Roman-1(Lane Brothers, Book 5)(76)
“I’m sorry, I’m just…”
Afraid and hurt and so happy that he’s here right now.
Yeah, but don’t forget that he’s not yours anymore, a little voice whispers. You broke up with him for a reason.
“Let’s just focus on getting you better, dove. Everything else can wait,” he says softly, leaning down to plant a gentle kiss to the only place on my face that isn’t iffy. My nose.
“We still need to talk,” I say dully, watching him flinch minutely before his face blanks.
“We will.”
***
“You’re coming home, and that’s all there is to it. I can’t have my baby vulnerable to the mercies of a madman!”
I wince and look at Vincent, seeing his face go hard as marble. My parents have flown in just this morning and stormed Castle Blake with every intention of getting me home and behind the walls of my father’s well secured ranch.
I’ll be safe there. The place is more secure than the White House, thanks to Daddy’s obsession with Mama’s safety. The poor woman can’t tend her vegetable garden without tripping over a ranch hand.
My whole childhood had been just as restrictive, and while I’m afraid and in need of that security, it makes me shudder to think of going back to that gilded cage.
That’s why I can’t understand why it’s Mama throwing around her weight now. For a woman who knows how stifling the ranch is, she’s way too intent on getting me back there.
“I fully understand your thinking, Mrs Bennet, but I have already put security measures in place for Cecelia. We—”
“I don’t give a good goddamn if you’ve got the fucking secret service skulking around in the shadows! My daughter is coming home with her daddy and me where I can keep an eye on her.”
Uh-oh. I recognize that tone. It’s the same one I heard when she caught me sneaking back into the house one morning after I’d gone partying with Mary Clinton my senior year.
The ‘bad seed’ of the town had taken a shine to me, thanks to my car and the fact that I could sponsor her drink money. That had been one of the worst nights of my life, realizing that I had no chance at being friends with someone as shunned as Mary.
And then, to make matters worse, I’d been grounded for a solid month.
“Well, Thanksgiving is right around the corner,” I say, not wanting an argument to erupt between Daddy and Vincent.
He’s seated right beside me on the sofa, keeping my ankle elevated and immobile, and I feel him stiffen as he glares defiantly at my father.
“You know I won’t allow—”
“I don’t give a good goddamn what you will and won’t allow, boy. You focus on finding that little prick Brennan, and we’ll keep Sissy safe.”
“Cindy—”
“No, Beau, y’all know the ranch is the best place for her right now. The Parker girl has already been shipped back to her family, and they’ve got her safely behind the walls of that fancy palace of theirs. I want Sis home.”
Daddy sighs and casts me an apologetic look.
“Fine, but Vincent is coming for Thanksgiving and Christmas as well. You can’t just barge in here and start throwing orders around, especially if it affects their relationship.”
Oh, Daddy, if only you knew that there is no relationship. And this is also just plain weird. Beau Bennet has never once in his life supported one of my relationships, going so far as to have background checks run on every man I’d so much as glanced at.
The fact that he’s encouraging me to stay with Vincent makes me wonder and second guess my decision to keep things broken off. The truth is that Vincent and I are done. We have been since the time he cold shouldered me, and we both know it.
It hurts, a lot, but I’m still steadfastly determined that whatever Vincent and I had is over. Yeah, I know he saved me and put his own life in danger in doing so, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna prostrate myself at his feet in gratitude.
He’s still a monumental dick in the relationship department, and I refuse to go any further and lose my heart to him if he’s going to be his usual self. He doesn’t trust me, and I don’t think I can live with that.
“I’ll go home with you,” I say, feeling his body tighten beside mine. “Just give us a few minutes alone. Please.”
Mama leans over to kiss me and just about hog wrestles Daddy out of the room when he starts protesting my decision. I turn to Vincent, sad but determined to say what I need to say before his silver tongue can talk me out of it.
“No, just listen. I know that you have some sort of hero thing going here, and that for whatever reason you’ve decided you want me back, but the truth is…I can’t do this with you. We’re so different, too different, and I…I guess I just don’t want to end up falling for you when I know we have no future.”