“I don’t need your help. I could have done with it fourteen years ago, but not now. And don’t call me that. You don’t get to call me that anymore,” she snapped.
Her anger was justified. I’d give her that. But letting her make the mistake of riling this guy up any further wasn’t something I was about to do. Hooking my arm around her waist, I lifted her and walked both of us away from him before she could continue her tirade. She fought me all the way, legs kicking and arms swinging, but I managed to keep hold of her until he was settled back in his car.
When I finally let her go, she straightened her clothes and shot me a filthy look. “Is that how you get women to do what you want these days? Just manhandle them however you please?” Her voice wobbled on the last few words she spat my way, letting me know a softening was coming.
I remembered clear as day how Tenille’s bursts of anger went. First, the passionate outburst that she didn’t put much thought into; then a moment of confusion when her brain kicked into gear; and then the softening as she came around and realised there might be more to the argument than she first saw.
Pushing a flyaway strand of hair out of her eyes, I said, “I don’t get women to do what I want these days, Tee.”
She stilled and her breathing slowed. Understanding dawned on her face, and her mouth fell open. Lastly, a frown wrinkled her forehead. “You’re not with anyone?”
I shook my head. “No.”
Confusion riddled her face. “But you have been, right? Like, I can’t imagine you not being with a woman since you left me.”
I scrubbed my hand over my face. This was not what I came here to discuss. “Out of everything we could be talking about right now, you want to discuss my sex life?”
The confusion on her face gave way to the shitty look she’d given me earlier. And the hand that landed on her hip told me I’d said the wrong fucking thing. Story of my life with Tenille. She blew hot and cold as easily as she breathed. “Do you know how it makes me feel knowing that you walked away from me and faked your own fucking death? Besides being upset and angry that you could do that to your wife and your child, it makes me, as a woman, feel like shit. Like I wasn’t good enough for you. So yeah, I want to discuss your sex life, because I’m kind of wondering whether you found better out there. Whether you found what you were looking for.” She worked herself up into such a state that her breaths came out unevenly as she tried to swallow her hurt. There was no hiding it, though—I’d wounded her horribly.
I stared at her, my mind splintering with a hundred different thoughts as I took in everything she said. It had never occurred to me that she would assume I left because she wasn’t good enough. That I was looking for some tits and ass somewhere else.
Fuck.
Reaching for her, I said, “Tee, me leaving had nothing to do with not being happy with you or looking to get laid elsewhere.”
She shrugged away from me. Wrapping her arms around her body, she said, “Why else would you leave? It doesn’t make any sense.”
I’d known this question would need to be answered when I decided to come back, but I still wasn’t sure how much information to share with her. The need to make her understand clashed with my commitment to keeping her and Charlie safe, leaving me with a tough decision. On top of that, I’d sheltered Tenille from the harsh truth of working for Shane Gibson all those years ago. As far as she knew, he was simply the father of our old schoolmate, and a nice guy who cared enough to give me a job when I’d needed one. He was also the man who looked out for her when her husband died and gave her second husband a job when he needed one. She didn’t know that he’d happily put a bullet in a man as naturally as he’d hold a newborn baby.
“I got tied up in some bad stuff at work. The cops started investigating, and Shane told me to get out of town to save us all going down. He was the one who organised the fire at our house—”
“Bullshit.” She cut me off. “Shane would never do that.” The fierce way she defended him was like a knife twisting in my chest. The motherfucker had clearly won her over while helping her pick up the pieces of her life.
“It’s not bullshit. You don’t know half the truth about Shane.”
“I know more than you think I do, Aiden. Remember, it’s been a long time since you left. A lot has happened in that time, and Shane has been a good friend to me.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. Something she said, or the way she said it, triggered a warning deep in my gut. “What did he tell you after I left?” I kept a firm grip on my temper while waiting for her answer, but I was dangerously close to losing it. Not at her, but at the situation that Gibson had put me in.
“About what?”
My shoulders tensed as I took a long, calming breath. It didn’t do much good, though. “About me, Tee. What the fuck did he tell you about me?”
She blinked a couple of times at my raised voice. “Don’t yell at me!” At my silence that smacked of anything but pleased, she added, “Nothing. He didn’t tell me anything about you. All I know is that he misses you. Still to this day, he goes on benders when he thinks about you and Brad too much.”
Stunned, I tried to process that. Brad was Shane’s son and had been my best mate in high school. He’d died in a freak accident just before Charlotte was born. I could believe that Gibson still mourned his son’s death, but what I could never believe was that he still cared for me. Not after what he’d done to me all those years ago.
“So you’re close to Gibson?” Sully’s information over the years painted a picture of Gibson helping her out, but I wasn’t sure just how close he’d become to my family. It wouldn’t have surprised me if he’d stayed near to keep an eye out for my return.
She didn’t answer me straight away, just kept her eyes firmly on mine while she stayed silent. Finally, she blinked and glanced at her feet briefly before looking back up at me and nodding. “Yeah, kind of.”
Something felt off here. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but Tenille seemed to be acting strangely. She was hiding something from me. I guessed, though, that she had no reason to trust me these days. I’d have to rebuild that. However, in the meantime, I needed answers, and I also needed to make sure she understood a few things about the situation we were in.
“I’m telling you the truth, Tee, but I get it if you can’t trust me on that for now. All I ask is that you don’t tell Shane I’m back.”