Chapter 19
Nineteen
If he really wanted you, he’d kidnap you.
—Romance book lovers everywhere
Mable
The news hit that I was kicking them from their home of over two decades on a Tuesday.
I was in the middle of running a tree through what we called a “shredder” when I saw my father angrily marching across the yard grounds.
Today we were all working from one central location since we’d harvested what we needed for the next project.
I could see Romeo across the yard using his chainsaw to clean up the ends of the logs, and he was in the groove, unaware of the trouble headed my way.
If he’d known, he’d have stopped what he was doing immediately and head over.
Luckily, the rest of my crew had my back and stopped my father before I could actually use my tracks to run him over.
Which I wanted to, badly.
The last four days had been a nightmare.
The only thing that’d kept me somewhat sane had been Romeo.
Cody, Birdee, Vito, Grace, and I had been in a constant battle to make sense of the lies that Whitney had spun into a web of confusion.
We’d spent the last few weeknights ironing out what we knew. And only one thing was certain at this point, all the hurts and betrayals that we’d felt against each other had been nothing more than Whitney’s machinations.
Sleights that’d been dealt against us by each other were proved to be nothing more than Whitney’s lies.
At this point, we weren’t sure if anything that’d happened to us over the years had been true.
Needless to say, we were all exhausted by the end of the day.
And Romeo had been with me for everything.
He’d sat silently listening to everything, offering an outsider’s perspective when asked, and had been my support system. When we’d leave Vito’s place, he’d follow me to mine where he’d lie on the other side of my mattress with me.
Each morning for the last four mornings I’d woken up wrapped around him, soaking in every single second before he’d inevitably wake up and remember that it was inappropriate to be practically wrapped around your friend.
And each time he’d pull away and head to the bathroom, a little piece of my heart would break off.
But he’d never go far. He’d stay and help me cook each morning, then return home to deal with the horses and change clothes before meeting me at work.
Then we’d do it all over again the next day.
Even though I hadn’t gotten exactly what I’d wanted out of Romeo, he was still an integral part of my life that’d become something I’d needed just like breathing.
“Shit,” I said as Big John forced my dad to stop.
I reluctantly got to a stopping point and got out of the cab, heading toward my dad with the wind assaulting my every nerve ending.
I hated the cold. But I hated the cold more paired with the wind.
Every year I begged Cody to move with me out of state. Or to become a Florida citizen during the ‘Ber months. Yet, every year, she told me no.
Cody loved the snow. She loved plowing. She loved skiing.
Me, on the other hand? I thrived in the sun.
I thrived even more when my father didn’t look at me like I was a disappointment.
I stopped in the middle of the yard and said, “What do you want? I’m at work.”
Obviously, that was the wrong thing to say because he stepped toward me threateningly, his finger out and pointed at my face.
My father’s angry eyes sliced to me. “You’re at work? Maybe if you’d answered any of my phone calls, I wouldn’t have to come to this particular hellhole.”
I crossed my arms over my chest in a protective manner. Mainly, I did this to hide the shaking that came with his quick run up on me. Paired with his closeness, I definitely felt intimidated.
Which was what he wanted.
“Get your finger out of my face. I’m not four. I’m a grown adult,” I ordered, hoping my voice sounded strong.
“You’re doing something that you can’t come back from, Mable Louise,” he growled, not removing his finger.
In fact, not only did he not remove his finger, but he crowded me even closer, forcing me to take a large step back to keep him from touching me with that finger.
He backed me up until I hit a wall.
A wall that wasn’t a wall at all.
“If you don’t take a step back, I’ll make you,” Romeo’s angry, chilling voice said from behind me.
I felt the rumble of those words through the three layers of jackets I was wearing, too.
“And just who are you to tell me what I can and can’t do with my daughter?” my dad sneered, spittle gathering at the corners of his mouth.
“I think she ceased being your daughter around the age of nine? Or was it ten, baby?” Romeo asked. “I can’t remember when your so-called ‘father’ married Whitney.”
“Eight.” I swallowed.
“Eight.” Romeo nodded, the friction of our jackets rubbing together was the only thing you could hear now. The entire crew had ceased what they were doing and started watching. “I think that’s about right. Tell me, why are you here today?”
My dad’s jaw worked. “I’m here today because she’s trying to kick me out of my house!”
“Your house?” Romeo asked, humor lacing his tone. “Are we sure it’s your house?”
“We’re sure,” Dad snarled.
“Because that’s not what I hear,” Romeo said.
“If it was actually your house, she wouldn’t have been able to serve a formal eviction notice, would she?
Seems like your late wife knew you were a bit of a tool, and put all the money Mable would ever need into a trust fund that you couldn’t touch.
And she made sure to leave her the house.
A house, from what I gather, she loved. Tell me, is that why your now-wife started taking loans out in the kids’ names?
Did you know that your wife was using your children’s Social Security numbers and taking loans out in their names?
Did you know that your wife actually ruined Birdee’s credit?
Ever wondered why Birdee and Mable didn’t get along?
Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, there was a reason behind it?
Or did you just live off your dead wife’s inheritance, plant your head in the sand, and not question a damn thing? ”
Romeo’s words had exhilaration surging through my body.
These were all questions I’d been dying to ask, but probably never would’ve gotten the nerve up to ask.
Birdee might’ve. But definitely not me.
I was the most non-confrontational person in existence. I didn’t even tell restaurants that they added mustard to my burgers when I couldn’t stand it, and definitely wouldn’t have uttered the word mustard in a thousand years.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dad disagreed.
“Whitney is a great mom to those two girls. She’s spent the last fucking decade and a half trying to get them to like each other.
Their hate for each other is all on them.
Not my wife. And she most certainly wouldn’t have taken out any loans or ruined their credit. ”
“Why don’t you maybe go snoop around in her office,” Romeo suggested. “You have about twenty-six more days until you’re forced to be out of there. Use the time wisely.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Neither one of us are. I have a business that I run out of that house.”
“Well, either you can leave nicely, or the cops can make you leave,” Romeo said. “Either way, you’re no longer allowed to be on this site. This is Bunyan Property.”
“You don’t have the authority to keep me away from here,” Dad tried.
“No, but I do,” Paul Junior said as he came ambling up.
I’d seen him in the yard earlier working, but I hadn’t expected him to intervene with my father.
Though, maybe I should’ve expected him to seeing as my dad was interrupting our workday.
And lunch wasn’t for another fifteen minutes.
“You’re officially being asked to leave the property.
Don’t make me call the sheriff’s department.
They’re too busy to come out here for something so petty. ”
My dad’s hackles raised. “I know the law here. Go ahead and call them.”
Romeo pulled me back even farther, putting himself between me and my dad. “Don’t make me throw you out.”
“You could try,” my dad snapped.
I pressed my forehead between Romeo’s shoulder blades and prayed that he would get a freakin’ clue.
This wasn’t the time or place.
“How about you leave, and we meet up and talk about this civilly when the workday ends. We won’t, however, invite your wife so we can show you some of the evidence that’s piling up against her,” Romeo offered.
“Yeah, like I’ll believe anything you say,” Dad hissed. “And who are you to my daughter? Some ex-con that just got out of prison? Makes sense that’s all she could pull.”
That had my hackles raising.
Before I could reply or say anything to defend Romeo, though, Big John had enough.
He caught my dad by the jacket collar and started dragging him behind him toward the yard’s gates.
Once there, he pushed my dad out.
“My vehicle is inside!” Dad snarled.
Big John closed the gates. “Maybe if you’re nice, I’ll unlock it for you once you calm your tits.”
My dad straightened. “I’m calling the cops.”
“Good,” Big John muttered.
He walked right up to me and tapped me on the head with his meaty fist. “Don’t sweat the small stuff, girl. He’s a piece of shit. Always has been. Been seeing how he’s treated you for years, and haven’t done a damn thing about it. But no more.”
I wilted a little at his words.
“How about we break for lunch early?” Paul Junior asked. “I could use some of that food you cooked.”
I’d forgone breakfast and went for lunch.
It was the biggest damn pot of soup I’d ever made, paired with some homemade bread.
It was meant to warm us from the inside out.
And I could definitely use a little warming.
Just as that thought occurred to me, warm, strong arms wrapped around me.
Romeo’s muscular pecs smashed my face together, but I stayed where I was, relishing in the feeling of being safe and happy and warm.
“Your dad’s a dick,” he muttered.
“I’m sorry he said that about you,” I said. “He’s said for years that I was too boy-like to pull a man. And I’m assuming he thought we were together.”
He grunted. “Don’t worry about him. You can’t control anybody’s reactions but your own.”
Still, I felt horrible.
“He’s right,” Paul Junior murmured. “Guy’s a total tool.
Big John was right, too. He’s been stuck up his own ass since he met your mother.
She gave him the money he craved, and he never had to work a day in his life.
Your mother literally did everything for him, then left him everything when she died.
I’m happy to hear, though, that she didn’t actually leave him everything.
And he’s about to be kicked out of that big, fancy house. ”
My lips curled at the edges. “He’s definitely leaving.”
The rest of lunch went great.
All the guys loved my soup.
Romeo didn’t stray far from me at all.
And I was left warm and happy, despite my father’s visit.
Everything was going great.
I had almost everything that I ever wanted—Birdee being nice to me. My father and my stepmother out of my life. A great job. A house—two houses if you counted the one I was kicking my father out of. Savings. A great friend. Vito and Grace.
The only thing missing was the man who loved me unconditionally.
Maybe I’d have that one day, too.