Rite Of Passage
Page 7
The Perrys lived next door to my parents, always had. Ryan was eighteen months older than me and we’d been best friends growing up, until he’d gone off the rails and dropped out of school. But just because neither he nor I lived with our folks anymore, shouldn’t mean I never visited. Especially now that she was widowed. Ryan had only come home, bringing his young daughter with him, for a few days before heading back to his life up in New York, and they were her only remaining family. She had to be lonely with how rarely he visited. In the nine years I’d been back in town, his trip down for the funeral was the first time I knew about him coming home. Thoughts about Ryan and his sweet little girl had me wanting to reach to cover my lower belly. I resisted, because I didn’t want Dad to know that my mind was beginning to shatter all over again. This was my burden to bear, and I’d do it quietly, without anyone else knowing. My parents were two of the very few people who knew I’d even been pregnant. So, they, of course, knew I’d lost the baby, but even they didn’t know the damage that had happened to me before and after it happened. No one outside myself and the medical staff knew how I miscarried. Which meant my folks had no clue I’d never give them the grandkids they so desperately wanted. That it wasn’t a choice I made, but one that was made for me nine years ago. Tears threatened, but I forced them back down again and cleared my throat.
“Is she unwell?”
“Well, she’s not getting any younger, and I dare say still adjusting to life on her own, but she didn’t say she was ill. Just asked if I could come over for a professional visit to make sure everything was in order. With Kenneth’s passing, she needs a new Will. I should have already contacted her about it.”
His voice trailed off and I heard the guilt in his tone. Guess I wasn’t the only one that hadn’t been visiting her lately.
“Did you want me to come with you and take notes for you?”
At that comment, he put down the file and looked over his eyeglasses and up at me.
“Sweetheart, you don’t need an excuse to go visit her. You know you are as welcome in the Perry’s home as you are at ours. But if you did want to come and take some notes, I would appreciate it.”
With that, he refocused on work and I was silently dismissed with my new layer of guilt. Yeah, I didn’t visit my folks all that often either. I had my little apartment in town where I basically lived like a hermit. It was safer that way.
I went back out to my desk and let my mind wander down memory lane to happier memories of the times Ryan and I had together as kids. Even though he was older than me, we’d been best friends. He’d always called me Bess, the only one who’d ever dared to give me a nickname. My parents were strict with things like using one’s full name, but Ryan hadn’t cared. I was his Bess. Tears pricked my eyes as I wondered how different things would have been if I’d followed him to New York to live my dreams, rather than Miami. Not that he’d invited me or anything. Or that it was his job to watch over me, but he always had. The whole way through school, he’d been like the bad boy older brother I’d never had. Maybe he would have kept me from making such a stupid mistake like falling for James. Or not. Considering he was a single dad himself now. Turns out neither of us made good choices in our twenties.
Based on how the night before his dad was laid to rest went, turns out we didn’t make such great decisions in our thirties, either. The memory of his hands on me had tingles running over my skin and a warmth spreading through me. The chemistry between us had been damn near electric, and there was no denying the man had skills. And he’d definitely grown into a man. He hadn’t ever been a pretty boy, but now he had a roughness, an edge that I couldn’t deny held a hell of a lot of appeal. Life had kicked him down more than once, but he was still going, refusing to give in.
Had to respect that. Even if I was a little jealous that he seemed to be able to do it with such ease while nine years later, I was still struggling to simply keep breathing most days.
Twenty-four hours later, I still couldn’t believe what had happened last night. What Mrs. Perry had requested. How the hell did my father sit there calmly as she’d told what she wanted?
It had been a struggle for me not to go over and shake the damn woman. Was she blind? I sighed. I guess she was. Her grief had made her so.
I eyed my phone again. I’d pulled it out and left it on the coffee table as I paced around my small living room, trying to figure out what to do. I knew what I wanted to do, but it came with a huge risk. I did another lap, chewing on my thumbnail as I went.
“What to do …”
In the end, I decided if the roles were reversed, I’d want to know. And you never knew, maybe Dad wouldn’t ever find out I’d broken client/lawyer confidentiality. I heaved another sigh. Even if this did cost me my job, I couldn’t, in good conscience, sit by while this fucking piece of shit con man took Mrs. Perry for all she was worth.
Snatching up my phone, I pulled up Ryan’s details and hit call. Two rings later his rough voice filled my ear.
“Hello?”
“Ryan?”
Gah, that was the dumbest thing to say. Of course it was him. It was his phone, sounded just like the man. My spine stiffened as silence filled the line. Would he really refuse to talk to me after our night together? I know I’d been pretty short with him afterward but I’d just been trying to protect myself from the inevitable heartache.
“You there Ryan?”
Fuck. He still stayed silent. This wasn’t good. Did he not want to hear from me that much? I needed to say something to stop him from ending the call before it began.
“Look, I’m sorry I’m calling. I know—”
“Quit apologizing. I’m glad you called.”
I was shocked silent for a moment. I heard him talking to someone, his voice muted like he’d covered the phone and I briefly wondered if he was with another woman. Shaking my head, I nearly laughed. He was no doubt with his daughter, not some random woman, but even if he was, what did it got to do with me? We had one night and things didn’t get left on good terms afterward. What did I expect? That he would be sitting around waiting for me to call?
“Sorry ‘bout that. It’s good to hear your voice.”
I doubted that. The earlier shocked silence didn’t really back up that claim. But that wasn’t why I was ringing. I needed to stay on task here.
“I’m not calling to catch up. I’m breaking all sorts of rules by doing this, but I just can’t let this slide.”
“What the fuck’s going on, Bess? Lay it on me straight.”
I tried to ignore the effect the extra gruffness his voice now held had on me.
“Your mom is in trouble, Ryan.”
The bastard laughed. LAUGHED! “What’d she do, piss off the neighborhood watch?”
Fury heated my blood as I hissed my next words down the line to him. “This isn’t funny. You need to come home before the shit hits the fan.”
If I could reach through the phone to slap him, I would. How dare he not take this seriously?”
“Talk.”
As much as I didn’t appreciate the single word command, he was at least not laughing anymore.
“This could cost me my job, Ryan!”
His grunt came through the phone. “Who you bullshitting, babe? You work for your old man. No way would he fire your ass.”
“For this, he would.”
I rubbed at the ache that formed between my breasts. No way would he let this slide. If my father found out I was done for.
“If you ain’t going to tell me what’s going on, I’m hanging up. But seeing as you broke down and called me, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say something is eating at you. I can’t help you or my mother without details.”
Why did he have to be such an asshole right now?
“Your mom asked my dad to come over last night to rework her will.”
“So, what’s the harm in that? Isn’t that routine, considering my father just passed a month ago?”
I didn’t re
member Ryan being nearly this frustrating when we were kids.
“Would you let me continue? That wasn’t all she wanted to do. She cut you and Ashlynn out of the will. For God’s sake, she even signed over the damn house.” I paused for a moment but he said nothing. “Did you hear me? She signed the house over to Pastor Godfrey.
“The fucking pastor?”
“Yes, the one who performed your dad’s service. I knew there was something off with him. I just never imagined he was a fucking con man.” I stopped to take a deep breath and to try to control my anger. “He’s only been in town about eight months. I’m not even certain he is a real preacher, but he’s got a following and your mother seems to be his biggest supporter. I can’t get involved and honestly, I don’t even know where I’d start. I don’t think she’s doing it to be malicious, either. She keeps talking about how she asked you to send Ashlynn to visit her over the summer.”
“Fuck that. I ain’t sending her there now. Not without me. Did she sign any papers?”
Finally he was taking me seriously. “Not yet, but she asked my father to draw them up as soon as possible.”
“I can’t just hop on a plane. I already took Ashlynn out of school for the funeral. I need you to stall your old man with those papers while I figure out some shit here. I’ll be there by the end of the week.”
Or maybe not. “Ryan—”
“Bess, my life is complicated as shit. That’s the best I can do.”
Tears pricked my eyes. I had no idea how else to make it so he’d come home to sort this out.
“Need me to book your flight?”
“You being nice to me, ice princess?”
Gah, such an asshole. At least his bullshit put a stop to my waterworks that had been about to start.
“No. You don’t strike me as a world traveler.”
“I’m not a moron, babe. I can book a flight.”
I was done. If he didn’t want to come home then I was just going to have to find another way to save Mrs. Perry from this asshole con man.
“Fine.
“Thanks for calling.”
Yeah sure. So far he hadn’t sounded grateful in the least. I still wasn't even sure he believed me.
“Just make it right, Ryan. I’d hate for your mother to lose everything.”
And clearly I couldn’t just leave it with Ryan to take care of. Looks like I was going to have to get involved after all. Especially since I couldn’t be sure Ryan would even come home to help.
“Finding Needles” by Khloe Wren releases October 22, 2019 and is book ten in the Charon MC series. It is a spin-off from Janine Infante Bosco’s Satan’s Knights MC universe and can be read and enjoyed as a standalone.
Other Books by Janine Infante Bosco
The Tempted Series: *all can be read as standalone*
Illicit Temptations (Book One)
Forbidden Temptations (Book Two)
Uncontrollable Temptations (Book Three)
Reckless Temptations (Book Four)
Lethal Temptations (Book Five)
Eternal Temptations (Book Six)
The Nomad Series: *all can be read as standalone*
Drifter (Book One)
Wanderer (Book Two)
Roamer (Book Three)
Loner (Book Four)
Satan’s Knights novels: *all can be read as standalone*
From the Ruins
The Devil Don’t Sleep
Riding the Edge
Parrish
The Leather and Lace Duet
(Blackout Book One)
(Blackout Book Two)
Standalone novels
Raging Inferno – From the Burn Me Anthology – Full novel
The Riverdale Series: *should be read in series order*
Pieces – Book One
Broken Pieces – Book Two
Fitting the Pieces – Book Three
Jake’s Journal (Book 3.5) novella – companion to the series.
Coming soon - Satan’s Knights Prospect Trilogy
Shifting Gears
Breaking the Chains
Walking the Line
About the Author
Janine writes emotionally charged novels with an emphasis on family bonds, strong willed female characters, and alpha male men who will do anything for the women they love. She loves to interact with fans and fellow avid romance readers like herself.
She is proud of her success as an author and the friendships she’s made in the book community but her greatest accomplishment to date would be her two sons Joseph and Paul.
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