Page 18 of Back to You
“I don’t think I would have survived if I hadn’t.It was rough for the first few years.It took a lot for me to accept that my mate had left me.For a long time, I thought I did something wrong.”
“You don’t anymore?”
“I didn’t even before finding out what my father did.As much as I love you, my worth doesn’t depend on you.I had several talks with Peter, and he always pointed out that I didn’t know what was going through your head.I didn’t know what had pushed you to leave me or that you’d stopped loving me.”
“I never did.”
Vincent shivered at the promise in Ronan’s voice.It wasn’t time for that yet, but soon.“I can’t imagine what you went through.The auctions, everything else.Not surprised my father could organize something like that, but I’m glad he’s dead.I’m glad he’ll never hurt you again.”
“I’m glad he’s dead, too.He hurt you.”
Of course Ronan was still thinking about Vincent.It was what he always did.“He hurt you more.”
Neither of them had been drinking the coffee Ronan had bought.Vincent wasn’t sure how to fill the silence, though, so he took a sip, then another.The coffee settled in his stomach, making him feel queasy.It wasn’t really the coffee.It was the situation they were in.
“I already told you what happened that day.I came home, ready to make good on the promise I made you that morning, but you weren’t there.Your father was in the apartment, and when I tried to kick him out and threatened to call the police, he told me you were gone.He said that since we weren’t married, he was the one in charge of packing your things.I didn’t have time to demand an explanation.He wasn’t alone, and the people I thought were movers actually worked for him.He ordered them to grab me, and I was so shocked and in pain that I didn’t resist.I allowed them to drag me out of the apartment and into a van.I allowed them to drive me away and put me in a cage.”
It was obvious from the sound of Ronan’s voice that he blamed himself for that, but Vincent didn’t.How could he?He’d reacted horribly when he’d thought he’d lost Ronan.Ronan had believed he wasdead.
“You don’t have to go into details, but I’d like to know what my father did to you,” he said.
Ronan stared down at his feet.Vincent didn’t want to dredge up painful memories, and he already knew what an awful man his father had been, but he wanted to know everything.He wanted to soothe Ronan’s pain.He wanted to promise Ronan that he was here now and that nothing like that would ever happen to him again.
He couldn’t do that, but he could listen.He could silently seethe and curse his father.He could hope that wherever Fulton was right now, he was in as much pain as he’d put Vincent and Ronan through.
“He was giddy,” Ronan said.“He told me how much he could get for a wyvern shifter.He said I was going to make him rich.I didn’t even try to escape.I didn’t feel like it mattered because I’d lost my mate.I didn’t even realize that Fulton wasn’t sad about your death.”
“I don’t think he would have been even if I’d actually died.”
“Probably not.I should’ve known there was something more behind all of it, though.I shouldn’t have believed him, and I definitely shouldn’t have allowed him to sell me time and time again.”
“People kept selling you back to him?”
Ronan shrugged.“When they realized they wouldn’t get anything out of me.They wanted to show me off and for me to protect them, but I refused to even shift most of the time.No matter how much they beat and threatened me, nothing they did or said could hurt me more than I already was.I thought I’d lost you forever.”
Vincent needed to find out where his father was buried or where his ashes had been scattered.He wanted to go there and spit on Fulton’s grave.
But no matter how much Fulton had hurt both Vincent and Ronan, they were alive, and he wasn’t.They had a chance to make things right.“Where does all of this leave us?”Vincent asked.
“I don’t know.I do know I don’t want to lose you again, though.”
“I don’t want to lose you, either.”
Ronan nodded.“We do this slowly, then.”
They both had to earn each other’s trust again.They had to get to know the people they were now.They had to get over what Fulton had done to them—if that was even possible.
But at the end of all of this, they had each other, and that was what Vincent wanted to focus on.
Chapter Four
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RONAN WHISTLED ON HISway to Cam’s house.His phone kept vibrating in his hand, but he’d had to stop checking it every time it happened because he’d almost walked into a tree several times.
This was what Vincent was doing to him.
It felt like when they’d first met and had started dating.After the heavy conversation they’d had in Rosewood, they’d promised they’d keep in touch, and they had.They’d both been hesitant at first, and their conversations on the phone and texts had been stilted, but Ronan had always known how to make Vincent feel comfortable.Of the two of them, Ronan was the quiet one, but Vincent had never been quiet.Ronan hadn’t expected him to be as comfortable with him as he’d been during the relationship, but it hadn’t taken long for Vincent to start rambling about his favorite TV show over texts and phone conversations.He’d even started sending Ronan videos of other people talking about the show.
