10. Chapter Ten
Chapter Ten
Nate
Me: Samantha’s family are assholes.
Adrian: What did they do? Is she okay?
Me: They barely acknowledged her tonight. Plus, her brother’s wife is about to have a baby, and no one told Samantha she was even pregnant. Is this what they’re always like?
Adrian: Yes. That’s why you’re there. You need to run interference as much as possible.
Samantha was taking a long shower in the bathroom, and I was…at a loss. I didn’t like what I had seen tonight but had no idea what to do about any of it.
I had failed on multiple levels. I’d allowed us to be separated. I’d gotten distracted. By the time I’d made it back to Samantha, she’d had a shell-shocked expression, looking like she’d shrunk by ten inches.
And she’d hidden it from me, but I was certain her mother had grabbed her wrist hard enough to bruise.
Me: I’m not sure I’m the right person for this job.
Adrian: Too bad. It’s you or no one. Are you telling me you’re going to leave her to hang out to dry because feelings make you feel squicky?
I groaned, rubbing the spot between my brows. I should have texted Rome. He had a natural instinct for caretaking. He would have known what to do.
But a big part of me wanted to protect Samantha, and that meant not sharing what I’d seen. I had a feeling she was embarrassed by how her family treated her and wouldn’t have wanted anyone but Adrian to know, and I wasn’t certain she’d even want that.
Me: I’m not hanging her out to dry. I didn’t know what I was walking into, and now I do. I won’t leave her alone for even a second.
Adrian: Good. That’s why you’re there. She won’t protect herself against them. She doesn’t think she has the right. It’s your job to stand up when she won’t.
Me: I get it now. I don’t understand why she lets herself be in this position, but I guess I don’t need to.
Adrian: Should I call her?
Me: She’s showering and we ordered food. I think she’s okay. I’ll let you know if that changes.
Adrian: All right. Take care of my girl, Nate. I mean it.
Me: I’m doing my best.
It wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t the man for the job. But like Adrian had said, it was me or no one.
Samantha moaned as she plunged a spoonful of ice cream and brownie into her mouth.
“Holy shit,” she mumbled around the brownie. “This is exactly what I needed.”
I laughed and stuck my spoon in the ice cream, taking a big scoop for myself.
Just as good as she was making it out to be, the brownie hot and gooey, the ice cream rich and melty.
I didn’t eat like this often—or ever, if I was being exact—but damn it all to hell, if ever there was an occasion for a junk food picnic, tonight was it.
Our room service was spread out on the king-size bed in front of us. Samantha was in sweats, her damp hair in a bun on the top of her head. I’d changed into pajama pants and a T-shirt, and we were both propped on a pile of pillows, eating dessert for dinner and watching a stupid movie on TV.
She wasn’t talking, and I wasn’t prying. When she’d emerged from the shower, her eyes had been red-rimmed and puffy, making the way she’d smiled at the brownie sundae a ray of sunshine after a storm.
“I had no idea you’d be a plaid pants guy.”
I chuffed. “No? Have you put a lot of thought into my pajamas?”
“Not a lot, but some.” She shook her spoon at me. “Do you know I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in your PJs? You’re always dressed.”
“That isn’t surprising. I don’t lounge around in pajamas. When I get up, I get dressed for the day.”
Her nose crinkled. “Is this freaking you out?”
“What?”
“Being awake in your jammies.”
A laugh burst out of me. “Jammies? I don’t wear jammies. I’m not five.”
She sniggered, her cheeks filling with color. “You didn’t answer the question! Does it bother you to be sitting here wearing your extremely dignified pajamas while you’re wide awake, doing nonsleeping activities?”
“I hadn’t thought about it, but now that you mention it, I think I’ll put my suit back on.”
I started to get up, but she lunged for me, grabbing the back of my shirt and yanking me onto the mattress. She pulled me so hard I nearly toppled onto her, only catching myself at the last second.
“Crap, I’m sorry.” She giggled. “I think I got a little overzealous.”
Pushing myself upright, I laughed. “You don’t know your own strength.”
That was when I saw it. The sleeve of her sweatshirt had shifted enough to reveal a flaming red ring around her wrist.
I snagged her hand in mine before she knew what I was doing. When she saw where my focus was, her breath caught.
“Christ, Samantha.” I lifted my eyes to hers, and she tore hers away. “Does that hurt?”
She tugged her hand out of my grasp and replaced her sleeve. “It’s no big deal.”
“It is. No one should leave marks on you. Especially not your mother.”
“Are you really one to tell me how mothers should treat their children?” she snapped. Then her eyes lifted to mine, wide and shocked, like she hadn’t meant to say it.
I shook my head. “No. I guess I’m not. But no one should ever hurt you. I do know that.”
“I’m sorry, Nate. That was incredibly shitty of me to say,” she rushed out. “I’m pretty embarrassed about it all, but that’s no excuse. Bringing up your mom is beyond the pale—especially from a thirty-three-year-old woman letting her mom hurt her.”
I started to speak, to tell her she had nothing to apologize for, when she raised her hand.
“Before you ask, I don’t know why I allow it. She doesn’t like me. She never has. You’d think I’d give up on her, right? You’d think I’d tell her where she can stick it. But I…I don’t know, Nate.”
She picked up the bowl of ice cream and brownie, cradling it like a precious baby, and scooped a large spoonful into her mouth.
“I wasn’t going to ask that.” I half smiled at her stuffing herself with ice cream. “I’m more curious about how she couldn’t like you. Beyond being her daughter, you’re a very likable person.”
She froze for a long beat, the spoon in her mouth. When she moved again, it was in increments. First, her nose twitched. Then, her eyes began fluttering, followed by her throat bobbing as she swallowed.
“You think I’m likable?”
“Of course I do.”
“Thanks. That’s very nice to hear,” she rasped before taking a deep breath. “She doesn’t like me because I’m the product of my father’s infidelity and she was forced to raise me as her own.”
It took all my self-control not to let my jaw drop. “That’s…uh—”
“Very scandalous, I know. My dad knocked up Tara Ann Mayfield when he was away at a conference in Vegas. She was a stripper. He was a businessman with too much money and not enough sense to wear a condom. When I was three, she’d finally tracked him down and showed up on his doorstep with me, demanding money or she’d tell his wife.
He called her bluff, sent her away with a lump sum, and kept me.
Not particularly because he wanted me, more because he didn’t want to have to keep paying Tara for the rest of his life. ”
I needed Rome. Or Adrian. Even Ben would have done. I didn’t know what to say. Or how to react.
I shook my head. “How do you…why do you know all that?”
She tapped her temple. “I’m a genius, Nate.
When I was fifteen, I flew myself out to Vegas to reunite with my mother, thinking she must have missed me desperately.
That was when Tara Ann informed me she’d never wanted kids and giving me up to the Blackwells had been the best day of her life.
Then she said unless I had more money for her, I’d better skedaddle my way back to Colorado or she’d call the cops. ”
“Samantha…” I murmured, “I’m so damn sorry.”
She shrugged. “It was a long time ago, and I was lucky Ade was waiting for me when I got back. I don’t think I left his bed for a week, and he took care of me.
So, you see, it was okay. My family didn’t want me, but my best friend did.
He might be stubborn and emotionally walled off, but he made sure I understood I’d never be rid of him. He made it better.”
“Good. I’m glad.” I blew out a breath, dragging my fingers through my hair. “Do your siblings know?”
“That I’m their half sister? Yes. I don’t know when they found out, but they did.
I’ve never been close to either of them.
My mom treated us so differently—it was impossible, you know?
I don’t really blame her, though. I mean, forced to raise my husband’s affair baby? I wouldn’t be too thrilled either.”
“None of which was your fault.”
“I know. I know how I’ve been treated isn’t fair—how I’m still treated. But my mom is human, and her feelings aren’t logical.” She set her bowl down on the nightstand and sighed. “I don’t spend a lot of time with them, but they’re the only family I have. If I severed those ties, then what?”
She’d have Adrian, who loved her more than all those people combined. But she knew that and was still seeking a connection with them.
Maybe she was right. Feelings weren’t logical.
After all, I hadn’t blocked my mother. Unanswered texts still sat on my phone when logic said I should have deleted them and moved on.
I reached for her hand again, running my thumb across her knuckles. When she didn’t pull away, I pushed her sleeve up, gently stroking the angry skin around her wrist.
“She might be human, but she’s not going to do anything like this to you again. Not when I’m around.” I touched her chin, making sure she heard me. “Got it?”
Her warm breath feathered over my fingers. “Got it, Nate.”
I didn’t know where this protectiveness was coming from, but it didn’t matter. The only person standing between Samantha and more pain was me, and I wasn’t allowing a single strand of hair on her head to be hurt again.