T-Bone - L. Wilder Page 0,26

couple of his buddies from back home at some heating and cooling place.”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“Sorry, Sis. I’m not.” He stepped towards me with a pained expression. “I know this isn’t the news you were wanting, but things are different now. He’s married now ... even has a kid on the way.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better”—I clenched my fists at my sides as I bit back my tears—“because it doesn’t. Not at all.”

“Look, I know this is tough, but it’s gonna be okay.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I’m here”—he wrapped his arms around to hug me tightly—“and if he even thinks about coming close to you, I’ll fucking kill him.”

“Thank you for looking out for me.” I hugged him back before pulling away. “I really do appreciate it, but it’s late. You should get back to Landry.”

“Landry is fine. She’s—”

Even though I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of being alone, I pushed, “Clay, I’ll be okay. Just go home.”

“You sure?”

I nodded. “I’m wiped. I’m just going to change my clothes and go to bed.”

“Okay. Do what you need to do.” Before I closed the door, he said, “I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. Be sure and tell Landry I said hey.”

“Will do.” Just as he turned to leave, he added, “Make sure you lock up.”

I watched Clay walk towards his bike, then I closed the door and locked it. I could hear the rumble of his Harley as he backed out of the driveway. I’d done my best to keep it together when Clay told me about Lucas, but the second he was gone, I lost it—not because I was afraid, but because I was angry. I’d moved to Memphis thinking I was getting a fresh start, that I was leaving Lucas and my past behind, and it infuriated me that I was wrong—that he really wasn’t out of my life. I threw my bag down on the table, and with tears streaming down my face, I screamed at the top of my lungs. I shouted a stream of curses as I grabbed the throw pillows off my sofa and tossed them across the room, then did the same with some magazines I had laying on the coffee table. I was in the midst of a total, raging meltdown when I heard a knock on the door. I figured it was Clay coming back to make sure I was okay, so as I opened the door, I sassed, “I thought I told you to go home.”

The words had already left my mouth before I realized it was actually Beckett. I didn’t even give him a chance to speak before I stepped out on the porch and threw my arms around his neck, clinging to him tightly. I felt his arms wind around my waist, and as he pulled me close, my body melted into his. After several minutes of holding me, he said, “Let’s get you inside.”

“Okay.”

Beckett followed me back into the house, and when he saw all the pillows and magazines strewn all over my living room, he didn’t say a word. Instead, he just walked over and started picking things up and putting them back where they belonged. As he placed the pillows back on the sofa, he looked over to me with concern in his eyes. “I’m guessing things aren’t going so great.”

“They’ve definitely been better.”

“You sure you don’t wanna tell me what’s going on?” When he saw the expression on my face, he shook his head and sighed. “Okaaay. Have it your way.”

“I’m just not ready to get into it.”

“I understand.” He studied me for a moment, like he was trying to make sense of what was going on with me, then said, “It’s late ... I best get going. I probably shouldn’t have come in the first place, but for some reason, I couldn’t seem to go home without coming by to see if you were okay.”

“I’m glad you did. Do you really need to go?”

“I can stay as long as you need me to.” He motioned his head towards my sofa. “I’ll be right here if you need me.”

“Thank you, Beckett.”

I did as he said. I went to my room, took a shower, put on my pajamas, and crawled into bed. As I rested my head on the pillow, I thought about everything Clay had told me about Lucas. Since he was married now and expecting a baby, I wanted to believe that Lucas had changed, but when I