Perfect Together (Canyon Cove Book 5) (5 page)

"You going to tell me about her?" Navarro asked.

"Tell you about who?" I asked.

"The reason you're laying low tonight. The reason I haven't been hearing about anyone new. Come on, Gideon, I know you better than these other guys. If you're not chasing tail, you're either sick or you met someone."

"What about you? I don't see you out there."

"Because my brothers are more important to me than getting some random piece of ass or two. So you gonna tell me about her?"

Navarro had four brothers but had long ago declared I was his brother from a different mother. I felt the same way. I didn't make it a habit of opening up to people, but he knew me better than even my actual brother. The only other person who knew me as well was Becca.

"There's no one to tell you about," I grumbled.

"Oh come on, I've known you for years now, Gideon. If there's one thing you have never been afraid of, it's falling for someone. Who is it this time?"

I glared at Navarro as my hands tightened into fists. His words were a swift kick in the balls. I wasn't mad at him though, I was mad at myself. No one knew what I had been going through. No one knew the doubts I had about myself, but Navarro just summed them up.

"No one," I said through clenched teeth.

The anger in my voice surprised me. Navarro nodded slowly as he took another drink from his glass.

"That's a load of shit and you know it," he said.

"That's enough, Grayson."

His eyes darted to the table, and I realized what he was going for. My hand darted out to grab my car keys, but he grabbed them and dangled them in front of me.

"Let me drive the Bugatti tonight and I'll drop it."

The Bugatti was my baby. Becca called it my girlfriend, but I loved that car more than I had ever loved anyone I dated.
 

He flipped the keys around his finger as his smile grew. He knew he had me. He knew that despite how much I didn't want anyone driving my car, I wanted to talk about this even less.

"If anything happens to her, I swear I will cut your balls off," I said.

"Don't worry, your baby is safe with me. I won't even take her out without you. I'll drive you home."

I nodded as Navarro slid out of the booth with my car keys in his hand. I signaled to the waitress and left several folded hundreds on the table. I was glad to get out of there.

As Navarro sped down the freeway, I pulled my phone out and texted Becca. She had been on my mind all night despite how much I wanted to not think about her.

She was my friend, my best friend, but lately I was thinking about her differently. The situation was bad. I did not want to talk about it. I didn't want to even think about it.

"You've done really well for yourself," Navarro said as he turned the car back towards the city.

"I owe it all to Gabriel. He hooked me up with the right people," I said.

"Don't give your brother all the credit, man. If you didn't know your shit and have all these ideas, none of those connections would've mattered."

"I guess," I said. "I keep expecting it to end. Do you know what I mean? Everything is too good to be true."

"Screw that, you have to stop thinking like that."

"What about you? How was your first season in the Major Leagues? Is baseball still what you thought it would be?"

"Yeah, better than I imagined really. Everything's going really well too. Not Bugatti kind of great, but good enough for me." He laughed. "I still can't believe you bought this car."

"Me neither," I said. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"You were thinking it would get you laid."

"Like I need the help."

I pulled down the visor and admired myself in the mirror as I ran my fingers through my hair. Navarro's laughter filled the car.

"You heading back home tomorrow?" I asked.

"Of course. It's not the holidays without my mom, even if I'm late. You want to come? You know she'd love to have you."

"She still single? You know your mom is hot."

"Don't you dare mess with my mom. If anything happens to her, I swear I
will
cut your balls off," he said, repeating my words from earlier.

"Okay, okay, I promise. But I have seen how she looks at me."

"Yeah, like she's glad you're not one of hers."

"Exactly."

"Not for that reason, you–" he growled as he stopped himself mid-sentence.

"You were going to call me a motherf–"

"Shut it," Navarro growled before laughing. "Seriously though, spend the New Year in New Jersey."

"I'll think about it, but probably not. I have to fly out tomorrow to meet the Slater Brothers and when I get back, I want to see Becca."

He nodded but didn't say anything as he turned the car into the parking garage of my building and turned into my reserved spot. As he put the car in park, Navarro asked what I knew he had been waiting to ask. It was the same question I kept asking myself but was unable to answer.

"You fell for Becca, didn't you?" he asked.

Chapter Five

Becca

Picking out what to wear for my non-date with Gideon was hard. Part of me wanted to wear the black dress I wore to the fundraiser just to see his reaction again, but that dress was too fancy for this restaurant. Mallory's was a casual place, perfect for jeans and a nice top, so that's what I went with.

I had an hour before I needed to get to Mallory's, and I was already dressed and ready to go. Since Gideon was always late, I had enough time to call Sandra.

I had been thinking about her a lot since we spoke the week before. I kept hoping that not hearing from her meant things with Billy were back to normal, but I had a feeling they weren't.

As I waited for Sandra to answer, the phone stopped ringing. A soft hum replaced the ringing.

"Hello? Sandra?" I asked.

The sound of her shaky breathing told me she was there. I stood and started to pace the room as my mind filled with all the things that could be going on.

Is she hurt?

Where are the kids?

Where's Billy?

"Sandra, talk to me," I said. "What's going on?"

"I...I don't know."

Her voice was barely a whisper.

"Are you okay? What about the kids?"

"We're fine. They're good. They don't know anything, I've been able to keep them in the dark."

"What's that mean?" I asked.

Her voice caught before she answered.

"I...I...I'm so scared, Becca. Billy..."

Sandra's voice trailed off after saying his name. I wanted to scream at her,
'Billy what?!'
but I calmed myself by taking a deep breath. She didn't need me freaking out on top of whatever she was going through.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"I don't know what to do. We're in the new house. Billy was still locked in his office and I just packed everything up and moved us myself. He didn't help. I don't even know if he knew what was happening."

"Is he still at the old house?"

"No, he's in a hotel now. I'm done, Becca," she said, her voice growing stronger. "I can't keep doing this to my kids. I can't keep doing this to myself. I told him we're done, but he won't accept it. He said I have until noon tomorrow to come up with the eight thousand dollars he put down as security for the house or he's moving in. I don't have that kind of money. If I did, he wouldn't have had to pay the security deposit himself. I don't know what to do."

She has to get eight thousand dollars in one day?

I thought about my credit cards and wondered if I could take an advance and lend her the money. Did I even have that much available? My head was spinning from what she said so much that I couldn't think straight.

"You have no idea, Becca. I love that man more than anything. But when he drinks, he becomes someone I don't even know. I can't let him move in, but he's on the lease and since he put down the security, I don't think I can do anything about it. I'm going to call the landlord in the morning, but I don't think he can help."

"It doesn't matter, Sandra. If he's threatening you, you have to call the police."

She sighed and I imagined her shaking her head. I knew her too well.

"I can't," she said. "I love him so much. I can't do that to him."

"You have to do what's right for you and the kids. You know I think he's a great guy, but if he's acting like this, you need to protect yourself."

"I'm so confused. I don't know what to do anymore. We have so much history together. We've been together for four years now and except for what happened a few years ago, things have been great." She took a deep breath before whispering. "I've never told anyone else this before. Promise you won't say anything. Billy hit me once."

My mouth fell open with surprise. Three years ago she and Billy had broken up, and the only reason I knew was that he had started drinking again. I always knew he was an alcoholic, but he had been sober for years before he and Sandra started dating. Knowing he hit her, I wondered why she would have gone back to him. She answered my unspoken question.

"I love that man more than anything, Becca. I really do. But I'm done. I'm so afraid of what he'll do if he shows up here. I can't live like that. I can't have my kids living like that either."

"Does he have a key? If he does, you can find a 24-hour locksmith to come out and change the locks. He can't get in unless you let him."

"He doesn't have a key. Hopefully he'll stop drinking long enough to come to his senses."

"I hope so," I said quietly.

I wished I had something better to say, but I didn't. Sandra didn't have anywhere she could go, and I was too far away or I would have taken her and the kids in. I had to keep hope that the good guy who was still there in Billy would come out and leave her alone.

"I need to make dinner for the kids," she said. "I know you probably think you didn't help, but I really do feel much better just from talking to you. I think I've been overreacting about him. I know what he said, but I don't think he'll force himself into the house."

"Okay, I'm glad you're feeling better, but if he shows up, just call the police. Don't even think, just dial 911."

"I will."

"Promise me you'll call me tomorrow," I said.

"I promise. And I'll be fine, don't worry about me. Right now Billy is so drunk I don't think he can leave his hotel room if he wanted."

As much as I didn't want that to give me comfort, it did. Sandra was alright for now and as much as I wanted to help her, there was nothing I could do.

Glancing at the clock as I hung up, I noticed it was time for me to head over to the restaurant. Sandra would be on my mind for the rest of the night, but I had a non-date to get to.

***

The South End had changed so much over the nine months since Gideon and I had been part of the revitalization that I didn't give walking to the restaurant a second thought. Unfortunately, my head was in so much of a fog after talking to Sandra and thinking about my non-date with Gideon that I didn't think to bring a coat.

Knowing the area lacked parking, I walked to the restaurant instead of driving my truck. I was lucky we were getting a warmer winter, but I still regretted leaving my jacket behind. I walked a little faster, trying to warm up as I turned on the block Mallory's was on. If I lived a little closer I would have run back home, but I hated being late.

Mallory's was in a triangular-shaped brick building on a busy five-point corner. The tall rotating front doors were in the tip of the triangle, which was surrounded by small bistro tables on the sidewalk. There were so many people waiting outside for a table, I considered texting Gideon for a raincheck. The last thing I wanted was for us to be in some noisy crowded restaurant while we had our talk.