Free Desired by Stacey Kennedy Page A

paid her any attention, and she was only too glad Aidan wasn’t in his office, listening to her talk to Rory. “You shouldn’t be calling me,” she said through gritted teeth.
    “Just hear me out,” Rory said in his rich southern accent. “You’re not responding to any of my texts.”
    “That’s because I don’t want to talk to you.” She lowered her voice, keeping the conversation private. “I’m at work, Rory.” The second the words left her mouth, she frowned, struck by a realization. “Speaking of which, how did you find out where I work?”
    “I have my ways” was Rory’s dry reply.
    She could almost see his innocent shrug, and she also figured it wouldn’t be so difficult for Rory to find her. He knew she had moved to Vegas, and Rory had friends on the Savannah police force that could locate her if he asked. Maybe finding out her new employment wasn’t so hard at all. Perhaps he even knew where she lived.
    Her hand trembled around the phone. “I don’t want to talk to you. Please just move on with your life. I have.”
    “I know you have.” His sigh sounded like static over the phone line. “You’ve done what you’ve always done, been strong. You know I love that about you.” His voice softened. “I miss you, Ella. Please, let’s talk about this.”
    She shut her eyes, as that once meant so much to her. She had loved Rory, but his drinking and violence had changed everything. “I can’t do this.”
    Whatever he heard in her voice lifted his with urgency. “Listen, I’ve gotten into a rehab program. I’m sorry for what happened. I regret it. But I’m better now, and I don’t want to lose you.”
    Tears rimmed her eyes as her heart did reach out to him. They had history. “You’ve already lost me. Don’t call me again.” Then she slammed the phone down.
    Blowing out the deep breath that had been stuck in her throat, she forced the moisture in her eyes away. While she might have moved on, she still had a heart. And a little piece of her felt so damn sad that their relationship had ended on such a bad note.
    Keep it together, Ella
.
    You’re not that person anymore
.
    He’s changed
.
    So have you
.
    She didn’t want to get Rory into more trouble than he was already in, but she also believed that rehab wasn’t his choice. It was likely advice from his lawyer to show that he was getting his life together and had been the reason the divorce hadn’t been finalized.
    There was no going back; the damage had already been done.
    She wouldn’t be
that
woman who stayed with an abusive man. How could she forgive and forget that he had pushed her out of anger? How many more times could that happen? And that wasn’t the only time he’d lashed out at her—verbal insults were abuse, too. She couldn’t go back to him, not if she wanted to look in the mirror every day and maintain her self-esteem.
    Once, she’d been loved deeply by her parents and her grandparents; they had shown her what a healthy relationship looked like. They had taught her how to love. For months, she had handled Rory’s drunken stupors, because she understood what grief did to a person.
    Rory had been close to his father after his mother died of cancer when he was eight years old. When his father died, Rory’s life fell apart. But when those rages turned against her, she had stopped understanding.
    Trying to control the strong emotions raging through her, she turned to her desk, grabbing the folder containing Aidan’s notes about the affidavit she needed to draft. Ella promptly lost herself in work, almost forgetting completely about Rory’s call.
    Almost.
    When she finished typing out the affidavit, she scanned the document, proofreading her work, when her phone rang once again. Hesitating to answer, she realized she was at work and had no choice, then immediately reached for the receiver. But if it were Rory, she’d be a second away from calling the Savannah police and telling them he was breaking the