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“Yep. He’s all yours,” Trick answered. “But might I suggest not using the department for revenge next time?”
“Yeah, okay,” I grumbled, feeling like a kicked puppy after being rightfully put in my place.
“Great.” Roan clapped his hands together. “In that case, let’s get a move on, Freckles. I have to finish dinner.”
The drive back to my house was made in silence, but Roan’s self-satisfaction filled the car enough to make the air almost stifling. I, on the other hand, spent those minutes silently freaking out. I should have known I couldn’t bail him out of jail, or whatever, then expect to get rid of him. The man was like static cling. When he was determined to stick with something, there was no getting rid of him.
I turned the wheel and pulled into my driveway, clutching the wheel in a white-knuckle grip even after I’d turned the car off.
“Hey.” Roan reached across the console from the passenger seat, his fingers skating across my temple to tuck my hair back. “Talk to me, baby. What’s going on in that head of yours?”
So much I couldn’t possibly put it all into words. Instead of trying, I turned to look at him, biting on the corner of my bottom lip. “I don’t suppose you’d be okay with putting this talk off for another time?”
I knew the answer to that by the hard, determined line of his jaw as soon as the question left my mouth. “Been putting this talk off for ten years. I’m done waiting.”
With that, he climbed out of the car and started toward my house. Instead of letting himself inside like I’d expected, he waited on the porch for me join him and unlock the door.
Tortellini let out a meow of excitement that sounded like death at the sight of his new best buddy, and waddled over to wrap himself back and forth between Roan’s legs.
“Jesus. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the sounds that cat makes. It’s like he’s being murdered.”
I dragged my fingers from the top of the cat’s head to his tail. “It’s been like that since I got him as a kitten. There’s no explanation for it. The vet says he’s in perfect health.”
Roan cut his eyes at me, a look of disbelief on his face. “Perfect health? Really?”
I narrowed my eyes and gave him a little shove. Of course, it didn’t so much as budge him. The man was built like a brick house. “Leave him alone. He’s extra fluffy, that’s all.”
He snorted and started toward the kitchen, leaving me to follow. “Extra fluffy my ass. That cat’s fat as hell. Plain and simple.”
I hopped up on the stool across the counter and watched as Roan went back to finishing the dinner he’d started before I called the cops on him. “You’re going to hurt his feelings if you don’t knock it off, and he’s not going to like you anymore.”
Roan cast a look over his shoulder, a smirk that held no small amount of confidence. “Please. That cat loves me.”
I blew out a raspberry and rolled my eyes before propping my chin in the palm of my hand. “Apparently everyone in town does. You’ve got more charm than any one person should be allowed.”
I meant it to be teasing, but Roan suddenly grew very serious. The atmosphere went from light and breezy to tense and thick in the blink of an eye.
He turned fully to face me, his expression earnest. “Not everyone,” he said in a low, solemn voice. “Not the one person who matters the most.”
It was a direct hit, and I felt it hit my chest before spreading through the rest of my body like a crack in a windshield.
“Roan, that’s not fair,” I said quietly, emotion clogging my throat. “You’re the one who pushed me away. You said it was too much work trying to keep me happy while you were recording and touring.” The more I spoke, the bigger that fire deep inside me grew until my anger sparked back to life and pushed the sadness away.
“We were supposed to build a life together, talked about it foryears, but the second you were signed, you started treating me like shit. I was an inconvenience, a nuisance. I cramped your style.” I threw all the things back he’d told me all those years ago, and every word left a sick, burning taste on my tongue. I let out a caustic laugh. “You didn’t even have the balls to end it yourself. You took the coward’s way out and mademedo it,” I jammed my finger toward my chest. “You treated me like shit until I finally had enough.” My voice rose higher and higher with each word until I was shouting. “You pushed me until I had no choice!”
Something in Roan snapped. His hands came down on the countertop with a loud crack that made me jump. “I had to!” he boomed. He began to pace and rake his hands through his hair in agitation. “I had to. I didn’t have a choice. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you since I got to this town.”
I wasn’t ready to let go of the anger. I hadn’t realized until I started that I wantedto yell. I wanted to scream and curse and say everything that had been on my mind for the past ten years. I wanted tofight. And, god, it felt good. “That’s such a fucking cop-out,” I shouted, throwing my hands up. “You’re the one who made the decision to hurt me, to ruin what we had. That was allyou, Roan. Just fucking own it!”
“He said he’d go after you next if I didn’t give him what he wanted.”
A sound like rubber squealing on concrete echoed through my head as the fight drained out of me. “What? Who?” I shook my head, trying to understand what he’d said. “What are you talking about, Roan?”
“Randall,” he growled. “My piece of shit father.” He stopped pacing, his shoulders drooping as he braced his hands on the counter across from me to hold himself up. “When I was signed, he showed up on our doorstep with his fucking hand out. He always sent my mom to do it. You know that. You were there, you saw it more than I wish you had. With her gone, he didn’t have a choice but to come himself. I was so glad you were at work when it happened. Mom used guilt, but he used something else.”
I forced air into my lungs as my mind whirled and my heart threatened to beat out of my chest. “Roan, what did he do?”
Those deep hunter green eyes came to me, and what I saw in them ripped the pieces of my heart I’d managed to put back together over the years to tatters. “He threatened you. He said if I didn’t give him what he wanted, he’d go after you. He laughed when I told him to fuck off, that I wasn’t giving him a dime. He told me if I wasn’t able to protect my own mother, how could I expect to protect you? He kept pushing and pushing, telling me I couldn’t look out for you every hour of every day. I’d be touring, shit like that, and he’d use that as an opportunity to get to you. I knew as long as you were with me, you weren’t safe. He was right. I couldn’t protect my mother, and that son of a bitch eventually killed her. If something happened to you, I’d never be able to live with it.”
