Page 53 of Unstable

“Almost all of them.” He smiled a little then. “I have four brothers, plus dozens of aunts and uncles and cousins back home. They all live just a few miles from one another.”

His words caused her to miss a step as she whipped toward him. “Seriously? There’s five of you?”

He smiled down at her. “Yep.”

“Wow. What was it like growing up?”

“Loud. Hectic. Things got broken a lot.”

She grinned at him. “I imagine your mom was ready to tear her hair out half the time.”

“Probably. She was tough, but fair. She’s a good woman.”

“I’m sure,” she said softly as they fell into step again. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have a huge, close-knit family like that. Ever since she could remember, it had been just Mama and her. According to Mama, Daddy was a silver-tongued devil who’d charmed his way into her bed then left as soon as he found out she was pregnant with Irina. She couldn’t believe Mama would even consider getting back with him—assuming the man was actually her father.

She could feel his gaze on her. “What about you?”

“Just my mom.”

“Are you guys close?”

She shook her head. “Not exactly.”

“That sucks.” There was no sarcasm in his tone, no sympathy, just a matter-of-fact statement.

“You have no idea.” She sighed. “We had a… falling out a couple years back. I just couldn’t stand watching her slowly destroy herself.”

“Drugs?”

“Everything,” she admitted. Growing up, there had never been money for food or new clothes, but somehow Mama always managed to budget just enough for smokes and booze and the occasional high. The older Irina got, the worse her addiction became. “Men, alcohol, drugs. You name it, she’s done it. It actually got so bad that I had to go live with my grandmother when I was ten.”

“What happened?” Roman’s voice was soft, giving her the courage to continue.

“She overdosed, almost killed herself.” Roman swore softly, and she nodded absently. “I remember walking home from school and coming into the house. It seemed so quiet, which was unusual. When Mama was home, the TV was always blaring one of her soap operas. That day though… There was nothing. I saw her lying on the couch, and at first I thought she was asleep.”

“They saved her?”

She nodded. “I called the police right away, and they gave her Narcan. It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. One second, she was lying there like a corpse then the next, she took this huge, deep breath, and opened her eyes. It was literally like she woke up from the dead.”

Roman was quiet for several long seconds. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

So was she. She cleared her throat. “Anyway, I went to live with my grandmother for a few years. Mama went to jail that time, and we lost our trailer. When she got out, she came to live with us. Over the years, we kind of lost contact. She only reached out when she needed something, usually money, and finally I got tired of it. I cut her off completely a couple years ago when I moved down here.”

It was actually one of the main reasons she’d chosen to come down here. Her contract with her first agent, Earl, had been up, and she wanted to get as far away from her roots as fast as she could. She packed up and never looked back.

“Is that the last time you talked to her?”

She dropped her gaze to the sand beneath her feet and bit her lip. She still hadn’t told him the truth of what had propelled her out of the house the morning she’d wrecked the car. “Actually, no,” she admitted. “That morning we found out someone tampered with the brakes on my car…” She glanced up at him. “She called me from jail just before that.”

“So that’s why you needed to get out of the house,” he stated.

She gave a little nod. “Yeah.”

They had just reached the pier, and she was desperate to change the topic. “Have you ever been out on the ocean at night?”

She gestured towards the ocean, and he shook his head. “No, but I’ve done some deep-sea fishing excursions before.”

They fell into step together as they started down the long pier, walking out over the ocean. “That sounds like fun.”