by RJ Nolan
Tightness grew in Sam’s chest. “Please don’t cry. Come here.” She opened her arms. The tightness in her chest eased when Riley readily accepted the offer. Sam tugged Riley against her. A bone-deep need to keep Riley safe and ease her pain filled her. “Thank you for telling me, but it doesn’t matter why you dated Keith or why you chose to break it off. This is on him. He was involved with drugs, and you know how drugs mess with a person’s head, especially cocaine.”
A memory of that day flashed through Sam’s mind. Riley was pressed against the wall with Keith tearing at her clothes. “Even knowing that I was going to get shot, I would do it all again—in a heartbeat.”
Riley pressed her face against Sam’s chest. “He had his hand over my mouth, whispering in my ear.” Tremors shook her slender frame. “He kept saying how he was going to…going to fuck me, then blow my brains out.” Her tears broke loose in a torrent.
Oh my God. Has she been holding that inside all this time? “You’re safe. I’ll never let anyone hurt you again.” The vow surprised her. She knew from hard experience that she couldn’t protect Riley every second, but she was damn well going to try. She stroked Riley’s back and murmured soothingly to her. “That’s it. Let it all out. Let it go. Once and for all.”
Riley’s arm tightened around Sam’s waist.
Sam placed a tender kiss on the top of her head.
Riley pulled back and looked up. Her eyes were red-rimmed and her face blotchy from crying. “I’m sorr—”
Sam pressed her finger against Riley’s soft lips. “No. No apologies. I told you, my shoulder is always available.”
“Thank you.” Riley pulled a tissue from her pocket and wiped her tear-streaked face. “I can’t tell you how much that means to me.” A yawn seemed to catch her by surprise, and she quickly covered her mouth with her hand.
Glancing at her watch, Sam frowned. “It’s after eleven. I didn’t mean to keep you out so late. Are you working tomorrow?”
“I wish. My aunt and uncle are coming down to go to lunch. How about you? Do you have plans?”
“I haven’t seen Kim and Jess in a few weeks. Kim’s been under the weather. I’m going to LA to see them.”
“Oh.” Riley’s shoulders slumped.
Was she going to ask me to go with her to lunch?
Riley’s smile looked a bit forced. “I hope Kim feels better.” A second yawn struck.
As if it were contagious, Sam yawned too. “I should get you home. It’s been a long day.” She eased herself off the couch, then offered her hand to Riley.
Riley allowed herself to be pulled off the couch and then grasped Sam’s other hand as well. “Despite the drama,” Riley ducked her head for a moment, “and the tears, I really had a good time today.” She squeezed Sam’s hands. “I can’t thank you enough. For everything.”
“You’re welcome.” Sam lost herself in Riley’s expressive green eyes. Giving in to the impulse, she leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Riley’s forehead. “Let’s get you home.”
Chapter 28
Riley pulled off the blue sweater and tossed it toward the other clothes strewn across the bed. It doesn’t matter what I wear. They’re not going to take this well. After her talk with Sam, she was determined to finally tell her aunt and uncle who she really was—no matter what the consequences. She had tossed and turned the night before, plagued by nightmares of the shooting, a stark reminder that hiding had already cost too many people too much.
A glance at the clock made her frown. Her aunt and uncle were due within the hour. She grabbed her favorite deep green shirt and slipped it on, then pulled on a pair of dove-gray slacks. As satisfied with her attire as she was going to get, she set about cleaning up her bedroom.
The sound of the front door closing echoed through the quiet condo.
Her heart shot into overdrive. I’m not ready. She paced next to her bed. Maybe she should have talked to Sam and asked if she had any ideas on the best way to handle this.
“I’ll be right out,” Riley called. After grabbing the last of the clothes off the bed, she put them in the walk-in closet. As she came out of the closet, she felt a presence in the room.
Aunt Margaret was standing next to her dresser, one of Annie’s furry ears twisted between her fingers, holding her out at arm’s length as if the bear were dirty or smelly. “What is this?”
Riley snatched Annie from her aunt’s hand and cradled the bear against her chest. “A friend gave her to me.”
“You never were very skilled at choosing your friends.” The corners of Aunt Margaret’s mouth twitched. “That thing is hardly an appropriate accessory for your bedroom. If you must keep it, the closet seems a fitting place for it. I’d have thought you’d finally outgrown such childishness by now.”
A long-forgotten memory surfaced of her aunt holding another teddy bear by its furry ear. Bernie. Riley’s ragged, much-loved teddy bear had been taken from her only days after she had gone to live with her aunt and uncle. She could still remember the disdain in her aunt’s voice.
“You’re much too old to be clinging to such childish things.”
Riley’s grip tightened on Annie. Not again. She fought against years of giving in to her aunt’s wishes. If she couldn’t stand up to her about something as simple as a bear, how did she expect to tell them who she really was? She stepped past her aunt and carefully placed Annie back on her dresser. “I liked her just where she was.”
“Riley.” Her aunt’s tone held a clear warning.
“Maybe you’re right. The dresser isn’t the best place for her.” Riley picked up Annie.
Aunt Margaret nodded like a queen granting her approval to a loyal subject.
Fueled by the memory of her childhood bear, Riley refused to back down. Still holding Annie, she marched over to her bed. “She would be much more comfortable on my bed.” She fluffed the pillow shams, then propped Annie up among the pillows. “Much better.” She straightened and met her aunt’s shocked gaze.
If her aunt’s masklike face were still capable of producing a frown, it would have been ominous. Hazel eyes narrowed as she eyed Riley. “You’ve gained weight.” It wasn’t a question; it was an accusation.
Riley barely stopped herself from running her hand over her stomach. With Sam, she didn’t feel as if she had to monitor every bite. While she had gained a pound, there was no way her aunt could tell. Realizing what her aunt was trying to do, she stiffened her resolve. Don’t let her do this to you anymore. You don’t want to end up like her.
Her gaze swept over her aunt. She had clearly lost weight. Bird-thin arms showed below the sleeves of her stylish dress. She had passed waif-thin and moved on to gaunt. At sixty-eight, every part of her aunt that could be nipped, tucked, or injected had been—numerous times.
“I suppose this is due to the bad influence of your new friend?” Aunt Margaret asked. “Where did you meet this person?”
“Margaret, what’s taking so long?”
Relief washed over Riley at the sound of her uncle’s voice. “We’ll be right there, Uncle Rielly.” She slipped past her aunt and out into the hallway. Her relief was short-lived. Out of the badger’s cave and into the lion’s den.
“Good afternoon,” Riley said as she approached the couch.
Uncle Rielly nodded and glanced at his watch as he stood.
That’s when Riley realized her aunt had not followed her out of the bedroom. Before she could turn back around, the click of Aunt Margaret’s heels sounded on the wood floor as she entered the living room.
It’s now or never. Riley took a deep breath. “I have something important I need tell you before we leave for the restaurant.”
“Whatever it is, you can tell us at the restaurant,” Aunt Margaret said. “I don’t want to be late for our reservation.”
Uncle Rielly and Aunt Margaret started toward the door.
“No,” Riley said. “Now.”
They turned in unison to face her.
Uncle Riell
y’s brow lowered. “You heard your aunt. Let’s go.”
This was not starting out well, so Riley played the card she knew would get a response. “This is a family matter that should not be discussed in public.” As she expected, they returned to the living room without a word.
“Please sit down.”
They sat on the couch. Uncle Rielly glanced at his watch. “Fine. What is so important?”
Riley gazed down into their faces. She tried, as she had since she had been a child, to feel anything more than gratitude and a sense of obligation for them, but the emotions just wouldn’t come. The final realization that she was never going to please them settled around her heart. She would never be happy until she claimed her life for herself.
“If you have something to say, say it.” Uncle Rielly’s voice cut through her thoughts.
Riley’s anxiety closed her throat for a moment. She pushed through the fear. Just say it. She met her uncle’s gaze. “I’m gay.”
He stared at her, his face an unreadable mask.
Riley glanced down at Aunt Margaret. Two bright spot of color stood out on her heavily made-up cheeks. Her mouth worked like a fish out of water.
“That is unacceptable. I will not permit it.” Judgment pronounced, Uncle Rielly rose from the couch and gave her a hard stare. “Do not ever mention it again.” He turned his back and walked away. “Come along, Margaret.”
Aunt Margaret scurried after him.
Riley’s temper flared. He thinks he can just tell me not to be gay? She forced her anger down. Be calm and firm. Use his own methods. Don’t react—act.
“It doesn’t matter if you find it acceptable or not,” she said to his forbidding back. “I’m gay. I won’t hide who I am anymore—not for anyone.”
He spun on his heel and stormed back to her. “You will not defy me on this.”
Riley took an involuntarily step back, fear shafting through her at the blazing anger on his face. It was totally at odds with the behavior of the cold, emotionless man she had grown up around. An image of Sam flashed through her mind. Drawing strength from it, Riley refused to be cowed. “This is who I am. Who I’ve always been. You can’t make it go away by refusing to acknowledge it.” She met his angry stare head-on. “I’m gay. Nothing you say will change that.”
The large veins on Uncle Rielly’s temples began to pulse. His apoplectic rage robbed him of speech.
“Your parents would be so ashamed of you,” Aunt Margaret said.
Riley glared at her. Leave my parents out of this. She forced herself to reply calmly. “You’re wrong. My parents would be proud of me. They always encouraged me to be myself and be true to my feelings.”
Aunt Margaret sneered. “Liberal claptrap from your mother most likely. I’m sure she manipulated your father into believing that tripe.” She got right in Riley’s face. “If it wasn’t for that white-trash little slut he married, your father could have made something of himself. Instead, he ended up working as a common mechanic. If he had stayed in Los Angeles with his family, where he belonged, he would still be alive.”
Searing anger blindsided Riley. Her hands fisted at her sides. “My father loved my mother and would’ve done anything for her. He wouldn’t have wanted the empty life that you and Uncle Rielly have with your pretentious friends and your sanctimonious posturing. He married my mother because he loved her. Not because of her money.” She jerked her head toward her uncle. “Like he did.”
Riley’s head whipped back from the force of her aunt’s slap. She pressed her fingers to her lip; they came away bloody. She actually hit me. Her aunt’s weapon of choice had always been words. In all the years she had lived with them, neither her aunt nor uncle had ever physically struck her.
“Don’t you dare speak to us like that. Your uncle and I did everything for you—took you in, raised you as our own—and this is the thanks we get?” An ugly sneer twisted her aunt’s lips. “You think I wanted to give up my life for the likes of you? I never wanted you. Never!”
Acid burned in Riley’s stomach. She had always known her aunt had not been pleased about taking her in, but to hear it put so bluntly…
“Blood tells in the end. You are the same white trash as your mother.” Aunt Margaret drew her hand back to strike again.
Uncle Rielly grabbed her arm before Riley could. “That’s enough, Margaret.” His cold, distant demeanor was once more firmly in place. Flat, emotionless eyes gazed down at Riley. “You think hard about what you are doing. If you persist with this, I will disown you. I won’t have you shame me or the family name. Drop this foolishness. Now.”
This was it. The moment Riley had dreaded since first realizing she was gay. She gathered her courage around her like a protective blanket. “I can’t do that. This is who I am. I’m gay.”
“So be it,” Uncle Rielly said as if accepting a criminal’s plea. “I expect you to be out of the condo within the hour.”
“What are you talking about? I own this condo.”
The cold smile that appeared on Uncle Rielly’s face sent alarm bells ringing.
“No. You don’t. I own this condo.” His gaze swept the room before coming to rest on her. “And everything in it.”
Riley gasped, feeling as if she had taken a blow to the solar plexus. That was all she was to him—a possession. Her gaze darted to her aunt, who looked as shocked as Riley felt.
“But I bought it from you last year. I’ve been paying the mortgage.”
“You’ve been paying rent,” Uncle Rielly said.
Riley remembered agreeing to delay the transfer of ownership for six months due to tax issues, but that had been a year ago. With Uncle Rielly holding her power of attorney, the accountant who handled her bills would not have questioned her change of heart about going through with the sale. No matter how busy she was, she should have never let him talk her into giving him that kind of control over her finances. But he was her uncle, and she had trusted him. The only saving grace was that it was a limited POA, or there was no knowing what else he would have done. She stared at the man she thought she knew. “Why did you stop the sale and not tell me?”
“I was starting to see the signs,” Uncle Rielly said. “It was only a matter of time before you once again succumbed to your low-class nature.”
What was he talking about? Then it hit her. He had known about Linda. But how? We were so careful.
“Reconsider your actions,” he said. “I’m giving you one last chance. Apologize and never mention this again.”
Riley either buckled under to his demands and allowed him to control the rest of her life—or walked away. She glanced at her aunt.
Aunt Margaret stared back, her face filled with contempt.
All those years. Tears stung the back of Riley’s eyes. All those years I spent trying to please them. It was all for nothing. She turned her gaze upward for a moment. I tried, Mom and Dad. I really tried. She faced her uncle and aunt, refusing to let them see her tears. “I’ll have my personal things out of the condo within the hour.”
Chapter 29
Riley slumped into the chair next to a large window overlooking the hotel parking lot. She felt her temper rekindle at the thought of what her aunt had done to Annie. She hugged the bear to her chest. After her aunt and uncle had left, she had found Annie on the floor of the closet. Her gaze drifted over to the items lying on the hotel room bed. My whole life reduced to two suitcases, a laptop bag, and some plastic garbage bags.
In the end, it had taken her more than an hour to pack, but by the time her aunt and uncle had returned from the restaurant, she had the last of her personal items out of the condo. Other than to demand the keys to the condo, her uncle had not spoken to her. He’d taken the keys, turned his back, and walked away. Her aunt had not even bothered to accompany him inside. They had cast her off as easily as a pair of worn shoes.
The tears she had refused to shed in front of them finally broke loose. She buried her face in Annie’s soft fur and sobbed.
>
The ringtone of her cellphone sounded loud in the quiet room. She swiped at her tear-streaked face, flinching when she bumped her split lip, and she grabbed the phone with her other hand. Sam. Her thumb hesitated over the connect button. She didn’t want to drag her into this mess, but she knew Sam wouldn’t see it that way. She could almost hear Sam’s voice. My shoulder is always available.
Riley touched the screen, connecting the call. “Hi, Sam. How’s it going?” She tried to make her voice sound as normal as possible.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay? What happened at lunch?”
While Riley was a bit taken aback at the stress in Sam’s voice, at the same time, she was deeply touched by Sam’s concern. “I’m okay. Things didn’t go very well with my aunt and uncle today.” That was the understatement of the year. Renewed tears choked her voice. “I told them I was gay.”
“Are they still there? Are you safe?”
Riley touched her split lip. “They’re gone. I’m all right.” She didn’t want to burden Sam with her problems, yet, an unexpected longing to be held in Sam’s strong arms filled her. She sighed. “Just a little worse for wear. My aunt decided to express her displeasure by slapping me in the face.”
“That bitch. I’ll—” Sam growled. A door slammed. “I’ll be there as quickly as I can. Don’t open the door to anyone until I get there.”
“Wait,” Riley said before Sam could end the call. “I’m not at ho—the condo.” Her voice broke. Unwilling to explain over the phone, she blew out a breath. “I’m not at the condo. I’m in a hotel.” She gave Sam her location and room number, grateful when Sam didn’t ask any questions. “You really don’t have to do this, Sam. I don’t want you to cut short your time with Kim and Jess.”