by Ava Miles
“Oh no! Damn that Ryan James.”
Now the jerk had a name. “He said they used to date…and he had his hands on her. I wanted to…”
“Kick him in the nuts?” Jane asked. “That’s what I want to do.”
Even though Jane was short and petite, Terrance didn’t doubt for a second she could kick ass. And it made him feel better about how he’d reacted.
“Come on inside. I’ll put the dogs in the play room.”
She picked up Annie, who was prancing beside a goofy-looking Henry. The more stately Rufus looked like the indulgent grandparent to two youths from a younger generation.
He followed her into the house. While she was situating the dogs with water and a snack, he dug out his phone to check on whether Elizabeth had texted him. She hadn’t, so he decided to text her.
Hey. Are you okay? I’m worried about you.
When there was no immediate response, his hands curled around the phone. Dammit.
“She’s not responding to my texts,” he told Jane when she finally came back into the den, two glasses of iced tea in her hands.
His publicist had left him a voicemail and followed up with a text.
Call me.
Ignoring her for the moment, he took the drink from Jane out of politeness, but didn’t take a sip. “Tell me what’s going on, Jane. This is the reason she had a baseball bat by the front door, right? Is this guy stalking her like the guy at Harvard?”
She looked away, like she was trying to decide what to say.
“Talk to me, Jane. I care about her, and I don’t want to see her get hurt.”
Setting her tea on the dining room table, she took a seat. “What’s happened with Ryan is nothing like what happened at Harvard. He’s persistent, though, and it’s triggered her. Triggered me.” She held up her hands. “Even I’m shaking.”
He’d known her for a while, not as long as Rhett, but he still considered her a friend. He took her hands for a moment. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to upset you.”
“You’re not the one to blame. It’s men like Ryan who won’t back off…and the ghost from the past Elizabeth has tried to put behind her.”
And your ghost too, he almost said. Another man might have stalked Elizabeth, but Jane had been shaken to the core because of it. And who could blame her?
“I’ll go talk to her,” Jane said softly.
His frustration grew, and he had to curb his voice of its anger. “I appreciate that, and I know she’ll want to see you, but I’m with her now. I care about her. I need to be able to help too, and I can’t when she closes me out like this.”
“I know. I’ve always liked you, Terrance. You’re a good guy despite your rep. But I can’t help you here. Elizabeth has to figure this out on her own. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but I have to be honest with you. Why don’t you tell me what happened earlier?”
Once he was finished, Jane stood up with her hands clenched by her side. “You’re not the only one who sometimes doesn’t know what to do. You did the best you could. You protected her. I know she’s been trying to handle Ryan by herself, but he hasn’t been listening. Part of me has to wonder if she’s scared to be more assertive because of what happened at Harvard. She tried assertiveness before, and it backfired on her.”
His mind spun tales of her standing up to the guy at Harvard only to be beaten down by a bully who scared her so badly she fled town and became Vixen.
“Will you tell me your account of what happened at Harvard?” he asked.
That time in Elizabeth’s life was the key to understanding her.
Jane shook her head. “I know she’s told you some things, but she needs to be the one to share the full story with you, Terrance.”
He stood up, wanting to throw the chair across the room in frustration. “Then what do I do here?”
“Give her a little space. She knows she has to face these issues and overcome them.”
“Not alone, she doesn’t.”
The first whisper of a smile crested across Jane’s face. “No, she has us, but we can’t fight her fear for her. That’s something I realized a long time ago. She’s gotta do that part herself. We can only love her while she tries.”
He lowered his head, feeling the weight of helplessness. “Okay. I don’t like it, but…”
Jane patted his back. “We have to trust that she can do it, you know? Elizabeth trusted me to find myself, and I need to do the same for her. She will overcome this. And hopefully you put the fear of God into Ryan James enough so he won’t bother her anymore.”
And if he hadn’t this time, he would the next. No one was going to stalk the woman he loved.
Loved? Yes, he’d been scared to put what he felt for her in those terms again, but he did love her. No woman had ever made him feel what he did for her.
He’d loved Vixen.
Now he loved Elizabeth Saunders too.
“Does Rhett know about Ryan?” Terrance asked.
“Yes. But Elizabeth told him she was taking care of it. She was worried about what he might do to him.”
Somehow it was a comfort to know she feared Rhett’s reaction too. “If Rhett had warned him off before now, that incident on the street today would never have happened.”
Jane picked up Annie when she appeared, snuffling at her owner’s ankles. “I know this might be hard to understand, but sometimes we need to do things on our own.”
He held up a hand. “I get it. I just don’t see why another deterrent is a bad thing.”
“It’s not.” She crossed the room to the side table by the couch and picked up her phone, juggling Annie. “I’ll go see her if she’s open to it. Why don’t you get back to work and let things…unfold?”
He hated letting things unfold. Terrance Waters was the type of man who made things happen.
“If that’s the only thing I can do right now.” He shoved his hands in to his pants pockets. “Will you let me know if that changes?”
“Of course. Now go ahead and get back to work. She’ll reach out when she’s ready.”
He would cook up a storm to keep his mind busy. The only other thing that would keep him distracted was if he went home to punch his bag some more, which wouldn’t help anybody. Plus, he still had a job to honor, and he’d been away from High Stakes most of the day.
“Thanks, Jane.” He kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll talk to you later.”
When he was at the door, Jane said, “Regardless of how she reacted, Terrance, I know my friend. She appreciates the way you stuck up for her.”
When he reached the car, his phone buzzed again. Hoping it was Elizabeth, he dug it out, only to discover it was the biggest primetime network jerk of all time. Probably to poke at him more.
Then he wondered if this call was related to his publicist’s messages. Something started to curdle in his stomach. He let it go to voicemail, not in any state of mind for a call with that asshole. Best hear what was going on before responding. He played the voicemail from Lane.
It’s all over Twitter about you and that former poker slut, Vixen, and how you lost your cool with another guy. I told you not to be seen with bad girls, Terrance, and I can’t say I like this press one bit. I don’t care if she’s put that bad girl persona behind her. This is not the kind of move that will get me to approve your TV show. You’d better dump her and tweet that this was nothing serious.
Oh shit! Their altercation on Main Street was on Twitter now? No wonder his publicist had been trying to reach him.
And as for Lane’s comments about Elizabeth…Nothing serious? Dump her? Who did this asshole think he was?
Terrance pulled over to a scenic highway overlooking Dare Valley because all he wanted to do was race around the mountain’s curves at one hundred miles an hour to exorcise his rage. But that was stupid. And he wasn’t stupid anymore. His rage didn’t control him. Earlier on the street, he’d been able to restrain the urge to punch Ryan in the face.
A lot of good
that had done him.
He pulled up his Twitter account, and sure enough, he had a media blitz on his hands. Someone had tweeted a picture of Elizabeth, Ryan, and him on Main Street with the comment: Chef T protecting his new lady love.
His face was scrunched up, and he looked like he was going to kick some serious ass. Elizabeth looked scared, and Ryan whatever-his-name-was looked like a deflated bully.
Lady love, huh? Over ten thousand woman had commented on the tweet already, saying what a lucky lady Vixen or Elizabeth was. There were thousands of tweets by guys posting old pictures of Vixen, saying Chef T had another hottie on his hands. Their lewd comments made him swear a blue streak. Other tweets were about him losing control of his reputed temper.
The media circus was a disaster.
He let out a string of curses. After today, his Cuss Fund would be pretty much bulging with Ben Franklins.
He was about to call his publicist back when her call popped up on his screen. Great minds…
“I’ve been trying to reach you,” she said without a hello.
That’s why he’d hired the no-nonsense New Yorker. After discussing possible statements with her, he decided to take the path of least resistance with Lane and not mess up his probation. They were going to say that Elizabeth was an old friend, and he was catching up with her in Dare Valley.
Until the two of them talked about officially announcing their relationship to the media, he didn’t think any other response was fair.
Plus, he had to think more about Lane’s comments. Was the man warning him that he wouldn’t approve Terrance’s show if he dated Elizabeth?
No one dictated his personal life, and Lane could stick a Ben Franklin up his butt if he thought otherwise.
Chapter 28
After talking to Jane, Elizabeth settled down on the couch with a Bond movie. Her heart wasn’t feeling ripped at its seams anymore after hearing Terrance had visited her BFF out of concern. Jane told her Terrance was really upset and worried. While she hadn’t told her to call Terrance, Elizabeth could read between the lines.
Her friend approved of Terrance, and that confirmation gave Elizabeth a sense of peace. Jane had never approved of any of the other men she’d dated, thinking they were shallow and not truly interested in loving her.
All true. Elizabeth had chosen guys like that on purpose.
Except for Terrance. At first she’d assumed he was like the others because of his badass rep.
But no.
He had hidden depth and a big heart. Yeah, he still was a street fighter, but even though he’d obviously wanted to hit Ryan, he’d held back after knowing what his fight at The Peacock had done to her. To them.
That meant something.
The whole incident had triggered all her repressed anxiety again, and she hadn’t been able to process anything until she was safely home with the door bolted behind her. Her mind had shut off, and the only thing she’d been concerned about was getting away.
Now she could step back and see Terrance had been able to control his temper this time. As she watched James Bond beat the bad guys and save the world, she decided to tell him the rest of the story about Vince. About everything.
She was just reaching for her phone when it buzzed. Rhett.
Had Jane told him what had happened? Or maybe Terrance?
“Hey, Rhett,” she answered.
“Hey. Why didn’t you tell me that Ryan guy was still bothering you?” The edge in his voice could have cut steel.
“Who told you?”
“Nobody did, and believe me, I will be talking to Jane and T about that. You’d better check out Twitter. Dustin just showed me over a hundred tweets about you and T. Our account is blowing up. There’s a picture with you, T, and this Ryan jerk on the street, and it looks like he’s about to kick the guy’s ass, which I totally approve of. But the rest of it? Elizabeth, the Vixen stuff is all over Twitter again, and some of it’s pretty ugly.”
They were on Twitter? Fantastic. “Thanks, Rhett. I’ll call you back.”
She hung up, logged into Twitter, and started scrolling, her gut sinking as she read tweet after tweet after tweet. There were so many of them she finally went to Terrance’s main Twitter page to see what he was saying. When she read his latest tweet, her heart stopped.
@elizabethsaunders formerly @vixen who works for @rhettbutlerblaylock and I are old friends. We were becoming reacquainted. Nothing more.
Old friends?
He’d used one hundred and thirty-seven characters out of the one hundred and forty Twitter allowed.
That’s all it took to break her heart.
She read it again. Nothing more?
How could he say that after everything they’d been through? After he’d given her a key to his house today?
She threw her phone, and it bumped off the sofa’s cushions. To think, she’d just decided to tell him everything.
She was a fool.
But she wasn’t going to take this lying down. She deserved an explanation, and he was going to give it to her. They were old friends after all.
Grabbing her purse, she tossed the key he’d given her earlier inside it and zipped it shut. There had to be an explanation for his tweet. No man had ever looked at her the way he did.
Her mind was spinning out scenario after scenario on the way to his house. Dare Valley’s lights cast a golden glow in the middle of the dark mountains surrounding it. Of all the places she’d thought she might reencounter Terrance, this hadn’t been one of them.
For the moment, she didn’t want to think about the ugly picture of them on Main Street. She looked like a victim in it, and she’d never wanted to look that way again.
Time to stop acting like one.
And that started with Terrance.
It was eleven, and his house was well lit, so she knew he was home. He opened the front door as she tore out of her car.
“Hey,” he said as she came up the stairs to his porch.
“Hey,” she said and then took a deep breath, choosing her words carefully. “Do you want to tell me what your tweet was all about?” Her voice rose as she asked him.
His expression was remote, and she couldn’t read him for once. “We hadn’t talked about releasing the news of our relationship to the media. I didn’t want to do that without talking to you first, and since you needed some space…I did the best I could do after talking to my publicist.”
The hurt around her heart started receding, replaced by the sudden urge to cry. “So you didn’t mean anything by your old friends and nothing more comment?”
He rubbed the bridge of his nose, and she finally saw how tired he was. “Of course not. I was trying to herd Twitter cats, Elizabeth, not make a romantic proclamation. And we are old friends. Just a heck of a lot more than that. I love you, dammit, and I’ve never felt that way about a woman. When you pushed me away today—like you were scared of me—I thought I’d lost you all over again.”
Her heart swelled. He loved her. Now. As Elizabeth. Even after today. “Oh, Terrance.”
“Hey,” he said softly, pulling her against him. “I’m sorry you thought I meant anything by that. I just…I didn’t know how else to try and defuse the situation. I didn’t mean to hurt you or scare you. God, Elizabeth. Tell me we’re okay. I’m dying here.”
He smelled like grill smoke and musk as she pressed her face into his chest. His arms were warm and comforting. While the night sounds surrounded them, she let herself settle into his embrace.
“I was scared I’d misread you again,” she whispered. “I couldn’t…think in that moment on the street. I just wanted to get away and be safe.”
“I can understand that, but I won’t lie—it hurt. God! I don’t want you to be afraid of me. I’d never hurt you.”
“I know that,” she whispered.
His eyes lifted, and inside them she saw the vulnerability of a usually confident man plagued with doubt. “Do you?”
“Yes. And once I was able
to process what happened, I realized how much you held back your temper.”
He edged back and cradled her face in his hands. “It wasn’t easy for me. Just like you were fighting years of wanting to be safe, I was fighting years of wanting to intimidate someone with my fists. Maybe we can keep working on our old patterns together. Just don’t…shut me out like that. I thought I’d lost you.”
“I’m still here, Terrance,” she said, kissing his jaw, trying to soothe him through touch—something they’d always used to express these jagged emotions no words could capture.
“Elizabeth. I gave you a key to my house and told you to bring whatever you wanted here. I’ve never done that with another woman.”
Her nod was perfunctory because her throat had closed with emotion. “I love you. I’m sorry I was too afraid to say it before.”
There was a gleam in his eyes when he met her gaze, as if the moonlight was radiating from them.
“Thank God. I wasn’t sure…you’d ever say it.” Those quiet words sounded almost sacred, like he was speaking from the top of a great mountain or in an ancient cathedral in Europe.
Her hands clenched the rigid muscles of his back. “Terrance, other than Jane and Rhett, no one’s ever loved me. And after everything with Vince and my parents…I didn’t believe I could love anyone romantically. Trusting a man with myself seemed like the biggest mistake I could ever make.”
His chest rose as he took a deep breath. “Vince? Is that his name?”
“Yes,” she said, feeling a cold wind hurl through her now.
“You’re shaking. Come inside with me.”
Nestled against his chest, he led her into his house. “How about I make a fire?” he asked her, settling her on the couch, kneeling at her feet, and reaching for the Irish throw and covering her.
“That would be fine,” she responded, her muscles locked in the shivering and tensing rhythm of fear.
“What about a glass of wine?”
She knew what he was doing. He was trying to make it easier for her to tell him more about events he knew were painful for her.
“Okay.”
He kissed her cheek as he stood and prepared the fire. As the kindling started to catch, the wood popping and hissing now, she gazed into the flames. Orange and blue. So beautiful. Creation and destruction in the same element. Like life, it seemed. Her life. The image of the phoenix came to her again. Because of Vince, Liz Parenti had met Rhett and become Vixen. Everything she’d worked toward at Harvard had been destroyed. The journey she’d taken since hadn’t been what she’d expected, but it had been what she needed. Now she needed to decide how the story was going to continue with Terrance in her life. And in her heart.