“Maybe you agreed to marry when the time is right but what about the engagement part? Did you agree to wait on that?”
An engagement and the actual marriage are two different things. “Well, no. We didn’t really talk about when we’d get engaged.”
Jill hasn’t released my hand. “I’d bet my ass you come back with a ring on this finger.”
“Jillie. Our best friend is getting engaged to a man we’ve never met.”
“Oh no, she’s not. We’re meeting him. The two of us are coming over tonight so we can be introduced to your fiancé.”
I almost wish I hadn’t told them. “He’s not my fiancé.”
“He’s not your fiancé yet. But he will be after this trip to Savannah. I just know it. And you can’t get engaged to a man that Kris and I have never met. That’s just not right.”
They have a point. It isn’t right for my best friends to not know the man I love. “Okay. Then I guess you’re coming over to meet Oliver tonight.”
I place my palm on the side of Oliver’s face and rub my thumb over his facial hair. It’s a little longer than his usual scruff. “I like this grown out. You look very handsome.”
“Are you sure what I’m wearing is okay? I shouldn’t change into a button-down? I don’t want them to think I’m some kind of thug.”
Why would he say that? Nothing about Oliver looks like a thug.
His dark hair is well kept but even tousled always looks perfect. His facial scruff is so damn sexy. So masculine. I love running my fingers over it. And those eyes. One glance from those baby blues can saturate my panties.
“You look great. You’re a T-shirt and jeans guy. I wouldn’t want you to meet Jill and Kristin looking like anyone but my Oliver Thorn.”
I run my hands down his chest. “I’m pretty sure you weren’t this worked up when you met my parents.”
“I wanted your parents to like me but I wasn’t worried about meeting them. Their opinion doesn’t mean shit to you, so I knew they couldn’t turn you against me. But these are your two best friends. What they think about me will influence you.”
“I adore you so they will too.”
The doorbell rings and I go up on tiptoes, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. “Showtime. Ready?”
“No, but I’m pretty sure I don’t have a choice at this point.”
“Be Oliver Thorn and they’ll have no choice but to love you.”
“I hope so.”
I press another quick kiss to his lips, intended to reassure him all will be fine. “Smile. This is going to be painless. You’ll see.”
For some reason, Jill and Kris have decided to use an alternative entryway. “Why are you using the front door?”
“It seemed rude to barrel into your kitchen through the garage.”
“You don’t think it’s rude when you do it every other time you come to my house.”
“This is different. We’re meeting your fiancé.”
I flap my arms like a bird trying to take off in flight. “Shh. Don’t say that. He might hear you.”
I swear I will die a thousand deaths if he heard Kris call him that.
“He’s already here? There’s not a car in the drive.”
“Kris. He lives next door, sweetie. He isn’t going to drive his car to Adelyn’s house.”
“Damn. I forgot all about that.” She giggles. “We had a lot of wine last time we were here so that one can’t be held against me.”
“Listen, guys. He’s nervous about meeting you. He really wants you to like him so please take it easy.”
“Aww, that is so sweet. I think I already like him.”
Kristin likes everyone, especially guys. She’s not really the one I’m worried about.
I grin and make big eyes at Oliver when I lead Jill and Kristin into the living room. “Introductions. Oliver Thorn, this is Kristin.”
“It’s so good to finally meet you, Oliver. We’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about you from Addie.”
“I could say the same about you.”
“And this is Jill.”
“Very nice to meet you.” Oliver is smiling until he sees the way Jill is staring at him with narrowed eyes. And I immediately know something isn’t right.
“Jill, what’s wrong?”
Jill looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Addie, how can you not know?”
I have no idea what she is talking about. “Know what?”
I look at Oliver, trying to sort out what is happening, and his expression is one of confusion.
Jill points at Oliver. “He was the man who came to court and supported Tommy’s killer. He sat right behind Vance Horton throughout the trial. How can you not remember him?”
What the hell?
I think back to that very dark time in my life when I came to court and watched Vance Horton plead guilty and be sentenced to prison. I don’t recall ever seeing Oliver. “I think you’re mistaking him for someone else. Tell her, Oliver. Tell Jill she’s wrong.”
He closes his eyes before covering them with his hand. “Oh fuck.”
What does oh fuck mean? “Tell her she’s confusing you with someone else.”
He takes his hand from his face and grasps my upper arms. “Listen to me, Max.”
The tone of his voice says everything I don’t want to hear. “No. Say it isn’t true.”
I see in his eyes that he can’t say the words. “Baby.”
“No. I need you to tell me it isn’t true. That you weren’t there supporting my brother’s killer.” Because it isn’t possible that I love a man who would do that.
“Please let me explain.”
He was there. He was there supporting Vance Horton.
“What could you possibly say to explain? What’s a good enough argument to justify why you’d be there on that killer’s behalf?” I feel as though this is a bad dream.
“Time out.” Kristin steps between Oliver and me. “Sweetie, Jill and I are going. We don’t need to be here for this.”
I nod in agreement because I don’t want them to be part of this conversation. Especially Jill. “Okay. Yeah.”
My friends leave and we stand in the living room, unmoving, neither of us saying a word. A minute passes and it feels like sixty eternities ticking away.
Oliver takes a step toward me but I put up my hand, stopping him. I can’t bear to be touched by him right now. “Don’t come near me.”
“Oh, Max. Please don’t.” He is breathing heavily, and his eyes are pleading.
“I don’t know who you are.” My happy world has been yanked from beneath me and I’ve fallen face-first into hell.
“I’m the man who held you after we made love this morning. The one you say you want to marry. The one you want as a father for your children.”
That was only twelve hours ago yet it feels like an eternity. And I can’t think about that right now.
“Were you in the courtroom at Vance’s sentencing?”
“Yes.”
“Do you remember me?”
“No. I don’t recall seeing you once.”
I guess I can believe that because I don’t remember seeing him either. But then again, I was pretty out of it that day thanks to the medication I was given by my doctor for my nerves.
“You were at the sentencing because Vance is your friend?”
“Yes.”
“You knew my brother was killed by a drunk driver two years ago. You also knew your friend killed someone under the same circumstances. Did you know when we met he was the one who killed Tommy or did you figure it out later and choose to not tell me?”
Surely fate couldn’t be this cruel.
“I had no idea. I didn’t make the connection until just now, same as you.”
“Vance is still your friend?”
“Yes.”
“And you visit him at the penitentiary?”
“Yes.”
This is all wrong. “I can’t be with someone who is a friend to my brother�
��s killer. That’s just completely fucked up.”
“The situation leading up to the accident is probably very different from what you were told.”
“Nothing excuses what he did, and you can get the fuck out if you think you’re going to convince me otherwise. In fact, I don’t even want to look at you right now. Get out.”
“Please don’t do this.”
I’m hurt, angry, confused. I feel betrayed by the man I love. “I don’t want you in my house.”
Oliver moves toward me and I launch myself at him, pushing at his chest over and over. “I said get out! Go! I don’t want you here.”
Oliver manages to get his arms around my body and subdues me against his chest. “Stop fighting me and listen.”
Wrapped in his arms, feeling his warmth, hearing his deep, soothing voice, I somehow feel less devastated. Until I remember that he’s a friend of a killer. A friend of the man who destroyed my life. Jill’s life.
“I understand that you need time to absorb this so I’ll go.” He kisses the top of my head and squeezes me tightly. “You’re going to question your love for me, but never question my love for you. You are my world. My everything.”
He releases me and holds my face. “You need time to think, and I’m going to give that to you. We’ll talk about this after I come back.”
He closes his eyes and kisses my forehead. “I love you, Max. And we will work this out.”
I love you too.
But you’re wrong.
I don’t think we can work this out at all. I will not—cannot—embrace a man who considers himself a friend of my brother’s killer. I cannot be with a man whose compassion lies with the man who took my brother’s life.
As I watch Oliver walk out of my house, I feel as though my heart is shattering into a thousand pieces. And I’m not sure it will ever heal.
21
Oliver Thorn
Three days and three nights away from my Adelyn. I’ve sent her a text every night since our fight, each closing with the same words. I miss you and I love you.
Not a single reply.
I didn’t want to leave her three days ago, but she needed time to calm down so she’d be able to listen to what I’m saying when I explain about Vance. And I needed time to be alone and think. But I can’t stay away another minute. I need to see my girl. I have to know we’re okay.
I’m at the patio door about to knock when I see her in the kitchen. And all her cooking supplies spread across the island.
Shit. She’s baking… because of me… and that kills me.
She jumps and whirls around when I tap on the glass. She shakes her head from side to side when she sees that it’s me.
“No. Go away.” I barely hear her voice through the door.
I tap again but she refuses to look my way.
“Come on, Max. We need to talk.” I say the words loudly because I need to know she hears them. And she ignores me as though I don’t exist.
“Please. I have things to tell you. I truly believe you’ll understand everything when I’m done explaining.”
Nothing. No response at all. In fact, she leaves the kitchen altogether so I can no longer see her through the patio door.
I check the knob and it’s locked. No surprise there so I take out my phone and send a series of pleas.
Oliver: It’s been 3 days. You can’t ignore me forever.
Oliver: We have to talk about this.
Oliver: Please, Max. I love you.
Adelyn: Leave me alone.
Well, at least I got a response. Not the one I want, but it’s better than being ignored.
Adelyn doesn’t know the whole story about Vance or why I stood by his side. Until she understands, she isn’t going to forgive me. I’ll be considered the enemy. I’ll lose her.
I sit on her back porch waiting for her to return to the kitchen but I give up hope after I’ve sat there for a while with no Adelyn.
I can’t let this continue to fester.
What I’m contemplating may be the worst move I could make with Adelyn, but I don’t know what else to do when she’s refusing to see or talk to me. I don’t feel as though she’s giving me much of a choice.
I take out her house key and do what will either be the best or worst thing for our relationship.
I unlock the door and let myself into her house. She’s nowhere in sight but I hear a creak in the floor above me. Bedroom.
Good. That’s where I want her. Saves me from throwing her over my shoulder and carrying her up there.
Oliver: I’m in the house and I’m coming up.
I give her a heads-up because I don’t want to scare the shit out of her by popping into her bedroom unannounced.
“Don’t you dare come up here.” I’m already standing in the doorway when the words leave her mouth. “Get out now.”
“No. You’re talking to me. Or at least listening.”
“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”
She’s already changed for bed. T-shirt and panties.
“Don’t look at me like that. You can forget it.”
Her nipples are hard and poking the fabric of her shirt. Of my shirt. An Iron City one.
“I’m not here for that.” I march toward her ready for a fight, and she doesn’t disappoint.
“Stop.”
She jumps on the bed on all fours and attempts to crawl away, but I catch her around the waist. I pull her beneath me and lie on top of her. “You won’t listen to me so I have no other choice than to make you listen.”
She bucks but I wrap my body around her, restraining her so she’s unable to move.
“I may not control you anywhere else, but I do in this bedroom. You gave me that power when you became mine. You insisted that I dominate you and this is me exerting my power over you. You don’t get to turn it off because it doesn’t suit you at the moment.”
She stops struggling and I continue to hold her tightly. “This is who we are, Max. Because it’s who you made us. This is who you asked me to be. I control. You submit.”
Her heavy breathing is the aftermath of our physical struggle. Not because she’s turned-on.
“It’s so peculiar how the circumstances of a single night more than two years ago could lead to this chain of events.” I loosen my hold and roll us on our sides so Adelyn’s back is pressed to my front. “Get comfortable. This isn’t a short story.”
Adelyn doesn’t pull her hand away when I lace my fingers through hers. I take it as a reassuring sign and my anxiety is eased a little.
I bring her hand to my mouth and kiss the top. “You know I went through a bad spell after Eden. I partied and went through women in an effort to get her betrayal off my mind. I hate admitting that to you, but it’s just how it was at the time.”
“You don’t hate saying it more than I hate hearing it.” Finally. Words other than “get out” or “leave me alone.”
“What I haven’t told you about was the night my party life came to a screeching halt, the night that things were put into a different perspective for me.”
Adelyn is still and silent, her breath the only sound in the room.
“I was out partying with friends and ended up in Eden’s bed. I was tanked and I’m not sure what happened. Maybe we fucked. Maybe we didn’t. I have no idea. The only thing I know for sure is I wanted the hell out of her house and away from her, so I got in my truck and started for home. I was one mile from my condo when I saw the blue lights behind me. One fucking mile. That’s where they got me.”
“The police?”
“Highway patrol. The officer who pulled me over said a concerned citizen had called in to report a drunk driver in a vehicle matching my truck. I’m pretty sure that concerned citizen was a pissed-off ex who woke to an empty bed. Of course, I was given the typical field sobriety test. The one-leg stand and the walk-and-turn test. I passed both but I failed the gaze test. I was taken down to the station where I also failed a blood-alcohol-content test.
I barely failed, Adelyn. It was crazy close but it was still a fail, so I was charged with DUI.”
I stop, giving her a moment to absorb the information.
“A DUI charge doesn’t look great for Iron City, so I voluntarily entered a thirty-day substance-abuse rehab center to get the charges dropped. That’s where I met Vance Horton three years ago.”
“A year before he killed Tommy.”
“Vance was nineteen and charged with his first DUI. The judge said he could either complete the program or serve jail time and he chose the thirty-day program. We had group together every day for a month. I couldn’t not notice how tight-lipped he was. Always so quiet. He never shared a word about himself, but I saw something in him. Something so familiar. I couldn’t put my finger on it in the beginning, but eventually I figured it out. He was the nineteen-year-old version of me had I not been taken away from Jimmy and Christie.”
I pause a moment, waiting to see if she’ll say anything.
Nothing.
“I came to know Vance over the coming weeks and I was right. His home life was nearly identical to mine as a child. The difference between us was that I got out and he didn’t. I felt this odd connection to him and I wanted to help the guy. He was already nineteen but I wanted to do for him what someone had done for me when I was six. So I did. I helped him get away from his parents, gave him a job, found a place for him to stay. He was doing really good. He had a pretty little girlfriend, Toni. They already had a baby daughter almost two years old. I must admit that I was a little irritated when he got her pregnant again only two months after getting on his feet. I thought he should have exercised more responsibility, but he was happy about having his own family so I decided I should be too. I was proud of how far he’d come in such a short period of time.”
“I didn’t know that Vance was a father.”
I think there’s a lot Adelyn doesn’t know about Vance.
“They did great for a while and then his parents came back into the picture. They said they had nowhere to go, making Vance feel guilty about leaving them on the streets, so he let them move into his apartment. It was supposed to be for a week but that turned into two weeks and then another two. It became a big problem between him and Toni. As you can imagine, she didn’t want heroin addicts living in her house with her daughter. But she also didn’t like Vance’s dad. She said he made her uncomfortable and it turns out she had every right to feel that way. About six weeks after they moved in, Vance’s dad raped Toni.”