Midnight Ballerina (38 page)

“All right,” he answered stiffly. “I should get going. I have a client who should be showing up pretty soon.”

“Okay, talk to you later.”

I headed back to my dad’s room and it took Carter asking me two more times to let him take me home before I finally gave in. Carter was one of my best friends, but I really wished it had been Miller there for me. I just needed him and I knew he would make me feel a little bit better.

I WENT HOME after work and I have no idea why. I loved the house that I built specifically for myself, but now that Monroe was gone, it just didn’t feel right. I missed her dancing all around the house, singing softly along to whatever music was blaring. I missed waking up with her in my bed, curled against my side with one leg flung over mine. I even missed her attempts in the kitchen that normally went extremely bad.

I popped the top off a beer and then headed straight toward my bedroom, pulled a bag out of the closet, and began cramming clothes in. I wasn’t going to wait for her to come to me. It had been two weeks since she left, and even though I understood that she needed to be there, I needed to see her. She hadn’t mentioned when she was coming back and I really didn’t want to ask. I knew that her dad was getting better every day, but who knew how long it would take for him to fully recover. I could tell she was exhausted from trying to take care of everyone, but she wouldn’t admit it. She was too damn stubborn, so I needed to go take care of her.

“Hey, anybody home?” I heard yelled from the living room and I yelled back.

“I’m up here, Luke.” He was up the stairs and standing in my doorframe within seconds. It was good to have Luke back in town, especially since he was running Pure so smoothly. I rarely needed to go in there, even though I tried to stop in once or twice a week, but when I did it was mainly to catch up on any paperwork that Luke wasn’t able to get to. To top it off, all of the dancers seemed to be in love with him. I don’t think they had caught on yet that he wasn’t interested in the females of the species.

“Going somewhere?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna head up to see Monroe. Think you can handle the club on your own for a while?”

“I think I’ll be able to manage. ‘Bout time you headed up that way, I can tell you’ve been itchin’ to see her. How in the world, by the way, did you get Mamaw to like Monroe? Every time I see her she’s always going on and on about that sweet girl of Miller’s and how you need to ask her to marry you already. What’s up with that? I thought she was all set on you whisking Tara off into the sunset.”

“It’s hard not to like Monroe. I was hoping Mamaw would warm up to her and luckily she did because that old woman was ruder than hell the first time they met. She’s lucky I talked to her after that.”

“Yeah, she can get awfully mean if she doesn’t get her way, can’t she?” I nodded my head, grabbing one last shirt because I really wasn’t sure how long I would end up being there. I planned on calling Tanner on the way to let him know I would be out of the office for a few days. I knew he could handle the crews to make sure they were getting the job done right. “Need a ride to the airport?”

“Nah, I’ll just leave my truck there. Make sure you call me if you need anything.”

“Will do, cousin, go take care of your girl.”

I found a flight that left within the next couple of hours, so I headed toward the airport and set up a rental car for when I landed. I figured I would just call Monroe when I got there or show up at her parents’ house. She was busy enough taking care of her dad, she didn’t need to worry about picking me up from the airport like I knew she would.

My flight seemed to drag by and I knew it was because I was in a rush to see Monroe. I hadn’t realized how big a part of my life she’d become until I didn’t see her every day.

Mamaw started mentioning the words marriage and grandbabies lately whenever I dropped into the restaurant and it got me to thinking. Monroe didn’t talk about her womanly problems very often after the one time that she’d told me about them. She said there was a possibility that she couldn’t have kids and I knew that wasn’t a deal breaker. I wanted Monroe for Monroe, no matter what problems came along with her. We would solve them together. I knew that would be a couple of years down the road, but I also knew that I did want kids. We would have to look at our options, but I think the marriage part needed to come first.

After I finally landed, I got my rental car and made the short drive to her parents’ house. I knocked on the door a couple of times, but didn’t get an answer, and I groaned when I realized the door was unlocked. She must’ve picked up that habit from her parents. I don’t know how many times I’d had to remind her to lock her apartment door when she lived by herself.

I found Mr. Hartley asleep on the couch with a baseball game playing on the TV, the volume muted, and a radio playing nearby that was broadcasting the game. Apparently, he was like me and preferred the radio announcers over the TV ones. I didn’t spot Monroe anywhere so I figured she was taking the opportunity to catch a nap of her own, so I headed down the hallway toward her bedroom.

I wished that I hadn’t.

I wished that I’d never came so I didn’t see what I saw. But if that didn’t happen then I guess I would’ve never known how much of a dumbass I had been all along. Monroe had been playing me when she said she didn’t have feelings for Carter because if she were truthful, then why in the hell was he in her bed, her head laying in his lap as he stroked her hair and she snored lightly.

Carter looked up as soon as I opened the door, my insides catching fire with a raging anger coursing through my veins. The look on his face said it all. At first, there was a trace of shock to see me standing there, but then he had the audacity to look like a cocky son of a bitch. I wanted to beat the ever-living shit out of him, and I still don’t know how I didn’t. I guess because I didn’t want to waste any more of my time.

I opened my mouth to at least say something, but he held a finger up to his lips as if to quiet me because Monroe was sleeping. I slammed my fist into the doorframe, hearing a loud crack, and Carter just continued to sit there in
my
girl’s bed with a cocky grin on his face, her hair sprawled out across his lap, and I felt my stomach roll the same time that I gripped my fist that was burning. It definitely felt like something was broken and I had to get out of there before I broke something else, or turned my fist onto Carter.

“MILLER,” I MURMURED his name as his hands stroked my hair and I smiled without opening my eyes, my body relaxing for the first time in a while, and I let myself melt into his lap. I was completely exhausted, taking care of my dad and constantly worrying about him. I can’t remember the last time that I let myself sleep for longer than an hour at a time. He seemed to be recuperating just fine, but I was anxious something would still happen to him.

His hands moved from my hair to just under the hem of shirt, stroking my back in light circles, and suddenly I remembered where I was and that Miller definitely wasn’t here with me. I bolted straight up, my eyes going wide when I snapped my head around to see that it was in fact not Miller.

“What in the hell, Carter?” I shrieked and he reared backward, holding his hands up defensively.

“Calm down, Roe.”

“Calm down?” I repeated, I jumped up from the bed, rubbing at my eyes to make sure I was really awake. How did he think this was okay? “Seriously? This is not okay. Why are you in my bedroom? Why was I laying in your lap? And why in the hell were your hands all over me?”

“Monroe, everything okay?” I heard my dad holler from the living room and I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down so I wouldn’t stress him out.

“Everything’s fine, Dad,” I replied in the most chipper voice I could muster. I turned back to Carter, narrowing my eyes. “What the hell, Carter?” I hissed.

He shrugged his shoulders, like it wasn’t a big deal or something. “I showed up and found you passed out in bed. You looked uncomfortable as hell so I pulled you onto my lap. You didn’t even wake up. Apparently, you didn’t mind.”

“Apparently,” I grumbled. I must’ve really been worn out because I was usually a light sleeper and I don’t know how in the hell I slept through that. Maybe it was wishful thinking that it was Miller in bed with me because I missed sleeping next to him.

“Monroe.” He got off the bed, taking a step closer to me and reaching his hand out to grab mine but I smacked him away. “Don’t act like you’re mad. I know shit is crazy right now with your dad, but you’re gonna be home for a while. Why can’t we just try things out now, see where our relationship goes? Things were good between us before. This time they can be even better.”

“You’re delusional, Carter.” I shook my head. “I’m with Miller and I’m happy. I’m sorry that you can’t see that, but it’s not changing any time soon, so you just need to back off or we can’t be friends any more. Simple as that.”

He had the gall to smirk at me, freaking smirk at me. I don’t know what exactly about that statement he found funny. “Well, that might change soon enough.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that Miller was here.”

“What?” The butterflies in my stomach started going crazy at the fact that Miller was here. I’d been wanting to seem him but I knew how busy he was and I didn’t want to seem like a needy girlfriend by asking him to come up here. “What do you mean he
was
here?” I asked lowly, already thinking I knew the answer, but I wouldn’t believe it until I heard it. My legs started to shake and Carter gulped thickly.

“I mean, he came while you were sleeping…and saw us in your bed.”

I knew what he was going to say, but that didn’t make it any better. I collapsed back onto my bed, dropping my head down and trying to make myself believe that I was dreaming—no, this would be more like a nightmare. I knew Miller had trust issues, I knew he didn’t like Carter, and I knew exactly what he thought when he walked into my room and saw me with Carter. I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t have his kind of issues and I would’ve jumped to conclusions too. If I walked in on the same situation, I would’ve been heartbroken beyond belief. Miller probably had the same reaction but his was probably mixed with a whole lot of anger and it made me wonder how in the hell Carter was still standing. Miller’s temper could get a little out of control.