“Record forever scratched. You actually have something nice to say about Kody?” I asked, my indignant disbelief about their solution to the problem subsiding.
She shrugged. “He just looks so pitiful when he comes over to get KJ. In his own way, he tried to pick up the broken pieces that he partially caused by taking care of you and Jamie. Yeah, I’m sure Kody was jealous of Freedom, but why the fuck is a grown man who’s a cop doing that to a kid?”
Peace stared at his half-empty glass. “We were scared the whole time. The only person who didn’t seem scared was Freedom.”
They were right. We couldn’t allow my father’s criminal misdeeds to be swept under the rug. Pushing off the sofa, I grabbed my cell from the table and pushed a number. When his familiar, deep voice answered, I announced, “Daddy, we need to talk. Can you come over tomorrow around six?”
Peace and Lori exchanged confused glances.
“Okay. See you tomorrow.” I clicked off. “He does need to kick my father’s ass.”
“Aw…shit.” They said in unison.
The following evening,I opened the door to a frowning Freedom dressed in a black polo and black jeans. I could see the scowl through the shades he wore. “I have last-minute things I need to do before I fly out the day after tomorrow. What was so urgent that you couldn’t wait?” He looked past my shoulders. “I don’t want to set foot in that door. It doesn’t feel right.”
“This is my house for now. If we’re going to be together, then you have to get used to it.”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t. I have a home that you and KJ are more than welcome to visit at any time. This is the home you made with Kody.”
My father would be here at any moment, and if Freedom remained outside, he would retreat to his car the minute he saw my father. I had to get him inside.
“Baby, come in. KJ and Jamie are with Kody.” School had started again, and Kody wanted to be as involved as he could with both boys since Freedom would be gone for months. He’d committed to taking them and picking them up from their respective schools every day.
His scowl deepened beneath the shades. “I already know that.” He whipped off his glasses. “We’re not having sex in this house.”
My head snapped back. “That’s not why I asked you to come here. You’re about to leave for months, and we haven’t discussed us.”
“And you want to talk right now when you were at the house three days ago picking up Jamie and had plenty of time to talk?”
“Yes.”
He raised his head to the sky and muttered under his breath.
“I know, you’re thanking God that you have such a beautiful woman who loves you.” I teased, and at his crooked smile, I pulled him inside.
Freedom’s shoulders were rigid as he scanned the living area. Our family portrait still hung on the wall. We’d taken it two years ago, and we looked happy in the picture. He stared at the picture. “Did Kody tell you I knocked his pictures off the desk when I visited? Seeing evidence of your happiness with him did something to me. Being in this house, right now, hurts so badly. I don’t want a reminder of all that I lost.”
“Is that why you’re unwilling to talk about a future? One minute you can’t keep your eyes off me, the next you’re being distant and cold.”
He slanted his gaze. “Distant, maybe. Cold, no.”
I walked to him and placed my hands on his waist. “You’re protecting your heart from me, and you don’t have to.”
“Why haven’t you asked to come with me to Paris?” He quietly asked.
“I need to be here with KJ.”
“He spends the weekend with Kody all the time now, and I’m sure he won’t mind keeping him an extra day or two. It’s the opening night of my world tour, and you’ve never asked to be there with me. You can fly in and out. Three days tops. Jamie would love it.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Did Jamie put you up to this? I know he really wants to go.”
“And I want him to be there with me, along with his mother.” He looked at me. “You still can’t accept me. You want me here with you in your world and have no interest in my world. You listen to me and my band in the studio like it’s my damn hobby. This whole bullshit excuse that you would be holding me back is your fear of leaving this world that you’ve been a part of forever. I get that you’re scared. I was, too, when I was forced away from Dallas.” Freedom lifted my chin with his finger. “I’ve been all over this world, and I want to share it with you. I want to share my world with you. The crazy and the beauty of it.”
Freedom’s superstar life outside of Dallas scared me. Here, he was my Freedom. Out there, he belonged to everyone else. But if I didn’t push through my fear, I would lose him, and being without him was unfathomable. I gripped the bottom of his shirt. “I’m trying Free.”
“Not hard enough.” His eyes pleaded with me.
“Okay.” I pressed my lips against his. “I’ll travel with Peace and Lori for your Brazil show.”
