“This looks amazing. I have some china that I think would look great in those new cabinets.” She turned back to him and smiled. “I could live with you smiling at me like that for a very long time. What do you say about you moving in here? There are plenty of bedrooms if you don’t want to sleep with me until we get to know one another better. That way, you can get a feel for the house and what you want to be done to it.”
She stood there for several minutes. He waited. Whatever she was thinking about, it took away her smile and made the area between her pretty brows wrinkle. It was all he could do to stay seated and not want to hold her. When she sat down across from him, he finally asked her what was hurting her.
“Will you just listen to what I have to say?” He nodded, then explained how it would be difficult for him to keep that a promise. “I understand that. All the men are like that in this family. They’re the dragons that want to slay anything or anyone for the people they love. And you do love me, don’t you, Cole?”
“I do.” She put her hands on the table and took his into hers. “I’m here for you, darling. I promise whatever it is, the two of us can talk about it, and you can tell me who I have to slay for you.”
That made her laugh. Then the sadness was back. “Rylie and I never went anywhere without the other. It wasn’t, I don’t think, because we were twins, but just something that sisters do. People just got used to seeing us together, so they never had to figure out which one they were talking to. Understand, so far?”
“Yes. I think the two of you are closer than most siblings I know. Even Dillon is very close to you two. I’m assuming you leaned on each other a great deal when you were growing up.” She told him they were all they had, despite having parents. “That’s sad that the two people that were supposed to love you didn’t do a very good job of getting to know you. Go on. Tell me what you need to.”
“Thank you.” She got up again, walking to the new windows to look at the back yard. Cole could tell he was going to have to have the faeries spruce it up a little bit before the weather turned again. “We were headed into town with Mom to do some school shopping. We had just turned twelve, and to us, that was such a big deal. In fact, we were already telling people we were going to be thirteen soon. That started the day after our birthday.”
She laughed a little but didn’t come back to the table. Instead, she stared out at the back yard and commented on it needing someone to fix it up. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Watson was moving to the group of faeries. Cole would bet anything before she finished her tale; the yard would be beautiful.
“Mom would get sidetracked when we were with her. It never occurred to either of us, I don’t think that she was a terrible person for leaving two young girls alone in a large department store. So we made our way to the girl’s department but got caught up in the display for the older kid’s section.” Ryan laughed but didn’t say what she found funny. When she turned toward him, he could see that the faeries were indeed working in the yard. “We never dressed alike. Well, we might have as babies, but I don’t remember seeing any pictures of us when we were infants, so I have no way of knowing. Rylie and I grabbed an armload of clothing and headed to the dressing room.”
He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the rest. Cole had to calm his dragon several times while she stood there. The tears rolling down her cheeks had him wanting to grab her up and take her away from whatever was bothering her. But he also knew that on some level, he needed to hear what she had to tell him.
Chapter 4
Closing her eyes to remember, she could see the man standing there as if it were happening all over again. However, when strong arms wrapped around her, lifting her up from the floor, she leaned her head into Cole’s chest and listened to his heart beating, beating harder due to his anger, which wasn’t aimed at her. Ryan didn’t know why she understood that, but she did.
“We entered the changing room, knowing full well that if anything we got didn’t fit, we’d not be able to bring it back. Mom would take us there, get what we handed her, and then we’d be done until the next school year.” She let out a long breath as she continued. “The door to the little area closed behind us. Neither of us took any notice of it, as we were excited to be able to do this on our own. It wasn’t until we heard the door locking that we turned and saw him standing there.”
She thought about all the things that had been done to them. More of the things that might well have happened to them had either of them been alone in the tiny changing room. The things the man had threatened them with clung in her mind every time she thought of that day and the weeks of recuperating later. Holding Cole’s hand, she continued.
“He was naked. He also had a gun. Pointing it at us, he told us to take off our clothes. ‘Take everything off,’ he said several times.” She told how they’d been too slow for the man. That he’d hit Rylie with the butt of the gun and then ripped her things from her. “He said we were going to fix him up. Since we were only kids, we didn’t have any idea what he was talking about. But he was excited. His cock wasn’t large, but it was hard. As soon as he touched Rylie with his hand, he came all over her.”
“Where was your mother at this time?” Ryan said they didn’t know until later, but she’d left them there in favor of going home. “She just decided that two twelve-year-old children were going to be fine at the store alone? Christ.”
“It wasn’t the first time she’d done something like that. We didn’t have anything like a cell phone either. As much as I’d like to say it was the last time, it wasn’t.” Letting out a slow breath, she told Cole about the man. “He masturbated over us several times while he had us locked in the tiny rooms. By then, he’d tied Rylie to the door to one of the rooms. I think it was to keep me in line. But as he started to hit Rylie several times, I started to hit back. It was then that he decided he wanted sex.” She thought about what she’d done next. Told Cole of the things he’d done to them when he raped them both. It wasn’t as hard to tell him as she thought it might have been. However, she could feel his anger as it got stronger and stronger. Stopping, she looked at him. “There isn’t any reason for you to be angry, Cole. Really. It happened a long time ago. And even though it still haunts us both, we’ve been able to, for the most part, put it behind us.”
“Perhaps you have—a little at least. But for me, I want to kill the fucker right now. Even if he is dead, I want to find him, dig him up, then kill him in ways that would make me feel so much better.” He kissed her on the nose, a place she was suddenly finding erotic. “Go on now. Tell me the rest so I can feel better.”
“I think we were in the room for a few hours. When we were able to get away, the store had long since closed, and it was dark outside. Neither of us had a cell phone, so we found one in the billing department and called the police.” He asked what had happened to the man. “He is dead.”
“You killed him.” She nodded and closed her eyes. “How? Did you kill him with his own gun, Ryan?”
“No. It wasn’t even real. The gun, I mean. It was a water pistol.” She looked at him and saw something there that not even her own mother had displayed. Compassion. Love, and even understanding. Neither of her parents had ever understood any of their children. “I took one of the hangers that was in the room with us and beat him with it. I couldn’t stop. Rylie was hurting badly by then because of me fighting him back. So was I, but I was more angry than in pain. I hit him in the throat with the hanger crook and ripped his throat out.”
“Good for you.” Ryan asked him if he’d heard what she’d just said. “I did. You saved the two of you by killing a bastard. I’m sure that everyone thought you did a wonderful thing in killing him.”
“No. Some did. The police, especially. They were so happy we were both all right that they visited us in the hospital daily. Our parents didn’t, however. They were embarrassed that we’d called the police before calling them.
You see, the police found us in the store naked and covered from our head to our feet in ejaculation and blood. Mom didn’t speak to us for months afterwards. Dad grounded us for our part in a man’s death.” Cole told her that he was glad and proud of her for killing the man. “We didn’t get our names in the paper. However, they did say that we were twins. It didn’t take much to figure out it was us. People were calling our parents and telling them what a wonderful thing we’d done. That only made matters worse. Right up until the day they were killed, they never forgave us for doing what we’d done.”
Standing up, Cole held her in his arms. When he swung her around, laughing like a loon, she asked him what he thought was so funny. After kissing her, making her feel like something special and fragile, he put his forehead to hers and smiled.
“You not only saved your sister but me as well. Don’t you see? Had you not done what you did, then we would never have met. Because I know that he would have killed you, both of you, so he’d be able to do what he’d done again and again.” She asked him how he knew. “Because, my dearest love, he was practiced at what he’d done in the first place. He knew where to hide. How long he would have been able to keep you. No one checked those areas to see if anyone was still in the store when it closed. He knew that. Do you know his name?”
She told him. “What do you think you’re going to do with his name? I told you he was dead. I killed him.” He kissed her again, briefly this time. She stared at him as his smile got larger and larger. “You’re scaring me right now. What are you thinking about?”
“He’s dead.” She nodded, sure that he’d had a stroke or something the way he kept dancing around the room. “I’m having Connor see if he can find him. He just told me that he hasn’t moved on. Now we’re going to get the real scoop on what his plans had been for the two of you. Also, find out if he’d been doing this for some time. I believe he had been. Connor is speaking to him right now.”
She felt someone touch her mind. It was Connor. When he asked her to hang on for just a moment, she could feel another person there. It was sort of like a party-line when Connor asked Cole if he was there yet.
“I am. Tell her what you were able to find out about the man.” Connor told her that the man hadn’t moved on because he was terrified of where he’d end up. “Is that usual?”
For his type of person, yes. He had killed fourteen other children with the scam he was playing while alive. No one had been able to catch him because they didn’t know where he was going to strike next. Each time he’d raped them, he slit their throats. There were no witnesses to lay blame at his feet until the two of you. You and your sister getting out, he told me, was his greatest failure. Just so you know, I’m sending him on. It’s time he paid for his crimes. Cole asked about the other children. They weren’t twins if that is what you mean. He hadn’t ever taken two people back to his hiding places in different stores across the tri-state area. However, with you, Ryan. Had it not been for you and your sister killing him, he said that he’d have gone on doing what he’d done because it was fun for him. His thinking is that you and Rylie should have been hurt more before he tried to end your lives. He’s pissed off that his first time having two was the most fun but also ended his life. He is one sick fucker. Honey, I’m so proud of you for this. For not just killing this monster, but telling Cole about it so I could move him on. He will never bother anyone ever again.
“I thought with him being dead, that was obvious.” Conner explained. “I didn’t know he could still cause trouble after death. I didn’t know anything but that dead was dead. Thank you for telling me. I appreciate it more than I can explain.”
After Connor left their minds, she hadn’t any idea what that would have been called, she got up and wandered around the house again. Cole didn’t follow her. Ryan was glad for it. She needed this time. Alone. After spilling out the story and knowing that at least two people thought she and Rylie had done well for themselves, she stood in front of the windowed doors that led to what she thought was a backyard paradise.
“‘Tis a solarium, my lady.” She asked him what that meant. Ryan thought it was a greenhouse, but Watson told her that since it wasn’t one for planting, but having plants, the humans had called it a solarium. “I believe it a place where you can go and be warm around beautiful plants while you think on your day. I have seen, in my time, where ladies of the house would come to places like this to write letters. Entertain guests while having tea. Things that they knew would show off what they’d been able to keep growing in such harsh winters.” Watson laughed.
“Why do you think that is so funny? I’d think this would be just the place for you to hang out too.” He told her that he had. “Then, why do you laugh? I could use a good giggle myself, I think.”
“‘Tis only that the ladies of the house would have nothing to do with such things, but they would show it off as if they’d had their hands dirty.” He looked at her. “I think you’d be out here, digging in the earth, however. You look to be a woman who would not depend on others for the beauty surrounding you. Is that right?”
“I’ve never done it. Planted anything, I mean. I’m sure as a child, I played outdoors. However, you’re right. I could be depended on to do my fair share of work.” Ryan looked at Watson when he landed on her hand she’d put out for him. “I would never ask anyone to do anything I’d not do myself. That would include staff and you. You’re going to be very good for me, aren’t you, Watson? I mean, just to have a person around that I can bounce ideas off of.”
“You think of me as a person?” She knew the moment Cole had joined them in the room. “My lord, she thinks I am equal to her as a person. My heart right now is so large I think I’m to burst with it. A person. Did you hear that? I’m a person.”
When Watson flew away, she turned and looked at Cole. He was still tracking the little man as he flew around the top of the room they were in. She could see that there were several others like Watson up there with him. She asked him what Watson had meant by being proud to be a person.
“Most would think of him only as a way to get things done. Not an equal, as you had called him by saying he was a person. Faeries are a very shy yet vain group of beings. For months now, the other faeries will hear of nothing else from him but that you called him a person. I’m sure the story will get larger with each telling. It may well be that you’ve fallen in love with him and will only call on him to do things for you that even I cannot do.” Ryan told Cole she was sorry. “No, don’t be. It’s harmless. The others will know that I’d die for you and that while Watson is a good faerie for you, he will never be my equal.”
“Thank you. I think.” She looked around the room they were standing in. “He told me this room was a place for the lady of the house to entertain. I don’t know how much of that I’d be doing. I don’t care for tea. Sitting around on my ass to talk to others isn’t really that much fun. Nor do I think having a computer out here to work would do much good for me. I’d be distracted all the time, wondering what the flowers are blooming into that I can explore. I don’t want to get rid of the area, but I don’t see me using it as a place to unwind either.”
“I don’t know. I can see you coming here to perhaps get some sort of poison to put in my stew should I piss you off. I don’t doubt there will be times when I will get on your last nerve.” She wasn’t sure if he was joking or not until he laughed. “I have been known to be a tad bit stubborn about things. Things that get my health into jeopardy. I was lain low not too long ago when I tried to take on more than I should have. I know better now.”
“I should hope so. Now that I’m used to having you around, I’d rather not have to figure out how to be without you.” Ryan turned and looked at Cole. “There are times when I think you’re insane for wanting to be around me. Then others, I try to figure out why I need you in my life so badly. Those are easier to figure out than why you want to be around me.”
&nb
sp; “I love you, that’s why.” She stared at him, his eyes telling her that he really did believe he loved her. “I do, Ryan. So very much so. I would do anything for you, but I won’t. You’ve pointed out that can be dangerous to myself, but I would if you’d allow it.”
“I don’t know what I want from you.” She looked around, then back at him. “I would very much like to live here with you if you’re sure. And all that entails. I mean sleeping with you, in case you didn’t understand.”
Cole pulled her tightly to his body. Not so tight that she felt trapped, but she did feel his erection. Neither of them said anything about sex when he pulled away. Taking her hand into his, they moved through the rest of the house, making changes with the help of the faeries as they went.
To say that she was confused was an understatement. Did he not want her to live here? Was he appalled by her story? She supposed time would tell. As they exited the house, Watson told her he’d have the house ready when they returned. That he’d meet her later. Ryan had completely forgotten that they were leaving tonight to go to the trial of Sandra.
~*~
Cole enjoyed the company of the others. When they went out to dinner as a group, he knew full well that the staff, including the cooks, would be well tipped. Their group was loud, friendly, as well as fun. Even when things were going to be serious or have to be taken care of, they would find some humor in what they were up to, and that made dealing with things much easier. At least it was for him.
Cole did keep an eye on Dillon and Rylie. She was a timid little thing, while Dillon tried his best to be a part of the things going on around him. He was never shut down, but Cole could tell that Dillon didn’t want to interrupt anyone when they were speaking. As was the habit of the group, they’d cut a person off when they had something else to impart to whatever you were saying. Dillon was intimidated by that. He was, however, getting used to it or realizing that he had to be one of them if he ever expected to be able to say anything at the table.
Cole: House of Wilkshire ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance Page 5