Page 80 of Meant for You

“He’s a thug and a liar,” she said, her disgust deepening.

We’d had this conversation many times, so many times my stomach clenched and I felt instantly nauseous. “He was protecting me. Clayton was going to hurt me, Aunt Julia.”

“I’ve known Clayton since he was a child. I can’t believe that of him.”

“Then why is he in prison now if he’s so innocent?” Evidence of Clayton’s other crimes surfaced not long after he’d dropped the charges against Dane. I knew Bull or Cal or both had had something to do with that. Somehow they’d found out that creep’s secrets, dug up evidence, and made sure he was put away, but my aunt was convinced he was set up.

“The police were lied to,” she said, voice rising uncharacteristically.

“Are you telling me you think the police in Rutherford are so incompetent they would lock someone away for several years on a lie? That someone from another town could walk into the station and they’d believe anything he said without real evidence? Without looking into it themselves?” My voice had risen as well, and I took several steadying breaths to gather my composure.

Her expression shuttered, locking me out, refusing to listen to what I was saying because she didn’t want to believe it. If she believed it, that would mean her church friends would turn their backs on her again like they had when I was almost drugged and raped by their beloved pastor’s son.

It would also mean Dane wasn’t who she thought he was. That the boy I’d told her about when she first brought me there, before I knew what she was like and shared more than I should have, was the good guy in this.

My aunt had a lot of twisted ideas about many things, and even though I’d been in that foster home along with Dane, she was convinced that every child who was taken into care went bad. That lack of a real family, blood family, affected them in ways they would never recover from.

What would she say if I told her my family was Dane? Was Cassy and Cal, and Bull and Quinn. Trix and Lila. That a found family could give you everything you needed. More.

That my found family meant more to me than anything or anyone. That they loved me in a way she never had been able to and accepted me as I was.

This was about her and how my actions had affected her, not me. Never me. And knowing that Dane was in my life again, and the risk of her friends finding out, would not be tolerated.

“I think you need to calm down,” she said, her composure restored. “You’re far too emotional about this. You’re not thinking straight.”

And there it was. When I was younger, her saying that to me would make me lose my mind, and I’d give her more ammunition to pull the “I was being irrational” card. I ignored the angry tears prickling my eyes, fighting them down ruthlessly, because I’d learned not to do that in front of her or give her that.

“There’s nothing to think about. I know exactly what I’m doing,” I said, voice as monotone as I could get it.

Her eyes narrowed. “I think you need to take a good hard look at yourself, at why you want to spend time with that boy. What it is inside you that makes you seek out someone like that, spend time with a…a man like that?”

“Aunt Julia—”

Her hand shot up, and I clamped my lips together, the only acceptable response to the hand, and a response that was automatic, something that happened before I could stop it.

“I want you to see what else—who else—is out there before you make choices you will live to regret,” she said, stunning me.

I forced myself not to fidget or squirm under her probing stare. “I don’t need to see what else is out there.”

We were talking around it, but she knew. She knew Dane was more to me than a friend, and she was making it clear in her usual indirect way when it came to things that made her uncomfortable that she was aware of the situation.

She smoothed her hands over her apron. “If you make the effort to do as I ask, maybe I won’t be so harsh a judge…if you find I’m wrong, that is.”

I had no idea what she was getting at. What? She wanted me to date around, and if I didn’t find someone better than Dane she’d give us her blessing? Anger welled inside me. “So you want me to spend time with other people?” I said, being as indirect as her.

She folded her hands together in front of her. “Yes.”

“And if I do, and I still want him in my life, you’ll accept it? My…friendship with Dane.”

Her spine stiffened at the mention of his name. “Yes.”

I didn’t want to play her game, but if I didn’t, I’d never hear the end of this. She’d never let it drop. And for all her faults, she never went back on her word. But there was no way I’d date anyone else. Never. “What do you actually want me to—”

“I’ve arranged for you to have a meal with Martin Renshaw next week. I was talking to his father, and he’s looking to settle down. And I know you had a close friendship with him before he went to college. He’s from a good family, has a good job on his father’s ranch now, and he’s always admired you.”

“What?” I whispered.

“You will go, and you will be polite.” She pointed at me, something she very rarely did, but when she did, you knew she meant business. “If you refuse to go, if you embarrass me, I will never forgive you.”