Travis
I woke up in the morning to a quiet knock on the bedroom door. Ronnie shifted on the bed but didn't wake up. I grabbed my discarded shorts from the floor and tugged them on before slipping out the door. Carter was waiting for me in the hallway.
His expression was grim. "You've got a visitor."
"Fuck."
"He actually asked for Ronnie but I figured you might want to intervene."
"Yeah, thanks." I moved past him towards the front door. Within a few steps, I was turning back. "Could I borrow your shirt?" I had a feeling walking out half-dressed wouldn't help me curry favor with Ronnie's brother.
Carter pulled his t-shirt over his head and handed it right over. He was one hell of a friend.
"Wren's in the shower. I'll let her know we might be asked to testify about your murder," he joked.
"That bad, huh?"
Carter clapped me on the back. "Eh, you'll be fine." He paused long enough to make me uncomfortable. "Probably, anyway."
I groaned, pulling on the borrowed shirt and leaving Carter behind as I forced myself towards the door. I'd partially expected some sort of confrontation with Vinnie to be inevitable, but I hadn't expected for it to come so soon. More than anything, I wished I could stay in the little bubble of pure happiness I'd shared with Ronnie the night before.
"Good morning," I greeted with as much calm as I could muster considering the circumstances. Instead of standing in the doorway, I stepped out to join Vinnie on the porch.
Vinnie had been standing at the edge of the porch looking out on the neighborhood. He turned angrily at the sound of my voice. "I asked for Veronica."
"You got me," I countered.
"Veronica was just fine without you."
"I don't like you insinuating that she's somehow worse off because I'm around. I haven't done anything that should lead you to believe that."
"It's only a matter of time."
"From where I'm standing, you're the one that's been holding her back."
Vinnie took a menacing step towards me but I didn't flinch. If there was ever a time to hold my ground, that was it. I knew it was a risky move, questioning Vinnie's role in Ronnie's life, but I felt like it was necessary. He was babying her, keeping her from being forced to learn how to stand on her own two feet.
"You have no idea how hard things were after what you did."
"Can we stop dancing around this? I wrecked the car. I got drunk and wrecked the car."
"A few inches to the left and—"
"And Ronnie could have been killed. Yeah, I remember. But you know what? That didn't happen. So, feel free to keep fixating on that for the next twenty years if you want—but I'm not going to." I shrugged. "I love your sister. I've always loved her. I hope that you'll be able to accept that, but if not, it doesn't change anything."
"I'll be coaching you. I could make your life miserable. I could bench you."
I nodded. "Yep, you could do all of those things. I hope that you care enough about coaching our team that you won't want to, but if that's your choice then there's nothing I can do about it." I was majorly bluffing. I couldn't afford to ride the bench, not when there'd started to be speculation about my NFL prospects.
My bluff seemed to work. Some of the anger had fled his expression, and anguish took its place.
"You didn't just wreck your car—you wrecked her."
"She's not wrecked." The very idea of that was unfathomable. "Ronnie is strong. And smart. And beautiful. And the best damn mother I've ever seen. She's incredible, not wrecked."
A soft hand slid into the space between my ribs and my arm. My eyes found the top of Ronnie's head riddled with bedhead. She leaned into me, her eyes finding mine.
"That was nice. Thank you," she said softly.
I hadn't even realized the door had opened for her to come out. Idly, I wondered if she'd heard the part where I'd said I loved her.
"Veronica, what the hell are you doing? One minute you swear nothing is happening and the next you're leaving your daughter home alone so you can shack up."
Ronnie shoved away from me. I grabbed her just before she could take a swing at her brother. Her face was flushed with her anger. Vinnie wasn't a complete asshole, though. All the fight left him. He pushed out a harsh breath.
"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. Gabby was more than happy to keep Stella for the night."
"I just don't know why we have to keep doing this, Vinnie. I don't want to fight about it, but you need to back off a little."
"Okay." He hesitated like he had more to say, but he ended up shaking his head. "Okay," he repeated.
"Are you going back home from here?" Ronnie asked him.
"Yeah."
"Can I ride with you? I work this afternoon."
"I can take you home," I protested.
She rested her hand on my chest reassuringly. "Vinnie and I have some things we need to talk about. Call me later though, maybe tonight I can bring Stella to meet Wren and watch that movie?"
"I'd like that." I leaned down to brush a kiss against her temple. Vinnie made a noise resembling a growl, but he stayed silent about it otherwise.
I stayed on the porch and watched as Vinnie and Ronnie stayed about three feet away from each other as they walked to his car. They both looked like they wanted to strangle the other. If I had to guess, things could go one of two things for them. Either they'd explode and end up killing each other, or Ronnie would find some way to smooth things over with him until the next time something riled him up. It wasn't a permanent solution, but it would have to do until Ronnie and I got things worked out on our own end.
My feet stayed planted until the car had disappeared from sight. I'd been hoping Ronnie would stick around long enough for us to talk about what had transpired the night before. I assumed the easy way she'd touched me meant that she didn't regret what had happened. That was something, at least. I pushed the front door open and stepped inside.
Wren and Carter jumped away from the entryway. They were both wearing equally guilty expressions.
"Show's over, I guess," I joked.
Carter rubbed his neck and stepped away. Wren, on the other hand, was hot on my heels as I trailed back towards the bedroom to get a shirt of my own. When I tried to close the bedroom door on her, she shouldered her way in after me.
"Travis, we should talk about that."
"I'd rather not."
She sent a solid punch at my gut. I grunted. "Fuck."
"Stop being an asshole," she complained. "We heard you mention the car accident."
I fell back on the bed, covering my eyes with a groan. Wren knew the whole story. It was something I'd shared when we'd first become friends. I'd been feeling particularly sorry for myself, and John had suggested I find someone to confide in. Wren had been an easy choice. She was the least judgmental person I knew.
"It's fine, Wren. It is what it is. It's not like I'm surprised that he brought it up."
"But the timing sucks."
"Yeah," I agreed, "The timing does suck."
"Ronnie stayed all night."
"Thanks, Captain Obvious."
She rolled her eyes at me. "I'm just saying, I think you might have downplayed how serious things were getting."
I stared at the ceiling and thought about it. Were things getting serious? We'd yet to have any sort of real conversation about where things were headed. Ronnie seemed to have gotten way more comfortable with me. And letting me drive had been a huge step forward for us.
Having a daughter between us complicated things. It meant that no matter what Ronnie was feeling, she couldn't just give me the brush-off. I wasn't really sure if that was good or bad for me. I didn't want a relationship if it was only rooted in her not being able to get rid of me again.
"What kind of vibe did you get from her?" I asked.
"She was quiet. Maybe not quite as friendly as I'd hoped for." My gut felt sucker-punched. Wren kept talking. "The thing is… she melts when she looks at you. And you should have seen her when she woke up and you were gone."
"She probably thought the worst of me, that I'd bailed after sex."
"No. It wasn't that at all. She was adamant that you wouldn't have just left her like that. She thought something was wrong. Then, Carter told her you were talking to her brother. She went right to you. No fussing with her hair or worrying about what she looked like—the way some girls might've done. Her only concern was getting to you. It was really sweet, actually."
"I've spent the last several weeks trying not to expect too much," I admitted. "She literally ran away from me before. I'm scared of how easy it might be for her to do that again if she gets scared."
Wren stepped towards the bed until she was staring straight down at me. "From everything you've told me, I have to wonder if maybe she wasn't trying to run away from you so much as she was trying to outrun her own problems. She wasn't blameless, Travis."
Wren was right. No one ever wanted to talk about Ronnie's part in what had happened—especially not Ronnie herself. I'd shouldered the blame for the both of us, but maybe that hadn't done us any favors in the long run.
The whole thing was frustrating as hell. All I wanted was to move forward with Ronnie. The past seemed to keep finding ways to hold us back.