“I know you’re right,” Clare agreed. “I’ll stay.”

“Good. And what about letting me talk to Seamus about it?”

Clare’s eyes went wide at the mention. “I don’t want to bother anyone with this. It’s bad enough that I’m uprooting your life.” Clare tried to sound firm and serious, but her voice quivered.

“You’re not uprooting anything, and we need to talk to someone about this. Listen, just take today and get some sleep. We were up half the night, and it’s not even noon yet.”

“I am really tired…”

“Exactly, and I guarantee you that even if Travis somehow figured out you came to stay with me, he certainly isn’t going to find where I live. This apartment is under my uncle’s name, along with half of Woodlawn. So get some sleep. I need to run errands anyway. Tomorrow morning we can talk about it again, okay?”

Clare just nodded, feeling the last few hours, or days, of turmoil catching up to her. Adrenaline had been helping for a while, with the assistance of coffee, but with the long work shift last night and then her late night talking to Casey, she was quickly beginning to remember how tired she was.

She knew that even after she went to sleep this afternoon, she wouldn’t feel rested afterward. She had been tossing and turning for weeks, not getting anything restful except for the nights she spent curled up in Rory’s arms. But that wasn’t an option right now.

She hated being afraid, having lived with it for so many years already. She had just started to remember what it was like not to be always looking over her shoulder. Now her greatest fear could show up any minute, and she had turned away one of the only people in the world who could help her.

She wondered if she had done the right thing, walking away from Rory like that. Biting her lip, she thought about all the times she had found Travis and his friends doing things a lot worse. And even worse, all the times that she had participated. She wondered what Rory would think if he knew her past, what her record held.

Rory was nothing like Travis, yet she had forgiven Travis again and again for all the illegal activity he had been involved in—most of which she had turned a blind eye to, as if not acknowledging that it meant it wasn’t happening. She had needed to believe him—after all, he was the only person she had back then.

She had looked the other way to protect herself. It’s all she had known to do; she needed a roof over her head and food on the table, and he had provided those things. He told her daily that she wasn’t smart enough to take care of herself or to live on her own, that she couldn’t live without him, and for over five years she had believed him.

Now she knew differently, and she wasn’t going to let any man drag her back into the life she used to lead. Clare realized that maybe that was why she had reacted so strongly to Rory’s pills—it had felt as though he was trying to force her back into that life. She refused to ever let that happen; she was never going to be that girl again, no matter what.

Certainly not for Travis.

But not for Rory, either.

—

Hearing Casey’s voicemail start to play once again, Rory hung up the phone. He tossed it onto his nightstand in aggravation, and dropped his body onto the bed, exhausted. He hadn’t slept well all night, and then he had been up early to train Kane, which he hadn’t even ended up doing. Groaning, he rolled over onto his back, wondering how he had made such a mess of everything in the span of only a few minutes this morning.

The doorbell rang, interrupting his self-deprecating thoughts, as he forced himself up off the bed and trudged to the front door. Ace stood up and trotted after him, eager to see who was there.

“Hi, handsome.” A familiar, attractive brunette stood before him, wearing too-skimpy running attire for the cold weather.

“Molly, hi.” Rory shifted his weight awkwardly.

She must have taken his moving to the side as an invitation to come in, because she slid right past him and into his living room. Ace let out a low growl as she entered, then turned to his dog bed in the corner, dropping himself dramatically onto it. Rory pushed the door shut behind him, glancing over at Ace, who was giving him an angry stare.

He was starting to wonder whose side this dog really was on, because it didn’t seem to be his.

“What are you doing here?” He wasn’t feeling in the mood for pleasantries.

She spoke seductively as she sauntered over to him. “I was just in the neighborhood, going for a run, thought I would stop by and see if you wanted to help me with a different kind of exercise.”

She leaned toward him as she got close and ran her finger down his chest before circling her hand in the fabric and pulling him closer to her. He swallowed nervously, not sure how to respond. After a long second, he finally stepped back.

“I can’t, Molly.”

“Why? This is what we do—just fun and games, right?” He heard the stinging in her voice underneath her words, knowing that she wanted more than that from him.

“I started seeing someone.”

“I know, the infamous Rory Kavanagh is always seeing tons of girls. You don’t need to remind me.” A hint of pain splashed over her face for a moment before she masked it.

“No, it’s not like that. Clare is different.”

“You have a girlfriend? Like, monogamous?” Molly definitely sounded surprised now, but she also seemed not to believe it.

“Well, no. She isn’t my girlfriend; in fact, I think we just broke up,” Rory confessed, wondering how to explain what Clare was to him.

Did we just break up? Were we together in the first place?

He really wasn’t sure. Even though there was never a label put on anything, it had certainly felt more real than anything else he had ever experienced.

“I see; typical Rory,” Molly murmured before turning her attention elsewhere. “Look what I brought for us.”

She pulled a small plastic bag out of her pocket. He wondered where it had been hiding, because her clothes were so tight they left nothing to the imagination. He immediately recognized the small white pills she was dangling in front of him and took the bag from her.

“Thanks.” He nodded, taking the pills to the kitchen with him to get something to wash them down with.

“That’s the Rory I know,” she said, following him.

He ignored her comment and pulled a glass from the cabinet, only to find that she was wrapping her arms around him from behind. She began kissing down his neck toward his shoulder, her hands sliding across his chest firmly so as to feel him underneath. He finished pouring a glass of water for himself and then turned around to face her.

“Molly, stop.” He put a hand on her shoulder and gently forced her back a bit.

“What’s wrong?”

“I told you, I’m seeing someone now.”

“No, you said you just broke up with someone. Plus, you don’t do relationships, remember? Isn’t that what you always told me?” She put her hands on her hips, anger seeping through her tone.

“Maybe before, but not now. Things are different…I want different things,” he tried to explain, realizing that he had never actually felt this way before. Had Clare done this? He had never been a relationship type—he still didn’t think he was—yet somehow everything he was thinking about Clare seemed to fit that.

“I brought you those, and you’ve always wanted them.” Molly pointed to the pills still in his hand. “Doesn’t that earn me any points?”

Rory stared down at them, rolling several pills back and forth in his palm. In the past, he had gotten his pills from many different people, including Molly. He would have done anything to get them, paid any price. But as he stared at them now, he felt like he was choosing between Clare and the pills. As if both couldn’t exist in the same world—and maybe that was exactly the case.

“Shit,” he grumbled under his breath, and poured the pills back into the bag sitting on the counter behind him. Ace was still lying in the corner, but had lifted his head and was watching with interest.