“I was just fine on my own before you walked back into my life. I’m not some needy princess with a rescue complex, and I’m not some gold digger in search of a sugar daddy.”
There was fury in her eyes, but the faint tremble of her chin told him something else was going on here. That gave him a little more control. “That’s not who you are. It’s not who your mom is either. Where is this coming from?”
A muscle jerked in her jaw, but she continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “I don’t need your help. Not with her. Not now, not ever. If that’s not a line you can live with, then we’re wasting our time here.”
Mitch’s words from the night before circled back through his brain. Are you sure she wants the same thing out of a relationship as you?
This was no line in the sand that could or would erode over time. She was building a goddamned wall and expecting him to stay outside it. That wasn’t who he was, wasn’t how he operated. And it wasn’t what he expected from a relationship.
“This line of yours is more important to you than us?”
Her cheeks were drawn, but her eyes still sparked with temper. “I won’t bend on this.”
That was where he ranked in her priorities. After some idiotic need to be a goddamned martyr. Or something. His head was throbbing too fucking much to analyze it right now.
“You know what? Fine. I’m done. I’m tired from busting my ass to give you that help you apparently don’t want. I’m headed home. I’ll be back in the morning with a crew to lay the floors. Sorry to force more help on you, but you don’t get a say in that since it’s my mother’s building. If you decide you’re ready to be reasonable, you just let me know.”
Because he needed to throw something, he picked up the pry bar he’d been using and hurled it with a satisfying clatter into the toolbox. Riley said nothing. She was still standing there, arms wrapped her middle, as he stalked out.
Chapter 16
Riley flinched at the slamming of the door. She hadn't thought she could feel sicker than when Amber had taken her pound of flesh. She'd absolutely been wrong.
He'd walked away.
Not until she watched Liam’s retreating back did she realize she hadn't expected he would.
Her eyes flew open, her heart jolting as the door opened again. But it wasn’t Liam.
Autumn stepped in. “So I just saw Liam, and he looked…oh shit.” She shut the door and immediately wrapped Riley in a hug. “What happened?”
Her throat felt tight. “We just had our first fight. Or maybe our last. I don’t know.”
Autumn looked around. “Okay, there’s nowhere to sit in here. Let’s go for a walk, okay?”
All the fight had bled out of her, so Riley followed without comment, shutting and locking the door behind them. Autumn linked her arm through Riley’s, part comfort, part prevention, as if maybe she thought Riley would bolt. They walked up toward Market Street, past Sweet Magnolia’s Bakery—sadly closed at this hour. She could really go for one of Carolanne’s devil’s food cupcakes with chocolate ganache—her ban on sugar be damned.
Autumn gave her until they hit the town green. “Okay, what did he do?”
Riley tipped her head over to the other woman’s shoulder in a walking sort of hug. “You’re a good friend.”
“Why’s that?”
“You automatically assume it’s his fault.”
“Well, even if it’s your fault, somehow it’s still his fault. So what did he do?”
Riley let the whole thing spill out, from the ultimatum she’d given him about her mother weeks before, to her encounter with Mrs. Wofford.
As she recounted the showdown with Amber Hopper Butts, Autumn scowled. “Leave it to her to turn something kind into something filthy.”
“I gather you’ve had your own run-in with Amber?”
“Not Amber. Her sister. Same kind of thing. I’m white trash from the wrong side of the tracks. And of course, the only reason I have Judd’s undying devotion is because I spread my legs for him on a regular basis. Everyone knows I’m his little piece on the side.”
Riley felt a fresh bout of rage on her friend’s behalf. “That bitch! Nobody thinks that.”
“I don’t give two shits what anyone thinks about me and Judd,” Autumn said mildly.