Chapter 19
PENNY
Penny watched Royce from where she leaned in the doorway.
He was sound asleep with his hand resting on his chest. The T-shirt he wore didn’t hide the road rash on his arms, but the wounds were already starting to look better.
Thankfully, he’d been wearing a dress shirt and blazer.
His legs were worse for wear and would take longer to heal.
His phone on the end table lit up, buzzing to alert him of yet another text message. Penny frowned and slipped across the room to grab it. Royce hadn’t been sleeping well, and for good reason. She couldn’t imagine it was easy to get comfortable after the injuries he’d sustained.
She palmed the phone just as Royce let out a heavy sigh. He didn’t stir otherwise. Not when she sat beside him on the edge of the bed. Not when she trailed her fingertips through his hair at his temple.
In this moment, she was able to see rare evidence that he could experience peace.
The phone buzzed again, and she lifted it to see Lincoln’s name.
Apparently, Royce had it out with his brother and was more than happy to let his family sweat a little—similar to the way she’d treated her uncle.
Though Uncle George hadn’t gone further than warning her away from the Meyers family in general.
Perhaps he didn’t have enough evidence about her relationship.
Or maybe he didn’t feel he was in any position to boss her around.
It was likely the latter, but she could never tell with her uncle. It was entirely possible he’d do something drastic just to stick it to Royce’s family.
Why did that thought suddenly fill her with dread?
A knock at her apartment door pulled her to the present. Still unnerved, she cut one more look at Royce’s sleeping form, then swept from the room. With the bedroom door closed quietly behind her, she quickened her steps until she stood before her apartment door.
Maybe it would have been better to open the door without looking through the peephole.
Habit had taught her to always check, but now that she knew who was visiting, that dread worsened.
It got so bad her stomach felt like it was getting knocked around on one of those unsafe fair rides—the ones people had to sign waivers just to board.
She rested her head against the door and wasn’t at all surprised when she heard him call through it.
“I saw your shadow through the hole, Penny. And you weren’t at work today. I know you’re there.”
Penny shut her eyes tight.
Had her uncle sent her brother to do his dirty work? If there was anyone who could talk her out of being with Royce, it was Mathew.
Not even her own parents would be able to accomplish that.
What did that say about her relationship with her brother?
That she trusted him.
He’d been through a failed marriage. He’d had to sign his name on divorce papers. He knew the sacrifices that had to be made when it came to being with another person.
With a deep exhale, she unlocked the door and pulled it open.
Mathew stood braced on either side of the doorframe, his hands gripping the molding. His jaw looked painfully tight, and there was accusation in his eyes.
He knew.
Penny opened her mouth, but he held up a hand and muttered, “No. I’ve got a question for you. And I don’t want to hear anything else until you answer it.”
She gaped at him, unable to find the words to retort as he brushed past her and entered her apartment. Flustered, she shut the door and spun to face him. “Mathew, what—”
“Tell me the truth, Penny. Who are you dating?”
If he knew, why was he asking?
At least he didn’t know she was married. This confrontation would be so much worse if he knew that little detail.
“Mathew—”
“Who are you dating?”
She swallowed and wrapped her arms around herself. “No one.”
His expression tightened. “Don’t lie to me.”
Her eyes snapped up to meet his. Technically, she wasn’t lying. But she couldn’t exactly tell him that.
“His name is Royce.”
He shut his eyes, and his nostrils flared. “Royce…”
“Meyers.”
He muttered something under his breath, then opened his eyes and stared at her like he was trying very hard to stay calm. “Penny, please tell me you’re joking.”
She didn’t.
There wasn’t anything she could say because this was as real as it got.
“Penny.”
“How did you find out?” she whispered.
“How—” He shook his head and gripped his hair. “How? Aiden asked about your boyfriend. Wanted to know how you were doing after you came in the night of Jason’s wedding.”
It was Penny’s turn to be shocked. “Aiden… as in…”
“Yeah, the guy I work with. He saw you at the hospital. He said your boyfriend was in bad shape—that he got in some kind of motorcycle accident.”
She nodded, but her gaze had shifted to the floor.
The way she’d acted that night had been reckless. Anyone could have seen them. Anyone could have heard the way she spoke to him. There would be no denying they were a great deal more familiar with each other than anyone was supposed to know.
That dread returned with a vengeance, turning her whole body cold. In the back of her mind, she registered the telltale signs of her anxiety attack coming on. The nausea. The shaky breath. The need to run to the bathroom before she lost the contents of her stomach all over her living room.
“Penny, are you listening to me?”
She lifted her head slowly. Mathew was slightly out of focus, and she reached for the back of the couch to hold herself steady. “What?”
“You have to break up with him before Uncle George—”
“No,” she whispered.
“What?”
“No.” This time, she said it firmer, with a conviction she didn’t think she was capable of. “I know why Uncle George hates that family. I probably have more details than you. And I still think it’s ridiculous.”
“Of course it is. But this isn’t about us. This is about family.”
Penny scoffed. “Family?”
Royce was her family.
She wanted to scream it out loud so no one could claim this feeling she had for Royce was wrong. It felt anything but wrong.
“This isn’t about family. This is about a decades-old grudge. And I’m not going to be a puppet in it. I love him, Mathew.”
Suddenly, all the color from Mathew’s face drained. His eyes flared as her words seemed to settle inside him.
“Really?” It was barely a whisper, and she wanted to believe she saw the hint of a smile toy at his lips. Maybe it was all in her imagination.
She didn’t smile, though. This was her life.
Her future.
“Really.”
“But you haven’t…” He shook his head, searching for the right words. “How long have you even known him?”
Penny shrugged. “How long did it take you to realize River meant the world to you? Was it the first time she laughed? The first time she smiled? Or when you looked into her eyes and could see a future where the world didn’t seem quite so gray anymore?”
Her life had been so void of color ever since she’d been attacked on her college campus. Survival became the name of the game. She’d learned how to move forward, getting so good at it that she made a career out of helping other people do the same.
But she’d never allowed herself to love.
Not until Royce.
Her brother took a tentative step toward her. “You love him.”
This time it wasn’t a question.
She nodded but had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep her emotion in check. She didn’t need Mathew to know Royce was here in her apartment. The last thing she needed was for him to know they were married.
One step at a time.
“You know this is a little crazy, right?” Mathew murmured, a small smile forming.
Penny offered one in return. “I guess you can’t help who you fall in love with, right?”
“Yeah, I guess not.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I won’t tell anyone.”
“What?”
“Uncle George. Our cousins. If you want to keep this a secret for a while… I won’t tell any of them.”
“Thank you, Mathew.”
He nodded. Then he moved toward the door. He only paused when he’d opened it a crack. “How’s he doing? Does he need anyone to check on how his injuries are healing?”
“He’s doing okay. I’ll let you know if that changes.”
In a movement she didn’t expect of herself, Penny crossed the room and pulled her big brother into her arms for a hug. There were no words to express just how much his acceptance meant.
Penny was snuggled into Royce’s side after they’d gotten ready for bed when Royce murmured, “Someone stopped by today.”
She stilled, not willing to meet his gaze as she traced lines across the soft fabric of his T-shirt. “My brother, Mathew.”
He grunted. “How are you two doing?”
A smile formed. “Good. I think we’re doing good.” This time, she craned her neck so she could meet his eyes. “He found out about us.”
Royce looked about as sick as she’d felt earlier. “He knows?”
“Apparently, his friend saw us at the hospital and asked about you. It wasn’t hard for him to put two and two together.”
“He knows we’re…”
Her eyes widened. “No. Not that much. He just knows that…” She ducked her face into the crook of his neck. “That I’m in love with you.”
Royce’s arm tightened around her back, but then he groaned from his still-healing injuries.
She giggled. “You need to be more careful.”
“And you need to make sure I don’t stand in the way of your relationship with your family.”
Penny leaned up on her elbow and stared down at him. “What are you saying? That I should tell them—”
He pulled her close and kissed the tip of her nose.
“I’m saying family is important. It isn’t good for either of us to keep this relationship a secret forever.
I love you, Penny. So much. I think I’ve been kidding myself believing the longer we wait, the harder it will be for our families to interfere. ”
She rested her cheek against his chest, frowning. “Yeah, I don’t think any amount of time will ease them into our new reality.”
Royce was quiet for long moments. Then he sighed. “It’s going to be bad.”
Anxiety.
Dread.
The intense feeling that something bad was about to happen.
All of it came creeping back into her chest. Not even lying here with Royce like this was enough to push those feelings away. She couldn’t bring herself to voice her biggest concerns.
What if Royce’s family threatened to disown him?
It wasn’t in her nature to let something like that happen when she could be the force that kept a family together.
She’d lost her father. She’d lost her aunt.
She knew the pain of losing people she loved unconditionally.
Royce had already lost his mother. Would he survive being cut off from the rest?
So many dark thoughts threatened to overtake her.
“Sweetheart?” Royce’s soft voice broke through the fear pressing in. His hand trailed up and down her spine. “It’s going to work out. There’s nothing that will tear us apart. I promise.”
She prayed he was right.
But deep down, she wondered if she could be as strong as he seemed to be.