“Right. Because you’re making this so clear.”
“Look, Lola and I, we just…I was just there for her when she needed an outlet, but we haven’t been together in a long time. It was never more than that with us.”
“Are you sure she knows that?”
“Who do you think made the rules?” he asked.
I didn’t argue that point because if there was one thing I knew about Lola, it was that she always set her own boundaries. If she wanted more with Pappy, chances were that ship had already sailed. Based on how he was reacting to Lucy being in the hospital, he was already in deeper than he even knew.
“So, tell me something. Did you ever call out Lola’s name when you were fucking Lucy?” He flipped me off and scowled. “What? I’m just saying, their names are very close. Lucy, Lola. It could be easily confused.”
“Fuck you.”
“Does Lola know you’re seeing Lucy?”
“I’m not fucking seeing her. We fuck. That’s it.”
“Uh-huh and now you’re pacing my little curtained off area of the hospital, worrying your pretty little head off over a woman you’re just fucking,” I said smugly.
“Fuck,” he said as he sat down. “What the fuck am I going to do? Do you think I should stop seeing her? Will that make it go away?”
I laughed and then started coughing again. “It’s not the fucking plague, Pappy. You know, having feelings for a woman isn’t the end of the world, contrary to what you’ve believed all these years.”
“I didn’t say I had feelings for her. Don’t go spouting all that love crap to me. I don’t do love. I don’t do relationships. And I sure as fuck don’t ever want to be in the position where I can’t get a woman out of my head.”
“Like right now,” I smiled.
“Exactly,” he said.
“Exactly,” I agreed. He stopped and looked at me, only then realizing that he had just admitted that he couldn’t get Lucy out of his head.
“Fuck you,” he said as he threw back the curtain and stormed out toward the lobby. I burst out laughing, but quickly put my mask back over my face as another coughing fit came on. Still, I couldn’t stop laughing as I thought about Pappy falling for a woman.
✯✯✯✯✯
When the doctor finally said I was good to go home, I asked to be directed to Claire’s room and only then remembered that her father had been pulled from that fire also. He hadn’t taken in nearly as much smoke, but they were keeping him overnight because of his age. I wanted to check on Claire, but I also knew that she would be worried about her dad. I walked down to his room and stood in the doorway. He was lying in bed, staring out the window. I knocked and walked in, but he just stared at me. I thought for a minute that he didn’t recognize me, but then he motioned for me to sit down.
“How are you?” I asked him as I took a seat.
“Fine. They just wanted to keep me overnight to be sure. How are Claire and Lucy?”
“They’ll be okay. I was going to go check on them, but I know Claire will want to know how you are, so I stopped here first.”
“Thank you for pulling them out of the fire.” He shook his head and sighed. “I asked them to transfer me right to the retirement home. I already talked to the director over there and they have temporary housing for me until my apartment is available.”
“You could stay with me. I have the space.”
“I started that fire,” he said dejectedly. “I got confused and I didn’t remember that I had started making breakfast for the girls. It happened so fast and I couldn’t even get them out. Claire pulled me out and then went back for Lucy.”
I had wondered how the fire started, but now that I knew that he had started the fire, I wholeheartedly agreed with him. He was in no condition to be left alone anymore. Still, I felt bad for him. He was obviously taking it pretty hard that he had endangered his kids.
“You know I’ll take care of both of them. I don’t want you to worry about that.”
“I know you will. Now, go check on my girls and make sure they’re okay for me.”
I nodded and stood, making my way to the door. “It’s not your fault,” I said as I turned back to him. “You didn’t purposely start that fire. It could have happened to anyone. Lucy and Claire won’t blame you.”
“I blame me,” he said as he rolled away from me.
I went in search of Claire’s room and felt a huge weight lifted when I finally saw her with my own eyes. She was sleeping peacefully in her bed with one of those oxygen things under her nose. I sat down next to her and held her hand, finally feeling the enormity of what had happened today. If I hadn’t shown up when I did, would she have left the house when she couldn’t get to Lucy? Most likely not. She would have died in that fire and I would have lost my fucking mind. I never thought I wanted any kind of relationship with a woman before Claire. But Claire pulled me in right from the start and I’d been powerless to stop it ever since.
“Are you Superman?” she whispered from the bed.
I smirked at her when I looked up and saw her eyes looking dazed. That wasn’t the first time that she had said something like that to me. It was fucking cute that she thought I was that badass. She wasn’t like other women that saw only that part of me. She saw right through my outer shell and took care of the man inside. That was the dream, to have a woman love even the worst parts of you. Since we hadn’t actually discussed our future beyond saying ‘I love you’, I wasn’t completely sure that she wanted the same things as me, but I was willing to put it all on the line to have her.
“Not Superman, sweetheart. Just a man that would do anything for the woman he loves.”
Her eyes drifted shut as a small smile touched her lips. I sat with her for a few more minutes, but since she was out, I wanted to go check on Lucy. I found out her room number and wasn’t at all shocked to see Hunter standing in her room when I got there. The tension in the room was palpable and Hunter and Lucy were glaring at one another.
“Did I come at a bad time?”
“You can tell your friend he can leave. I don’t need him coming in here and making demands,” Lucy said angrily. She looked pretty good. Other than a cough here and there, she didn’t look nearly as bad as Claire.
“Okay, let’s skip that for a minute. How are you?”
“I’m fine. The door cut off a lot of the smoke and I put a towel under the door to block it from coming in. I certainly don’t need some alpha male coming in here and telling me where I’ll be staying.”
I quirked an eyebrow at Hunter, but he was just staring at Lucy with his arms crossed over his chest.
“You don’t have any place to go. Your fucking house burned down.”
“She can stay with me,” I said, hoping to appease them both.
“She’s not staying with anyone but me. If you want Claire to stay with you, go for it, but Lucy will be staying with me where I can keep an eye on her.”
“I don’t need anyone to keep an eye on me. I’m an adult and I can take care of myself.”
“You were stuck in a burning house and couldn’t get out. I wouldn’t say that’s taking care of yourself,” Hunter snapped.
“I was in the shower when the fire started. It’s not like I knew there was a fire and didn’t know whether or not I should leave the burning house. I didn’t know the house was on fire,” she shouted and then broke into a coughing fit. Hunter rushed over to place an oxygen mask over her face. She grabbed it out of his hands and glared at him.
“I can do it myself.”
“Stop fucking talking and put it over your face.”
I had to really hold back from laughing. I had never seen Hunter so possessive over a woman, but it was like something inside him snapped when he found out Lucy was in that building.
“Lucy, do you want to stay with me or Hunter?”
She started to remove the mask, but Hunter stopped her. “She’s staying with me and that’s final.”
Lucy tried to pull the
mask away again, but Hunter snapped his gaze to her again, giving her a look that promised death if she dared argue with him. I held up my hands and started backing away toward the door.
“Obviously, I’ve interrupted something here. I’ll let you two work this out. Let me know what the plan is before I leave in the morning with Claire.” I turned for the door, but then thought better of it. “Hunter.” He turned to me finally and raised an eyebrow. “Welcome to the club,” I said with a grin. He stepped toward me like he was going to beat my ass, so I hustled out the door.
Claire had been pretty out of it the rest of the night, but by the morning, she was awake and looking much better. She still had a little bit of a cough and a pretty bad headache, but the doctor said that was normal.
“You’re sure that Lucy is fine?” she asked, still worried about her sister even though I had already told her at least ten times that she was fine.
“I’m sure. Hunter is taking her home with him and he’ll watch over her.”
“Why is she going home with him? Can’t she stay with me?”
“I offered, but Hunter was pretty adamant that she stay with him.”
“I don’t understand. They don’t have that kind of relationship.”
“I think that’s about to change.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Nothing,” I said, not wanting to speak too soon. I wasn’t completely sure that Hunter wouldn’t puss out and walk away.
“And you’re sure my father is fine?”
“Yes, I went with him to the retirement home and made sure he was settled in okay. He was fine.”
“Thank you for doing that.”
“Don’t you know by now that I’d do anything for you?”
“I’m beginning to see that,” she smiled.
“Are you ready to go home?”
She nodded and I helped her out of bed, only then realizing that I hadn’t thought of bringing her anything to change into. I scratched the back of my head, wondering what the hell I was going to do now.
“Let me guess, he didn’t bring you any clothes.” I turned to see Maggie standing in the doorway with a bag. She walked forward and held her hand out to Claire. “Hi, I’m Maggie, Sebastian’s wife.”
“Oh,” Claire said hesitantly. “Um, it’s nice to meet you.”
Claire looked uncomfortable around Maggie and I didn’t understand why until I remembered her first meeting with Sebastian. She had been holding out on handing over the key and he wasn’t in the mood to fuck around. He had been kind of harsh with her and she hadn’t really gotten to see another side to him. That would have changed yesterday when we were going to help around the farm, but that never happened.
“When he told me that you and your sister were in the hospital, I thought I should bring you and your sister some clothes and stuff to wash up. You can’t rely on a man to remember that stuff. I just brought sweats and t-shirts. I figured that would be the most comfortable to go home in. Are you going home with Derek?”
“Uh…”
I hadn’t told her that was the plan yet. It hadn’t really come up.
“Yes,” I answered for her.
“Don’t let him walk all over you. All these men think that they can answer for us and tell us what to do. You have to put your foot down or that’s the way it will be the rest of your life.”
“Freckles, I think-”
“Since you don’t really have anything, I’ll go shopping and pick up some stuff for you and bring it over this afternoon. Maybe when you’re feeling up to it we can go shopping for clothes. God knows I need some time away from my daughter.”
“I can take her-”
“Then we can go for a massage. I’m sure that would feel great after everything.”
It was like I wasn’t even there. Maggie just continued to interrupt me any time I tried to talk. Claire just sat there in stunned silence.
“When do you have to be back to work?” Maggie asked.
“Um…I guess I need to find out. I hadn’t really thought about it yet.”
“She’ll be taking at least a week off,” I interrupted.
Maggie rolled her eyes and stared Claire down.
“I don’t think I can take a week off and I think I’ll be fine with just taking today to relax,” Claire said.
“No. You were in a fire. You’re going to be exhausted. You have no idea the toll that takes on your body,” I argued.
“Sebastian was the same way with me. ‘Maggie, it’s not safe to do that’. ‘Maggie, you need to take it easy’. ‘Maggie, don’t throw that grenade’.”
“He actually said that to you?”
She shrugged. “Well, something similar on our wedding day. Sometimes, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. You know what I mean?”
“This may seem like a stupid question because I’m new to the group, but why were you throwing a grenade on your wedding day?” Claire asked, genuinely confused.
“Well, I’m a reporter and I was chasing down a lead and it just so happened that another security company was trying to protect someone that was involved in the same story.”
“Wait, so you don’t work for the security company?”
“Nope. I’m a freelance reporter. Well, I do work for the company sometimes, but it’s usually helping with research.”
“And your husband let you throw a grenade?” Claire asked stupidly.
“Well, not him, but Sinner.”
“On your wedding day.”
She nodded vigorously. “It was great. You should really try it sometime. Derek, I think you should take Claire to Reed Security to try out some toys. I bet it would be a real bonding experience for the two of you.”
“I was thinking something more along the lines of taking her home to meet my family. You know, something normal,” I said, slightly irritated.
“Normal is boring. Just hang with me, Claire. I know some girls that really know how to let loose and have some fun.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” I muttered. The door opened and Sebastian walked in.
“Hey, how’s it going?” he asked.
“Great,” I said sarcastically. “Freckles here is trying to convince my girlfriend to go play with grenades and other fun toys at Reed Security.”
“Umm, no. Maggie, you get a little too happy around grenades. Not to mention that you now think you’re ‘awesome’ with a gun. I don’t need someone accidentally getting shot.”
“Ooh!” Maggie said excitedly. “We should get all the girls together and do the training course. It’s so much fun and there are a lot more weapons to choose from since Knight took over.”
“That would actually be great, besides the Knight part. I don’t have that many friends and I’m a little awkward around people most of the time.”
“You don’t seem like you are.”
“Well, you kind of came in and took over the conversation. Shit,” she mumbled. “What I meant to say was that you talk a lot. I mean, you didn’t stop talking enough for me to be nervous.” She blew out a harsh breath. “I’m really sorry. Please don’t hate me. That all came out wrong.”
“It’s okay. I got the gist. I dominated the conversation and it didn’t give you a chance to be nervous. Totally get it.”
“I’m going to take Claire home now so she can rest,” I said, hoping Maggie would take the hint.
“How about this?” Maggie continued as if Cap and I weren’t there. “You and I will go get Lucy and the three of us can go have a nice, relaxing day at the spa. After what you’ve been through, you deserve it. Sebastian can watch my daughter and Derek and Hunter can go get whatever you and Lucy need. You’ll have to be specific, otherwise, you’ll end up with all lingerie.”
They walked out the door, leaving Cap and I standing in the room. “What the hell just happened?” I asked.
“My wife just took your girlfriend hostage,” Cap muttered.
“That didn’t really seem like Maggie. Since whe
n does she go to the spa?”
Sebastian shook his head, eyebrows furrowed as he considered what I said. Then his eyes went wide. “Maggie has my keys.”
“Yeah, so?”
“The keys to the Reed Security SUV. The back is loaded with weapons.”
“Shit!”
We bolted for the door, hoping we could catch up to them in time to get the keys back before they decided to go blow something up for fun.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Claire
AFTER GETTING LUCY her clothes, I had to sit down again. I was exhausted and as nice as a spa day sounded, I just wasn’t up for it. I didn’t have to say anything though. Hunter shook his head and gave a firm no when Maggie told him what we were doing.
“There’s no fucking way either of them are going to the spa after what they just went through. Lucy’s coming home with me and you’re going home with Derek,” he pointed at me. I just nodded. I didn’t have the energy to argue with him.
“Excuse me, but I can answer for myself,” Lucy sniped.
Hunter walked over to her and crowded her against the bed. “You just almost died in a fucking fire.” He ran his hand over the side of her face and leaned in closer, lowering his voice. “Humor me.”
I felt like an intruder in the incredibly intimate moment and turned away. Maggie huffed next to me and then Sebastian and Derek burst into the room, huffing after what seemed like an intense workout.
“Shit,” Sebastian said as he bent over, breathing deep. “We thought we weren’t going to catch you in time.”
“Catch us before what?” I asked.
“Nothing,” they both said quickly. Derek walked over to me and held out his hand.
“Come on. I’m going to take you home. You can go to the spa some other time with Maggie.”
“Alright. Lucy, are you sure you don’t want to come home with me?” I asked.
She looked at Hunter, but even I could see the pleading in his eyes. She shook her head and stood next to Hunter. “No, I’ll go home with Hunter. I’ll let you know what I’m going to do for a place to stay when I figure it out.”
“I’ll do the same.”
Irish: A Reed Security Romance (Reed Security Series Book 5) Page 17