I'd heard it all before, and I was finally genuinely happy. I didn't need them running back for me, especially when I'd spent half the night tossing and turning because Blake wasn't lying next to me.
The first night had been easy. I'd been exhausted from a long day and passed out as soon as I was able to sneak away from the reunion with my brothers. The second night had been a bit more difficult, but Blake had stayed on the phone with me until I'd fallen asleep.
But last night, he was at the club.
Without me.
And by the time he’d gotten home, both of us were too exhausted to talk for long.
It wasn't that I didn't trust him, because I did—completely—but I wanted to be there with him. And that made me feel like a shit brother and son, because I should be enjoying the limited time I had with my family before I had to go back to Annandale.
Dad snapped his fingers in front of my face. He chuckled when I blinked dumbly at him. “This must be one hell of a guy if he's got your head in the clouds like that. He's treating you right?”
I heard the unasked question within his words.
You're not letting him walk all over you, are you?
There was a lot about my relationship with Michael that my family didn't understand. Of course, I doubted things would have been much better if I’d told them I was a needy submissive who enjoyed having a man who made all the decisions for both of us. They’d probably think that was even worse. From their perspective, I was a naïve kid letting an older man take advantage of me.
And there were times since he’d left me when I wondered if that was true. Being with Blake had opened my eyes to what a Dom/sub relationship was supposed to be like, and that wasn’t what I truly had with Michael. But even when thoughts crept into my head about how wrong he’d been for me, I couldn't bring myself to regret the time I’d spent with him. If it hadn't been for the way he unceremoniously dumped me, I never would have been able to afford to get out of this town, and I never would've meant Blake.
I cleared my throat, remembering that my dad had asked question. I looked up to see both Dad and Billy staring at me as if I’d lost my damned mind.
Maybe I had. Because I couldn't even think of words to explain to them what Blake meant to me or how much he had done to help me get my life back on track since moving to Annandale.
“Yeah, Dad. He's good to me. The best.” I’d watched movies and read books where the couple was content just sitting on the phone together without saying a word, and I’d always thought that was a pile of crap. Now that I had someone who’d do that for me when I missed him, I wondered how many other people had never felt that type of love.
“You're not just saying that so your mom and I won't worry about you?” Dad’s gaze never left my face as he took a sip of his coffee. I fidgeted in my seat, the same way I did when I was younger and my parents were trying to catch me in a lie, not that it had happened often.
I let out a frustrated grunt. “No, Dad. He really is good to me. And you don't need to worry about things being like they were when I was with Michael. I learned my lesson there. I won’t let myself fall so stupidly in love that I’m blind to the problems between us, I promise.”
As I waited for one of them to make a snarky comment about how they'd warned me things with Michael were never going to last, I got an uneasy feeling that they were keeping something from me.
Again, they were having an entire conversation I wasn't privy to with nothing other than not-so-subtle looks and jerks of their heads. I bit the inside of my lip, counting the seconds, waiting for them to decide if I was worthy of knowing whatever it was they were both thinking. A knot formed in my stomach, and I couldn’t bring myself to eat another bite of my coffee cake.
That pissed me off even more because this was a treat I didn’t get to have often now that I lived so far away.
Baked goods were probably a stupid reason to feel homesick, but suddenly I was annoyed that Mom had even made her traditional breakfast because it felt like she was somehow trying to subconsciously manipulate into moving home.
Never mind that she would never do something like that. Dad and Billy had me questioning everything, and I was about two minutes away from saying fuck it and bailing on the party.
“As much fun as this is, I need to go get ready.” I didn't want to start an argument, but I wasn't going to sit here and wait for them to decide if they were going to fill me in or leave me in the dark about why they kept getting weird whenever anything got close to reminding them of Michael. Besides, it didn't even matter. Michael was my past, Blake was my future, and we were all better off for it.
I shoved back from the table and picked up my plate and coffee mug. “What time are we leaving for the Community Center?”
“We have to be there in about an hour,” Dad informed me. “Once I finish my coffee, I have to get dressed and help your mom get the car loaded. We’ll need everyone’s help unloading at the center.”
“That’s fine.” That gave me enough time to call Blake and say good morning. I hated that I hadn't asked him to come with me on this trip. I had a feeling that by the end of the day, I was going to need his strength.
Blake answered before the phone even rang on my end. “Good morning, sunshine. Are you ready for the big party?”
“Barely.” I let out a weak chuckle.
“I'm sure it's going to be fine,” Blake reassured me.
“That's easy for you to say. You weren't at breakfast this morning.”
“Did something happen?”
