?”
“Am I wrong? She tried to call and apologize, and you ignored her. Hell, she wasn’t at your wedding. She’s never met her granddaughter. You froze her out, and it worked. She hasn’t given another interview or talked about you period. Even with us. Why wouldn’t that tactic work with your in-laws, too?”
“Because they’re batshit crazy.”
“Well that’s not exactly surprising. Remember what Ariel was like?” Rome paused and sucked in an audible breath. “I’m sorry, King. That was out of line. I shouldn’t have—”
I groaned and scrubbed at my face. “You’re not wrong. There was a reason we were separated when she died. Hell, there were several reasons.”
“Yeah, but she was Zoe’s mom.IsZoe’s mom. That’ll never change, and I shouldn’t say shit about her. Period. Zoe deserves better than that.”
“When did you become an adult?”
“Right around the time I had to grovel to get Sophia back. Pain changes a man.”
“You don’t have to tell me that. Been there, done that.”
“Truth.” Rome sighed again. “So, what are you going to do about the in-law situation?”
“It’s hard. I get where my publicist is coming from. But I’m worried if I make a statement, it’ll only drive more interest. They’re already taking Zoe’s picture, even if they’re not allowed to publish her face. I don’t want to stoke the flames.”
“That makes sense. I’m a firm believer in trusting your instincts. Maybe the best course of action is to take another run at the in-laws. See what it’ll take to make them back off.”
“Maybe. It feels like it’s all just lip service. What they really want is a payoff.”
