by Ali Parker
“I guess I’m not like any other woman on the face of the earth.”
She scrunched up her nose. “Oh please. I’m not falling for that. You’re into him. I can see it on your face.”
I could have lied. Easily. I could have told her it was nothing. That I only got flustered talking about Rhys because of how hot he was and how naive I was when it came to men. She’d have believed me—with the right pushing and selection of words, of course. But I didn’t want to lie. I already had so many secrets with being Nessa Night that I couldn’t stand the thought of keeping this from my best friend. Rhys was the most unexpected, blood-rushing, wild thing that had ever happened to me, and Kim deserved to have a seat in the inner circle.
I lifted my chin. “You’re right. I like him. I like him so much it scares the shit out of me.”
Kim’s mouth fell open.
I held up my hands, bracing for the explosion of excitement I could see burning inside her. “It’s still too soon to know where this is going. If it’s even going anywhere. All I know is I enjoy spending time with him and I don’t want it to stop anytime soon.”
“Have you guys…” She trailed off and pumped her eyebrows two times.
“No. We haven’t even kissed.”
“For the love of all that is good, why the hell not?”
I tried to think of an answer for her, but nothing came to mind. There was no good reason why we hadn’t kissed. And did I ever want to.
I wanted to so badly, I almost considered bailing on my shift at the radio station so I could drive to his penthouse and grab him by the shirt and kiss him like my life depended on it. But that wasn’t something Vanny Hampton would do. Nessa Night? Maybe?
But not little old me.
Chapter 25
Rhys
Sandi looked exactly like her father. She had Chris’s big brown eyes and dirty blond hair. She had the same thick brows and dark lashes, and the same lower lip, wide and full and curled upward at the edges in what looked like a permanent smile.
When I handed her the birthday present I had for her, her eyes lit up. It was a fairly big box wrapped in balloon-printed neon paper. There was a giant pink bow slapped on the top, which Sandi promptly tore off and stuck to her hair. She beamed up at me.
I chuckled. “It looks better on you than it did on the present.”
Chris came down the hall behind his daughter, who had yet to invite me inside. He put a hand on her shoulder and gently guided her back. “Look out, Sandi. You have to let him in before you start accepting presents.” Chris grinned at me as I stepped inside, then clapped an arm around my shoulders. “I’m glad you could make it, man. And right on time, too. Dinner is coming out of the oven in fifteen. Vanny will be here in five. And Nannie has already had two drinks, so she’s more tolerable than normal.”
I laughed. “Lucky me.”
Sandi tugged on her father’s pant leg. “Can I open this one now, Daddy?”
I still found it a little weird that there was a human being on the planet who called my best friend Daddy.
Chris shook his head. “No, baby. Put it in the living room with the others. We’ll do presents after dinner.”
Sandi pouted.
Chris put a hand on her back and steered her toward the living room as I closed the front door behind me and stepped out of my boots. I was just shrugging out of my leather jacket when the door flung back open and hit me right between my shoulder blades.
“Oh, shoot!”
I turned to find Vanny standing there with her hands cupped to her mouth.
“Sorry, Rhys. I didn’t know you were standing there. Did I hurt you?”
My back burned. “No, just a bump. I was the idiot standing in the way.”
Her cheeks burned a deep shade of red. “Ugh. I’m sorry. You’re sure you’re all right?”
She’d hurled the door open like she was an angry wrestler stepping into a match, but sure, I was all right. “Perfectly fine. Let me help you with your coat.”
I hung our jackets up for us once she’d taken hers off, and then I went to follow the voices of the others down the hall toward the kitchen. But Vanny caught my wrist and pulled me back. I searched her eyes, confused. “Is something wrong?”
She shook her head. “No. Not at all. I just… I wanted to apologize for running out on you the other night. I got spooked. I know we’re just doing this for my reunion and I guess I got a little frazzled when it started to feel a little real. I was having a nice time with you. I didn’t mean to spoil it.”
“You didn’t spoil it.”
She gave me a blank stare. “I ran like a coward.”
I laughed.
She looked at her feet.
I reeled in my laughter and put a hand on her shoulder. “You have nothing to be sorry about, Vanny. And for the record, I had a nice time too. Every time we’ve been together, I’ve had a nice time.”
She smiled. Then she released my wrist, realizing she still had a hold of me. I gestured for her to walk ahead of me down the hall to the kitchen. She took me up on it, and we emerged in the kitchen where the family was gathered.
It smelled like spaghetti. The kitchen was hot from the oven and all the bodies. Nannie and a couple of other relatives I hadn’t met before were sitting at the table sipping glasses of white wine with ice cubes in them. Vanny’s mother was bent over the stove, checking on what appeared to be a spaghetti casserole that already had my mouth watering. Vanny’s father was slicing bread and dropping the pieces into a basket, and Sandi was hovering in the archway between the kitchen and the living room, staring longingly at the collection of presents sitting on the coffee table.
Mrs. Hampton saw me first. She closed the oven with her hip and flashed me a smile that looked very much like her daughter’s. “Rhys, it’s so nice of you to come tonight. Can I get you a drink? We have wine, beer, soda?”
“A glass of wine would be great. Whatever is open.”
She saw to pouring me a glass while Vanny made the rounds and said hello to everyone. Chris came into the kitchen and greeted her with a half hug, which she promptly shrugged out of before going to the table to say hello to her Nannie and aunts and uncles. Chris came over to me and cracked the tab on a can of beer. “What were you talking to my sister about at the front door?”
“Just catching up.”
“About what?”
“You worried, Chris?”
“About you? Always.”
I was saved by Mrs. Hampton, who arrived to hand me a glass of red wine. “How have you been, Rhys? I heard about your father. I’m so sorry to hear about his health. That must be really hard for everyone.”
Ah. Yes. That.
It had been leaked to the press that my father had cancer. Stage-three pancreatic cancer, to be precise. I wasn’t sure who had talked to the media outlets about it and I didn’t much care. All I knew was now my father was spending even more time at the estate, which meant my mother was drinking more, and Gigi was the only one with any sort of sense to keep the house staff working efficiently. I’d spent the last couple of nights at the estate to help out and make sure nobody was getting into any trouble.
It wasn’t ideal.
I cleared my throat, aware of the several pairs of eyes that had now shifted in my direction, including Vanny’s. “Thank you, Mrs. Hampton. He’s keeping in high spirits.” A complete lie. “With any luck, he’ll make a full recovery.” Another lie. “He’s spending a lot of time at home and taking it easy. Thank you for thinking of him.” Another lie. I didn’t feel any gratitude for this. I resented it actually.
Vanny was my sanctuary as of late. I didn’t want any moments I had with her tainted with talk of my dickwad father, even if he was dying a slow, painful death.
Mrs. Hampton offered me the kind of sympathetic smile I hated most. “It’s good he has a son like you to take care of him.”
I almost laughed. Instead, I just nodded. Then she walked away.
“Well played,” C
hris said.
“Played?”
“Your dad is a douche canoe. Cancer doesn’t change that.”
I grinned into my wine and took a sip. Chris clapped me on the back before crossing the kitchen to go to his daughter and steer her away from the presents, which she hadn’t been able to tear her gaze from.
I spent the next five or so minutes watching the family hustle and bustle around each other. The aunts and uncles asked Vanny questions about the dress shop, which she answered with what I knew was false enthusiasm. Sandi was bombarded with birthday wishes and older folk pinching her cheeks. Mr. and Mrs. Hampton stole a couple of kisses in front of the oven as they put the finishing touches on dinner. Vanny avoided Nannie, who watched her granddaughter with acute old lady judgment.
Despite the underlying tension, the room was thick with happiness. And gratitude. And I was happy to be there.
We sat down to eat at quarter after six. My plate was a glorious mix of salad, spaghetti casserole, and freshly baked bread with butter—Sandi’s birthday meal request. Apparently, it was a tradition for the birthday boy or girl, regardless of their age, to be able to request whatever meal they wanted.
I nodded at Sandi, who was sitting between me and her father. “Good choice on the spaghetti casserole, kid.”
She nodded with her mouth full and a noodle poking out of the corner of her mouth. “Right?”
Everyone laughed.
Well, everyone except Nannie, but I was beginning to suspect she was incapable of such a thing.
As I got up to refill my glass of water and add a splash of red wine to Vanny’s glass, Nannie turned to her granddaughter and pursed her lips. “Vanny?”
Vanny looked up. I could practically her hear heart sinking as I settled back down into the chair beside her. Without thinking, I put my hand on her knee. She didn’t pull away.
“Yes, Nannie?” Vanny asked. Her voice caught in her throat. Nobody else seemed to notice. She was preparing for whatever words were about to come out of her grandmother’s mouth. And so was I. I wanted to catch them in the air before they reached Vanny’s ears and snuff them out. I wanted to protect her. I wanted to spare her.
But family was complicated.
Nannie nodded at the bowl of salad on the table. “The greens are very good, you know?”
Vanny looked down at her plate. It was balanced with a little bit of everything. “I know. I’ve tried it.”
“You should take more.”
Mrs. Hampton cleared her throat. “Mom. Not right now, okay?”
Not right now? I thought. How about not ever?
Nannie smiled, but there was no pleasantness in it. Then she reached forward and used the tongs to take another helping, which she dropped on Vanny’s plate. “There you go. More greens like that will help you get a boyfriend. Maybe you’ll run into someone at that reunion of yours. When is that again? Next weekend?” She laughed lightly as she picked at her own plate. “Not much you can accomplish in one week of good eating, but maybe it will help clear your skin up and—”
I was talking before I had the sense to realize I should keep quiet. “Vanny doesn’t need a boyfriend.”
The dining room went quiet. The stereo played a soft rock song in the living room. Vanny turned slowly to me and mouthed the words, what are you doing.
I squeezed her knee again to reassure her I had this under control. Then I forced myself to smile at Nannie, who was watching me like the judgmental little shrew she was. “She’s with me.”
Vanny dropped her fork. Chris nearly inhaled a full noodle and proceeded to cough and hack before taking one end of the noodle and pulling it out of his throat. Sandi gagged. Mr. Hampton sputtered into his glass of beer. And Mrs. Hampton clapped her hands together delightedly.
Nannie didn’t even flinch. “Oh. You are, are you?”
I nodded and stared into the eye of the beast. “We are. We’ve been keeping it under wraps because Chris here might try to murder me in my sleep, but it’s true. Your granddaughter is a very special woman. Only a fool wouldn’t be able to see that.”
I hoped she knew I was referring to her.
Vanny let out a nervous laugh. Chris gripped the seat of his chair so tightly, the wood groaned. My jaw started to ache as if anticipating the punch he so desperately wanted to throw at me. But for now, I knew I was safe at the dinner table of his daughter’s birthday.
Nannie looked from me to Vanny. “Vanny, is this true? Are you and Rhys dating?”
Vanny swallowed. “Yes, we are.”
I grinned and fell against the back of my chair. “It feels good to have it all out in the open. Doesn’t it?” I wrapped an arm around Vanny’s shoulders.
She blushed. But she nodded and gazed up at me anyway. “It does.”
And then, without thinking, spurred on by the burning need to stick it to her grandmother, I leaned in and kissed the girl I was falling for like it might be our last day on earth.
Screw the PG 13 birthday party.
This was our moment.
Chapter 26
Rhys
The room was silent. Vanny’s lips on mine were softer than silk. And warm. She tasted like tomatoes and garlic. Her tongue slipped into my mouth and she let out a breathy sigh that only I could hear. I didn’t want to pull away. I wanted to gather her up and carry her out of this place and show her what it was really like to be kissed by Rhys Daniels.
But this was a family-friendly function.
So begrudgingly, I pulled back, leaving her breathless with wet lips in her seat.
I twirled spaghetti around my fork and grinned around at everyone like a buffoon. “This is the most delicious spaghetti I’ve ever had, Mrs. Hampton. Thank you for having me tonight.”
Mrs. Hampton beamed at me. “My pleasure, Rhys.”
Nannie, bless her aging, heartless, wicked, shriveled little soul, did not say a word.
Chris, however, had silent words blowing out of his ears. He nudged my ribs with his elbow. “You and I need to talk.” His voice was low. Too low for the others to hear as the conversation picked back up again. But I knew Vanny was listening.
“Can I finish my spaghetti?”
“No.”
Vanny glared at her brother. “Leave it alone, Chris. This has nothing to do with you.”
Chris got to his feet. “It’ll only take a minute.”
“I’m coming too,” Vanny said.
I put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her before she tried to stand. “I can handle it. It’s fine. Don’t worry. Enjoy your food.” I leaned over to whisper in her ear. “And don’t touch that fucking salad. You’ll undo all my hard work.”
She giggled.
I moved away from the table with Chris hot on my heels. We stepped out into the hall and he marched me right out the front door onto the front step and closed the door behind him.
I turned. “Before you get too angry—”
He wound back with a fist. It hurtled through the air toward me. I stumbled back. He missed me by inches. My heel slipped off the edge of the front porch and I pitched backward. Chris caught the front of my shirt, saving me from falling backward down the front stairs. Then he spun me around and slammed my back into the side of the house.
His lips peeled off his teeth in a snarl. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t beat the living hell out of you right now, you piece of lying fucking shit.”
I tried to pry his hands out of the front of my shirt. “Chris, you jackass. I lied.”
He slammed me against the house again. “Bullshit! You’re fucking my little sister, aren’t you? Aren’t you?”
“No!”
“Liar.” His eyes burned with anger. I’d never seen him like this before. That wasn’t true. I’d seen him like this one time when I was shit faced at a bar and a group of guys tried to beat met up in the alley behind a night club. Chris had been there to save my ass. He unleashed holy hell on them and left them all whimpering into puddles of blood littered with the
ir teeth.
I had no intention of losing any teeth tonight. “Chris, listen to me, you dumb fucking ox. I’m not dating your sister. I said that to get your bully of a grandmother off her back so she could enjoy one fucking night in peace without being picked apart about her weight or the food on her plate.”
His grip on my shirt loosened.
I wrenched myself free and straightened out the collar of my shirt. It was useless. His sweaty fingers had pressed wrinkles into it and the fabric wouldn’t lie flat.
“But that kiss…”
“Was to drive it home,” I said.
“It looked pretty real to me.”
It felt real, too. And like kissing an angel. A sexy angel that I wanted to do very naughty things to. “I’m not going to give her a half-assed kiss, Chris. She’s cute.”
“Watch it.”
“No, you watch it. I’m the only one in there who stepped in to spare her. The rest of you leave Vanny to the wolves where your grandmother is concerned. It isn’t fair. And I know it’s not my place but I had to do something. I was speaking before I realized what I was doing.”
Chris licked his lips. “Tell me the truth.”
I waited.
“Do you like my sister, Rhys? I mean it. Don’t fucking lie to me right now.”
“I—” I broke off. My instinct was to lie. He didn’t need to know I was falling for the girl. Hell, Vanny didn’t even know. Although after that kiss, she might be having conflicting thoughts about the whole thing. I rubbed the back of my neck. “Yes, I like her.”
Chris groaned and slumped back against the wall he’d slammed me into. “Of course you do. Fuck.”
“Why is that such a bad thing?”
“Really, Rhys?”
“What? I’m really not good enough for her? You really think I’m that terrible?”
“Yes, I do. She deserves better than a womanizer, Rhys. I know your track record. I know how quickly you get bored. And I know you’re damaged after everything that went down after Trish. If you’re using my baby sister to make yourself feel better and you hurt her, I swear to God I’ll rip you a new asshole.”