“Oh, Dais.” He brought his chair around closer to me and wove his fingers into my hand. “I’m so sorry.”
I shrugged. “Nothing to be sorry about. It’s just how it was.”
“Doesn’t make it right.”
“My parents had sex with other people. At least they didn’t beat each other up.”
He nodded. “That’s true.”
“I met many kids in those trailer parks who went through way more shit than I did.”
The concern on Roman’s face had my throat constricting. He really did worry for me. Nobody ever worried for me.
“So, your dad sat you down while your mom was banging a guy in the bedroom.”
“Yeah, and believe me, the van wasn’t very big, we heard everything.”
He shook his head. “Why did you stay in there?”
I stewed over that comment and finally shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess ’cause it was our home. Besides, there was nowhere else to go other than the communal kitchens and I hated those places.”
“Didn’t you have friends you could go to?”
“We moved around all the time. We’d only been in this place for a week, so I hadn’t met anyone yet.”
“Wow, we sure did live different childhoods.”
I captured his gaze and found myself at the mercy of his questioning eyes. He must have a thousand things he wanted to ask and for the first time in my life, I was willing to answer. It was strange, but also liberating. I felt like I could talk to Roman about anything. Scary as that admission was, it was also a welcome change.
But as we continued to look at each other, I had the strangest feeling Roman already knew what I was going to say. Like we’d traveled this familiar path before.
My heart fluttered, but I forced it back. Roman was just a friend. If I didn’t keep that focus, and he kept on looking at me with those gorgeous eyes, I was likely to tear my shirt off and rub my tits in his face.
Oh, God!
Roman is just a friend. A really good friend.
Like the best big brother a girl could have.
Just a friend.Just a friend.
But I could talk to him without fear of judgment. No one had offered me that—except Zali.
The revelation had my pulse racing and my head spinning, yet I also felt so very complete. Roman was taking all my broken little pieces and making me whole again.
I, Daisy Chayne, was ready to jump into that pit of flaming memories without fear of getting burned. I just hoped I came out the other end rejuvenated. Free.
It was suddenly important to tell Roman every single detail—no more skimming over the crap or dodging the embarrassing bits.
My past couldn’t be changed. It was how I dealt with it that mattered.
I inched closer to him, our thighs touching. When he squeezed my hand, I was ready to tell my friend the worst moment of my life.
“It was strange because my father was calm.” I huffed. “He was never calm. Dad was always angry. Over work conditions. His so-called mates. At politicians. Mother. The food we ate. His shoes. Clothes. It didn’t matter, he always had something to bitch about.”
“Some people are just like that.”
That was true. I’d met enough of them on my VacationDreamz tours. “It was the first time he’d ever sat near me without a scowl on his face. He actually looked at me like I was family, and not a random who’d staggered into the caravan after a drunken invitation.”