“You didn’t answer the question.”
She lifted her arms and then dropped them, an annoyed sigh huffing from her nostrils.“I wouldn’t say he’s an enemy.”
She turned away but he caught her wrist, towing her back to her spot.“Who?”
There he went doing something he couldn’t take back—touching her.
She propped her hand on her hip.“I’ve just dated assholes.That’s all.No one recent even.”
“They hurt you?”
She lifted a shoulder.“One guy, Brandon, cheated on me.He lied to my face and I found out through one of my friends who saw him with the other woman.”
“Where is he now?”
“Moved to California three years ago,” she said flicking her wrist.“He’s married with two kids now.”
“And the other guy?”
Angst lined her forehead.“I feel like this is an inquisition.”
He fought the urge to scrub his palm over his face.Putting her on the spot wasn’t his goal, but Jesus, he needed to know this stuff.“I’m just trying to help.”
Her face softened.“Just a guy I saw when I was out of high school.”She lowered her gaze.“He made me his booty call and I was dumb enough to think if I slept with him, he’d want to be with me.”
Anger fizzled through him.If he could go back and knock out the pricks in her past, he’d do it in a heart beat.“Some assholes are like that.”
She lifted a delicate shoulder.“I know.”
“All right.Anyone else?”
“Like I said, no one that would—”
“Dez.”Her name came out on a growl.
“My mom’s ex-boyfriend, okay?He got out of jail last week and wanted me to pick him up in Denver.I refused.He was angry that I didn’t want to see him, but he’s calmed down.”
“When did he call last?”
She rolled her eyes to the ceiling, tucking the corner of her mouth into her cheek.“I don’t know, like five days ago.”
“What was he in jail for?”
She lifted her hand to the crook of her neck.“I need coffee first.”Sidling past him, she went for the empty mug by the coffee maker, fixed her elixir, and then turned, pressing her back to the counter.She circled the mug with both hands and blew on the liquid.Taking a sip, she closed her eyes and then opened them again.
“My mom dated Ray on and off for eight years.He’s an alcoholic who’s tried to get sober more times than I can count over the years.My mom stood by him, supporting him time and again after he went back to his old ways.”
Aiden kept quiet, watching her closely.His mug waited for him next to Dez, but if he got back into her space again, he might not leave it, and he didn’t want her to stop talking.
One thing he’d learned over the years was that the perp was almost always connected to the person they tormented.
“What landed him in jail?”
She made a face.“He stole a car—my mom’s, actually, and she reported it.Then he drove intoxicated into a bank.”
Aiden raised his eyebrows.He’d expected battery, as was sometimes the case when alcohol was involved.“How much time did he get?”
“Not even a year.But he’d been too drunk to try to steal anything, so that probably helped his case.”
