His father lifted a brow. “Not fast enough, according to them. But you don’t have to worry. I paid your loan off four days ago. You owe me that money now, and I want it the right way.”
Panic clutched at Shane’s gut, and he heard a soft gasp behind him, but it sounded very far away. “You paid off my loan?”
His father’s smile held no joy. “I didn’t want to have to do it like this, but you gave me little choice. You went through three years of law school at Princeton. A clerkship with one of the most prestigious judges on the East Coast. You passed the goddamn bar, and for what? To piss it all away.”
“I tried,” Shane argued, although his voice didn’t want to cooperate. “I put in time at the firm.”
“And those two years were just enough time for everyone to expect great things from you before you disappeared.” His father paced around him slowly, his unforgiving stare forcing its way under his skin. “I’m done watching you fool around out here in God’s country, son. Play time’s over. You need to get your ass back to Philadelphia to start putting your credentials to work the way you’re meant to.”
Shane cranked his hands into fists so hard that he knew they should hurt, but he didn’t feel a thing other than the sudden, blinding rage that kicked his mouth into gear.
“It must piss you off something fierce that with all your money and power, you can’t buy me.”
His father narrowed his eyes at Shane, but whether it was in defense or anger, he couldn’t tell. But Shane’s floodgates had crashed open, and there was no stopping everything that came rushing out. “The irony is priceless, really. Your only son was born and bred to take over your precious law firm, only he’d rather be a shop jockey like the father you left in the dust, working on cars instead of court cases.”
“You need to come back to the city, son,” his father said without moving. “And do what’s right.”
All that was left of Shane’s restraint snapped. “I am doing what’s right. I’m taking care of Grady and his business. If it takes me the rest of my goddamn life, I’ll pay back your fucking money, but I’ll do it as a mechanic, not an attorney, because that’s who I am. And speaking of who I am, don’t call me ‘son.’ I’m not coming back to the city—not today, not next week, not ever—so don’t go holding your breath for that one.”
The silence between them was cold and thick, stretching on until Shane’s father broke it.
“Do you feel better? Now that you got that out of your system?”
No, Shane wanted to scream, but instead he stood silent, anchored to his spot on the ugly floor tiles. His pride wouldn’t let him drop his stare from his father’s, although the emotions banked in the man’s gray eyes made Shane want to look away.
His father’s expression was as blank as his stare. “I don’t either. Go get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning, son.”
Bellamy lost count of how many times she’d been emotionally sucker punched in the last twenty-four hours. Jackson, having sensed something wrong when Shane and Bellamy failed to appear outside the ER to go home, had come inside just in time to hear the entire exchange between Shane and his father. The ride back up the mountain had been full of stiff, uncomfortable silence, clotting Bellamy’s already muddled thoughts as they dropped Jackson off at the garage, then pulled up to the cabin and wordlessly got out of the truck.
Twelve hours ago, she’d have been more likely to believe that Shane was the man in the moon than the son of Philadelphia’s most high-powered attorney, with his name all but stamped on the letterhead right next to dear old dad’s. He was a mechanic with a simple life—hell, he’d been the one encouraging her to be true to herself.
And didn’t that just go to show how gullible she was. She didn’t have any clue who Shane was, or how much of what he’d told her was true.
“You should get some rest,” Bellamy said, raking a hand through the snarl of curls around her face. She wasn’t going to be able to keep her emotions at bay much longer, and she’d be goddamned if her pride would let Shane see her cry.
“I wanted to tell you,” Shane said, although his hollow tone suggested otherwise. “But it’s complicated. Obviously.”
Bellamy’s eyes fell on the sink full of dirty dishes, the now-cold, murky water a stark contrast to what had happened in front of it just a handful of hours before. She felt her composure start to unravel, her frustration welling up from her chest.
“How do you figure lying to be any less complicated?” she asked, cursing the honesty as it rolled off her tongue.
He flinched, but still didn’t look at her. “I didn’t mean for it to happen this way.”
“Did you mean any of it, period?”
Shane’s eyes flashed to hers, wide and roiling with emotion. But he didn’t say anything, and oh, God, how could she have been so stupid?
“No wonder you hated me at first,” she said, bitterness filling her chest. “I’m a city girl, head to toe, from my freaking Ivy League degree to my cute little sports car you keep turning your nose up at. I’m like the ultimate reminder of everything you can’t stand. And here I was, buying into all of your crap about being true to myself, taking these huge risks and letting you encourage me to change my career when you just didn’t want to see your past every time you turned around.”
“None of that is crap, Bellamy. For fuck sake, it’s why I’m here. I left my father’s law firm because I hated it. You left your job because you hated it. I’m with you even though you come from the city. You can’t be any more true to yourself than that!” he snapped, bracing his palms against the short stretch of kitchen counter.
Bellamy’s pulse hammered. “Right. You were so true to yourself that you lied through your teeth to me about who you were. I don’t even know you, Shane. I don’t know anything about you.”
He winced. “Okay, fine. I let you believe some things about me that weren’t necessarily true, and yes, I kept some things from you. But you know exactly who I am. I never lied about that.”
Bellamy’s heart bottomed out as her next words tumbled from her lips.
“But you didn’t tell me the truth, either. You were never going to come see me in the city, were you?”
Shane exhaled as if the words had punched him in the stomach, and the tears that had been threatening behind her eyelids burned, ready to fall.
“No. I wasn’t.”
A traitorous sob worked its way up from her chest, and Bellamy used every ounce of her willpower to swallow it whole. Shane had intended to let her walk out the door with her head full of delusions. She’d believed him, she’d thought she was in love with him, for Chrissake, and the whole thing had been a complete lie.
And didn’t that just make her a sucker. Again.
Bellamy scraped up her pride and straightened. “Well, then, I think it’s time for us to end this little charade.”
“Damn it, Bellamy, you don’t understand—”
Everything that was left of her resolve came crashing down around her. “Really? Then explain it to me, Shane. Explain how you lying to me every step of the way should make me believe you.”