He smirked as he slid forward to undo the Velcro. “Old habits, Lil?”
“Mmm, I enjoy this stuff. It’s all the people I don’t like. Dogs are more loyal,” I added as I moved to the table to sit in front of him.
“Loyalty is important, isn’t it.” It wasn’t a question, but I nodded as I worked my fingers along his left shoulder.
No bruising. Mild swelling. “If it were a serious separation, you’d have a bump here.” I circled the area with my finger. “Unless it snapped right back in, in which case it’s not a severe separation and wouldn’t need four to six weeks to heal.” Walking my fingers to the ligaments around the clavicle, I pushed down hard. “That hurt?”
“No. The ache is all but gone, but it was up front. Not on the top of my shoulder.”
I angled his elbow at ninety degrees tight to his body. “Make a fist.” When he did, I rotated his forearm out and away from his torso while making sure the elbow stayed tight to his side. “Any changes in pain level?”
“No.”
“Lift your arm straight in front of you, palm down.” Putting my palm on top of his hand, I told him to push against me. “Now?”
He shook his head.
“Normally, I’d err on the side of caution. I’m not a doctor, Brody, but you don’t have the classic symptoms of a separation.”
Forehead wrinkled, he clenched one fist in his other palm.
“You want me to help you put that back on?”
“Nah. I’m going to leave it off. See how it feels.”
No more stalling. It was time to do the hard stuff.
“Erica and Staci came by the training center today.” I tried for nonchalant and failed.
Surprise on his features, he slid back against the sofa.
Getting up from the table, I pulled a leg under me before sitting on the couch to face him. “You’ve got good friends in those two. I know I jumped to conclusions about them being here, Brody. I let my own crap affect how I perceived you, and the situation. I’m sorry for that, and for not taking your calls to talk.”
He turned toward me, put his elbow along the back of the couch. “I need to ask you something and I want you to be straight with me.”
“Okay?”
The way he watched me, I felt like I was under a microscope. “Are you engaged?”
“Huh? No! Why would you think that?”
“I overheard Dick talking about you and your fiancé.”
It was time to unpack some baggage for this beautiful man and hope he didn’t run screaming from the room.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Baggage
Brody
“I’m not engaged.” She glanced at her lap. “I was once. A long time ago. I broke it off.”
“What happened?”
“I walked in on my fiancé fucking one of my would-be bridesmaids. We hadn’t announced anything, so there wasn’t a lot of fallout, not publicly anyway. Privately, was another thing.”
Ohhh. “Is this the ugly breakup you mentioned at the park?”
She nodded. “His father is a Texas bigwig, and my ex didn’t take the rejection well. The more adamant I got about him leaving me alone, the more assertive he got about me being ‘the one.’” She made the air quotes. “He harassed me for a long time. Kept saying we were meant to be together. That was never going to happen, but he just wouldn’t hear the word no. He texted and called constantly, sent me outlandish gifts. He even confronted me while I was on a date. At one point, I considered leaving Dallas, but I couldn’t let him win, ya know?”
“Wait. So, he cheated on you, then harassed you.” I could feel the vein in my forehead start to rise. “Is this the one who convinced you not to go to law school?”
“Yeah.”
“Who is he? I feel the need to pay him a visit.”
She shook her head. “No, no. He’s... I have an order of protection now. He doesn’t bother me anymore, but in the beginning, my mom pushed me to forgive him. She doesn’t now, but Dick still tries to get me to patch things up. Lord knows he’d love to have a senator in his back pocket.” Her eyes met mine. “I’d never do that. Even when he tried to use money to force me. He cut me off financially after that. The only reason he left me in his will was because he has no heirs.”
Damn. That couldn’t have been fun. Her reaction to Erica and Staci made more sense now. “And you get here, and it looks a lot like I’m screwing two women not long after I slept with you.” Her fiancé, her dad. Men in Lil’s world weren’t faithful.
But I couldn’t go around paying for their mistakes. “I get it, Lily. I really do. Between your dad and your ex...but I’m not him, and I’m sure as hell not your dad. I’m not a cheater, but you treated me like one. I kinda feel like no matter what I do here, I can’t win with you. I know I have a reputation for sleeping around, but you are the only person I’ve been with or want to be with. Yet, I can’t do that if you’re always going to believe the worst of me. I am not that guy anymore, not your dad and not your ex, and it hurt me when you treated me like I was. I won’t pay for their failings, Lil.”
A little irritation bled into her voice. “I’m not an idiot, I know you’re not them. But you can’t ask me to trust blindly yet either, Shaw. My responses are conditioned a certain way and it takes time to break a pattern. I won’t lie, when they opened that door, I absolutely thought the worst, but I broke that pattern and gave you a chance to explain, and you didn’t take it. You didn’t even try.”
It was more than valid. “I should have. Some part of me knew I was screwing up, but I couldn’t see past my own hurt feelings. I didn’t want to give you any more of my heart if you weren’t going to be able to trust me. I’m sorry, darlin’.”
She sighed. “Oh my god, we’re both so screwed up. You don’t owe me an apology.”
I couldn’t help the little laugh. “True enough. Staci and Erica didn’t know I was seeing someone. When I talked to Erica this morning, she asked if I’d cleaned up my mess yet. I told her you’d been sending me straight to voicemail.”
Her focus shifted to the sofa back.
“I didn’t ask them to come see you, Lily. But I know I shouldn’t have let you leave without an explanation. Part of me wanted you to give me the benefit of the doubt and when you didn’t, I pouted. I knew it was a mistake before the elevator closed behind you.”