“Don’t worry.”Roxie’s smile was meant to soothe.“We won’t let anyone get away with blatant slander.”
“And the Raiths?”she asked.“Should I speak to them?Let them know…”
What?That the world was looking at them all over again because of the relationship they’d disavowed from day one.
Her relationship with Cam wasn’t disavowed.Not to her knowledge.Did the Raiths have a problem with him?It shouldn’t matter.Not yet.People weren’t supposed to know they were anything to each other.
Roxie was her friend.
Roxiverse.
Honey’s book.
The Stream Queen.
This was nothing to do with Cam.She wasn’t embarrassed to be with him but was happy he might be saved some scrutiny.
And when the Raiths found out about their relationship…?
Out there, in the world, lies were being printed about her, except… What if they weren’t lies?She’d convinced herself anything negative had to be false, but that wasn’t entirely true.The world found certain things scandalous.Things she was guilty of doing.Anything illegal?Not to her knowledge…
Dot, dot, dot.
“Spence kept things from me,” she said.“I didn’t ask, I didn’t always know, but some things were… He protected me.”
“You’re worried you’ll learn something that’ll change how you feel about him?”
Roxie was better suited to talk about her previous relationship.Girl talk, that the guys might be best hearing when she didn’t have to look them in the eye.
“I knew about other women… if any of them choose to speak out.”
“We’re tracking down who we can.”Knox surprised her.He’d known?“They’ve been easy to corral so far.”
Yeah, because she’d bet anyone showing up in the name of the Colliers would be pretty insistent.
“This could be rough,” she whispered to herself.
What a world she’d been left in all alone.As her gaze drifted to the window, her hand sought Cam’s.Pulling him into this wasn’t fair.He deserved better.He’d put his romantic life on hold to wait for his future to arrive.Now he was saying that future was her.
Would this blow over?Could they really embrace their potential in peace?If they got that chance, she had to be ready for it.For the future.For forever.
TWENTY-NINE
PEOPLE.PEOPLE EVERYWHERE.
Frank Kearns house was certainly big enough and the baby sure was gorgeous, especially sleeping.The little one was wrapped up warm, all innocence in his beautiful slumber.
She envied him.No one remembered that period of their own life, but if she could go back there… Though it would be a false economy.Save herself some heartache and trauma now, only to likely live it all over again.
If life was meant to play out one way, it wouldn’t be possible to divert it to another path.
Sitting on the end of the bed, she watched Cam take off his shirt.
“Do you believe in fate?”she asked, brushing her palms across the warm linen beneath her.
“Fate?An overarching, sentient power?No.”
“But…”
