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“It’s a long drive, and a late meeting. You’re going to have to spend the night somewhere.”
“That’s fine,” she said, not looking me in the eyes as she quickly responded to the email. “Day and I can stay in a hotel—”
“Why torture the kid like that, Moira? Just leave him here.”
She looked up at me, and I knew I’d struck a nerve.
“I can’t leave him here.”
“Why not?”
“Because I feel better having him with me.”
“Does this have anything to do with the reason you had that panic attack a few weeks ago?”
She held my gaze for a long moment. “I told you everything was fine—”
“Moira,” I said as gently as possible. “What the hell are you running from?”
“His father, okay?”
She rose from her seat, and I did as well. I wasn’t going to let her run from this conversation, especially now that I knew a slice of the truth.
“Is this a custody thing? Are you not supposed to have him—”
“Don’t ever say that to me again,” she sneered. “I’m Day’s only parent, okay? I’m all he has. His father—he was never a dad to him. He left when he was a baby.”
“And his father is the reason you have nightmares?”
“Y-Yes,” she answered, swallowing hard. I watched the column of her neck move with the motion, and my hands clenched into fists at my sides as a sudden realization dawned on me. My vision went red.
“He roughed you up, didn’t he?”
She opened her mouth, then shut it again, her eyes going misty with tears.
“I—I—I didn’t know how to stop him. It was my fault.”
“Are you fucking kidding me, Moira?”
She looked up at me, and the look on her face had my heart cracking into pieces in my chest. She only shook her head, turning for the door.
“Moira!”
“What, Grant?” She turned around, hugging her arms against her chest. “What do you want me to say right now? That, yeah, I’m a single mom. My ex slammed me against a fridge and hit me so hard he broke my collarbone. He threatened me, hurt me, and continued to hurt me and I did nothing about it.”
“Where the fuck is he right now?” I growled, taking a step toward her.
She looked up at me, surprise lining her features. “Why?”
I couldn’t answer that without giving away my feelings for not only her, but for Day. I’d rip this man into pieces for even looking at her the wrong way, and that was a promise.
“Jail,” she said after a moment. “He’s in jail.” She quickly wiped her eyes, shaking her head. “Day doesn’t know, okay? I don’t want him to know—”
“You’re both safe here,” I ground out. “I need you to know that. No one is going to hurt you here. I promise you.”
“Why do you care?” she asked quietly.
“Because I care about you, Moira. I’ve watched you work over the past month. You’re passionate, driven, fucking fierce to the point of being terrifying.” I leaned against the wall, crossing my arms. “And I knew something was wrong.”
