“He can’t take your house.”
“He can. You and I both know it. It’s in your name, Staci. He can go after anything he wants.”
I gripped my hand against my thigh to keep myself from screaming. “I don’t understand what he wants from me.”
I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t just let me go.
“From what your lawyer told me, he wasn’t very happy when he was served the divorce papers. I think the word she used was enraged, actually. She doesn’t think he’s going to do any part of this easily.”
I didn’t know why I ever thought he would. He had never done anything easily. He had never cared about anyone other than himself.
It was why I had left. He was why I had left the only home I had ever known.
“When do they need me there?” I asked, but my skin crawled just thinking about it.
“She said if you agree to mediation that she could get it scheduled as early as next week. She said that Ben is trying to push everything back, but he agreed to that.”
Of course, he did.
Because he knew it would get me home. He knew that I would never allow him to take my father’s home. A home he had worked his whole damn life for. A home he had put in my name in case anything had ever happened to him, and here I was, putting everything he worked for at risk.
“Okay. I’ll talk to Parker today and see what I can figure out with work then I’ll get a flight.”
Dread. Pure fucking dread filled me.
“Call me and let me know the plan. You better tell me when your flight gets in so I can pick you up at the airport. I’ll be damned if you take a taxi like last time.”
“I will, Dad.” I laughed softly.
Even though going home to deal with Ben was by far the last thing I wanted to do, I did miss my dad. I missed him far too much, and I was dying to see him. Dying to have him hold me in his arms and tell me that everything was going to be okay.
Because right now, everything I could see, everything I touched, it was all fucked up.
Mason
It had been over a week since I last saw her. A week.
And I had regretted my decision to ride away from her for every damn second of it.
I had gone back to her apartment the next day. I was prepared to prove to her that she was wrong. I would force her to face the truth if I had to. Because I wouldn’t just walk away like this. I wouldn’t let us end like this.
But she was gone.
Her apartment was dark and the door locked, but her car was still in the parking lot. I had called her phone probably five times over, but it had gone straight to voicemail each time.
I felt like I was going crazy.
Parker probably thought I was crazy as well. I banged on his front door, banged on it repeatedly until one of them answered. He looked at me like I had lost my damn mind when I walked past him into his house, but I didn’t care. I needed to talk to my sister. If anyone knew where she was, it was her.
She was in the kitchen when I walked in, but I didn’t care what she had going on. I only cared about one thing. I could only think about Staci.
“Where is she?” I grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face me.
“Who?” She looked up at me confused.
“Don’t act dumb. Staci. Where is she?”
Livy jerked away from my touch and pushed me hard in the chest. “Don’t you come into my house and call me dumb. I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
I ran my hands through my hair, frustrated. “I went to her apartment and everything is off, but her car is there. I tried calling her phone and it goes straight to voicemail. I need to see her. After yesterday—”
“What happened yesterday?” she interrupted me and put a hand on her hip.
I swallowed as I let the memories flood me. “I don’t know.” I threw my hands up in the air. “We went for a ride on my motorcycle yesterday morning, and everything was perfect. We were having a great day. She was happy, she was smiling, then poof.” I snapped my fingers. “Everything changed.”
“It couldn’t change just like that. Something had to happen.”
Parker walked up behind Livy and pulled the spatula from her hand that she was waving in the air before going to the stove.
“Well, we had sex.” I shrugged my shoulders.
“Mason,” she growled. “Did I tell you nothing? That was not a part of the plan. You were supposed to be wooing her not fucking her.”
“You two had a plan?” Parker looked over his shoulder at us, but Livy ignored him.
“So, what? Was it bad?”
“No. It wasn’t bad,” I huffed. “It was amazing actually.”
“At least for you,” she said under her breath.
“It wasn’t the sex,” I growled. “But afterward it was like something just changed. Something happened. I just don’t know what.”
Livy picked up her phone and hit a few buttons before she pressed it to her ear. I held my breath as I waited to see if she would answer, but Livy made a perplexed face and set the phone back on the counter.
“Straight to voicemail.”
“I told you.”
Livy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Why would she have her phone off? That doesn’t make sense.”
“She’s on a plane.”
We both turned and stared at Parker when we heard his words.
“What?” I asked as Livy said, “How do you know?”
Parker turned off the stove eye before he turned to look at us. “She called me last night to tell me that she needed to go home to take care of some things. She’s going to be in Oklahoma for a few weeks.”
“Why didn’t she call me?” Livy looked offended.
“Well, she called me to make sure I could move things around for her at work. I’m sure she’ll call you once she gets things settled down.”
“What does she need to take care of?” I tried to think of why she would need to go home. She never talked about Oklahoma. She avoided talking about it actually.
“That’s something that you will need to talk to her about.” Parker was looking directly at me, and I knew that he hated keeping this from me. We didn’t keep shit from each other. Never had.
Except for my sister.
“How am I supposed to ask her if she won’t talk to me?”
“She’s on a plane, Mason.” My sister rolled her eyes.
“No.” I shook my head. “She told me yesterday that she didn’t want to do this anymore. She said a lot actually.”
“Give her time.” Parker pulled three plates out of the cabinet.
“Time.” I nodded my head. “I’m sure that will be easy. What if giving her time just fucks everything up more?”
I looked from Parker to my sister and neither one of them said anything for a minute.
But then my sister smiled. “Then you can kick Parker’s ass for suggesting it.”
Staci
There was nothing in the world that I could do that would help me be prepared for the meeting I was walking into. It had been three years since I had laid eyes on him. Three years since I ran away and never looked back.