by Jules Dixon
Not a bad way to live … or die.
I enjoyed a long hot shower. As I was washing my hair, I ran my hand over the goose egg on my head and said a second mental thank you to Rahl for taking care of me.
That’s not a small bump.
While eating a bowl of cereal, I checked my e-mails, and there were two freak-outs Andi had this morning before Rahl talked with her. Then there was a very long and unusually friendly e-mail from her apologizing for her previous e-mails. That was unlike her, but I wasn’t going to question the attitude reversal too much. If I did, I’d probably think Rahl said something ogre’ish to change her attitude.
I finished the list of menial tasks Andi asked politely for my assistance with and e-mailed her with the completion, informing her I would be in at eight tomorrow. I received an immediate reply that everything was fine and if I needed another day off to let her know. I e-mailed back reiterating that I would be in at eight.
I caught up on work a little before seven o’clock, fed Lassie, and found my book to read while he started his nightly workout routine. Wheel, burrow, crazy fast wheel and slow tired burrow.
Although the novel was a touching romance, I realistically knew what was happening wasn’t a sympathetic reaction to the engaging book. I cried. And not just tears, but sobbing, dripping face, all-the-tissues-in-the-world style. I didn’t know why my emotions tumbled extremes today but it was concerning.
I’m normally so … normal. Well, emotionally at least.
Grabbing a box of tissues, I blubbered nonstop for an hour. There didn’t seem to be an end to the torrents of waterworks. I jumped when my phone buzzed on the table.
I inhaled a cleansing breath and released it slowly before answering.
“Hello.” My voice wavered and the o became the hiccup of a sob.
“Sage, what’s wrong?” Rahl’s voice asked quickly.
I made the valiant, albeit worthless, effort to cover for my tearful state.
A series of sniffles started before I opened my mouth. “I don’t really know. Like earlier, I just started crying and can’t stop. I’m fine.”
“There is something not right. I’m calling Ty.”
“No, please don’t! I have an appointment to see my…” My thoughts blanked. I couldn’t say oncologist or he’d know something wasn’t right with me. “My doctor for a tetanus shot in two weeks. I’ll have them do a once-over while I’m there.”
That’s safe, right?
“If you start feeling worse, I’ll have Ty take a look at you immediately. You’ll tell me, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
A long exhale rustled through the phone. Felt like the conversation about my health wasn’t really finished.
“How’s your head?”
“I have a pretty nasty bump, but no headache.”
“Good. You need anything?”
Loaded question, Vendetti. Only you.
His voice calmed me when it wasn’t exciting me.
“I’m good. Thank you.” I wiped away what I hoped were the final tears of the night.
“I’m going to head to bed. Need to put in a couple hours at the office before I pick you up in the morning.”
“I’m sorry if I put you behind on your bossly duties.”
“You didn’t. I’ve concentrated on my career enough. Priorities change over our lives and … now … now you are my priority, Sage.”
“Wow.”
“That word has a whole new meaning to me.”
The word was starting to mean so much to me when it came to him, too.
I giggled, and he chuckled back. “Rahl, will you spend the night with me tomorrow?”
“Affirmative. I’ll even take Lassie for a walk.”
“He might take you up on that offer, mix up his workout routine.” I yawned through most of the words.
“I heard that. Go to bed and get a good night’s sleep. I’ll be outside your place at O-seven-thirty.”
“Good night.”
“Good night, Angel.”
I hung up and sat in silence.
And then I cried.
Everything was going so right.
Then what the hell is wrong with me?
Chapter Fifteen
Rahl
I’d slept like a guy who had sex five times in a day, comatose but waking with a rock-hard erection. Something about sex that had a guy’s body craving it day and night. I’d control myself around Sage since she admitted she was sore after yesterday’s marathon of sex. Didn’t mean for that to happen.
She exited her building in a flowing floral dress with heels that teased me to take her back into the apartment.
She’s sore. Remember?
I stepped out to meet her in front of the truck.
“Rahl?” Her heels ground a sandpaper-like scratch on the concrete. She tipped her sunglasses down, and her gaze wandered wildly on my body.
I wasn’t dressed in what I wore to the bar, usually jeans and a screen-print t-shirt or button-down. I was in work dress of military-style black cargo pants, black company logo’d performance fabric t-shirt, and tall lace-up black boots and mirrored sunglasses.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“Wow,” she said on a breathy exhale and raised her eyebrows.
“Our bodies aren’t even touching, Sage. You can’t possibly know that’s my status below the belt.”
But it is.
She glanced to my pants.
“I bet you twenty dollars.” She grinned and shoved her sunglasses back on her face.
I walked to her. “Fine. I’m wowed, because I missed you last night, and you are so gorgeous this morning.” I guided her into my arms.
She blushed. “I missed you, too.”
I placed a soft kiss on her lips, trying not to mess up her lipstick.
She smudged away whatever I got on my lips with her soft fingers. “Definitely not your color.”
“Thanks. Let’s get you to work.”
Sage scooted to the middle of my truck, unloading her bag to the passenger floorboard.
“How’d you sleep?” I asked, driving onto the major street where traffic had picked up substantially.
“Weird. I woke up crying again. I might try to get in to see my doctor sooner.”
“I’d definitely feel better if you did.”
“Maybe we should sleep apart tonight, Rahl. You look like you got some good sleep, I’d hate to take that away with my weird crying fits.”
There is no way in hell I’m sleeping away from you again.
“How does your head feel?”
“Not bad. I haven’t taken any pain relievers since before bed last night and obviously haven’t had any other version of pain reliever since yesterday. I’d say I’m on the mend up top, but still pretty sore down below.”
I grimaced. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I loved it.” She inhaled quickly at what she said.
“Sage, I loved being with you, too. Stop worrying about what you say. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I hope not.” Her words were a whisper but I heard them.
“Will you need a ride anywhere during the day?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Just call if you do. I’ll talk to Presley about your car and negotiate the trade-in value today.”
“No.”
“No?” I glanced to her while we were at a stoplight.
A fine line pierced the skin between her eyebrows. “No, Rahl. I’ve been taking care of my own business stuff since I was eighteen and moved out of my grandparents’ house. I can do this myself. I appreciate your offer, or rather insistence to help, but … no.”
Kind of refreshing to know that Sage could be independent but a big part of me still wanted to take care of her—physically, emotionally, financially, sexually, in lots of ways that I’d never experienced.
“Okay.”
I’ll give her this victory. I’m sure there will be other battles to win in the future.
<
br /> “Thank you, Rahl. I’ll call you if I need a ride. I like you, and I like where we’re at, but I’ve done very well on my own for the last six years. I don’t want…” She huffed. “What the hell?”
I glanced at her and saw the tears start a cascade down her pink cheeks.
“Tissues in the glove compartment,” I motioned.
She dabbed at her eyes with the tissues, trying not to mess up her makeup.
“Call your doctor today?” I suggested, trying to not come off as dictatorial.
“I will,” she sobbed.
I draped an arm around her as I steered into the parking lot of the two-story building she worked in.
When I was safely parked, I turned to her. “Are you going to be okay, Angel?” I wiped the tears that kept rolling like a plug was pulled from somewhere deep inside of her, and kissed her forehead.
She leaned against my chest and her forehead nestled into my neck. “I think maybe I’m a little tired. Probably didn’t sleep great from someone waking me up constantly the night before? And then the crying last night? That must be it?”
“Sounds reasonable, but seeing a doctor might help eliminate any other health concerns.”
She stiffened in my arms.
“Sage?”
She inhaled shallow breaths.
“Angel?”
“There are things I need to tell you, Rahl. Tonight.”
“And I’ll listen and I’ll share with you, too. My baggage might outweigh yours by tons. Don’t worry.”
“I’ll try.” She sniffled and cleared her throat. “Thanks for the ride, Mr. Wow.”
I chuckled. “You’re welcome.”
I slid out and helped her down. After grabbing her bag from the passenger floorboard, I kissed her in exchange for the bag and watched her walk to the door with that soft dress swaying behind her. She turned back and threw me a small smile that was everything I needed to start my day out right.
****
A quick knock on my door pulled my attention from the piles of paperwork.
“Hey, Bubba Vee. Have time for lunch?” A familiar blonde held up a white bag from a deli she knew I loved. Bribery was woven in the female genes of my family.
“I guess so, Laken. Sit.” I pointed at the chair in front of my desk.
She removed sandwiches, soup, and silverware from the bag. “Corned beef or roast beef?” She held up two wrapped squares.
“With sauerkraut?”
She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “No.”
“Roast beef.”
She handed my choice over. “Both are minestrone,” she said, pointing to the soup.
“Thanks.” I took a big bite of the sandwich.
Definitely better than leftover pizza.
“Rahl, I know Easton told you about what happened last year.”
“Why didn’t you tell me, Lake?”
“Probably same reason you won’t talk about your year. Mainly, it’s hard to talk about it. Plus, honestly, I think I scared the crap out of myself. If Easton hadn’t shown when he did … well, he saved me.”
“But six days in the hospital?”
She took a big bite of her sandwich, answering after the swallow. “I let my anxiety and depression get out of control and just couldn’t pull out of it. I’m healthy now.” She took another bite. “Obviously.” She held up the half-eaten sandwich.
“Good soup,” I said after a taste. “Laken, I’m glad you’re healthy. I’m thankful to Easton for taking care of you. However, I want to be clear that I’m never going to be thrilled about you and Roecker as a couple. I don’t know if I can come to like it. I know a different side of him that’s always concerned me.”
“Easton’s told me a lot about his past and I can understand why you think he’s still that smooth-talking, using-and-abusing kind of guy, but Rahl, he’s not. Come on! You know he’s a good guy on the inside. Otherwise you wouldn’t have been his friend for over thirty years and you wouldn’t have asked him to take care of me while you were gone.”
That’s true, but he broke a promise and that’s kind of his MO with women.
“I don’t think he can support you the way you want to live, Laken, and I don’t want him living off of you, either.”
This was a big concern of mine. Roecker barely made enough to support himself. My baby sister was never high maintenance, but I didn’t want her living in a shanty to support his need to be creative. Plus, Laken would inherit a trust when she turned twenty-five. Our father had set the funds up before his passing and each of us was the beneficiary of a generous amount of money. I’d yet to touch mine. There would be a good use for it someday.
“We’ve discussed that. Your little ‘he’s not good enough for you’ comment really hit a nerve. He’s decided to go back to school to finish his computer programming degree. I know he’ll hate a desk job when music is what makes him happy, but if it makes you accept him as my partner, he’s convinced he should do it. By the way, I told him not to do it, but he already signed up and paid for the classes, so he’s committed. Plus, I’ll find a good job. We’ll do just fine and I’m not worried, so you shouldn’t be.”
I started to offer more concern and she interjected, “If you’re thinking of my trust fund, he’s prepared to sign a prenuptial agreement if things end up getting to that point.”
It seemed my baby sister had everything figured out.
Everything but how to stay away from him.
I finished my sandwich.
“Rahl, I love Easton more than anything in this world. I have for a few years. I tried to ignore my feelings, date other guys, and find someone I knew you’d approve of, but that didn’t work. Fate kept bringing Easton and I back to each other. It was time to be happy together instead of miserable apart.”
I stared her in the eye, remembering someone’s similar speech.
She continued as her eyes glossed over. “Please, Bubba Vee, I just got you back in my life. For years you were away from me, on a search for yourself, doing what you needed to and it almost took you from us. Please don’t take you away from me again. I need both of you in my life.”
My throat closed in. How this little girl—woman—could work me over was always a mystery to me.
“Okay, Lake, I’ll try to be nicer to Easton and I’m not going anywhere. Promise.”
She jumped up, rounded my desk, and her body slammed into me, almost tipping us over backward in my desk chair.
“Whoa, sis.”
“Thank you.” She sniffled into my chest.
I rubbed her back. “You’re welcome.”
It took a couple of minutes but Laken shook off the tears and straightened. “So how was Sage this morning?”
“She was okay. I’m still concerned about her.”
“Of course you are, that’s what happens when you’re in love with someone.”
“I don’t think we’re there yet, Lake.”
She rolled her giant crystal-blue eyes. “Whatever! I know what I saw, Rahl. Plus, you guys have known each other for, what, five months? You might just be falling for her, but I bet she fell for you from day one. You’re a very lovable kind of guy, Rahl.” She hugged me and the hug ranked up in my top ten best.
“Thanks, but we share genetics. It’s mandatory you say and believe that. Plus, she’s having some emotional or health issues right now.”
“Like what?”
“She starts crying for no reason.”
Laken giggled. “Sounds like PMS to me, bro. You’re just not used to experiencing it. You were gone before the hell happened at home. Mom, Fi, and me—shit, it was like PMS Central Station, and every cramping, yelling, bitching train collided each month.”
“Didn’t need to know that, Laken.”
She raised her shoulders, insincerely offering an apology, then climbed from my lap and walked to the small fridge in my office to grab a bottle of water. She held another up to me and tossed it through the air to my waiting hands.
I took
a drink. “Anyway, she’d like to go to that exhibit at the Joslyn. Please call her. Not my kind of thing.”
“I will. Usually there’s some kind of jacked-up and completely high-school-drama kind of animosity between architects and designers, but I don’t want to be that way. I can’t wait to see some of her work.”
“Well, that brings me to … Lake, I’ve asked Sage to help me pick out finishes for my new home.”
“What?” She groused for the one word, stopped and smiled a really creepy smile. “Good for you, Rahl. I can’t wait to see what she chooses. I’m sure she has great taste.”
I examined her head to toe. I had training in evaluating people and reading a situation. That answer had “trap” written all over it.
“Ok-ay. Thanks.” I narrowed in on her eyes. “I didn’t think you’d take it that well.”
“I guess lots of things change.” Laken turned toward the office door and I couldn’t read her reaction. “I have an appointment to meet a contact at a local firm this afternoon. I need to go get changed.”
“Thanks for lunch. Next time, sauerkraut on the corned beef.”
Her nose wrinkled in disgust again. I said it only to see the move happen. I missed seeing her grow up and it made her look young. She still is young.
“You’re welcome. Be nice to Easton, please.” She raised her eyebrows.
I nodded in understanding.
“I love you, Bubba Vee.”
“Love you, too, Lake.”
At five, I drove up in front of Sugar Plum Dreams Design, and before I could get out of the truck, Oliver held the front door open for Sage to file out before him.
I exited my truck while grunting at his chivalry. The guy screamed ulterior motives.
I placed a soft kiss on her lips, making sure to extend what could have been just a hello peck to a this-is-mine-back-the-hell-off-Aston marking of my territory. When we parted, her eyes flashed with contentment and drew a smile from me.
Oliver adjusted his jacket collar and cleared his throat. “Hey, Rahl. Thanks for getting her back to us in one piece. Don’t know what I’d do without Sage. She’s really eager to perform everything I need her to.”
I heard his underlying sexual and relationship implications. Levelheaded and composed under pressure was my MO in combat. I could handle this insurgent.