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“Nicole,” Nathaniel warns my mother. He’s probably considering the legal implications her threats could have.
“Don’t you mean your son?” Rogue snaps back. “This isn’t about Ivy and you know it.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Nicole grows more agitated with every word. “Everything I do is always about Ivy.”
I don’t want to hear any more. I don’t know what they’re arguing about. I don’t know the man who is acting like I belong with him. But I know a lie when my mother tells it. I reach out and touch the cashmere sweater. “Where is Adira?”
“He was supposed to be here,” Rogue tells me over his shoulder. “He had a last minute emergency. Though I can’t imagine what could keep him from being here. Can you, Nicole?”
Is he suggesting that my mother has something to do with Adira not being here? I wouldn’t put it past her to try. She has never been a fan of my cousin or the fact that we’ve grown close. “And where is my wedding band?”
Rogue’s spine stiffens on a quick intake of breath.
“We’re married, aren’t we?” It’s what everyone is saying. There’s something about the way he reacts that makes the back of my neck prickle.
“Absolutely.” His response is eager. Too… sharp? Too… quick?
“So where is my ring?” I ask.
“At the jeweler’s,” he says.
“You said it was in your apartment.” My mother sounds suspicious. “Three days ago, that’s what you said.”
“Right,” he says. “It was, but I took it to the store to have it cleaned and checked while you weren’t wearing it. I also had them make a chain for you to wear it from in case you couldn’t wear it properly for a while with your injuries.”
“Okay.” So I trusted him at some point. Enough to marry him. But then what? His response doesn’t instill me with confidence. There’s something he isn’t telling me.
“Ivy, he’s not a good man,” this time my mother sounds genuinely concerned.
So maybe he did… hurt me? Or maybe she has something to be worried about?
“You broke up with him,” my mother says. “You left him. Don’t go back to him. He’ll only use you. He’ll only hurt you again.”
“That is not how it is between us, baby.” I’m engulfed by him facing me. His hand is huge and it wraps around one side of my neck with the slightest of pressure. Every time I find myself in the center of those blue as a summer day eyes I feel like I’m falling into them. “Please believe me.”
I can’t just take his word for it. “You’re a stranger.”
“You don’t know him at all,” my mother says. “Another reason not to put your life in his hands.”
The problem is while I don’t remember my relationship with Rogue, or what happened for me to end up in the hospital, Nicole Hawthorne is very much the devil I know. The one whose motives have always revolved around what she needs from me. And I remember leaving the Sunny Health facility. How I was certain that if I moved back under that roof I would never get out from under her thumb.
Sometimes it isn’t better to go with the devil you know. Sometimes the choice is in the unknown. At least until I can talk to Adira. “Rogue?”
“Yes, Ivy?”
“Take me home, please.”
Chapter Ten
Ivy
Homesweethome.
At least… it’s meant to be my home.
I don’t remember the thirty story elevator ride that opens up to a private floor and lets us out into a foyer that is three times larger than the hospital room I’ve spent the last few days in. Or the huge potted ficus to the left as soon as we close the door. Or the movie posters displayed on the walls.
I don’t recall the camel colored furniture or the white glossy tiles that seem to brighten the place like it’s lit from beneath. Rogue shows me around the kitchen and it’s the first time I’ve ever been here.
