Page 27 of Nomad
“Of course not!” His voice hardened. “Did you not hear me say I love you, Jade? I’ve always been in love with you.”
“Yes.” I removed myself from his embrace, sat up in the bed, and pulled the sheet up over my breasts. “You said you love me, but I can hear the sadness in your voice, William.”
He sat up and raked his hand through his hair. “Her name was Angie. No, I did not love her, but I tried. I tried so fucking hard to get you out of my mind. Three years Jade I spent with her, trying to forget about you!” He gripped the sides of his head. “You will never understand the torture I went through, Angel. The torture I’m still going through. I fell in love with my brother’s fucking wife! He asked for my help, not to make you mine.”
William looked grief-stricken, like his feelings for me were the worst thing that happened. That we were the worst thing that happened to him. While I’d gotten past the guilty stage, William hadn’t.
“What do you mean Aaron asked you to take care of his family?”
I switched the conversation since he was still coming to terms with everything. Aaron asking someone to take care of us sounded exactly like something he would do. While Aaron couldn’t walk away from the military when I’d asked, he loved both me and Junior with everything in him. The pain in William’s eyes was gut-wrenching. The guilt lingered. I hated it, but I wouldn’t let him go. We would try to make this work.
“Aaron gave me a letter.” He fell backwards then threw his forearm over his eyes. “He asked if I’d take care of you and Junior if anything happened to him.”
“He gave me one, too.”
William removed his forearm from his face and turned to me. “Seriously?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Aaron wanted me to look out for you, too, because you had no family but him.”
“I can’t believe he did that.” William shook his head. “Aaron did that for me?”
“He did.” I brushed away the strands that fell into his face. “Like I told you the day you left, he thought of you as his brother. He didn’t want you to be alone in the world.”
Aaron had been a very caring man. We were his family, including William. He wanted all of us taken care of.
“William, I’m not sure if you’re going to believe me, but I think Aaron wanted us to happen.”
I believed Aaron wanted us to have a happy ending together. Aaron trusted William. It was clear in the way he’d always spoken of him. Now, I had to convince the man I loved it was okay to love me back.
“What’s your history with the prick?” he asked with deceptive calm, switching our conversation. He didn’t want to talk about where we went from here, but I would come back to it later. “I remember him from the funeral.”
“I’ve known Sam since elementary school. We’ve been dating on and off for a while, to his family’s chagrin.”
I thought back to conversations we had about his mother and stepfather. My family wasn’t politically connected, and although my parents were middle class, we didn’t have Allen money. Despite being successful, his family didn’t believe I was good enough for the Golden Boy, as Della called him. Being his girlfriend was hard enough, but being his wife was definitely out of the picture, though I’d never seen myself marrying him.
“But I ended it for good,” I continued. “He doesn’t like that my life centers on Aaron or my organization. I’m not changing it.”
“And he just barged in today?”
I heard the anger in his voice. The side I’d seen of William today was a complete contrast to the one I’d known, patient and caring. Of course, his threat to Sam came across as calm, but danger lurked in Williams’ eyes. I wasn’t afraid of him, and for that split second, gratitude was what I’d felt when he came to my rescue. I’d seen hints of anger from Sam, but today, he’d been on another level.
“Well, that was my fault.”
He raised his brow. “Don’t make excuses for that motherfucker.”
“I’m not. I’m saying I wasn’t expecting him this morning, and I was in a rush,” I explained, trying to calm him down. “When the knock came, like an idiot, I didn’t check to see who it was. I cracked open the door, and he pushed his way in.”
“And he doesn’t have a key?”
“No. I’ve never given him one.”
“That’s good. If he comes back, you need to call the cops, Jade. I know he’s your brother’s friend, but he’s dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” I shook my head. “No, Sam’s not dangerous. He’s a little high strung, William, but dangerous? I don’t think so.”
“Listen to me, Jade. If he comes back, call the cops.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary, William.”
