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“It doesn’t matter. Come on, Brin.” Savannah held her hand out for her daughter to take.
Brinley made her way inside, and as soon as she was past her mother, her entire posture changed. She lightened, her face opening, her eyes widening. This was her safe place, and Fallon knew it without a doubt. That was something she couldn’t mess with. Brinley deserved it as much as Fallon never had it—at least not until she’d moved in with Tia.
On a whim, Fallon grabbed her purse off the couch and slid her arm through the handle. She started for the door, nodding at Brinley but not saying anything. She wasn’t sure how this would play out or what Savannah wanted to tell Brinley about who she was. She’d leave that in the very capable hands of Brinley’s mother.
But she needed to get out of there. The obtrusive and egotistical attitude that Forrest brought with him set Fallon off.It wasn’t something she couldn’t control, but she could choose whether or not she wanted to stay there, and it was a definitenot. She didn’t know Savannah well enough to explain what was happening inside her, and right now, all she needed was an easy and simple escape.
Fallon reached the door, still blocked by Forrest. She blinked at him, keeping her chin raised high and her shoulders squared. “Excuse me.”
“Well, aren’t you a fine thing?”
Where had they gone? The Deep South? Fallon’s lips nearly parted in surprise, but she managed to hold herself together and plaster on the best bitchy face she could muster.
“I am,” Fallon answered simply. She knew it would throw Forrest off his game, and sure enough, the surprised expression on his ugly mug was enough to tell her that she was on the right track. Savannah screamed submissive in this relationship, and a bit in life in general. Fallon had no doubts that Forrest hadn’t met a woman who would push him as much as he pushed women.
Forrest glanced at Savannah and then to Fallon, his eyes narrowing. “I don’t believe you’d want to be with someone like her.”
“Are you saying that because you deem your ex-wife to be unworthy of a healthy, consistent, and loving relationship? Or are you saying that because you can’t fathom that a woman might choose another woman over yourself, which I must say, isn’t a hard choice at all.” Fallon tightened her grasp on her purse strap before dropping her hands to her sides. She would face him with everything she had.
“Come with me and I can show you a much better time than Savannah could.”
“I highly doubt that. Besides, I don’t swing in your direction.” Fallon said the last bit to Savannah, making sure that hermeaning was clear. She did like women, and she would never ignore that fact about her life.
“You’re a dyke?” Forest spat out the word like a curse.
Fallon instantly shuddered. Straightening herself sharply, she faced Forrest again and shook her head slowly. “No, I’m not adyke. I’m attracted to men, women, trans, nonbinary, and whoever a person is so long as they’re not an asshat with an ego the size of Texas.”
“What?”
“If you’ll excuse me.” Fallon pushed her way past Forrest and out the door. She nodded toward Savannah but said nothing as she stepped around the big lug of an ex and breathed in the fresh air of the hallway. She didn’t turn around because she knew for a fact that Forrest wasn’t following her.
And she was damn determined to have already driven away by the time he got back to his car. Fallon took the elevator, thankful that it was still on the right floor. Once she was outside, with the rain on her cheeks, she closed her eyes and let the cold air wrap her in its embrace.
She never wanted to be in that situation again.
She never wanted to be stuck in a place where she couldn’t escape, and she would never let someone talk to her like that. Sliding behind her wheel, she turned on the car and waited for her phone to connect to the Bluetooth. She was about to do something she never thought she would.
Calling Monti, Fallon drove out of the parking lot and headed toward home. Monti answered on the fourth ring—thankfully. She was notorious for sending Fallon’s calls to voicemail, but ever since she and Athena had started up together, she had gotten much better about actually talking to Fallon.
“You okay?” Monti asked, the concern already edging through her voice.
“No,” Fallon responded, hitting her blinker so she could take the next turn. “How’d you know?”
“It’s late, and you’re a morning person. You never call me after eight.”
“I’m surprised you even noticed,” Fallon mumbled as she turned the steering wheel. Rolling her shoulders, she tried to pull the tension from her body, but it wasn’t working. At least not yet. She needed a few more hours to lower her trauma activation.
“What’s wrong, Fallon?”
“Are you alone?” The last thing Fallon wanted was for Athena to hear any part of what she was going to ask, any part of the conversation that could be construed as prying into her boss’s personal life. That was definitely not something that she wanted to do, but she had to know.
“Yes. Athena’s at her place tonight.”
“Good.” Fallon pulled onto I-5 and pressed her foot onto the gas.
“Seriously, you’re worrying me. You haven’t told me what’s wrong. Is Tia okay?”
“Tia’s fine.” Fallon clenched her jaw. If Monti would talk to Tia more often, then she would know that. But Fallon had to stop herself before she headed down that path of destruction. She couldn’t force a relationship where they didn’t want one, and she couldn’t make it what she wanted it to be. She was still working on that one. “Why would you do it?”
