spending time with his daughter. And when he did spend time with her it had been insulting her—well, until Cain and his club members had smacked him around. After that her father had spent less time with her, probably scared shitless he’d get his ass kicked again. So, she had spent most of her time at Fallina’s house spending the night, eating dinner with them, and it had been more like a family than the one she had been born into.
He turned toward her, and she moved into the living room to give him the cup of coffee. The silence stretched between them, and she cleared her throat, hating that she was nervous around Cain. But he had been locked up for nine years, and she hadn’t seen him in five. But despite the years that passed, and the fact he didn’t write back to her once after he told her to leave, she still loved this man more than anything in the world. It was crazy how intense her emotions were for him after all this time.
“I’m glad you finally came here, Cain.”
He nodded after she spoke, and she watched him move over to the couch. He sat down, set the cup on the coffee table, and leaned back. With his legs slightly parted, his big arms resting on his thighs, she stared at him and took in the sight that was Cain Trainer. He turned his head and stared at her, and for a moment all she did was hold her breath, wait for him to speak.
“Do you know why I pushed you away five years ago when you came to see me?”
She swallowed and nodded. “I know you did it thinking you were protecting me.”
He didn’t respond right away, didn’t even move. When he exhaled roughly she knew this was going to be one hell of a conversation.
“Sit next to me, Violet.”
She tightened her hold on the cup and moved closer to him. When she sat on the couch beside him, but with several inches between them, she held her breath once more. God, she felt like she was on pins and needles. All it took was his tone of voice and the way he watched her to make her feel this way.
“Fallina told me you got your real estate license and have been working in Chatham View making a good name for yourself.”
It was like he was trying to initiate small talk because he didn’t know what else to say. “Yeah, it’s been going pretty well.” The silence descended again. “You asked Fallina about me?”
He watched her, and then he nodded. “Yeah, I did, a lot actually. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
That annoyed her. “Why didn’t you just ask me yourself?”
He breathed out, ran a hand over his stubble-covered jaw, and then spoke after what seemed like ages. “When you came to the prison five years ago, told me all about what that motherfucker had done to you, all I wanted to do was avenge you and Fallina even more. You wrote me, kept in contact with me even though I said you needed to go on with your life and not worry about an old bastard like me.”
She set her cup down and shook her head, knowing he was not answering her previous question. “You’re not an old bastard. You are the man I have looked up to for my entire life. You are the one that has protected me, let me be a part of your family, and cared for me like no one else ever has.” She felt her emotions move up, felt them clog her throat, and knew that this man was so deeply engrained in her body she would never be the same again.
“I know I kept you away, but I thought it was the right thing. I didn’t want you seeing me in that fucked up place, and didn’t want you surrounded by that filth.” He shifted slightly on the couch so he could look at her. “I might have said not to come back to the prison, cut contact with you, but I always made sure you were taken care of, and watched over.”
She knew this as well. “You were the first man I fell in love with, Cain.” She snapped her mouth closed after the words spilled forth. God she had said that, had just blurted that out when she wasn’t planning on saying that until they really talked.
He