Page 27 of Home Wrecker

“Maybe it’s the company I keep.” The door closes, but Carver continues. “What the hell is wrong with you still that after all these years you can’t ever be happy for anyone?”

I slow my pace once we’re alone in the hall. The two men are trading loud insults. Holly and I stop moving at the same time.

“You did a background check on me?”

“Bhodi’s my son.”

“You had me checked out!” I repeat the phrase.

“Put yourself in my shoes, Cary! If you had the means, would you have let Bhodi go off God knows where with someone you don’t know, blindly trusting they were an upstanding member of society? I’m his mother. You don’t get to second-guess my choices. I’m the only one keeping him safe because his father took off before the day he was born. Without my son, you have a new Coupe de Ville to drive every day of the week. Your life doesn’t change. But without Bhodi, I have nothing. Do you understand that? I’m sorry if it hurts your fragile ego.”

I sag against the wall, massaging my temple. My brain is about to explode. If this woman deduced after one roll in the hay that I like watching and brings me into a mirrored room to get me off, Holly’s gotta be smart enough to have figured out long ago that not everything Jake does is on the up and up.

I wipe a palm down my face, marring my features. My dick’s as deflated as my pride. I want to yell. I want to lash out at Holly for the audacity. I want to drag out everything of her to find out if she’s hiding that Trig told her the rest of the story… And most of all, I want Davina to have had the foresight to protect me the way Holly does for her child.

That’s what hurts. My mom perpetuated fairies and rainbows and didn’t step up for me. I’m prime to unload that indignation on someone else.

Like Ballentine is doing.Fucking therapy.

Holly’s head hangs in shame, waiting for me to keep arguing, making every emotion shredding my insides ache a million times worse. She’s standing there with the same defeated expression Davina got when Rex put her in her place.

“I get it,” I say, understanding the way she’s backed herself a few feet down the hall is something I don’t get at all. Holly’s no mouse. She’s a damn lioness when it comes to her kid.

It dawns on me she’d also have run in the opposite direction if she had an inkling underneath the surface I wasn’t who I appeared to be. Holly is unaware of Jake’s dealings with Rex, but I’m more certain than ever Ballentineknows. The question has become what am I doing with that information? Oddly enough, the confirmation I’ve been seeking gives me a sense of power instead of feeling like Jake can put the screws to me.

I offer my hand as an olive branch and, as soon as she stops hesitating, I pull her close. She’s shaking. Not with rage, but in inexplicable fear. I envelop her body almost as if mine can insulate her from danger and rest my chin on her hair.

“You don’t owe me an apology.”

“I do. I’d have been upfront about Trig offering his services if I had a freaking clue that Jake would ever wind up walking in on us in a compromising position. I’m not two-faced.”

I huff, kissing her head. “While we’re being honest, I didn’t intend on messing this up so soon.”

“Neither did I.” She pulls her head away. A lock of her hair frizzes and she smooths it back. “And I wouldn’t have survived here very long if anything had happened with Jake. Our relationship isn’t like that.”

The last band constricting my chest eases.

“I meant getting my whiskers tangled in your crazy hairstyle—how fucking long do you spend looking in the mirror?—but whatever this is between us too.” I joke to lighten the mood. “Know how you told me you didn’t bring men home a lot? Well, I follow women home a second time even less.”

How do you say you’re trying to turn over a new leaf without sounding like you’ve been a skirt chaser?

“Are you laying the ‘you’re special’ line on me?” Her cheek goes back to resting against my chest.

My heart is racing and I hope Holly plays it off as remaining adrenaline from our argument coursing through my veins.

“Thicker than your winged eyeliner, Doll. But it’s the truth.”

She would have let me go for her kid. Like Holly said, Bhodi’s all she has. He is her best life. The only one who makes her truly happy and who she can do the same for. And I’m starting to wish for better for both of them.

________________

The first thing I notice when we’re back in the theater area is Trig consoling a ruddy-faced Kimber. I may have been pissed Holly had me investigated, but this reminds me that my initial impression of Trig is that he’s a stand-up guy.

He didn’t balk when other men wanted Kimber’s attention. He worked the bar during our conversation, doing more than refilling our drinks. Trig took it upon himself to take the pressure off of Kimber with the patrons who didn’t care who served them. I don’t think his comments were a warning about Jake, but to trust Holly’s decisions.

Noticing we’re here, Trig nods what I take as a silent admission of guilt. I doubt he’ll offer a full acknowledgment, so I return the gesture and consider it over. If I want Holly I don’t get to pick and choose the trappings of her life that are included. She’d fucking pack it in after judging my own indiscretions.

Holly is like a beacon to her tearful friend, hugging Kimber and patting her on the back. Whatever went down while we were in the office was bad enough almost everyone else has disappeared. Only Sloan remains, insisting they’ll celebrate another night—without inviting Jake, whom I get the impression she thinks little of—before Trig and Kimber leave too.

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