Page 53 of Rough Ride with the Grumpy Cowboy
“My mother was abusive, and so was her husband and his son. When my career took off and the money, sponsorships, and brand deals started rolling in, they got greedy and started treating me like their cash cow. I was no longer doing music because I loved it, but to maintain their lavish lifestyle,” she explains.
My fist clenches in anger around the rake, but something tells me that she’s not done, so I let her finish first. She’s finally opening up to me, unprompted, and I need to hear the end of it.
“The worst of it was when Estevan—“
“Your stepbrother?”
“Yes,” she nods, and her voice cracks. Somehow I know what she’s going to say before she even says it. “H-he, h-he, he tried to force himself on me...”
Someone hold me back right now before I commit murder!
“He wasn’t successful, but when I told my mom, she gaslit me into thinking that it was all in my head, that maybe I misinterpreted his affections. She took his side over her own daughter’s, and that’s when I realized that I was done with her, with them. So I fired her as my manager, cut them off, promoted Lou to manager, and moved out on my own. It was too late though—their abuse had taken root, thus the terrible sleeping habits, nightmares, sleepwalking, and—“
“Not eating,” I add.
“Yes, that too.”
The more she speaks, the guiltier I feel for how I treated her when she first arrived. I kicked her out of my bed—twice, for crying out loud—when all she needed was a safe space. I drop the rake and pull her into my arms.
“I’m so sorry,” I apologize, kissing her hair.
She fists her hands on my shirt and buries her face in my chest. “Didn’t we ban that word?”
“Looks like you’re rubbing off on me,” I tease, and she giggles.
It’s such a beautiful sound, but it’s laden with so much pain. I pull her back and cup her face. “You didn’t deserve what happened to you, and I’m so glad you managed to get away.”
“It wasn’t easy, but my life is better now. I’m still working toward getting better though.”
I kiss her temple and hug her again. “Don’t worry—you are safe here, with us.”
“Thank you.”
We fall silent for a moment, and with this new revelation, a few things come to light. “Now that I know what was truly going on, it explains a lot of things.”
“Like what?”
“You’re gonna hate me for this,” I sigh.
She pulls back and meets my eyes. “I would never. Tell me,” she insists.
She’s already opened up to me, so I owe her the same courtesy.
“After the accident, I made efforts to reach out to you, but your mother always intercepted me, and she wasn’t so kind. To sum it up, she sowed seeds of hatred, told me how much you disliked me because of how I’d almost ruined your career. She treated me like dirt and made me believe that you wanted nothing to do with me.”
She shakes her head, eyes wide with regret. “I thought you hated me. She made me cut off all contact with you because apparently you were going to sue me for ruining your career, and we couldn’t afford it at the time. She insisted that you hated me and never wanted to see me.”
“I could never hate you, Miss Diva. I never have—how do I even start?”
“So we were both manipulated by her?”
I nod. “And lost five precious years.”
“I am so sorry.”
“I’m sorry too. For thinking your life was perfect when it was anything but. I won’t let them hurt you ever again. And I promise to make it up to you for all the time we’ve lost,” I assure her, pulling her back into my arms and holding tight.
She is so strong for still being here and finding the courage to run away after what they put her through. Those three better hope we never cross paths because I will not hold back on making them pay.
