by Shayla Black
Hammer and Liam both strode closer, hovering protectively as Raine led Heavenly to the front door.
The Irishman looked their way with a grim expression as they exited the SUV. “Come in. You look like you could use a Scotch.”
“Got a whole bottle?” Beck quipped as he watched the women disappear inside the massive house.
“Make that two.” Seth sighed.
Hammer nodded. “She looks devastated. You two don’t look much better.”
Seth’s urge to stay close to Heavenly rode him as they all filed inside. The men headed to the kitchen while the women sank onto the sofa in the adjacent living room, Raine’s arms enfolding Heavenly as much as her belly allowed. He couldn’t hear whatever murmurs they exchanged, but the sobs wracking their girl were unmistakable. He wanted to punch something because he couldn’t simply step in and soothe her fucking grief. She needed a few minutes with Raine, and he couldn’t judge where she found her comfort now. God knew he didn’t want to admit where he’d found his when his world had fallen apart.
As he leaned tiredly against the kitchen counter, Liam slid glasses of amber liquid their way. Seth grabbed his gratefully and swallowed it back. “What a clusterfuck.”
Hammer glanced over their heads, toward the sofa. “That poor girl… The man’s death was unexpected?”
Beck nodded. “We finally met him last night. When we left him at the hospital, he was looking better, so this is an utter shock to her. Hell, to all of us.”
“I had no idea she had an ailing father or that she was so close to him.”
“We didn’t, either,” Seth muttered.
“Since Raine has Heavenly in hand, we’re happy to help with the funeral. Do you know what kind of service she wants?” Liam asked.
“We haven’t broached that yet. I doubt she’s even thought about it.” Seth raked a hand through his hair. “She was too busy taking care of him, attending school, and trying to make her rent.” He turned to Beck. “Did she ever say anything to you?”
“Nothing. He probably didn’t have any kind of a will, either.”
Good point. “Abel had nothing to leave her. You should have seen the shithole they were living in. Gang central, man. Even the cockroaches were heavily armed.”
Hammer scowled. “Seriously?”
Beck nodded. “We were shocked. And her landlord… He’ll be eating through a straw for a while. He deserves the beating we gave him for expecting Heavenly to pay her rent on her back.”
“Bloody hell.” Liam gripped his glass. “I knew the wee thing was in trouble, but why didn’t she ask for help?”
Seth sighed. Because she had walls they still needed to tear down, and after tonight, he worried he’d never get the chance. “She doesn’t know how.”
Hammer raised a brow. “Well, there’s the first lesson you boys need to teach her.”
“It’s definitely on our agenda.” Seth grimaced. “But there’s a wrinkle in the situation.”
Beck sent him a side-eyed glare. “What he’s trying to say is—”
“Kenneth Beckman!” Raine leapt to her feet across the room and stormed his way, face red. “You’re fucking married? Are you kidding me? All this time… And all those—” She bit her lip, obviously deciding she’d better not blurt out Beck’s parade of subs in front of Heavenly, who still didn’t know much about his proclivities. “You’re a pig.”
“And there’s the wrinkle.” Seth smiled acidly.
“Language, love,” Liam warned, then turned to Beck with a disapproving stare. “Married?”
“Technically, but—”
“There is no technically.” Raine wagged a finger at him. “It’s a yes-or-no question.”
“You didn’t fucking tell her?” Hammer sighed.
Raine whirled on her man. “You knew? Macen!”
“Settle down, precious.” Hammer sent her a censuring stare. “It’s a long story, and I doubt I even know half of it.”
All eyes turned to Beck, who downed his alcohol in one swallow. “You don’t.”
Seth cut a glance his way, lowering his Scotch and his voice. “So…yeah. Heavenly didn’t take the news well, especially since we had just…um, deflowered her.”
Raine gasped and glared at Beck. “Oh, I should find that rubber paddle and use it on you.”
Seth tried to picture that and snorted his drink through his nose.
“Let’s focus on what’s important,” Beck insisted. “Like helping Heavenly.”
“You want to help? Fix this and make my friend happy.” Raine spun around and marched back to the family room.
But Heavenly was no longer curled on the sofa. He caught sight of her through the window, arms wrapped around herself against the chilly darkness enveloping the expansive patio. Raine shuffled outside after her, not stopping until she embraced the pretty blonde, whose hair shined like a beacon in the moonlight.
Hammer eyed them with a shake of his head. “Maybe I should squash Raine’s little tirade and adjust her attitude. But I like her fiery streak. And it’s hard to be stern when she’s right.”
“I have every intention of explaining the situation to Heavenly, but she’s in no state to hear me now.”
They all murmured their agreement. The timing sucked, but the details would have to wait.
A tromping on the stairs interrupted the silence as River cantered down from the second floor and into the kitchen to join them, face somber. “Hey, guys. I’m sorry to hear about Heavenly’s dad.” He looked out the window and grimaced. “I’ll go out and see if I can help my sister cheer her up.”
“If you can get through to her at all…” Beck shrugged.
“You got it.” River turned for the patio and disappeared outside.
Once the four of them were alone again, Seth raked a hand through his hair. “Do you think you could ask Raine to talk to Heavenly about her father’s funeral?”
Hammer nodded. “She’ll find out what your girl wants, and we’ll take care of everything.”
“Beck and I will cover the costs. We just need information.”
“Yeah.” Beck nodded. “Predictably, she’s not speaking to me right now.”
“Don’t let that linger,” Hammer warned. “Or she’ll shut you out for good.”
“If Raine’s reaction is anything to go by, he’s right.” Liam frowned, then pointed to the patio. “Um…you two should have a look outside.”
Seth whirled as Beck did. There sat Heavenly in River’s lap, cuddled against him, arms thrown around him, head buried in his neck. The former soldier had his big hands splayed across her back.
Seth tried to understand, but the primal part of him saw red. “She won’t lean on us, but she’ll take comfort from him?”
Fuck that.
He marched for the patio door, half-ready to commit murder.
“I’m sorry,” Beck muttered, following. “This is my fault.”
“I don’t need your apology,” Seth growled. “Just put us back together.”
“I’ll try, man. I swear.”
Side by side, they approached Heavenly. She still wept, though she’d grown quieter.
Raine stepped in front of them. “She’s calming down, but she’s totally wrung out. You’re obviously not happy, but River is just trying to help… Remember, she lost her only family tonight.”
Seth jerked his head from side to side. “We appreciate you and your brother, but we’re her family now. We’ll give her the comfort she needs.”
Wednesday, April 3
* * *
After his rounds and morning appointments, Beck hurried back to the condo. While at the hospital, he’d let Heavenly’s nurse administrator, Bridget Lewis, know that her father had passed and she wouldn’t be back for a while. He’d also taken a moment to email her online nursing instructors the same information. Several had already written back their condolences and indicated that she didn’t need to worry about school until after next week’s spring break. Then he’d cleared mos
t of his own calendar for the next ten days, thanking God he didn’t have any critical patients and that he’d been able to postpone all but two of his surgeries.
Now he could focus on Heavenly.
As he shut the front door behind him, Seth entered the kitchen in a pair of boxers, yawning and stretching. Since he’d been chasing a cheating spouse until four a.m., Beck was surprised to see the PI awake.
“Hey.” Seth bobbed his head in greeting.
“Hi.” Beck tossed his keys on the foyer table. “How’s Heavenly?”
The big guy hesitated. “Still sleeping.”
That worried him. “Has she eaten since I left?”
“No. When I came in, she was sleeping like the… Well, you know.” He grimaced. “After you and I talked, I tried to wake her for breakfast. She wouldn’t budge, so I crawled into bed beside her for some shut-eye.”
Beck raked a hand through his hair. “Other than meeting with the funeral director, she’s been asleep for forty-eight hours.”
“She’s trying to escape what she can’t process yet.”
The behavior was common, but it worried Beck. “She’s been burning her candle at both ends for months, so at first I was glad to see her resting. But she must be dehydrated by now.”
“I’ve been worried about that. Coffee?” Seth flipped on the brewer.
“Please. Make it black, strong, and hot.”
“Only way to drink it.”
Beck nodded. “Raine called me to check on Heavenly. I guess she texted last night and didn’t get an answer.”
“Shit.”
“If I thought it would do any good, I’d call one of the grief counselors at the hospital. But if Heavenly won’t talk to the people she knows, she won’t talk to a stranger, even a well-trained one.”
“I never did.” Seth stared through the sliding glass door to the balcony, peering at the shimmering Pacific. “Maybe we should take this chat outside…just in case.”
Because they were going to have to make some uncomfortable decisions Heavenly didn’t need to overhear.
“Put your pants on first. No sense scaring old ladies and small children.”
“Ha…” Seth flipped him a middle finger, then grabbed the sweatpants he’d borrowed previously. When he disappeared into the bathroom, Beck headed into the condo’s shadowy bedroom and looked Heavenly over.
He didn’t like what he saw.
In the middle of the rumpled king-size bed, she lay curled in a ball, wrapped in one of his old T-shirts, her dirty hair strewn across her pillow. Dark circles bruised the skin under her sunken eyes. She looked pale. Fragile. Spent.
Gut tight, he sat beside her and resisted the urge to touch her. “Heavenly… Time to get up. The day is half-gone.”
She gasped and jackknifed up, shoving a cloud of hair from her face. “Is it Friday? Am I late?”
For her father’s service.
“Not yet.” His voice drew her wild eyes to his. “Today is only—”
“Thank God.” She slumped back to the mattress. “Wake me when it’s time.”
Lashes fluttering, she closed her eyes again, shutting him out.
“You’re getting up now.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I’m sleeping.”
“You need fluids.” Her chapped lips and parched skin told him dehydration was, in fact, an issue.
Heavenly covered her head with her pillow. “Go away.”
“Not happening. When was the last time you urinated?”
Silence.
“Answer me,” he growled.
Nothing…except deep, even breathing that told him she slumbered again.
Beck cursed and stood. It was time to get serious.
Behind him, the toilet flushed, the water ran, then Seth opened the bathroom door, wearing gray sweats and an athletic tank. Beck grabbed a couple of mugs, poured java, and jerked his head toward the balcony.
The PI followed and sat with a sigh. “She refused to cooperate?”
He nodded. “How the fuck do we help her? It’s like she’s willing herself to join her dad.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me. I did. Not right after he died; I didn’t have that luxury since I had my mom and four younger brothers to think about. But after the funeral… Let’s just say I made some less-than-wise choices.”
“Chemical, alcoholic, or sexual?”
“Yes.”
That didn’t surprise Beck since he’d once engaged in his own slew of self-destructive behavior. “What made you snap out of it?”
“About four months after my dad died, I was on my way home from a party one night. I was wasted and still so fucking angry. I almost intentionally plowed my car into a concrete wall going a hundred and ten. Even as I floored the gas pedal, I asked myself what the hell I was doing and how my mother would cope with losing me, too. Then I saw a light bar flash in my rearview mirror. Even though I figured I was going to jail for speeding, DUI, and underage drinking, I was secretly relieved. The cop who stopped me was my dad’s best friend. Gene sat me down and asked me if killing myself was something my dad would have wanted or approved of.” Seth sighed. “I started crying like a baby.”
“Sorry, man. I get you. Sixteen was rough for me, too.” Beck stopped short his trek down memory lane.
“So I’m thinking that since Heavenly voluntarily got out of bed to make Abel’s funeral arrangements, maybe helping her focus on her father is the best way to help her now.”
After being his caretaker for eight years, she wouldn’t shirk that responsibility but… “How? There’s nothing left for her to do. His body has been cremated. His service has been arranged. People have been notified…”
“What’s she wearing to this funeral?” Seth turned his way with a shrewd stare. “I prowled through her things yesterday. Unless she plans to wear yoga pants, scrubs, or that fucking scrap she wore at Bazookas—”
“I’m going to burn that fucking outfit.”
“I already tossed it in the dumpster, man. But our girl doesn’t have many clothes. Certainly nothing appropriate to wear to her dad’s funeral.”
“So…we take her shopping.”
Seth nodded. “She’ll need a dress, shoes, a purse, makeup… Do we have any idea the last time she got a manicure or saw a hairdresser?”
“Maybe never.” That broke Beck’s heart.
“While we’re out, we’ll be starving and need some lunch, right?”
“That’s no lie,” Beck quipped.
“So she’ll have to eat, too.”
“Sure, but this plan only gets her up for an afternoon. What about tomorrow? And next week? It’s spring break.”
“We’ll get creative, but she sure as fuck isn’t sleeping that time away.”
“Oh, hell no. I cleared my schedule for a while. I know you just started a business here, but can you get free?”
Seth nodded. “I need to take care of a few things tomorrow. After that… Well, River wanted a job, so he can hold down the fort for a few days.”
“Good. Let’s use that time to help her ‘see the world.’ That way, not only does she keep her promise to Abel but she doesn’t spend too much time grieving and she doesn’t get too far from us.”
“I like it.”
“Good. Now we just have to coax her out of bed.”
Seth shrugged like it was simple. “We’ll just drag her out.”
“We can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
Beck reared back. “I’ve never forced a woman to do anything she didn’t ask or plead for.”
“This isn’t sexual.”
“Doesn’t matter. I won’t touch her without her consent.”
Seth leveled a hard stare his way. “You can either worry about your scruples or watch her waste away. I already know which I’m choosing.”
“Non-con is a hard limit for me, man.”
“We have a duty to put her needs above our own. She needs our intervention.”
Seth had a poin
t, but Beck never thought he’d see the day that the Dominant Code clashed with his Hippocratic Oath.
The big blond at his side leaned in. “Look, you don’t like it. I get it. I’m not thrilled, either. But we’ve already tried the gentle approach. If Heavenly isn’t going to take care of herself, we have to do it for her.”
With a curse, Beck scraped out of his chair and paced to the edge of the balcony. Seth was right…but he’d seen firsthand people use their power to twist and pervert others. Coercing someone went against his moral fiber, but forcing Heavenly was an absolute no-go for him.
“She’ll thank us for it…eventually,” Seth murmured, suddenly standing beside him.
“Or resent the fuck out of us.”
“On some level I wanted Gene to stop me that night. I think Heavenly wants the same.”
“I still don’t like it,” Beck grumbled.
“Look, after my dad died, I had to be strong since I didn’t have anyone to lean on. It almost broke me. I was so close to ending it all. So yeah, I’d rather run the risk that she’ll hate me than stand over her casket wishing I’d intervened.”
Well, thanks for that kick to the balls… “Point taken.”
“I’m worried about our bigger problem.”
“What?”
“We’ve spent months chasing her and turned our lives completely upside down to be with her. But she hasn’t committed to us. So once we start trying to take care of her, she’ll just insist again that she’s not our responsibility.”
“After the last few days, she should fucking know better.”
Seth scoffed. “I’ll bet her father’s last words are crawling through her head. They might undo everything we’ve done to win her over.”
“But with a little time—”
“She might not give us any. Think about it. Our lives are here. She can’t see the world if we tie her down.”
“Fuck. And the only thing holding her in LA now is Raine…and maybe you and me.” Beck worried that wouldn’t be enough to keep her from leaving.
“Exactly. If we don’t give her a sense of belonging and family, there’s every chance she’ll walk out for good.”
“We can’t let that happen. We have to show her she belongs with us.”