Chapter 6
Miles’ mood had gone from bad to worse. While the afternoon at his brother’s house had gone well, and Gabriel had fun, seemingly unaware of the day’s events, he still acted off.
Even for him.
He had checked his phone a half dozen times and with each glance, he became agitated. After dinner, it had gotten so bad, Liberty decided it was time to go home.
This time, Miles couldn’t fault her for that.
Gabriel had one major outburst that had scared some of the children. Poor Gabriel had tried his own brand of self-soothing and removed himself from the situation, but the damage had been done and now the man felt like shit.
But kudos to Miles’ family for not making a big deal out of it.
And better yet, Liberty hadn’t treated Gabriel like a child.
Miles sat on Liberty’s front porch, nursing a short glass of bourbon. The front door rattled and she joined him with the bottle and a glass for herself.
“How’s Gabriel?” he asked.
“Playing a video game, but he wouldn’t give me his phone.” She tipped her head back and took a shot, before pouring another.
“Is his cell password protected?”
“Yep.” She leaned back, stretching out her legs.
“Maybe it’s time to get two new phones with new numbers. That way Charlie doesn’t have either,” he said.
“I’m inclined to agree with you, but remember, change doesn’t come easy for Gabriel. I can’t just yank his phone away willy-nilly. I need a reason. And it has to be a good one; otherwise, it will cause him stress and he’s already going backward.”
“A new phone is coming out next week. Tell him that you got a good deal and wanted the upgrade, but in order to do it, you had to get new numbers. And remind him how you’ve asked Charlie not to come around anymore.”
“You’ve got an answer for everything, don’t you?” She sighed. “My life isn’t that simple.”
“But it doesn’t have to be that complicated. You make it that way.”
“You think I treat him like a child and maybe I do when it comes to his emotions, but I’ve always respected his privacy.” She held up a finger. “To a certain degree. I mean, I monitor who he talks to on the internet with those damn games, because he doesn’t really understand the dangers fully. And when it comes to his phone, he doesn’t have too many numbers in it.”
“But he has Charlie’s and that’s who he’s texting with, even though you’ve asked him not to. And we both know that’s what upset him at Emmerson’s.”
“Gabriel’s in part why I stayed with that prick for so long.” She tugged her hair out of her ponytail and ran her fingers through the long blond strands. “Charlie wasn’t always this manipulative when it came to Gabriel. Granted, he did use Gabriel to get to me, which looking back, I’m at a loss as to why. But sometimes I feel like you’ve been doing that.”
“I honestly resent that statement.” Miles cocked his head. “I’ve done no such thing.”
“Really? You spent an entire month getting to know Gabriel before asking me out or even trying to get in my pants.” She shook her head and let out a cold, dry laugh. “I hate it when people do that.”
“Don’t be crude about what happened between us. And I’m not Charlie,” Miles said softly. “I don’t have any clue what he did to you or why your marriage ended so badly. My mind fills with all sorts of crazy ideas. But trust me, my feelings for Gabriel have nothing to do with my attraction or how I feel about you. They are two completely separate things. And if you want to get into why I kept you at arm’s length when we first met, I’m happy to tell you.” He tapped his finger on her knee. “But if I do that, you have to tell me what happened with Charlie.”
“Another manipulator,” she muttered.
“Not really. More like negotiation and if you said no, I’d still tell you why I was distant at first. But I want to know about Charlie because I can help get him out of your life. Or have you forgotten what my side gig is?” He arched a brow. “But in order to do that, I need information.”
“Right. The private investigator business. You’re a jack of all fucking trades.”
“You sure do like to swear,” he whispered.
“When I lived in high society, it was frowned upon. But now that I don’t have to act like some prim and proper lady, that I’m not, I can be myself and dropping the F-bomb now and again, well, it feels fucking good.”
“That wasn’t a judgment, just an observation.” He tipped back his drink, letting the smoky flavor fill his mouth before swallowing. Normally, this time of night was his favorite. He’d kick back with a nice glass of bourbon and stare at the stars and the moon. It always calmed his mind and fed his soul. But not tonight. There were so many other things on his mind, one of which was making sure she understood that what happened between them he didn’t take lightly. “You’ve been in town for two months and you work at the café where most of our community likes to hang out, including almost every woman I’ve ever dated. I’ve seen you serve a few of them and I’m sure you’ve gotten an earful from one or two.”
She smiled. Then laughed. Loudly. “Yeah. Someone did mention you were a bit of a horn dog and that I should stay away.”
“I’m not surprised my reputation preceded me.” He needed to tread lightly in this conversation if he was going to prove his point.
“Lucy Ann did mention that it wasn’t as bad as Trixi, or whatever her name was, made it out to be. Although, I will say that Trixi actually had a few nice things to say about you, which was shocking.”
He smacked his hand against his forehead. “I had no idea you ran into her. Of all the women who could be spreading tales about me, it had to be that one.” Miles swallowed. Trixi had been hurt and not just by Miles, but her family had done a number on her as well.
She’d been told to choose between them and Miles, only, at first, she hadn’t informed Miles of that ultimatum. When he found out, that put him between a rock and a hard place. He’d never choose a woman over his family. Of course, unless the girl he was dating was a hardened criminal, his family would never ask him to do such an insane thing. There had been a part of Miles that had been touched by Trixi’s dedication to him, except in the end, neither one could live with the consequences.
“What did you do to her?”
“I guess you could say I broke her heart.” There was no sugarcoating this one. “We hooked up a couple of years ago.”
“Hooked up? That’s kind of a disgusting way of putting it.”
“Perhaps that’s the wrong word. She was the closest thing I’ve ever had to a relationship. But she knew who I was and my aversion to getting married. She thought she could tame this bad boy.”
“Is that what you are? A womanizer?”
“I take offense to that word and that’s not what happened,” he said behind a clenched jaw. Just because he didn’t want to settle down, get married, and pump out a bunch of babies, didn’t mean he was a dick.
“According to her, you’re incapable of being in a committed relationship with anything that doesn’t require an oil change.”
“That’s her father speaking. Not her.” Miles stared at the night sky. He couldn’t be angry at Trixi for saying those words. By the time they’d broken up, Miles had successfully done exactly what her father had said he would. “Trixi and I were doomed from the start, even if I didn’t have a reputation. She comes from a rich family with certain standards and I didn’t fit the mold. If she was going to be with me, she had to give up her family and her money. I didn’t think that was fair. Because I did care about her, I started pushing her away.”
“That’s what I’d call a coward.”
“You can call me anything you want. Judge me however you see fit. But the real truth of the matter was that I didn’t love Trixi like a man should love a partner. I hated her father for how he treated her and forced her into making a choice between me and the rest of her family, but it shouldn’t have come down to that. Yet at the end of the day, I also wasn’t going to be able to give her the two things she wanted most. A ring and a kid.”
“You don’t want a family?” Liberty asked.
“I didn’t then. I honestly don’t know what I want now.” His answer shocked his system. Being a father had never been something he gave a second thought. A husband was out of the question. “I’ve struggled with a lot of things my entire life, one of which was watching my parents have a shitty-ass marriage. My mom had an affair when I was one and it produced my little brother.”
“What?” Liberty’s voice screeched.
“The worst part about that was my dad agreed to raise Jameson as his own until Steve, my mom’s current husband, strolled back into town a few years ago, blowing my family into pieces. Add Jameson’s divorce, a few brothers who had their hearts broken, and I chose to be a bachelor, because in my book, love sucks.”
She raised her glass and tapped it against his. “Finally, something we both can agree on.”
“You loved Charlie,” he said as a statement of fact. “Why don’t we shift gears and talk about that for a bit.”
She set her glass on the steps and shifted, facing him dead-on. “One of the reasons I’m so guarded with you is because Charlie was a lot like you in the beginning. He adored Gabriel. He was so good with him and it warmed my heart to see someone treat my brother with kindness and respect, not pity. And Charlie showered me with gifts. I was reluctant at first. After my parents left me and Gabriel to fend for ourselves, I mistrusted everyone I ever knew in their circles, and that included Charlie. And especially his parents. They never accepted me. What’s really weird is they begged me not to divorce their son.” She shook her head and chuckled. “Their exact words were, No Livingston gets divorced. Make this right. They even tried to give me money and things in order to stay. They told me they would do anything if I stayed with Charlie. They even told me how broken Charlie was because I’d left him.”
“Something tells me Charlie’s never been brokenhearted over anything,” Miles mumbled. “I find it interesting that it was his parents who were the ones that pleaded with you to remain in Palm Beach and in a marriage that made you miserable.”
“Charlie can be a lot like Gabriel sometimes when he either feels hurt or doesn’t get his way.”
“What does that mean, exactly?” Miles asked.
“He’ll tell me to fuck off. Dare me to leave. He’s even let me walk out the front door, locking it behind me, always yelling from the other side that I’d be back. And he was right, I always did, because of Gabriel. It was too much to leave in the heat of the moment. I had to plan. That took time.”
“That was smart on your part,” Miles said. “I’m curious. What did his parents do to try to get you to stay?”
“A brand-new car showed up one day. There was all of a sudden talk of them paying for college. They bought Gabriel a new computer. Told him no more adult programs. They told me they’d change my prenup agreement, but no amount of money was going to make me stay. I mean, I did that twice before, and nothing changed. They never followed through anyway. It was all talk so I wouldn’t drive right out of town. But I don’t understand why. They don’t even like me.”
“How long were you married?” The wheels in Miles’ backward brain began spinning wildly out of control. It was hard to contain it when he got going. Thinking was never a problem. Sorting information was easy. Speaking not hard at all.
But he couldn’t put it on paper if he tried.
He’d need Rhett for that one.
That was one of the reasons he’d never go to work full-time for his brother, and while everyone in his family totally believed he had the chops to be a PI or a cop, it was the test and the paperwork that made Miles twitch. His learning disability would never go away. It was something he’d accepted a long time ago and had overcome in many ways. But it didn’t change the fact he still had it.
“I got married at twenty-one. I left him for good fourteen months ago, but the divorce didn’t become final until two months ago, so a little over ten years.”
“When did you try to leave before this final time?”
“Five years into the marriage.” She flattened her hand against her stomach. “And then again three years after that.”
He inhaled sharply. He’d watched too many of his sisters-in-law tell his brothers they were pregnant by merely covering their bellies. He knew what that gesture meant.
Only, he didn’t know what happened.
“I know it’s none of my business, but I’m going to ask anyway. Why did you try to leave? And why did you end up staying?”
“The first time I caught him cheating. I was more upset that Gabriel was in the house than the fact he was fucking some bimbo.”
“That’s not cool.”
“It would have crushed Gabriel and he wouldn’t have understood.” She let out a slow breath. “It’s one of the reasons why I need to ease Gabriel into the idea of me dating anyone. Even someone he likes as much as you. I can’t just throw you in his face.”
“The man knows what sex is. He’s asked me about it a few times, but yeah, the cheating part would have been confusing as hell since he does have some displaced loyalty with Charlie.”
“He’s a twenty-two-year-old virgin. There have been times I thought about hiring someone to have sex with him, but then I think about all the things that could go wrong.” She laughed, lifting her drink. “The man is obsessed with porn and I can’t bring myself to tell him to stop looking at it.”
“A little self-gratification never hurt anyone.”
“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.”
He chuckled. “For the last four months, until last night, it’s all I knew, but we’re getting sidetracked.” He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Something you’re good at.”
She shrugged.
“Why did you stay after he cheated on you?” he asked.
“We had been fighting for a year over whether or not to have a baby. I wanted to go back to school, and he wanted me to be the good little wife and stay at home. I was bored stiff and getting antsy. I refused to go off birth control and that was his way of paying me back.”
“That’s cruel.”
She nodded. “But he said all the right things. Did all the right things. And we were good for a while, until I got pregnant.” She rubbed her thumb over her index fingernail, picking at the edges. “It was as if I fulfilled my wifely duty and he went back to being a prick. He would stay out late with his buddies. He started ignoring Gabriel. He told me no more college. That was it. I was going to be a mother and that was my role. I felt trapped and alone.”
“I imagine you would.”
She wiped a few tears that dripped down her cheek. “When I was seven months pregnant, I had enough. I wanted out. I didn’t care if he and his parents cut me and Gabriel off. I figured I’d be able to handle Gabriel because he was so excited about the baby. I also assumed that Charlie and everyone else would still be in our lives because of the baby, but I just couldn’t live there anymore. It was pure torture. I was alone. No one cared. I was Rapunzel trapped in a tower without my long hair. I packed my bags and told him I was leaving. He dealt with it by shoving me down the stairs.”
“He did what!” Miles jumped to his feet with his fists clenched tightly at his sides. He paced in front of the porch, itching to punch something.
Anything.
The one thing he couldn’t tolerate was anyone putting their hands on a woman. But one carrying a child? Somehow, that made it even worse.
“Please tell me you called the cops,” he said, doing his best to rein in his rage.
“I hit my head and was knocked unconscious, so no,” she said softly. “Gabriel found me and bless his soul, he called 9-1-1.”
“Where the fuck was that dick of an ex-husband?”
“Off fucking his next conquest.”
Miles’ heart dropped like a brick to his toes. “He left you there? Pregnant with his kid? Passed out at the bottom of a staircase?”
“I really didn’t need the blow-by-blow recount.” She sighed. “But yeah. When I came to at the hospital, our little girl had been taken by an emergency C-section. I got to hold her for a little bit before she passed. But Charlie, he never even saw her.”
Miles swallowed. Hard. He had no words for that and what he wanted to say wouldn’t be kind. At all.
And that’s not what Liberty needed.
He eased back onto the steps and looped his arm around her shoulders. “What does Gabriel know about this?”
“He thinks I fell down the stairs and he went along with what Charlie and his parents said. That it was my fault that I lost the baby.”
Miles pulled her tight, kissing her temple. “That wasn’t your fault. What Charlie did was criminal and he should be rotting in a prison cell for what he did to you and your little girl.”
“Maybe so, but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to deal with that. Gabriel was angry with me. You see, there was a step ladder at the top of the stairs because that was where there was a small library and he believed that I was on that, getting a book from a top shelf. I was so distraught and depressed, it took a while before I was able to pull myself out of it and get to a point where I could leave, but Gabriel will always believe that I was reckless.”
“Not if you tell him the truth.”
She leaned her body against Miles, dropping her head on his shoulder. “I’ve spent my entire life trying to protect him from some of the pains of this world. Our parents abandoning him because of who he is. Charlie and what he did to me. To us. Telling him won’t bring back my baby. It won’t change what happened. All it will serve is to make Gabriel angry at me for lying. Or confuse him about trust. I’m sure you think I’m wrong. And maybe I am. But if we’re being completely honest here, I’ve never told a single soul about what really happened that day until right now.”
“I’m glad you felt safe trusting me with it.” He closed his eyes for a moment, doing his best to let go of the anger flowing through his veins, because if he ever saw that man again, his mother would be slapping the handcuffs on him, not Charlie. “I’ll go buy two new phones tomorrow. I’ll take Gabriel with me. It will be a surprise. I’ll tell him it’s a perk of working for me.”
“I can’t let you do that.” She lifted her head. “Truth be told, I can’t afford them right now.”
“I’ll put them on my plan and you can pay me back when you can.” One thing Miles had learned from some of his sisters-in-law, especially Rumor and Bryn, was how important it was to feel that freedom of being on your own. “We can devise a payment plan of some kind. But I’m insisting. Charlie is more dangerous than I suspected and I’m not going to sit here and let him come after you, especially when I know he’s fucking with Gabriel. Whether you want to believe it or not, I care about both of you.”
She burst out laughing.
“I don’t see why that’s so funny.”
“Trixi,” she whispered. “Darlene. Andrea. Bonnie. Shall I go on?”
He groaned. “Look. I’m not a saint. And I’m certainly not asking you to move in with me or marry me. But I do like you and I want to see where this can go. Is there something wrong with that?”
“No. But considering what I was married to, you have to understand why I’m leery of dating… you.”
“I don’t cheat. I never have and I never will. Ask any of them and they will tell you that.” He cupped her face, drawing her closer until her lips were so close he could feel her hot breath on his skin. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since we met. I haven’t looked at another woman since. I have no idea what that means. I only know that no other woman has turned my insides to mush the way you have.” He kissed her, hard. It was wet, wild, and it had more passion behind it than he’d been prepared for.
But Liberty had successfully not only stolen his heart.
She’d sucked his soul right out of his body.
He couldn’t see straight and when he did, all he saw was her and if he didn’t explore what it meant, he’d always wonder if he’d either been sitting around waiting for the right woman to tame his crazy ways.
Or if he’d simply been a fool afraid to love.
She fisted his shirt, breaking off the kiss. She blinked. “I can’t do this right now. Gabriel is in the family room,” she whispered. “And you scare the crap out of me.”
He jerked his head. “Why?”
“Because I can’t afford to like anyone and I like you way too much. We keep doing this, and one of us will be doing the walk of shame again.” She jumped to her feet. “Good night, Miles.” She disappeared into the house.
She liked him. He smiled.
Now all he had to do was get rid of Charlie.
And by that, he meant, putting that asshole where he belonged.
In prison.