Chapter 2 #2
The man took another step closer, until her face was practically in his chest. With the ledge behind her, she had nowhere to go. Panic unfurled in her sternum as she started thinking of how to defuse the situation.
“Aw, come on, honey. You don’t have to lie. I’m not gonna hurt you. Just want to get to know you.”
Paisley lifted her hands to push him away. He was gone before she could make contact. Just simply not there anymore.
She stared at the space he’d occupied, and then at the big man who had her tormenter by the back of his T-shirt and the waistband of his shorts, hustling him in the other direction.
She didn’t hear what Ethan said, but he let go with a shove.
The man stumbled and fell onto the grass, his beer flying from the cup.
Then he scrambled up and stumbled away without a backward glance.
Paisley was frozen in place as Ethan stalked over to her, tall and lethal and so gorgeous he made her throat ache with unshed tears. Still handsome. Still magnetic. Still the man who’d broken her heart.
“You okay?”
“I…um…yes. Thank you.”
“You’re shaking.”
Well, damn. She’d thought it was only on the inside. “Am I? It’ll stop soon. I-I didn’t want to make a scene in front of Violet.”
She glanced at her daughter who’d stopped splashing to watch her mother warily. If she’d seen the altercation with the man, Paisley didn’t know. But she saw Ethan now and the look on his face was thunderous. Paisley smiled at Violet to let her know it was okay.
“To hell with a scene. Man gets up in your face like that, you need to make him back the fuck up.”
“And how should I do that, huh? Look at me. I’m a lot smaller than he is. And we’re in public. He wasn’t going to do anything.”
She didn’t know that, not really, but she hoped it was true.
Being in public hadn’t always protected her from Trey’s rages.
He might not slap her around in a restaurant, but he could dig his fingers into her arms or thighs until she wanted to cry out in pain.
And then he could slap her when they got home.
Or worse.
Paisley wrapped her arms around herself, instinctively trying to make herself smaller. Ethan’s gaze narrowed.
“First, you don’t know that he wouldn’t have escalated. He’s drunk and horny and you’re pretty and convenient. Second, you have the ability to take down any man you want if you know where to aim. And no, I’m not just talking about a knee to the groin.”
“Mommy?” Violet called, a note of fear in her voice.
Paisley forced the smile back onto her face as she turned to her child. “It’s okay, baby. Mr. Snow is a friend. Could you please smile?” she said to Ethan, her voice pitched too low for Violet to hear. “And maybe take off the sunglasses for a sec.”
She didn’t know if he would do as she asked, but a moment later he slid his glasses up his face to perch on his head.
Stormy hazel eyes met hers. Then he smiled, and her heart legit skipped a beat.
That smile had once meant everything to her.
When she’d been young and stupid and convinced you could fall in love in an instant.
She had a memory of hot skin, kisses so deep they stole your soul, and happiness that she’d thought would never end. She’d been wrong.
“So you do know me,” he growled through his teeth.
Her skin grew hot. “Never said I didn’t. I was surprised to see you before. And you didn’t say anything, so I didn’t either.”
He scratched the back of his neck. “Honestly, I’d prefer you hadn’t shown up in Sutton’s Creek, but you’re here and I’m here and we gotta deal with it. Though maybe we don’t tell anyone we met before, huh?”
“If that’s what you want.” It stung to hear him say what she’d been thinking.
“Up to you, but I think it’d be easier, don’t you?”
“Probably. I’d rather people didn’t know how dumb I was or that you dumped me almost immediately after you got what you wanted.”
Well, crap. She hadn’t ever wanted to let him know how much he’d hurt her, but she’d held onto the pain for so long that it slipped out the first chance she got.
Brilliant move, Paisley.
His eyes widened. “Seriously? That’s what you’re going with? I dumped you?”
Her heart throbbed. “Smile, please.” Because he suddenly looked furious. It confused her and rattled her at the same time.
“I am fucking smiling. I called you, Paisley. Repeatedly. You never answered. Then you sent me a text and said you’d found someone else.”
Her insides turned to ice. “I didn’t.” She had to work to force the words out. “That’s not true.”
But it was the sort of thing Trey would have done. Assuming Ethan was telling the truth. She didn’t know why he wouldn’t, but she’d given up trying to figure out other people’s motives.
He snorted. “Okay, fine. Rewrite the situation to suit yourself. Doesn’t matter fuck all to me.
” He jerked his head toward the group on the sidewalk.
“I know they’ve added you to their book club.
They like you. If you’re staying away because of me, don’t bother.
I’ll be polite, and I won’t bring up the past. Far as I’m concerned, you’re a stranger I just met. ”
Her heart bled like it’d been ripped out and stomped on all over again.
Either Trey had lied from the beginning or Ethan was just as big a liar as he was, revising their history for his own reasons and making her feel like crap in the process.
Maybe he didn’t trust her not to tell his friends they had a history and he wanted to get in front of it with an alternative that didn’t make him into an asshole.
“Mommy?”
Paisley sucked in a breath and turned to her daughter. Violet stood by the ledge just inside the fountain. She was wet, her hair dripping, and she looked concerned despite Paisley’s best efforts to smile and make Ethan do so too.
“What is it, honey?”
Violet cut her gaze toward Ethan. He looked back at the little girl, and Paisley’s heart thumped hard. She’d always wondered if Ethan was Violet’s father rather than Trey. She’d been with Ethan first.
Trey had been a drunken mistake when she was grieving losing Ethan. After that first time, she hadn’t slept with him again for weeks. By then she’d known she was pregnant, but not whose baby she was carrying. Trey had sworn it didn’t matter, that he’d take care of them both.
She studied her daughter and the man looking back at her.
Violet had blonde hair, which neither Trey or Ethan had, and hazel eyes that were remarkably like Ethan’s now that she was seeing them again.
But Trey had brown eyes and she had blue which meant they could produce a hazel-eyed child.
Eye color wasn’t enough to determine paternity.
And right now, she didn’t want Ethan to be Violet’s father. She’d been through hell to get temporary custody from Trey, and she didn’t want to have to fight another man if he decided to cause trouble.
“Um…” Violet’s eyes were big as she stared up at Ethan.
She rolled her lips in and pulled at the bottom of her shirt.
Paisley’s heart ached. Trey hadn’t always hidden his violence.
There were times when he yelled and stomped and hit, and Paisley knew that Violet could hear it from her room.
She’d always told her daughter she was fine, but it wasn’t always true.
Ethan dropped to a knee and held out a hand. “Hi, I’m Ethan.”
“It’s okay, baby. Mr. Ethan is a friend of Mommy’s new friends at the library, so that makes him a friend of ours too.”
Violet put her little hand into Ethan’s, and Paisley had to bite her lip not to whimper at her daughter’s sweet bravery.
“You looked mad. My daddy looked mad sometimes and then he was mean.”
Ethan shook his head and kept the smile on his face, though she saw the way he stiffened at that little bit of oversharing. “I’m not mad. And I’m never mean, promise.”
Violet stared warily. “You won’t hit Mommy, will you?”
“Vivi!” Paisley cried. “Don’t say things like that.” Heat crawled over her skin. If the ground cracked and swallowed her up, it’d be a relief. Ethan didn’t look at her, thank God.
“I would never do that, Violet. No matter how mad I was, I wouldn’t hit her. Or you.”
“Okay,” Violet said, dropping her gaze.
Paisley’s heart hammered. “Baby, go play for a little bit longer and we’ll get that ice cream, okay? Mr. Ethan and Mommy are talking about library books.”
“You should read Where The Wild Things Are,” Violet said very seriously. “Five stars.” Then she grinned and went to join a game of catch with other children who were throwing a beachball around.
“Sorry about that,” Paisley said past the tightness in her throat. A glance at the people nearby told her that nobody was side-eyeing them, so maybe they hadn’t been listening. She hoped not. And she really needed to talk to Violet about the things she said to random people she’d just met.
Ethan was on his feet, towering over her. He made sure not to stand too close, not to loom, and he somehow managed to look relaxed when she knew he was anything but.
“What the fuck, Paisley? You aren’t still with this guy, are you?”
“No, I’m not. He’s in Destin. We’re getting a divorce.”
It seemed surreal that he didn’t know she’d married Trey. But then, according to Trey, they weren’t close. They’d worked together in DC and then hung out when Ethan was at Eglin on temporary duty, but that was it.
He huffed a breath. “How long were you married?”
She didn’t want to answer him but she couldn’t think of a good reason not to. “Four and a half years. And before you say anything, I didn’t know he was like that when I married him. The violence came after.”
He was frowning again. “Is he still a threat? Are you safe here?”
“He doesn’t know where we are. The court does, but he doesn’t.
You know, I really don’t want to discuss this with you.
” She waved a hand around. “I was in a bad marriage, I left, I’m here and he’s not.
Violet and I are healing, or trying to. And no, he never hit her, though I’m sure it was coming soon.
She’s four and she’s getting sassy, like kids do.
But she clearly has some trauma, much to my shame, and I’ll never forgive myself for it.
There, I’m done,” she said, folding her arms around herself.
“Thank you for getting rid of that guy. I appreciate it.”
He was studying her in that way he had. The way that said he could strip back all the layers and get her to tell him anything if he tried hard enough. She knew because she’d done it before. When she was still na?ve and hopeful.
Well, not again. She was older, wiser, and life had taught her a few things. “Don’t let me keep you from your friends.”
“You aren’t keeping me. Shit,” he muttered so low she almost didn’t hear it.
“Look, there are a lot of tourists in town today, a lot of guys, and they’re drinking.
Come over and sit with us in front of the Dawg.
It’s prime real estate for the parade and the fireworks later.
The women will be happy and y’all can talk books.
And I won’t have to rip some guy’s head off for bothering you. ”
She stared at the mountain of a man in front of her. “Did you just say y’all? I thought you were from Brooklyn.”
He looked adorably sheepish in that moment. “Yeah, they’re corrupting me in the south. Besides, I like y’all better than youse.”
She wanted to accept, but that desire was reason enough not to. She didn’t need to be near Ethan Snow any more than necessary. “Thanks, really, but it’s not your responsibility to watch out for me. I’ll be okay.”
“You willing to take that chance with your daughter here?”
She ground her teeth. She wanted to tell him she’d been taking care of her and Violet for the last couple of months, but she hadn’t been equipped to deal with a drunk, aggressive man and she knew it.
She could have kicked him in the balls, but Violet would have had to witness her fighting with a strange man and that wasn’t going to work for either of their long-term mental health.
Accepting a safe place to take Violet for the festivities was the wise thing to do.
If she’d known how crowded the town square would be, she might have chosen another activity.
But Violet had wanted to go so badly, and Paisley wasn’t yet comfortable letting her go with anyone else.
The neighbor had offered to take her along with her kids, but Paisley’s gut feeling wouldn’t allow it.
“Fine, I’ll join you. But first Violet is going to play in the fountain. Then I’m getting her a rocket pop because I promised.”
“Fair enough. I’ll wait with you.”
“No,” she said in a rush. “I don’t want you to do that. Just go back to your friends and we’ll be along soon.”
Because hanging out with Ethan and trying to make small talk—or, worse, ignoring each other awkwardly—was too uncomfortable to imagine.
He plopped down on the edge of the fountain and took out his phone. “Nope, staying here, Payz. We don’t have to talk, but I’m not leaving until you’re done.”
Dammit.
She stared down at him with his head bent to his phone, scrolling and ignoring her, and wanted to ask him where the fuck he’d been when she really needed him.
He said he’d called her, but she’d never gotten a single call.
Never had any missed calls or messages either.
How could Trey have intercepted them all? Surely one would have got through.
Paisley couldn’t sit with him, not with her emotions boiling like this. She moved a few feet away and thumped down to watch Violet, her mind whirling with too many thoughts about what might have been. If only wasn’t in her vocabulary anymore.
Because it didn’t help a thing. Worse, it hurt.
That was the thing about dwelling on the past. All it did was create chaos and regret. It didn’t fix anything about her life and how far off the rails it’d gone.
That task was up to her. She was an island, solely responsible for her own happiness and that of her child’s.
Nobody else mattered. Nobody else cared. It was her and Violet against the world.
She wouldn’t forget that ever again.