Page 74

He rubbed his thumb over my hand before releasing it.

“I met with Roman for a business meeting. He brought Keenan along.”

I straightened.

“When?”

“The other night. He had a black eye.”

“I saw it.”

“You talked to him?”

“Yes. I finally got to talk to my son.”

I could still feel his arms around me on that bus. I had wanted to stay there holding him until he got tired of me, but I had sent him back to that house instead.

“He asked me to take him with me.”

Justice's fingers tightened around his bottle.

“What did you tell him?”

“That I couldn't yet.”

I looked toward the window. Saying it out loud made me feel as useless as I had when Keenan put that phone in his backpack.

“Roman said he got in a fight,” Justice said.

“Of course he did.”

“I didn't believe him.”

“He's been lying about what he does to us for years. He let everybody think I was careless with my children. He knew exactly what happened in that house.”

Justice watched me without interrupting.

“You repeated it back to me,” I said. “What he said about Golden.”

“I know.”

“You have any idea what that did to me?”

His eyes dropped to the table.

“I shouldn't have said that to you.”

I waited. I needed him to finish.

“I'm sorry, Melody.”

I pressed my lips together and nodded before I started crying again. I had wanted that apology. Hearing it didn't make me forget him saying it, but I could finally stop wondering whether he still believed it.

“I shouldn’t have flown off the handle like that. You and your children deserve better.”

“We need to talk about Storie,” I said.

He looked up.