AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“About your father?”
“No. And don’t go thinking I give a shit what your dad said about him. He was just trying to get under my skin. I meant something else.”
With a sinking feeling, I know what the ‘something else’ is.
“You’re talking about Olivia.” My stepmother’s name will always taste like rancid fruit.
“Yup.”
“You don’t owe me an explanation.” And he doesn’t. He was Olivia’s victim; framed and manipulated and stalked.
“I want to give you one anyway.” His eyes narrow under the glare of the freeway lights, or maybe it’s a fresh wave of anger resurfacing. “Tess, I wasn’t right in the head when I got out of prison. Took all I had just to survive in there. When I was released from that shithole, I was only eighteen and thought there wasn’t much to look forward to. Olivia swooped in and acted like she cared. It didn’t last long at all and meant nothing to me. She went and married your father right after that. Even when she kept coming around for all those years, trying to restart something that was never going to happen, I never guessed what she was really like. And I’m still pissed at myself for not seeing it.”
I swallow the bitter taste that always invades whenever her name comes up. “Micah, you’re not the only one. She and my father didn’t have a good marriage but Olivia was part of my family. She fooled me too.” I reach for his knee. “I’m sorry for everything you went through. I should have tried harder to be a friend to you.”
He keeps his eyes on the road. “I never allowed you to be a friend, Tessie, and you know it.”
“We’re friends now, aren’t we?”
He laughs though his nose, picks up my hand and kisses my wrist like the gruff, tatted anti-prince that I never knew I secretly wanted.
And it’s enough of an answer to satisfy me.
“Are we going to your place?”
“Actually, is it okay if we stop by Conner’s first? He’s got a home game tomorrow and even though he never admits to being nervous, I know he likes company before a big game.”
“Sure, we can bring him some pizza.”
“And I guarantee he’ll eat it all.”
Conner’s current home is the penthouse suite at the glitzy Palace Hotel. I’ve attended events in the lavish ballroom before but the top floor suite is the next step up in luxury, with more square footage than many houses and access to a huge balcony that includes a garden of miniature potted citrus trees.
“Are you sure you want to move?” I ask, standing at the floor to ceiling windows and gawking at the serene carpet of Em City lights below.
Conner already chews on a slice of pizza and joins me at the window. “It’s been a cool place to crash for a while, but I’m ready to spread my wings.”
“You mean put down roots?”
He grins down at me. “Yeah, that.” The rest of his pizza slice gets stuffed into his mouth.
“Well, I promise I won’t rest until I find you the perfect house.”
Conner looks over his shoulder at Micah. “Hey, you’re both coming to my game tomorrow, right? I don’t think I can win without my favorite pair of enemies cheering me on.”
“We’re not enemies,” Micah says.
“At least not anymore,” I add.
Conner flings a rather heavy arm across my shoulders. “Cheer me on anyway. I get lonely.”
“You’ll have fifty thousand fans screaming your name.” Micah grumpily removes Conner’s arm from my shoulders and replaces it with his own. “But we’ll be there. Just keep your hands to yourself.”
Conner is sulking now. “Be nice. The best ladies in my life are spoken for. First Gage takes Dani and now you have Tess all to yourself. Who do I get?”
Micah snorts. “Pretty sure Haven’s still single.”
Conner smacks the back of his cousin’s head. “Shut your mouth.”
