“I will. I promise,” she said, even though her mother had it all wrong. Reid wasn’t one of those guys. He’d proven over and over how much her cared about her and wanted to be with her. She climbed off the love seat and headed toward her bedroom, but paused before she left the room. “Mom?”
“Hmm?” she asked, her gaze lifting from the TV.
“I love you, too, you know.”
She smiled. “I know, baby.”
Reid’s shoulders tensed as soon as he parked his truck in the driveway and saw the kitchen lights were still shining brightly through the windows of the main house. He checked the clock on the dash. Almost three a.m. Not a good sign that someone was still up. The back door swung open before he’d even cut the engine. Aw, hell. An even worse sign. His aunt was waiting up for him.Author: Roni Loren
With a heavy sigh, he climbed out of the truck and shut the door. “Everything alright, Aunt Ros?”
“We need to talk to you. Inside. Now.”
Shit. We.
He scrubbed a hand over his face and slinked inside the house, feeling like he was fourteen again. He squinted in the bright lights of the pristine kitchen. His uncle was perched on a stool next to the marble island, sipping a glass of amber-colored alcohol and his aunt was standing next to him, arms crossed over her chest and lips pressed in a hard line.
“Nice night, Reid?” she asked, her tone cutting.
He leaned against the counter, his gaze hopping back and forth between the two of them. “It was… fine. What’s going on?”
She grabbed a sheet of paper off the island and flipped it over. She jabbed a finger at it. “How could you do this to us?”
He took the few steps forward to grab the page. Fuck. The photo from the lake again—only this time with no message.
“Aunt Ros, I—”
“No!” she said, smacking her hand hard against the countertop. “I don’t want to hear it. I told you to stay away from her, that you’d only get yourself in trouble. Get us in trouble.” She shook her head, her body visibly quivering with her anger. “Do you know what people will say if they find out that our son—that he does this to women? We’re running on a family values platform, Reid!”
He bit his lip, letting her get her tirade out, his cheeks burning with shame.
His uncle put a hand on Ros’s shoulder. “Reid, it’s not just the campaign. We’re worried about you. These are very dangerous waters considering your history. Did Ms. LeBreck consent to this, uh, activity?”
Reid jaw fell open. “Hold up. You think I raped her?”
Patrick’s gaze dropped to his glass. “We just want to know what we’re dealing with here.”
“Of course not! Oh, my God, you guys really think I’m that screwed up, don’t you?”
Neither his aunt or uncle met his eyes.
“Unbelievable.” He raked his hands through his hair. “She’s my girlfriend, all right?”
His aunt cringed, as if him dating someone outside their social circle was just as egregious as committing a rape would’ve been.
“Well, this has to end immediately,” she said, her words clipped. “Whoever left this picture is probably building a blackmail case and doesn’t need any more ammunition. For heaven’s sake, the girl herself may have told someone to follow you two and grab a picture so she could make a little money off your relationship herself.”
“Don’t you dare throw accusations at her,” he said, his voice rising. “She’s not interested in my money.”
She scoffed. “Don’t be so naive. Everyone’s interested in money.”
His fists balled. “Just because you judge people’s worth by their bank account doesn’t mean everyone else does.”
“Hey!” his uncle barked. “That’s enough. You’ve had your aunt in tears all night over this, and I will not have you sit here and insult her. This family has done a lot for you. You need to have respect for the people who care about you.”
Reid deflated, his uncle’s words dousing him like a bucket of ice water. “Look, I’m sorry, okay? To both of you. I didn’t mean for this to happen. But Brynn is leaving for Austin in a few weeks, so we’ll be out of sight soon. We’ll lay low until then.”
“We?” his aunt asked.