Page 12 of Tight Ends & Tiaras
I press my palms into my eyes. “Gotta be honest here, Janelle. I’d be upset too if I were in his shoes.” It’s obvious she wants to confess all her sins, so I sit back. “Lay it on me. All of it. I need to know what I’m dealing with.”
“Lily was sick recently and needed some bloodwork. She’s fine, as it turns out, just a little low in iron, but Ernest came across the results, and he lost his shit because apparently our blood types would never combine to make hers.”
“So you’re breaking up with him and need me, why?”
Her voice wobbles. “I felt unsafe. He tore up our apartment, and Lily was screaming. You’re the first person I thought of. My parents are in the middle of moving, so I didn’t want to burden them. You know they’re getting older, and my mom has high blood pressure. I didn’t want him showing up on their doorstep and terrorizing them.”
Well, fuck.
The last of my anger for my ex seeps out of me, but a different kind of torment takes its place.
I turn to Liliana and watch her sleep. Her chest rises with even breaths and her dark hair curls over her eyes. We’ve never met before, but I suspect this growing terror in my heart is for her. Because I’ll be damned if I ever let anything happen to my kid.
Fucking hell. I have a kid.
I swallow. “Do you want me to pay for your room for a few weeks? Until he calms down?” At least that way I can maybe visit Liliana.
Her hands twist in her lap. “Actually, I have a favor to ask.”
I’m prepared for all kinds of requests. She wants money. She needs a babysitter. She wants me to hire a bodyguard for her. But I’m not prepared for the words that come out of her mouth.
“I was hoping we could move in with you for a while.”
It’s eight a.m.,and the streets of Charming are blessedly quiet. I’m parked on the side of the road, exhausted.
I paid for a few nights at the motel for Janelle and told her I’d call her in a day or two. Then drove around half the night, debating what to do.
I might be the biggest dumbass there is to actually be considering her request, but at the end of the day, she and Liliana are a package deal, and I won’t allow anyone to endanger my kid.
My phone rings, startling me. When I see a hospital on my caller ID, my blood runs cold as a million scenarios run through my mind, none of which are good. I guess that happens when both of your parents die in freak accidents. My heart beats out of my throat when I answer.
“Is this Ben Rodriguez?”
“Yes.”
“I’m a nurse at South Texas Medical. Your friend Sienna Cruz asked me to call you.”
I still. “Sienna’s in California.”
“No, sir. She was injured at a football party last night, and she needs someone to pick her up.”
I don’t understand how she could be here when I left her at the airport yesterday, but I don’t want to waste time asking questions. “I’ll be there in twenty.”
I’m there in ten.
