Page 70 of Protective Heroes

Relief flooded my chest. “I love you, too,” I said quietly, interrupting her tirade.

“I know that!”

I laughed at her annoyed tone, so relieved, I was almost giddy. “Are you too annoyed to listen to the rest of the story? And the dirt on the guy?”

That calmed her right down. “I will never be too annoyed to get the dirt on a guy. Especially a guy who made your life messy in less than twenty-four hours and has you spilling your guts to me.”

“Wow, has it only been twenty-four hours?”

“Yes, now spill,” she said impatiently.

So I did. I told her about how my mother wanted to share custody of me, but my dad argued with her about it the day she left. She’d brought her boyfriend, his one-time best friend with her and a fight broke out.

I’d been ten years old and spying from behind the kitchen doorway. I watched in terror when the man had hit my father.

After that, there was no use discussing custody. There was no way I’d set foot in a home she shared with that beast.

“But it sounds like he was protecting your mother,” Asha said. “I don’t mean to sound like I am on the side of your mom’s new man. I’m just saying it how I see it. It’s what a soulmate would do. Step into the fire for the one they love.”

I sighed. “I’ve wondered that over the last few years. But as far as my ten-year-old self was concerned, my mom ran off with a monster worse than anything my imagination could conjure. Which made me feel like love was fake. And then I met Trevor. I thought I must have been wrong about fate and love. Then he left.”

“Oh, honey. He wanted to be better for you. Love makes us do so many crazy things. Have you tried to get in touch with your mom?”

“I was so angry with her for so long.” I shoved my hand through my hair, sifting through the strands. “Then my dad died, and Asha, I swear…they said he had a heart attack, but I swear he died of a broken heart. I thought I was going to die after Trevor left, too.”

“Sweetie, I’m so sorry. How old were you when your dad died?”

“Sixteen.”

She gasped. “So did you end up going to live with your mother after that?”

“No, after my dad died, I blamed her. I didn’t want to be around her new husband and my aunt, my dad’s sister, offered to help me.”

My aunt took me in to get back at my mother. She blamed her for my father’s death, too, and if I was being honest, she helped keep my anger alive much longer than I should have let it fester.

“So what about now? It sounds like maybe you’re ready to forgive your mom…?”

“Her husband sent me a letter when I was sixteen. My mom died.”

“Oh, no! No wonder why you never wanted to talk about your childhood. Why didn’t I make you tell me all this sooner?”

Laughter bubbled up inside me. “Only you would find out I’ve been keeping secrets from you for years and end up blaming yourself.”

“Oh, sweetie, I don’t blame you. That’s the kind of thing you only talk about when you’re ready.”

“Have I mentioned that I love you?”

“You might have brought it up once or twice. But don’t change the subject.”

“What subject? That’s everything I’ve been keeping to myself.”

“Uh, hello? The guy?”

“Oh, yeah. The guy. What a problem!” My stomach filled with fluttering wings at just the thought of him.

I filled in Asha on meeting Trevor in high school and the strong visceral attraction I felt to him then and still feel today apparently.

“Hate to break it to you, but it doesn’t sound like much of a problem to me.” I could hear the smile in her voice. “In fact, quite the opposite. We should all have problems like you have.”

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