The door pushed against my back, and I scooted around to let him in.
Ronan stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “What happened?” Gray eyes looked me over, then narrowed.
“Nothing. I just…needed some air.”
“So you came upstairs to a closed up room with dying plants?” He crossed his arms. “Try again.”
“It’s not my fault the plants are dying. You promised to take care of them.” I wanted him to take care of me. I shouldn’t, but I needed it.
Ronan, careful, precise Ronan, slid down the wall to sit beside me. He scooped me into his lap and wrapped his arms aroundme. No words. Nothing more than his presence and a solid grip that held me together.
I pressed my face into his chest and breathed in the scent of sawdust and soap. This. This was what I’d risked everything for, what I’d been hiding.
19
RONAN
I held Bree against my chest as she trembled. Small shakes started in her shoulders and worked their way down her spine and into her legs. Something happened downstairs that sent her running up here with fear written all over her face.
I’d noticed the shift. One second she’d been leaning over the blueprints, asking about heaters for the patio. The next, she’d gone rigid, her face drained of color, and her breathing went shallow and far too fast.
Then she bolted.
I’d stood there a solid ten seconds, trying to figure out what happened. The blueprints were still on the table, my palms on the edges. The scattered lunch crowd paid no attention to anything except their food and the gossip stirring around.
Gossip.
Bethany’s voice had pierced the haze of questions locking me in place. She sat with a table of her friends with their heads bent together and voices pitched low enough to mean they were up tono good. One of them had glanced toward the stairs when Bree disappeared, and something ugly flashed on her face.
My jaw locked thinking about it now, the pressure hard enough to make my teeth ache.
I’d forced myself to roll the blueprints up slowly, acting like nothing was wrong and I’d meant to be finished and pack things up.
A low, angry pulse beat in my chest. It told me to get the fuck up the stairs and check on Bree. But before I could do that, I had to maintain our secret, which meant pretending nothing was wrong. After putting the blueprints away, I’d nodded at Declan and told him I needed to ask Bree a question before climbing the steps with slow, measured strides.
It lasted until I reached the top of the stairs and the absolute silence from Bree’s apartment shattered my control.
I’d find out what the fuck they said to make her run, and I’d make them pay.
Bree pressed her face into my chest, her entire body quivering. There was only one acceptable reason for whole body tremors, and it wasn’t because of something some bitch said.
I smoothed a hand down her back. “What happened?”
She shook her head without lifting it. “Nothing. I’m fine.”
Right. If fine meant a shaky voice and trembling limbs, I’d eat my work boots. I held her tighter and waited.
My pulse slowed now that the panic had passed. I hated her silence, but she had every right to it. She’d let me in when she was ready, and not before.
The spike of adrenaline that had hit when I knocked on her door and found her sitting in the floor with her knees to her chest cooled, leaving me steadier and more protective than ever.
Bree pulled back and wiped her red-rimmed eyes. They remained dry, but the shimmer of tears remained. “I think they were talking about me. No.” She shook her head. “I know they were talking about me.”
“Who?” I knew, but I needed to hear her say it.
“Those women at the table by the window.” She wrapped her arms around herself like she could hold the pieces together through sheer will. “I heard them say something about curves and flirting.” Her voice cracked. “And something about one man not being enough.”
“Fucking Bethany and her cronies.” My stomach dropped. Of course Bethany would choose to gossip about Bree. “You can’t listen to anything she says. She’s never met a piece of gossip she won’t spread, even if it’s a bald-faced lie. She’s never forgiven Finn for breaking up with her years ago, and she’s made it her mission to make his life as difficult as possible. Everything she says is a lie, or a half-truth at best.”
