Chapter 20 #2
He managed as deep a breath as his lungs would allow. “She cooperated fully, which was their first clue she was telling the truth. But everything Martin had ever told her was a lie.”
There was no keeping the anger from his voice now, and Tyler didn’t try.
“His ‘job’ as a talent scout was a front, one of several impersonation scams he rotated through as he went from town to town to avoid being caught. He’d pretend to be a government official collecting hidden back taxes, or an attorney needing fees to facilitate an inheritance, or a talent scout offering expensive coaching, and take as many people for as much money as possible, then disappear.
Most of his victims had very little financial security, either from small communities or the elderly.
He’d been at it for over ten years by the time the Feds finally tracked him to my mother and me. ”
“That’s…” Chloe broke off, seeming unable to land on a word harsh enough before hitting a bullseye with, “beyond fucking despicable.”
“Yeah,” he scratched out. “Everything he’d ever told her was a lie.
The vintage engagement ring Martin had proposed with, that had belonged to his ‘grandmother’?
Stolen. The house where we’d lived since I’d been born?
Mortgaged under an alias and four months behind in payments.
My mother and I had a week to get out before the bank took it back. ”
“Oh, my God,” Chloe said, so softly it was barely a whisper, and yet the words were heavy with emotion. “And Martin was just, what? Gone?”
Tyler made a sound, too coarse and joyless to be a laugh.
“Martin didn’t even technically exist. It was one of his aliases.
But, yes. His cell phone had been disconnected, all of his accounts cleaned out.
Despite my mother’s desperate attempts to reach him, he was a ghost. We stayed in a shelter for a few weeks, then found a tiny one-bedroom apartment.
We couldn’t leave St. Louis while the investigation played out.
The FBI eventually figured out that my mother had been swindled, just like everyone else but, by then, Martin was in the wind, and the damage was done.
My mother was destroyed, both financially and emotionally. ”
Tyler broke off, and fuck, fuck, he couldn’t let all these feelings, so dark and desperate, out of the hidey-hole where he’d jammed them, deep in his chest. They were too big. Too dangerous. Too much.
But then, Chloe’s fingers splayed wide, the whisper of her words—I’m right here with you…I’m right here with you—echoing in his head, and Tyler scraped in a breath. Held it. Then trusted her with the rest.
“My mother had spent seven years believing Martin was the love of her life. She fell for him so hard that it broke her. She’d thought they had everything, and he’d been nothing but a cheat and a liar who ghosted her when the cops got too close.
She tried to hide how much the betrayal wrecked her, but I still heard her crying every night.
She fell into a pretty deep depression. That first year was almost unbearable for her.
I didn’t realize how much until a lot later.
Eventually, she got a job as a teacher’s aide, with benefits that covered a good therapist. It took ten years of working two, sometimes three, jobs to get back on her feet before we were able to move to Remington and really start fresh.
But neither one of us will ever, ever forget what loving Martin did to her. ”
“Oh, Tyler. I’m so, so sorry,” Chloe said, and God, his composure wasn’t sturdy enough for the emotion in her voice. “I can’t even imagine how painful that must have been. For both of you.”
He managed a broken nod. “I saw what all those emotions did to her, how vulnerable she’d made herself by falling so hard, and I swore I’d never let that happen to me.
I thought that if I shut my feelings down before I even had them, I’d be safe.
Christ, I even chose a profession where my very survival depends on my ability to compartmentalize.
I thought I was being so fucking smart, never letting myself get far enough with a woman to feel anything below the surface. ”
A sound that would’ve been a laugh if it had held even a shred of joy crossed his lips.
Christ, how had he thought for even one second, he’d be able to resist this?
Resist her? “But I wasn’t, because I still ended up here, feeling this good with you.
And even though it scares the shit out of me, I can’t stop wanting you. ”
Chloe slid both hands up to cup his face, giving him no choice but to meet her eyes in the shadowy light, and her gaze was so fierce, it stole his breath.
“Listen to me, Tyler. What happened to your mother—and to you—didn’t happen because she fell for Martin. It happened because Martin was an abuser. The harm was his fault. He did it, and neither of you deserved it. Just like you don’t deserve to still carry the burden of it now.”
“I’m not sure I know how to let it go,” Tyler admitted, his heart in his windpipe.
But Chloe was right there, with that avenging angel look on her face and her lips gossamer soft on his, kissing him once before saying, “I’m not sure I have all the answers for that, but here’s one thing I do know.
You’re a good man, with a good heart. If you need someone to help shoulder the weight while you figure it out, well…
I’m an excellent wing-woman. Just saying. ”
Against every last one of the odds, he huffed out a laugh. “Looks like I need one, so thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Her smile was so beautiful, he felt it in the dark. “Thanks for trusting me with the story. And for letting me help.”
“You might end up sorry you offered,” he said, but she shook her head and returned her cheek to his shoulder, the weight of her warm and steady and tight against him.
“I won’t.”
And as they started to fall asleep, nestled together on her couch with her hand still covering his heart, Tyler waited for a sensation that didn’t come.
His defenses didn’t scream at him to put up walls.
That feelings like the one dominating his chest right now were dangerous, that they led to things far more devastating than broken hearts.
Instead, he thought of how every time Chloe smiled at him, the axis of his whole world tipped toward her, his body electric and alive and his heart threatening to catch fire, and while his mind knew—fuck, it knew more than anyone—how badly this could end, his heart knew something different.
Chloe had his back, and even though it scared the shit out of him, he wanted nothing more than to let her, and to have hers right back.