“Riley,” I offered quietly.
“Right,” he said. “So... are we doing this or?—?”
Before today, I’d been Riley Walls—disappointing daughter of Colin Walls. Sister of June and Josh.
But now?
Now I didn’t even know if Riley was my real name.
I didn’t know my surname. Or who I was related to. I didn’t know anything. And with that fact in mind, I couldn’t know for sure if this man was related to me or not. How could any of us be truly sure after today? I could be a distant relative he’d never heard of for all we both knew.
I shook my head, offering no explanation. I didn’t have the words to explain the chaos of the theme park ride I couldn’t seem to get off. I’d seen how easy it had been for my identity to be shielded from me my entire life since I’d reached Bellamy Children’s Home. How could I ever believe again that anyoneelse knew for sure exactly who they were? I’d be requiring DNA tests for all future conquests.
“Fucking Colin.” Fire raged in my stomach as I paced the room again, a growl erupting from my throat. He had taken casual sex away from me too, along with everything else. And that house?
I had a new vendetta against it now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
I’d leftJono looking frustrated but not angry at the garage door. He’d waved away the money for the oil when I tried to press it into his hand, and I made sure to close the rabbit hole in my mind that whispered he was just trying to get rid of the crazy lady who’d given him a bad case of blue balls. Or worse—that he waspayingme for the brief encounter we did have.
I felt frustrated. The pressure of the day still built inside me with no liberation in sight. At least my bank balance hadn’t changed.
The thought of facing Breeze—or anyone—made me feel like I was drowning after being hit by a wave.
My phone lit up again with a text from Rick.
ANSWER YOUR PHONE!
I’d ignored his three video calls and the five phone calls that came through before that. Ignoring Rick wasn’t wise. He was likely to show up wherever you were, even if it was three planes and a boat ride away. He also wasn't opposed to humiliation.
Hard to see why he’d been single as long as me—until now. The lumberjack must have a saint's tolerance.
I sighed and finally pressed the green circle when the phone lit up again.
“Where thefuckhave you been? I’ve been worried sick!”
Not even a polite hello. Worked for me.
“Hi, Rick,” I heard my hollow voice reply.
“Are you okay?”
“No. But I don’t want to talk about it.” I sighed. No point lying. Rick knew me better than anyone else.
Silence filled the line as Rick considered his response.
“That prick. I knew he was going to upset you.” He blew out a breath. “Is this like the time you lost the London contract, or the time Jared moved back to Canada?”
I scowled at the phone. London had been my biggest copywriting contract with the largest brokerage in the city. Losing that had taken a mega hit on my income. Jared had been the only grown-up relationship I’d ever had. It was four months of me being on my best behaviour, totally possible when you know there’s an end date because the person is leaving the country. And four months of him being the kindest, safest man I’d met on the planet, besides Mr Vee, that is.
We don’t talk about how that all changed once he left and how the unexpected wave of grief rocked my world so much I told him I wished I’d trapped him in London by getting pregnant. Which was a lie, of course. Then I threw a slew of desperate and mildly abusive messages his way. And how that caused him, understandably, to never ever to want to speak to me again and definitely not consider the long-distance relationship we’d been discussing.
He’d never met therealme. Just the version I thought I was supposed to be.
I sighed again, sounding like a balloon deflating.
“Do we have to do this?”
