Kinley’s eyebrows are pulled down over her eyes. “I don’t know, I mentioned the video from the other night, and she looks like she saw a ghost.”
Allison plops down in the chair across the table from me. “Oh, I know. You should have seen how insistent he was last week when he woke me up AT MIDNIGHT wanting to make sure she was okay because she left work sick. I’m not ashamed to say I was spying and saw him kiss her on the front porch. It was one of the hottest kisses I’ve seen in a long time.” She pops a piece of bacon in her mouth and cocks an eyebrow. “They fit, you know what I mean?” She looks at Kinley. “As a couple, they are adorable.”
Kinley nods her head briskly, as if she completely agrees. “Oh, I know what you mean. They really do look like they were made for each other.”
Normally, this would have been where I turn beat red, but my heart is beating like an inmate trying to break free. Is a location mentioned in the video? Of course, a location is always mentioned. I need to call about my car. Maybe I can take Ryder up on the comparable vehicle he was talking about. I’ve got to get out of here.
“I have to call Ryder.” I mumble more to myself than to them.
“Why, what’s going on?” Kinley squeezes my fingers, and I look at her, but I can see my heartbeat at the edges of my eyes.
“I can’t stay here; I have to leave.”
They are both looking at me like I have two heads, and they look at each other before they look back at me, their heads moving in unison. Allison leans on the table toward me. “Why? What’s happening?”
Blinking back tears, I look from Allison to Kinley and take a deep breath. No use in hiding it. I tell them everything. I tell them how I met Matt in my senior year of college, about my job at the publishing house I loved, and the way my life spiraled into ugliness after I found Matt cheating for the first time.
I vomit every ugly detail that is my life.
When I finish, they are both looking at me slack-jawed. Kinley is the first to recover. “You’ve been living like a transient for six months? By yourself? What about your family? Can’t they help you?”
My shoulders slump as I look away. “I don’t have any family. My Grams died last year, and Matt was all I had.”
“I just thought you were traveling for business and had to stop to get your car fixed.” Allison mumbles, tears in her eyes. “Oh, my God! You’ve been alone all this time?”
Shrugging my shoulders, I try to smile. “It’s not that bad. I just tell myself to think of it as a vacation.”
“Except that it’s nothing like that and you’re isolated and alone!” Anger is laced in Kiley’s voice, and she closes her eyes as she takes a deep breath, assuming a Zen pose with palms up, finger to thumb forming a circle. After a few seconds, she opens her eyes and glares at me with her eyes narrowed and lips pressed in a tight line. “I’m sorry, this makes me angry, and my hormones make it ten times worse. I’m getting Rhys involved.”
I sit up straight, panic squeezing me. “What? No, you can’t do that. Matt’s a powerful attorney in D.C.; he knows people who can make my life hell. They’ve already closed my bank account and taken all my money.”
Kinley grabs my hand with both of hers and squeezes. “Honey, they just wiped out your business that was keeping you afloat. How many more times do you want to do this?”
“I don’t want to do it at all, but I’d rather do this than be trapped in the life I had before. I can’t let him find me.”
“So what if he finds you? It’s not like he can physically make you go back with him.” Kinley is almost yelling.
“Yeah! And why does he want you back so bad if he’s fucking around with other women?” Allison asks. “It doesn’t make sense.”
I slump forward and set my elbows on the table, my head in my hands. “I don’t know! The last time I spoke with him, he would vacillate between not wanting to lose me and the other women mean nothing, to threatening to destroy me if I didn’t come back. When I asked why, all he could say was that we share a life. Not once was love mentioned.”
Kinley shifts in her seat. “Why didn’t you get the police involved?”
Letting my eyes slide closed, I hesitate to tell them the next part, only because they might think less of me. Worst case,Allison would ask me to leave her inn out of fear, and they would all avoid me. “I can’t call the police.”
They ask at the same time. “Why not?”
Taking a deep breath, I open my eyes and look at them. “Matt’s brother is in politics, and he knows all the top echelons of the police force and other people who wouldn’t think twice about granting favors. They don’t care who they hurt as long as they get their payday. I know this makes me sound stupid or like a coward, but…”
Allison doesn’t let me finish. “It makes you sound like a fucking victim. Would they really bribe the police?”
My silence is the only answer they need. I wait for the reality of what I just said to sink in and brace myself for the excuses to put space between me and them. I don’t blame them if they do.
I’m surprised at their response.
“Well, you can’t go back to the pub, that’s for sure.” Kinley is rubbing her bottom lip with the tips of her fingers, deep in thought. “Stay here until I can talk to Rhys. I want to get his opinion.”
I suck in a breath to object, but she holds her hand out. “I’ll tell him you don’t want to do anything; I just want his opinion.” She tilts her head, and her eyebrows pinch together. “I’m not going to let him get to you, and when I tell Tuck, his head’s gonna spin off.”
