A crease formed between his brows.“We spent the entire day together, and you didn’t mention buying a truck once.”
She took a sip of iced tea and said nothing.
“Are you leaving?”
She lifted her chin in defiance.“Maybe.”
“You haven’t told me your real name,” he said in a low voice, as if the words pained him.“I don’t know who you’re running from.I don’t know if you’re planning to cross the border tomorrow.I don’t even know if you came in here to have an honest discussion or finish what we started earlier.”
Heat suffused her cheeks.
He rose from the bed slowly.“Maybe you’re looking for a fight, because that’s what you learned to expect from that prick who never married you.But I’m not him, Mary.I’d definitely rather fuck than argue.”
She considered throwing the iced tea in his face.Instead, she turned on her heel to leave.Her senses were already on high alert, and the mention of Tripp triggered the need to flee.Wade caught her before she reached the door.When his hand settled on her arm, her mind went blank.The iced tea slipped from her grasp and fell at her feet in a dull splash.She barely registered the sensation.Although the plastic didn’t shatter, memories of other broken things assaulted her.She felt the shards of the coffee table Tripp had thrown her into.She felt the impact of his hard palm against her cheek.
She came back to herself after a few seconds.She was cowering by the open door with her arms over her head protectively.Wade knelt beside her, no longer touching her.He kept repeating her name.
She sat down on the concrete floor and hugged her knees to her chest.After a series of deep breaths, she’d calmed enough to meet his gaze.
“Are you all right?”he asked.
“Yes.”
“Bad memories?”
She nodded, swallowing hard.Then she picked up the plastic glass she’d dropped.It was chipped and cracked.She swept the stray ice cubes into the cup and handed it to him.He put the cup away and returned with a bottle of water, which she sipped gingerly.
“I’m sorry,” he said.“I shouldn’t have grabbed you.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I was being an asshole.”
She was more concerned about her weakness than his crude words.“I need to be stronger.”
He shook his head in disagreement but said nothing.When she could stand, she moved from the floor to the room’s only chair.He sat across from her on the bed.“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not right now.”
“Would you rather listen?”
“Okay.”
“You asked about me and Billy.”
“I did.”
“I hit him,” he said, studying his hands.“The last time I saw him, I hit him.”
Meredith took another sip of water.
“I’d just learned that he’d been harassing Natalie at work, and I knew my dad wouldn’t try to curb his behavior, so it was up to me.I was on a routine patrol when I spotted his truck parked at this place we called the Lookout.I pulled over to talk to him.He was partying with a teenaged girl, trying to act like a tough guy.He insulted Natalie to my face.I was furious with him, and I… snapped.”
She waited for him to continue.
Wade studied his hands, which were clenched into fists.“He wasn’t a threat to me, physically.He wasn’t as strong as me.I didn’t have to hit him to get my point across.I just wanted to.I wanted to make him pay for what he’d done, and I wanted to make him think twice about harassing another woman.”
Meredith understood why Wade had struck Billy, and why he was tortured about it now.“You did what you felt was right.”
