“No! Don’t tell Tuck!” I lunge at her and grab her hand on the table. “Please.”
They are both silent for a moment. Kinley speaks first. “Why? He would want to know you’re being threatened.”
Slumping back in my chair, I lower my hands to my lap and watch the ring twist on my finger. “Because I might have been mean to him on purpose to keep him away from my mess.” I look up at Kinley and shrug my shoulder. “It wouldn’t be fair to him.”
“Oooh, honey.” Kinley groans.
“I know, I know, I shouldn’t have. You’ll be happy to know that I’ve felt like shit since.” The tears that have been threatening all morning are stinging my nose. “Just don’t tell him. This is my mess, and I have to do it on my own.”
She watches as I swipe a tear from my cheek, her brow furrowed. “I’m still asking Rhys for his opinion.”
The worry squeezing my ribs makes me regret saying anything. But it’s the first time I’ve told anyone, and my fear of immediately becoming a leper didn’t happen. It feels good not to be so alone.
“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to make things worse.” She squeezes my fingers again.
Looking between the two of them again, I take a deep breath and nod my head.
20
TUCKER
AS SOONas I get Kinley back to her car at the ranch, I haul ass to town. I noticed she was unusually quiet during our drive to and from PT. It didn’t take much to get her to fold and tell me about her conversation with Nora this morning; it was bothering her too much to keep it from me. I immediately told her to pull over on the turnpike so I could drive and get us back faster.
“You should have told me earlier.” I growl at her.
“Don’t you bark at me, Tucker Cade, or I won’t tell you anything!” she growls right back, and turns to watch the scenery out the window, rubbing her palm over her belly. I’ll never understand why women are suddenly more interested in looking out the damn passenger-side window when they get angry.
Ignoring the ache in my leg thrumming up my thigh to my hip and back down to my ankle, I set one hand on the top of the steering wheel and rest my elbow on the door to cup my mouth in my hand. Sliding my hand down my chin while clenching my jaw, I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.” Her frame relaxes a bit, and she turns her head to look out the front window.
With a small huff, she says, “It’s okay.”
Glancing in her direction, I can tell she’s still mad at me, or hurt; her fucking hormones have her going from mad to cryingin seconds, even more in the past few weeks. “Were you able to find out what kind of threat he is?”
“It sounds like he’s some kind of big shot lawyer in D.C. and his brother is in politics somehow, they both have tons of connections. The way she talks, she doesn’t think he’s a physical threat, but he wouldn’t think twice about using his reach wherever he finds her, making her life miserable. The one time he caught up with her, not long after she left, bogus charges were made against her, and he tried to have her arrested so she would be released to his custody.”
My clenched jaw is resting in my palm again, my eyes fixed on the road ahead, as I try to hold my anger in check. “Did you get a name?”
She shakes her head. “She only said Matt; I didn’t ask for a last name.”
Matt. Pussy name. Tomorrow, I’ll call Callum to get more info on this guy. I’m almost positive his guy can find a trail just on the charges that were made against Nora to trap her. What a piece of shit. He completely stripped her of everything and left her in the cold, trying to force her to go back to him.
“Did she say how much money he stole from her?” Because she’s going to get it back.
“I think she said seventy or eighty grand. But she said she slept in her car rather than go back to him.” She’s silent for a moment before she huffs in anger. “After six months, he stalked her online and shut down her livelihood, Tuck, what kind of man does that?”
Exactly. What kind of man does that?
“But why?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “That’s the confusing part. When she first left and he was bombing her phone, she asked him why he wouldn’t just leave her alone, and all he could say was that they had a life together and he wouldn’t let her walk away.”
My heart drops to my stomach. “Married?” I almost choke on the word.
She shakes her head. “No, they were engaged for a couple of years but not married.”
Relief floods me, and the breath lodged in my chest rushes out.
A guy I served with was engaged to a woman for three years. We all used to give him shit because if he needed more than three years to decide the best time to pull the trigger, she’s not the one. I’ve always been of the mind that stringing a woman along is a dick move.
