Austin was in the TV room, and I caught his eye as I passed. “You outta here?” he shouted out to me.

Standing in the doorway, my arms holding too tight to the wooden frame, I sighed, “Yeah.” Looking back at my best friend, I asked, “Hell, man, am I doing the right thing?”

Carillo sat forward and shrugged. “I told you last night, my instinct would be to tell you not to go, but folks can change, Rome. I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe your daddy has had some divine epiphany or some shit, you know, seen the light?” The f**ker just laughed at that. I couldn’t help but smile along with him, despite my nervous mood. “One thing’s for certain. You’ll find out soon enough,” he said, his face suddenly serious.

Nodding, I slapped the doorframe twice. “I’m out.”

“Good luck, man.”

Getting into my truck, I tried to stay calm. Something in my gut told me this was all wrong, but hell, Mol had been so damn insistent. I knew she wanted me to fix the problems with my folks. She didn’t have family and didn’t want that same situation for me. But I hadn’t told her much about my past, the relationship I had with my parents. She knew they sometimes hit me—mostly in my past—belittled me, forced me to put my duty above my dreams, but she didn’t know the extent of abuse I’d suffered at their hands, didn’t know why I’d been treated with such cruelty. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her. I hadn’t ever told anyone… I was ashamed.

Pulling in front of her sorority house, I almost just called the whole thing off. I’d nearly done that several times, but Mol’s words from yesterday still played on my mind.

* * *

As soon as I left my folks’ place, I drove straight to Mol’s sorority house and climbed up to the balcony where she sat surrounded by her laptop and all her books.

“Still working hard I see,” I said as I finished kissing my girl hello.

“Yeah. Professor Ross was told this morning that we have a timeslot of when we need to present the paper in Oxford—we go in a few months.” Her excited smile was huge.

Frowning, I sat forward on the chair I’d occupied. “You’re going to England in a few months? Since when?”

“Since always…” Mol went to explain that she needed to go do the presentation at Oxford University to help her secure a PhD program, but I really didn’t want her to go. She promised to be back for the championship games though, so I’d just have to suck it up when the time came. It was just one more bastard thing to mess up my day.

My girl moved toward me, seeing my drop in mood, and sat on my lap.

“What’s wrong?”

Sighing, I answered, “One guess.”

“Parents?”

“Bingo.”

“What now?” I caught the worry in her voice.

“They want to meet you. They’ve invited us to dinner tomorrow night. They’re notching up their tactics.”

She actually reared back in shock. “Really? I never thought they’d want to meet me… ever.”

“Me either.” Her shock waned at that comment and hurt took its place.

Pulling her closer, I said, “Hey, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, but they’re not happy about us, Mol. They’ve made no secret about that.”

“I know. It just sucks.”

“I’m telling them no,” I said, finally making up my mind. Mol was far too important to me to put in jeopardy.

Sitting up, determination on her face, she said, “No. Screw it, let’s go. Show them how good we are together. By seeing us, it might help them understand.”

“They won’t understand and I won’t have them attack you. I’ve coped with it for years; I’m not watching you take the same treatment. You’ve seen my daddy in action. He doesn’t tolerate disobedience. My momma’s vindictive and cruel. Why do you want to officially meet people like that?”

Smiling at me, her inner strength shining through, she pressed, “I want to bridge the gap for your sake.”

* * *

And after much more persuasion and a couple of hours buried deep in her soft depths, we’d accepted the invitation and right now, in this truck, all I could think was that I’d completely f**ked up.

I hadn’t realized how long I’d been sat in my truck, just staring out of the window, when the sorority house’s main door opened and out walked Molly, immediately stealing my damn breath.

Opening the truck door, I got out and when she was a few steps away, reached out and pulled her into my arms. “Baby…” I croaked, my anxiety showing in my voice.

Wrapping her arms around my waist, she gripped onto me tight. “Hey, Rome. You okay?”

Pulling back, I pressed my lips to hers and nodded, “Yeah, no, maybe. I don’t know…”

Scrunching up her nose playfully, she tilted her head, asking, “Mm? You look kind of uncomfortable. Then again, I’ve never seen you in anything other than a T-shirt, jeans, and those damn cowboy boots you never take off, unless it’s to put on your cleats. Is it the fact you’re all suited and booted in your Sunday best that has you scowling and sitting outside my sorority like a creepy stalker?”

Unable to hold in a laugh, I put my arm around her shoulders and led her to the truck. “Get in, sexy, before I shut that mouth of yours for you.” Lifting her into the high cabin, I couldn’t resist skirting my hand up her bare leg and running my fingers along her panty-covered folds. Yelping at the touch, she scowled at me as she belted up.