Page 208 of Branded
But how could I expect that she would share hers if I continued to bury mine deep?
It was why I’d opened the door the night before.
It was time for me to let the wounds in me air out, to heal in the light, to allow the shadows I’d carried for too long to be extinguished.
So I said, “My parents weren’t great. Dad was—is—an asshole who likes to drink too much, yell too much, smoke too much, and work too little. Mom got tired of it. Left me. Left me, and I didn’t hear from her until after we won our first Cup. She wanted me to bring it to her so her kids from the new family she’d created could see it.”
Silence.
Then, Beth’s voice shook with anger. “Are you serious?”
A quiet question, but the words reverberated through me.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
A breath, her eyes snapping and sparking, as though she were an avenging angel.
“It’s a shitty truth, sugarpie, but it is my truth.” A shrug. Not to dismiss it, but because my shoulders were taut and I needed to loosen the tension. “I had a lot of shit—parents, teachers, coaches—but I’ve shoveled my way out of it now,” I said. “I’ve got good friends now. A good woman.” I smoothed my thumb along her bottom lip. “And a good family that I’ve created. We’re not related, but I don’t need biology to tell me what is a good thing and what’s not.”
Her lips parted.
“For the record, you’re a good thing. You’re the good woman.”
Dampness drifting across blue eyes.
“And you’re part of that good family I’ve been lucky enough to create.”
Her shoulders lifted, pushing against the underside of my arm. Then dropped. “Raph,” she whispered, the tip of her tongue dipping out, dampening her lips, tempting me again, wanting to taste and take.
“I’m okay, honey.”
“They shouldn’t be like that.”
“No,” I whispered. “They shouldn’t. But they are, and there’s no changing it, no going back.”
Her mouth pressed flat.
Then she sighed again.
Her mouth relaxed. “I hate that you had that.”
“Me too. But”—my fingers on her cheek—“it also showed me what kind of man, what kind of parent I won’t ever be.”
Something stark in her eyes, her face.
Her body going so so still.
Fuck.
But almost as quickly, the stillness eased. “How are you so fucking gorgeous inside and out?” she whispered, her fingers sliding over my jaw, over the bristles already growing there, even though I’d shaved just before I’d left the house.
“Most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” I whispered back.
Her cheeks went a little pink, but she didn’t argue with me, just joked lightly, “Well, aren’t we all about the compliments?”
I laughed softly. “Misery loves company?”
“If misery is me being with a man who calls me beautiful, then I can’t really complain now, can I?”
