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“Did something happen to you? You never talk about your mother.”
“And I’m not going to start tonight. Go to bed, Tru.”
Oh, hit a nerve, did I? “Is she...gone?”
“She was never here. Not in any meaningful way. I really am not going into it with you.”
At my bland look, he shrugs and sits on the couch, so I join him. “So she’s not dead.”
“Not that I know of.”
Interesting. “Does she live nearby?”
“Tru,” he warns.
“You know every sordid thing about my family life. I shared my most humiliating experience with you. I’m not going to be scared off by you telling me you don’t want to talk about it.”
His voice is clipped, edged with annoyance or anger or both. “My mother was a groupie. Might still be. She followed Ironwing around from bar to bar in Los Angeles, and then when they hit it big, she followed them around from venue to venue. She got knocked up and claimed it was my dad.”
“What do you mean claimed?”
“He never asked for a paternity test. He gave her money, a place to stay. Married her. Ironwing stopped touring because he didn’t think it would be a good way to raise kids. I think he didn’t trust her parenting skills if he wasn’t around, and it turns out he was right.”
His body is tight with tension, his face squared. I’ve never seen him like this. Not when he got the dog he didn’t want. Not when a stranger showed up and took half of what he’d been working for. Talking about his mother is maybe the only thing that really upsets him.
My hand reaches for his until our fingers link. Hold. “Where is she now?”
“Who knows? She comes back every few years. Gets some money from my dad. Me. Promises she’s changed and then ducks out again. She’s been pulling that since I was a baby. My dad, he always takes her in. Gets her clean.”
Sounds like Brandon. So giving and warm. “Does he still love her?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t know that he ever did.”
I blink once in surprise, and then it hits me. “He takes care of her because he loves you.”
His eyes dart to mine. They’re cold and dark. “I might not even be his.”
“Of course, you are. He loves you. You’re his son, Nash. It didn’t matter to him then and it doesn’t now. Anyone can see how much he loves you.”
Nash slumps over. “He gave up music. His whole life. He could have been a rock star. But he gave it all up. For a woman who only used him to get her by, and then kept coming back for more.”
I don’t want to sound trite, but he needs to know he was worth whatever Brandon might have sacrificed. “Nash, your father gave it up because he wanted to be a dad more than a rock star.”
He stands abruptly, prowls the room with too much unspent energy. “Well, anyway, I have no interest in being anyone’s Prince Charming.”
My head whips up. He’s too smart to think all women are like his mother, but I guess he doesn’t know he’s that smart yet. I do not like being equated with her, though. “Is that what you think I’m looking for? I hate to break it to you, but I don’t want to be anyone’s damsel in distress. I came here looking to learn how to stand up without the support of a man. If you think for one second, I’m happy about developing feelings for one, you’re mistaken. We just need to think this through. Be logical. Neither one of us wants to fall in love, we both recognize the symptoms, so we nip it in the bud.”
He narrows his gaze at me. “One of us is falling. I’m just fine.”
I nod. “Sure you are.” I stand up, determined more than ever to get back on the path I set out from the moment my lawyer informed me of everything Richard had done. “As much as it pains me to say it, you were right about one thing. We can’t have sex anymore. We remain professional from here on out.” I hold out my hand for a shake. “Deal?”
He stares at my hand. “You think you’re just going to stop having feelings for me? Just like that?”
My fake smile dims. “Well, I imagine it might take some time. But once we stop clouding the issue with sex, I see no reason we can’t fall right back out.”
He shakes my hand warily. “I don’t know. Women have more complicated feelings than men. I don’t think you’re really going to be able to reason with your heart.”
“Women do not have more complicated feelings than men. You’re being ridiculous. I will get over you just fine. And you will get over me eventually as well.”
