Lucas eyed her before looking over at Fallon, who wore the same worried expression he did.
“Please tell me you knew his family had been killed in a car accident, Audrey,” Fallon said slowly.
Audrey shook her head as she clutched her neck in shock. Tate had never said anything about that. Quite the opposite! He never once said his family wasn’t alive anymore, but then again, she realized, anytime they came up, he always changed the subject. What the hell? Not saying a word, she made her way out of the house and into her car while Fallon and Lucas yelled after her. She ignored them. She had to leave, she had to talk to Tate.
She had to find out why he’d never told her.
She had to make sure he was okay.
What the hell had she done?
Tate was pretty sure he was about to pass out.
Along with being frozen from head to toe, his hands wouldn’t stop shaking and his heart was still beating in overtime. Tearing into the house, he slammed the door shut, and while rubbing his hands together for warmth, rushed up the stairs. When he reached his room, he threw off his coat. Then, in a daze, he went to the piano, dropped down onto the bench and opened the cover. He sat there feeling his hands touching the keys. Just to experience the normalcy of it.
Taking a deep breath, fighting against tears, Tate replayed his argument with Audrey as his hands moved freely against the keys. He couldn’t believe how careless she was in the car. She danced like she was on a dance floor. She sang at ear-piercing levels and was more focused messing with her player than on paying attention to the road. What if she had lost control of the car? What if she would have run into a car that was filled with a family?
What if he lost her too?
Taking in a shaking breath, he continued to play his mother’s favorite song, trying to get his mind off things he couldn’t change. Somewhere in the middle of the piece, he started to cry as the thought of something happening to Audrey overwhelmed him. He had already lost his family due to someone’s stupidity, and he couldn’t lose Audrey; not now, not ever. When he couldn’t play anymore because of his shaking hands, he let his face fall in his hands as sobs ripped through him.
Would she even want him after the way he acted? He should have handled everything differently, but he couldn’t. His anxiety took over. His need to protect her, and his anger at her lack of consideration for herself made him act like a complete jerk. She probably didn’t understand his outburst, and how could she? Had he told her about his family? Nope, and how many openings did he have? A million? He should have told her weeks ago, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t utter the words that broke his heart every time he thought of them. He hadn’t even told her about his driving anxiety, even though he knew she would understand and wouldn’t think less of him because of it. She wouldn’t care. The only thing she would care about was helping him.
So why hadn’t he told her?
Was it a fear of having her know everything? No, it couldn’t be. He wanted her to know. Could it be because if he told her, it would be like living it all over again? She would have questions. She would want to know what happened, how she could help make it better. It was who she was. She was a helper. So what was the reason?
Tate held his face in his hands, the tears leaking out and landing on his legs. What if he lost her? What if she was so appalled by his outburst that she was done with him? She had dealt with idiots and assholes, and he had just turned into one. It could have been avoided if only he had told her the truth about his family. He had told her everything but that. How could he expect them to move forward if he couldn’t even tell her about something that had left a big hole in his life?
He had to tell her.