Merissa couldn’t imagine such a thing. What a devastating blow that had to have been to a teenage boy.

“I guess Dad hated being alone because over the years he moved in one woman after another. Maybe a dozen or more.”

He hadn’t been alone, Merissa wanted to say. He’d had a son.

“The last woman,” Armie explained, “stuck around longer than the others, which didn’t make sense because Dad didn’t even seem to like her most of the time. They argued constantly and when he drank, he’d get too rough with her. One night he backhanded her and busted her lip. She crashed up against the wall, knocked over a lamp, then cut her foot on the glass.” He shook his head. “Dad was enraged, standing over her and shaking his fist, threatening to throw her out while she sobbed that she didn’t have anywhere to go.” Armie’s hands gently tangled in her hair. “I usually ignored him when he got that way, but this time it bothered me and I stupidly got between them. I told him he wouldn’t touch her again.”

That didn’t surprise her. Armie wasn’t the type to see any woman bullied. Stroking a hand down his back, she asked, “How did he react?”

“He slugged me, we tussled and I pinned him down on the couch. I never hit him, but I didn’t let him go, either, not until he’d stopped raging. His lady friend was frantically cleaning up the mess and telling Dad it was okay, that she was fine, and begging him to calm down. And finally he did.” Armie laughed, a humorless sound of remorse, and stepped away from her. “She should have been pissed. She should have left him. Instead, she got him another drink and apologized. Made no fucking sense to me.”

Merissa whispered, “You did the right thing.”

“Apparently she didn’t mind the rough handling as much as I’d assumed, because when my dad bad-mouthed me to the cops, she chimed in, too. The way they told it, I had anger issues and they both acted like me forcing a girl wasn’t that far-fetched.”

Merissa hurt for him. She remembered her dad being very much like Cannon; a caregiver, a protector, always there whenever she needed him. He’d made her laugh when she was sad, encouraged her when she felt like giving up and loved her without restriction. Never, ever, had he laid a hand on her in anger.

Even after her father’s death, her mother and Cannon had given her everything she ever needed. There hadn’t been a single day where she’d ever felt unloved. She couldn’t imagine her own parent turning against her the way Armie’s father had turned on him. “I’m so sorry.”

He shrugged that off. “I haven’t seen either of them since that day.”

So he’d lost first his mother, and then four years later, his father, too. Her heart tried to break, but Armie didn’t need her to be wimpy. He needed her strength—and her understanding. “Good for you.”

“I’d just finished school and I had a job, so as soon as the cops left, I gathered up my shit and walked out.”

And went where? She recalled him spending a week or so at their house. But that was shortly after her father’s death and she’d been grieving, paying less attention to her brother’s hunky friends.

“I had no idea if I should get a lawyer, or how I’d even do that on minimum-wage pay.” As he talked, Armie began to gather up the dishes, so she helped.

“Did you get arrested?”

“That’s what Mr. Baley wanted.” Armie stacked plates in the dishwasher with the ease of long practice. “He was shouting that his daughter had been abused, calling me a savage and saying I should be locked away so I didn’t hurt any other girl.”

Merissa tried to find some understanding for the father, knowing he’d only heard one side of a story. But the image of Armie so young, hurt but proud, made it impossible.

“Didn’t work out quite the way Baley wanted, though, because the officers, a guy and a woman, said they had to investigate the concern before they started arresting anyone.” His posture defensive, face averted, Armie paced away to wipe off the table. “Unfortunately, that meant talking to everyone who’d been at that party, which included most of my friends. I’d walk by and people would stare, then whisper.”

“They’re idiots. If they knew you then they should have known better.”

“They probably did—at first. But you know how it is with nasty rumors.”

“They spread like wildfire,” she acknowledged, cringing for him.

“That damn story circulated so many times, hell, I almost started to believe it.” He came back to the sink, braced his hands along the counter and stared out the window. “Overnight, everything changed. I don’t mind admitting, I was pretty scared. It was my word against Lea’s, and her father seemed not only influential, but hell-bent on seeing me crucified.”

Even though it was in the past, it crushed Merissa to hear what he’d gone through—so how must it have been for him to live it, and forever remember it?

“My options seemed hopeless...” Armie turned his head toward her. “Then your brother stepped in. He worked a few miracles...and gave me the advantage.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

SOUNDED LIKE HER superhero brother. “Cannon to the rescue?”

“Pretty much.” A slight smile chased the grim memories from Armie’s eyes. “I figured it was going to come down to my word against hers, and with her daddy’s money, I wouldn’t stand a chance. But Cannon had other ideas. The night Lea’s dad claimed I raped her, the party was at this nice house with security cameras at each door. Cannon was friends with the family, so they didn’t mind giving him the different video feeds.”

“The police hadn’t asked for them?”

“They probably didn’t know about them.” He shrugged. “I didn’t. The cameras were hidden, and since there weren’t any in the rooms where she claimed I raped her, the home owners might not have thought about it, either.”

“But Cannon did.”

“Yeah, and good thing. See, there was one in particular from the front porch that showed Lea kissing me goodbye, grabbing for my junk, riding my leg and basically hanging on me until I finally had to pry her away.”

Merissa felt like her eyes might fall out. “Wow.” She cleared her throat. “And that would have been after you’d supposedly forced her?”

“Yeah. It was pretty clear that I was trying to get away and she was doing what she could to get me to stay.” Armie’s gaze held her. “After I drove off, she was twirling in the yard, all happy and shit.”

Picturing that, Merissa almost felt sorry for the foolish girl—except that she’d put Armie through hell. “That sounds like powerful evidence.”

“Embarrassing, too, especially for her.” Next to Merissa, he leaned on the counter, his arms folded over his chest. “Cannon and I talked about it and decided it’d be best to see Mr. Baley before we took that video to the cops.”

So even then, he’d been a gentleman. “Amazing.”

“Don’t saint me, Stretch. I knew if we took it to the cops it might’ve prolonged things while they sorted it out. So we took it to Baley. I wanted to go alone, but you know your brother.”