“Yeah I know, I tried a few times too,” Audrey said, sadly.

“What were you doing that he didn’t like?” Fallon asked.

“I was dancing, and singing, like always.”

“Well that is weird,” Fallon said, biting into her lip.

“No it isn’t,” Lucas said. Both women looked over at him as he went on, “He is really weird when it comes to riding in the car. I mean, who wouldn’t?”

“Huh?” Audrey asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well you know, with how his family died and all.”

It was as if Lucas had thrown Audrey into the boards, knocking the air out of her. She couldn’t breathe, and her vision was getting blurred. Surely, she heard him wrong.

“What?” she gasped.

Lucas eyed her before looking over at Fallon, who wore the same worried expression Lucas 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 utter shock. Tate never said anything about that, quite the opposite really! He never once said his family wasn’t alive anymore, but then again anytime they came up, he always did change the subject. What the hell? Moving without speaking, Audrey made her way out 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 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, while rubbing his hands together for warmth as he 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 the tears that wanted to fall, Tate replayed his argument to 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 she was more focused messing with her player than she was paying attention to the road. What if she had lost control of the car? What if she would have run head on into a car that was filled with a family?

What if he lost her too?

Taking in a shaking breath, Tate continued to play his mother’s favorite song, trying to get his mind off things that he couldn’t change. Somewhere in the middle of the song, 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, Tate let his face fall in his hands as the 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 that she wouldn’t think anything less of him. She wouldn’t care. The only thing she would care about is 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 everything. 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 to 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 sneaking 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 ass**les, and he had just turned into one. It could have all 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.

And it had to be now.

Tate dropped his hands and stood up. He stopped when he found Audrey in the doorway. She was bundled up in her coat, her nose red from the cold. Her eyes were glued to his, and she looked scared out of her mind as she moved her hands together and apart. He could tell that she was nervous and hated that he had done that to her. He never meant to.

“The door was unlocked,” she said quietly, her eyes never leaving his.

Tate nodded, his heart starting to beat fast again while his body begged him to run and hide. Instead, he moved around the piano towards her, stopping right in front of her, his eyes locked with hers. “I’m glad you are here,” he said softly, “I need to apologize.”

Audrey shook her head, “No, that can wait. I need you to tell me why I had to hear from Lucas and Fallon about your family. Why didn’t you tell me, Tate?”

Tate looked down at his hands, watching them shake as he took in quick gasps of air, not knowing what to say. He should have known that Fallon and Lucas would have said something, and he was sick with the fact that they had been the ones to tell her. He was supposed to be that person, not two people who had no clue about what really had happened.