She immediately loops her arms around my shoulders, tilting her head to the side. Sunlight spills through the windows, washing across the side of her face. She glows in the aftermath, like it's lighting her from within. "What's wrong, Briggs? You've been off since practice ended."
I trace patterns along her sides for a long moment, trying to figure out what to say. We've talked about my mother before, but this is something else. This is me, asking her for permission to potentially expose her shit to the whole world, too.
"My mother showed up at Tye's today," I say. "He called me after practice."
"What happened?"
"He had to call the police to have her escorted from the property."
She wraps her legs around my hips, shifting closer to me, like she's using her body to shelter me. "I'm so sorry. What can I do?"
I just let her hold me for a moment. I don't think I ever realized exactly how fucking tired I was of dealing with my mother until recently, until Tia. With her, everything is soft; it's perfect. And then there's this massive cloud creeping over it, sucking the life out of me. I hate it.
"We need to file a restraining order, barring her from having contact with any of us," I say. "It's the only way she's ever really going to stop."
"But you don't want to do that," she guesses, her eyes scanning across my face.
"If it were just me, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But it's Hattie." I swallow. "And you."
"Me?" Her brows furrow. "What do I have to do with anything?"
"We won't be able to keep a restraining order out of the press, beautiful," I say quietly. "They'll start digging. And you're with me now."
She's silent for a moment, processing. "You're worried they'll find out what happened with Daniel, aren't you?"
"It's possible." Once they start digging for gossip, they always want more. It's the nature of the beast. When the story is salacious enough, you keep feeding it until people get bored with it. And then you give them the next scandal.
"Let them."
I blink. "What?"
"Let them," she says again, like it's the simplest thing in the world. "You know how long I spent thinking that I was the one who did something wrong? That if I'd just been smarter, or looked a little harder, or not been so naïve, that it wouldn't have happened?"
"It wasn't your fault," I growl.
"I know," she says. "But it's taken years to figure that out, Briggs. It took meeting you to realize that it doesn't matter how smart you are or how careful. When it's men like Daniel, they'll always find a way because that's who they are. They're good at showing you exactly what they want you to see and then using it against you. That isn't my fault. It was never my fault." She takes a breath. "And I don't have anything to hide. I'm not ashamedof what happened anymore. I trusted someone who violated that trust in a truly vile way. That's on him."
"It was always on him, Tia," I murmur, pressing a soft, fervent kiss to the corner of her mouth. "Always."
"I know," she whispers. "If the press digs and finds out what happened, that's what they're going to find, Briggs. His shame, not mine. So, let them dig. If it means that you and your siblings finally have the same peace you've helped me find, I'm okay with that."
"I love you." I don't mean to say it, but the truth just slips out. I don't try to take it back. I fucking can't, not when I mean it as much as I do.
She jolts in my arms, her wide eyes meeting mine.
"I mean it, Tia," I whisper, holding her gaze. "I love you. And I know that probably scares the shit out of you. It probably feels too fast or like too much, but I can't change the way I feel. I love you."
Tears well in her eyes as she shakes her head. "It's not too fast. It's not too much." She chokes, her whole body shaking. "It's not, Briggs."
Jesus.
Is this…?
Is she…?
"I decided the day you came to Minneapolis that it wasn't fair to judge you for something you didn't do to me," she says. "I've been falling for you since. I'm not afraid of it, Briggs. I'm not afraid of you. The only thing I'm afraid of is what happens when I go back home without you. I…I love you."
I've waited my whole life to hear those words, not from just any woman, but fromthiswoman. From the one who sets me on fire and settles me at the same time. From the one who owns me, body and soul.