Georgie was over since Emily and Logan had gone to sign papers for their new house, and I suspected Emily had asked her to come by and keep me company. I stopped fighting their need to care for me, and accepted it.
“What are you doing here?” Georgie attacked Ream the second he walked in the door, and I put my hand on her not wanting a fight.
“Georgie. Please.”
“Just getting my stuff.” His voice was stiff … monotone.
She huffed and flipped her now purple strands over her shoulder and grabbed my hand. “You’re a piece of shit, you know that. No more cupcake for you, asshole.”
I flinched. Ream didn’t.
He did look at me though, and I felt goose bumps scatter across my skin; it was from fear and dread at what I saw in him. Ream’s hard look was something that I knew could make him slip away from all of us. I wanted to hold out my hand and save him, bring back the man I’d seen laugh and tease me, but it was too late for that.
“Come on, Kat.” Georgie tried to pull me away. We were taking a few of my paintings to the new gallery. I dragged my feet, stumbling as my arm brushed against his as we passed. My breath stopped, my heart pumped crazily, and every molecule was pulling at me to turn around and go back to him.
I just couldn’t understand. He’d been so possessive of me. He loved me. God, he spoke to several neurologists when he’d been on tour. Why would he turn around and cheat on me? It made even less sense now that I knew about his past. If he hated sex so much, why would he risk everything to do it?
He never made a move to stop me. Touch me. Nothing. He just let me walk away and why shouldn’t he?
“Kat, get in.” I didn’t realize that I stood at the passenger door with it wide open and Georgie had already started the engine.
Georgie jabbered about pretty much nothing except the hot guys that had been in her coffee shop this week and how Deck hadn’t even stopped in to see her when he’d been here for two days. I never told her what Deck said about her brother. It would’ve been stupid to give her hope only to have it taken away.
We unloaded my paintings at the new gallery. Then I stayed to help the owner set them up while Georgie went to check up on her coffee shop.
I couldn’t get the image out of my head of how Ream looked, dead and cold. I imagined that was how he was when he was a kid, trying to make it through one more night in order to pay off a debt. It made me so angry, at Molly and her roommates, at myself. Yeah, I was mad at myself for missing that piece of Ream that was so broken and damaged. I’d seen that dark, haunted look in his eyes, but I thought it had been from the loss of his sister. I never imagined the abuse he suffered.
I had to talk to Molly. She was the last person I wanted to see, but I had to find out what led Ream to do something that disgusted him. It didn’t make sense. Or maybe it did. Christ, what did I know?
I knew Ream and he wouldn’t do this to me. Somewhere inside I believed that, and I held onto to the thread of hope with the last of my determination.
“Shit,” I jumped up and down then grabbed my hair and leaned over, making a low growling sound. “Shit. Shit. Shit.” Then I grabbed my purse and called out to the gallery owner, Marie. “I have to go do something, I’ll be back later.”
I darted out the door, glancing at my phone. It was still early, plenty of time before Georgie got back. I hailed a cab and told him the address. The entire way there I wrung my hands together, my heart pounding, nerves on edge.
But I had to do this. I’d promised myself to not be afraid to live; well, this was part of living. Finding the truth. Facing the truth head on.
When I got out of the cab, I swayed as the blinding pain of what transpired here hit me. I wanted to run as fast as I could, but I’d run long enough.
I went to knock on the door when it swung open and Molly stood there. “Kat? What are you doing here?” She stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind her. “Everything okay? Does Matt need me at the bar early? Did Ream come back? I heard he took off after … well, you know.”
Yeah, I did fucking know. “Yeah, he’s back.” I thought it strange she didn’t invite me in and instead closed me out. “I came to talk to you about what happened that night.”
“Oh?” She avoided looking at me, and it was nothing unusual for her. She was always shy and insecure. Shit, a slap on the ass from Crisis made her blush. That was the other thing that didn’t make sense; I couldn’t imagine her asking Ream to stay and have a drink with her. But how did her roommates get involved? “Listen, Molly. Why was Ream here? What happened that night?”
She shifted her feet from side to side and her hair fell in front of her eyes so I couldn’t even see her expression. “I was scared. My ex had been harassing me and—”
“I thought your ex was in Vancouver?”
She softly moved the rickety wood chair next to her. “Yeah, he is. Well, he was. Now he’s here.”
“Why didn’t you tell Matt? You know he’d help you out. Send one of his bouncers home with you. Or Brett. I’m sure he’d have helped too.” I was screaming inside. Why Ream? Why did you choose Ream? It wasn’t fair, but it wasn’t her fault. They’d been leaving at the same time. He chose to share a cab, and then like tumbleweed, it rolled into everything else.