Page 95 of That One Night
“To talk. I wanted to ask you to wait until the weekend to tell people about us. My parents are arriving home early, and I want to tell them face to face.” He shook his head. “Not that it matters now. I don’t want anything from you.”
“Trenton…”
He put his hand up. “No. I’m over this, Emery. I’m over you calling the shots and making decisions without me. So I’m making one without you.” He leaned closer. “I saw the for sale sign. Good luck selling that place without me removing the lien.”
“But you promised…” Her stomach tightened.
“I promised nothing. I’m not signing anything for you. You can tell your mom that she can’t sell her house because her daughter can’t keep her legs together.”
“You should have let me hit him,” Hendrix murmured through the phone. He’d been pacing the cottage ever since she’d left.Even Frank had felt his tension and wandered up to the front door to check that everything was okay.
He hated her being in the car with that asshole. Hated not being able to protect her from him.
Every minute that he didn’t know where she was felt excruciating.
“What would that have solved?” Emery was in her bedroom. He’d seen her arrive home and walk straight into the house. She’d sent him a message telling him she was taking a shower and putting her pajamas on and would call him in ten minutes.
And now here she was, sounding anxious and emotional. He wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her, but her mom was still up and the last thing Emery needed was for him to storm over and make things worse.
“It would have made me feel better,” he told her. And yes, that was selfish. He knew that. Hitting Trenton Montclair wouldn’t have only been for the pain he’d put Emery through. But also for the disgusting way he’d described her.
It would have been for himself, too. And the satisfaction would have been worth it.
“So he’s gone now?” he asked her.
“Yeah. He’s on his way back to Charleston, I guess. He has work tomorrow and there’s no way he’ll miss that.”
It was clear she wasn’t going to tell her mom about them tonight. And yeah, he understood why. Everything was a mess.
Didn’t mean he liked it, though.
“So what happens now?” he asked her.
“I guess I tell my mom that the farm has to come off the market.” Her voice cracked and it about killed him.
“Emery…”
“It’s okay. I’ll work it out. I’m just so tired.”
“Let me speak to my parents. Or my uncle. They can loan me the money. I’ll pay the thing off.”
“He won’t let you.” She let out a long, unsteady breath. “He’s going to string this out as long as he can. Make me pay. He can make things impossible, refuse to take payment. And anyway, you can’t ask your family for help. I know you’d hate that.”
Yeah, he would. He’d always prided himself on paying his own way. Being the son of a rockstar had its benefits, sure, but everybody assuming you’re rich thanks to your dad wasn’t one of them.
Like his brothers, he didn’t want their money. He wanted to build his own life without relying on his parents.
But he’d do it for her. There was no doubt in his mind about that.
“Maybe I can talk to him. Make him see sense…”
“No,” she said quickly. “He hates you. He’s made that more than clear.” She was silent for a moment, like she was trying not to cry. “This is my mess,” she told him. “I just need to get some sleep and think things through. I’ll figure out what to do next.”
She didn’t sound so sure. And he wasn’t either. He knew first hand what a conniving asshole Trenton could be.
It killed him that he couldn’t protect her. That he couldn’t make this right for her. She was a good person, she didn’t deserve this.
And worse than that, he couldn’t help but feel that this was mostly his fault. Everything he touched went to hell. He might not mean to, but he broke people. He’d broken his mom, his family, and now he was breaking her.
