forehead.
“Gonna check on the girls,” he muttered.
Shit.
“Holden.”
“Later,” he whispered. “Love you, Leigh-Leigh.”
Then he was gone. Nixon followed, and once again, I was in the middle of the girl huddle.
“God, Charleigh, I’m so sorry,” Bobby reiterated.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“I do. I don’t know when to quit. I was just joking around, trying to push Nixon’s buttons.”
“He’s so used to it, it doesn’t faze him.” McKenna snorted. “Besides, the guys give him so much shit about being a house kitten, your jabs are like mini-pokes.”
House kitten, Nixon Swagger? Yeah, right. I didn’t believe that for a second. Nixon was a man’s man, meaning he was all-man, not a soft little pussy cat. More like a roaring lion.
“Charleigh?” Evie’s soft tone brought my gaze to her. “I really am sorry for being such a bitch. Thank you for forgiving me.”
“There was nothing to forgive,” I told her. “Holden told me, he asked you to keep me out of his hospital room. He also explained how close you are; the bond the two of you share is one born out of something horrific, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. I understand you wanted to protect him from me. And I think now you understand I would never hurt him.”
Genevieve nodded and smiled.
“I’m really happy you’re here, Charleigh. You and Faith.”
“Thanks.”
“Okay, not to change the subject but I have to ask, where did your parents go?” Kennedy asked.
Oh, god. I hadn’t thought about them since I’d kicked them out of my room.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I guess home.”
“They’re…”
“Assholes.” I finished for Kennedy.
“Yeah.” She scrunched her face.
“My parents are totally stuck-up. It’s always been about keeping up appearances. When I was younger, I let them boss me around. I didn’t like confrontation so I avoided it by doing what they told me.”
“Is that why you married Paul? Did they tell you to?” McKenna inquired.
“Yeah. They didn’t want a fatherless child in the family.”
“Did they say that?” Bobby’s expression was set to appalled.
“They did. And I was too scared and too weak to do what was right for me and my child. I never should’ve married him. We weren’t in love. Hell, we were barely friends. I knew next to nothing about him.”
There it was—my shame.
Yet, as I looked around the group of women, none of them was looking at me in disgust. There were varying degrees of understanding and deep loathing coming from Bobby. But I figured that emotion wasn’t directed at me but my parents. She seemed to take exception to what they’d called Faith.
Kennedy flashed me a smile and added a wink of approval.
Warmth washed over me. Step one into the bonds of sisterhood complete.
Maybe step two wouldn’t be so bad.
24
It’s been eight years for her.
Holden couldn’t get Bobby’s declaration out of his mind. It was as if she’d tattooed it on his brain.
Those words had replayed the rest of the night to the point he didn’t remember his friends leaving, only the house was now empty. Faith’s goodnight had barely registered, but luckily he’d had the good sense to snap back to reality long enough to give her a hug before Charleigh had taken her upstairs to bed.
Eight years.
What the fuck? How was that possible?
Bobby must have been joking around, yet the way Charleigh had stopped breathing told him it was the God’s honest truth.
Eight goddamned years. That meant Paul was the last man to have her.
Bile churned in his gut. Christ, he didn’t want that to be true. There’d been so many times Holden had wished he’d gotten out of his truck and stopped them. He would’ve taken pleasure in beating the fuck out of Paul for touching his Leigh-Leigh. But like a butt-hurt coward with his ego bruised, he remained in his truck and watched the couple make their way inside.
Why didn’t I stop them?
Fuck.
“Holden?”
The uncertainty in Charleigh’s voice spurred Holden into action, and before he knew it, he stood in front of a wide-eyed beauty.
“Is it true?”
“Huh?”
“Has it really been eight years?”
A pretty pink tinted her cheeks and he knew the truth.
Jesus. How was that possible?
“How?” he blurted out.
“How?”
“How is it possible you haven’t had a man in eight fucking years?”
“Are you mad?”
Am I mad? It sure felt like he was.
“Hell, yeah.”
“Why?”
“Baby, we’re gonna start with the obvious—you are outrageously sexy. That alone is enough to make a man approach. Once you open your mouth and all that wit and attitude comes out, you go from outrageously sexy, to a woman a man would betray his own brother