I rolled my eyes. “If I can find a flight, I’ll be there. Only because you asked so nicely.”
He bit into his toast and hopped up on the kitchen counter. We had just christened the living room sofa at his place and planned on making it into the tub next but stopped in the kitchen for a snack. “Brooks has a plane. Just let me know what time you’ll be ready, and I’ll organize everything.”
I shook my head and laughed. “Brooks lives in a completely different tax bracket than me.”
“That he does, Doc. Though, I don’t think you are too far behind.”
I rolled my eyes. “Trust me, I am. I’m still paying on my dreaded student loans. I think I’ll be paying on then till I’m about sixty.”
“You and the rest of the country, Doc.” He finished his toast and wiped his hands on his jeans. He was shirtless but had decided to put on pants since we were going to be in the kitchen and he didn’t want anything important to get burned. “You ever cash that check I gave you?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Why the hell not? Vacation? Pay off some of that debt? You can do anything with it.”
“Not my money. It’s yours.”
I shook my head. “Nope, it’s all yours, Doc. It’s already been subtracted from my account, and I’m not putting it back in.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re ridiculous, Roc. All you have to do is add back in eight thousand dollars.”
It was still insane to me that he was going to pay me that much for taking care of him.
“Cash it,” he insisted.
“Nope.”
“Cash. It.”
“N. O. P. E.”
He growled. “Share it with your family, then.”
The blood drained from my face. “Um, I don’t have any family.” I dropped my half-eaten piece of toast into the garbage. “Wanna go test out the jets on the tub?”
Roc eyed me knowingly. “We’re not going anywhere until we talk about your family, Doc. Tried to talk about you before and you blew me off.”
“I didn’t blow you off.” I leaned against the kitchen counter. “There isn’t anything to tell. My parents are both dead. End of story.”
“I’m sorry, Doc.” His voice was soft and it made me want to cry.
I didn't want to cry right now. I wanted to be with Roc and not think about my family.
“Let’s go upstairs.”
Roc hopped off the counter and stood in front of me. “Lay it on me, Doc. Tell me what’s hiding behind those glassy eyes trying to fight tears falling?”
I shook my head, my throat choked with tears.
He cupped my cheek with his hand. “Mave,” he whispered.
“It’s nothing exciting, Roc.” My eyes focused over his shoulder on the moon outside the window. “My parents divorced when I was in fifth grade. My family fell apart, and I didn’t know how to handle it. I was mad at my mom. I hated my dad.”
“You and Harlyn got a lot in common, Doc.”
I shook my head. “Except you made up with Harlyn. You were able to make it right.”
“Your parents know you loved them, Mave. Even if they died before you could say it out loud.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks. “I told you I didn’t want to talk about this. I’ve never told anyone about this.”
“I’m here, Mave. I’m here no matter what you say.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “By the time I was in college, I didn’t talk to either of them. When I talked to either of them, all they did was complain about the other one and I just couldn’t take it anymore. My dad has a massive heart attack when I was a sophomore in college. I hadn’t talked to him for over a year. My last words to him over a year before he died were I was too busy to talk and he should call me when he had something important to say other than complain about mom.” I took a deep breath. “My mom died the day before my graduation. I had talked to her the day before she died. It had started out good, but by the time we hung up, she was complaining about money and wondering when I was going to start repaying her for two hundred dollars she had sent me two months before. I told her if she cared more about two hundred dollars than seeing me graduate that she could stay home and I would wire her the money. Five minutes after I sent her the money, I got a call from my mom’s neighbor that she had been talking to my mom and she just dropped dead.” I closed my eyes. “My parents died thinking I hated them when I really didn’t, but I was just too young to realize that they were trying their best and that life was just hard.”
“Mave,” Roc whispered.
I shook my head. “Please don’t.”
“Babe, you gotta know that your parents knew you loved them. They knew.”
“My brain knows that, Roc, but my heart hurts knowing that I didn't say goodbye. That I didn’t tell them thank you for all of the things they did for me. I don’t think I ever said thank you, Roc.”
Roc wrapped me up in his arms. “But they knew, Doc. They knew you were thankful and that you loved them.”
I buried my face in his neck and sobbed. No one knew this. No one.
Roc lifted me up in his arms, and I looped my arms around his neck. He carried me up the stairs and settled me into his large king size bed.
“I thought we were going in the tub?” I sniffled.
He wiped the tears from my cheeks and pulled the comforter over us. “Maybe another time, Doc. I think tonight, we need to be here.”
“You know, you’re a lot sweeter than people think you are.”
He pressed a finger to lips. “Shh, don’t let anyone know.”
“So this is just for me?”
He pressed a kiss to forehead. “This is just for you, Doc. Only you’ll get this from me.”
I sighed and relaxed into his arms. “Thank you, Roc.”
“For what, Doc? I’m just doing what feels right.”
My breathing evened out, and my eyes fluttered shut. “Then please don’t ever stop.”
*
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Roc
“You’re fucking crazy.” Jay ran his fingers through his hair.
I snapped the box shut.
“How the hell are you going to do this when we haven’t even done it before?” Remy asked.
“That makes no fucking sense.” I bit off. “Who the hell cares if you assholes have done this before.”
Remy, Jay, Brooks, and I were out on the patio by the grill, having our usual barbeque when it was a bye week. The women were in the house grabbing all of the food, and I thought letting these assholes in on my plan would help calm my nerves.
I was wrong.
“If you get engaged then we’re going to have to get engaged.” Remy ran his finger between the collar of his shirt and his neck. “Things will be expected if you do this.”
“Things that we,” Jay motioned between the three of them, “are not ready for.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, you fuckers can deal with those things that are expected of you because I’m doing this whether or not you guys like it. I’ll find some other guys to be my groomsmen.”