Page 99 of What Is Love
“My father wrote me a letter to receive when I turned eighteen. He told me I wasn’t his and gave me your name,” I said.
Bram nodded. “He was a good man. He loved you a lot.”
That pissed me off because it just felt like words.
“I wouldn’t know. He died when I was six.” I felt like I was going to cry. “You both left me alone with her.” My voice broke and I had to battle against everything raging inside me to hold my composure. He didn’t deserve my tears. I didn’t want his pity.
Bram frowned. “Your mother?”
I slid off the table and walked over to Roe. I would need to end things with him and his friends for good. I wouldn’t let them ruin their dreams for me. “Send me the bill for your bike. I’ll pay to have it fixed.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Bram said. “I get why you did it. You’re angry with me.”
I froze. “I don’t destroy things when I’m angry.”
“Then why’d you do it?” Bram asked.
“To see if you’d hit me,” I said, and walked out.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Thankfully Bram didn’t followme out. Only Roe did, and he did it quietly. Wyatt was waiting by his car.
“Where’s Reid?” Roe asked.
Wyatt shook his head. “He took off.”
“Can you take me home?” I asked. I’d cut ties when they dropped me off.
Roe put a hand on my shoulder. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. If I did, I’d cave. “My mother is still out of the country.” If she was back, I would have been beckoned back to the house by now. I figured that if Sharon had called her, the earliest she would be able to fly back would be tomorrow. It was a thirteen-hour flight after all.
“Why don’t you get some things and come stay at our place?” Wyatt suggested.
“I should stay home,” I said.
Roe put his hand on the uninjured part of my face and made me look up at him. “Then we’ll stay at your place. You’re hurt and I don’t like the idea of you being in that house alone.”
The way he cared made my resolve crumble.
One more night of freedom.
Just one more,I told myself. And then I’d have to let him, and Wyatt, and even Reid go.
“I’ll come over tonight,” I told him.
He seemed to relax, and we all climbed into Wyatt’s car.
Wyatt parked down the street from my house just in case the neighbors saw and notified Mother, which would only add to my list of crimes.
Roe was the one to pull his seat forward to let me out. “How long do you think you’ll be?”
“A few hours. I want to shower, take something for pain, put on comfortable clothes.”
“Clothes are always optional at our house,” Wyatt said from inside the car.
I tried to smile and winced when my lip and jaw smarted.
