I stare back at him and narrow my eyes.
"Don't look at me like that." He shakes his head at me then walks over to his wardrobe.
"Like what? Like I'm shocked by you?And still mad you insist on holding me here under this contract?"
He laughs. "You're not mad about that, and I'm not holding you here.I'm not doing anything you didn't agree to."
"You don't care that a piece of paper forced me here?" I challenge.
He inclines his head. "I don't.It's a path. You and I both know it's not about the paper and if I wanted to, I could free you.But I'm just a selfish bastard who's trying to get his girl back.People like me don't care about how we do things, just the end result."
I can't get over how determined he is.
"What if the end result isn't what you want?"
"Candace, you act like you just met me yesterday.Baby, you know I always get what I want." That sounds like another vow, or a warning, just like last time."I may have been away, but that hasn't changed about me."
I bite the inside of my lip and watch him as he grabs a long-sleeved gray t-shirt and shrugs into it.
As I continue to stare, I realize I haven't asked much about anything in relation to where he went and what he did for two years.It wasn't that I didn't want to know.It was more the case that I was trying to shut him out.
"Where did you go?"
He narrows his eyes, but he knows exactly what I'm talking about."I went straight to rehab. It was a clinic in Holland.I was there for almost a year because I went in twice."
My lips part in surprise and I feel guilty I didn't ask before.If he was in rehab for that long, then he was definitely as bad as what he said.I've only heard of the worst cases taking that long.
"Then I went to Tibet for a different kind of treatment."
"What kind?"
"I don't know what to call it, but it healed my mind."
Now for a question that's been bothering me."If you didn't know your brothers were in danger, would you have come back when you did?"
He stares at me, and when he doesn't say anything, I know the answer.
"No," he confirms, and I glance down at the sheet.
"So, I probably would never see you again?" I keep my focus on the silky sheet and catch the edge folding over my lap between my thumb and forefinger.
"You would have seen me again.It was just hard to know when I could class myself as being ready to come home.And since everyone looked like they'd moved on in life, I didn't want to come back and cause a stir."
I look back up at him. "We couldn't have moved on until you came back to us."
He hesitates. "You looked like you moved on."
"What do you mean?" I narrow my eyes in confusion.
"You looked happy when you moved into your new place."
I raise my brows. I just moved into that apartment six months ago.He wouldn't have seen me at all.
"How would you know?"
"I have my ways of doing things."
Of course, he does.