I make my way down the short entrance hall and into the living room where he is sprawled on the couch, watching the news. I smile as I walk up behind the couch and place a kiss on the top of his mop dark hair. He tilts his head back to look up at me.
“’Bout time you got home,” he says with a soft smile.
“I know. I had a lot going on today.” I sigh, make my way to the love seat, and flop my butt down. “How are you feeling today?”
He sighs and roughly rakes a hand through his dark hair before rubbing the thigh of his bad leg. Dennis is a Marine. Well, he was honorably discharged after being injured over in Iraq. As soon as I turned eighteen, I moved out of our parents’ house, and away from the evil pair. Knowing that I was out of harm’s way, my brother signed up for the Marines. Not only did he want to be the best role model for me, but he also wanted to prove to himself how strong of a person he could be. As soon as he graduated from the academy, he was deployed. He ended up serving four consecutive two-year tours in Iraq with only the minimum three-month break in between each – that’s right, four. He was very good at what he did - before he was injured, only days before returning from his fourth tour. The unit that he was with was ambushed, only one other guy survived, neither him nor Dennis without serious injuries and lost limbs. A total of three men lost their lives that fateful day.
As a result, Dennis is now missing his right leg from just below the knee. He still gets phantom pain from it even after two years of it being gone. Not only did he lose part of his leg and sustained other serious injuries, but he is now plagued with severe PTSD – post traumatic stress disorder - even though he will deny it with every fiber of his being. It only started in the past year for whatever reason. I have done some research on it and found out that PTSD does not always show up right away but sometimes can take months or even years to develop, especially in military men and women.
When it started, Dennis lost his job, and since then, has been unable to find another one, which in turn, caused him to lose his apartment. I basically had to threaten to never speak to him again to get him to come live with me instead of living in his car. The damn man has too much pride.
“I was okay today,” he replies with a shrug.
I swear the frown lines at the sides of his mouth have gotten deeper since yesterday.
“Did you go out at all?” I ask.
“No.”
“You’re turning into a hermit, Denny, and you are pale as shit. You need some sun,” I inform him.
Dennis scowls at me. “I feel like everyone is staring at me when I go out, I don’t like it.”
“I really wish you would go talk to someone, Dennis,” I say softly, knowing that pushing him will probably get me nowhere.
“I’m fine, Lizette, just leave it alone,” he grinds out, giving me his tough-as-nails-Marine look that I am now immune to.
I know better than to argue with him, it will only make things worse. He needs to do it when he is ready; I’m just afraid that he will never be ready.
“Fine,” I say before getting up and going into the kitchen to get something to eat.
“There is a plate left over for you from dinner,” he calls to me from the living room.
“Thanks,” I reply, opening the fridge and taking out the plate of chicken, rice, and veggies.
Since turning into a recluse, Denny has become an excellent cook. He makes something new and different every night. I put the plate in the microwave before going to my room to change out of my work clothes. I change into sweatpants and a T-shirt, and then make my way back into the kitchen, just as the microwave beeps its completion. I grab a fork and some napkins then bring my plate into the living room and sit back down on the love seat so I can watch TV with him while I eat.
I sneak a glance at my brother. His handsome face looks run down, weary, and somewhat haunted. His jaw is covered in thick scruff and he has dark circles under his green eyes from the lack of sleep. I wish there is something more that I can do to help him, but without him being willing, it’s like talking to a brick wall. Marines are a very stubborn lot.
“Beau asked me out again today,” I mutter around a mouthful of food.
He chuckles. “Poor guy. Let me guess, you turned him down again?”
“Of course I did, Dennis. I don’t date my clients, let alone ones as young as he is,” I scoff.
“He’s not that young,” he argues in return.
“He’s seven years younger than me. Mentally, he’s still a little boy compared to me.”
He laughs and pushes up into a sitting position, setting his prosthetic foot on the floor, along with his remaining foot. He leans his forearms on his knees and looks at me, a small smile playing across his lips. I love when my brother smiles, it lets me at least get to pretend that he’s not broken and damaged, if only for a few minutes.
“So what? Age is just a number, my darling sister, and he seems to really want to take you out,” he says, amusement making his dark green eyes shimmer. “I mean, shit, he’s been asking you out for years.”
I give my brother a bored look. “Yes, he has, and it’s not going to happen. I barely have time to piss, let alone find time to go out on a date.”
“That’s because you work too damn much.”
I shrug. “I have to, it’s the nature of the job,” I reply, taking another bite of my food.
“Don’t you ever want to get married and have kids?” Dennis asks, raising an eyebrow at me.
I give him an incredulous look. “Don’t you?” I shoot back.
His eyebrows shoot up toward his hairline, his expression turns to one of shock before he frowns. “Touché, Lizzie, touché,” he says quietly, something dark clouding his eyes for a moment before it’s gone.
Wonder what that’s about.
“I’m not ready for all of that,” I say more gently.
He shakes his head. “Me neither,” he agrees softly.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready,” I whisper.
He sighs heavily. “We’re not mom and dad, Lizzie.”
I nod. “I know, but it’s hard to forget what we went through and not have some hesitations about possibly falling into that pattern.”
“We won’t end up like them, I promise,” he murmurs, reaching over to give my arm a squeeze.
Most people who grow up with an alcoholic parent have at least one normal parent to counteract the screwed up one. Apparently, our parents didn’t get that memo. They are both alcoholics who beat the hell out of each other and would sometimes come after my brother and me. It amazes me that still to this day, they are both alive and still together. It was a nightmare of a childhood, and without Dennis, I don’t know if I would have survived it alone.
“I think you should give Beau a chance,” Dennis says with a smirk, bringing me out of my thoughts.
I give him a dirty look. “I think you should shut your mouth,” I say, fighting not to smile.
He barks out a laugh then shoves to his feet. “I’m gonna go see if I can get some sleep,” he says. “Goodnight, Lizzie,” he murmurs as he bends over and gives me a kiss on my forehead.
“Night, Denny.”
I watch him walk down the hallway toward our bedrooms with his now permanent limp and pray that he gets some much-needed sleep. He desperately needs it. I hate seeing him struggle because he is usually the stronger of the two of us. He tries to act like he is all fine and dandy, but I know better - I hear the screams from the nightmares he has when he does actually fall asleep, I’ve been with him while he’s gone through a flashback, and I’ve caught the hate and disgust in his eyes when he looks at himself in the mirror. I love my brother with my whole heart and I just wish he would go get the help he so desperately needs.
*Beau*
“There you are, my sweet boy,” my mother, Regina, says as she kisses my cheek then wraps me up in a big hug.
“Hey, Ma,” I smile and hug her back.
“Beau!” I hear my little sister’s sq
ueal from behind my mother.
I look up to see her jump off the porch and come running down the dirt driveway toward me. I let go of my mother and brace myself for the blonde haired, blue eyed, eighteen-year-old girl flying at me. My little sister’s giant smile is all for me, and that makes my heart melt. She jumps into my arms when she gets to me, wrapping her arms and legs around me. The impact makes my cowboy hat fly off, but I don’t care because I haven’t seen my family in months.
“I’ve missed you, Beau,” my sister, Leila, whispers in my ear.
“I’ve missed you, too, Leila,” I reply, hugging her for a moment longer. With Leila’s feet back on the ground, I scoop up my hat then look around for my newly turned twenty-one year old brother. “Where’s Kaden?” I ask.
“He went into town for some groceries, he should be back any minute,” Regina says, a gentle smile on her pretty face, her southern drawl making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
I nod as I turn to look at my sister again. I actually have to do a double take when I see that she now has boobs that were not there the last time I saw her. The fuck? I point to them, my eyes snapping up to look at her face.
“What in the hell are those?” I choke. She better not have used the money I gave her to buy a car with to buy tits.
Leila blushes bright red and crosses her arms over her chest. “They’re called boobs, Beau, gosh,” she says, completely embarrassed.
“I know what they are, Leila, what I want to know is where they came from?” I bite out. I’m gonna kick her ass if those are implants.
“Beau, honey, Leila had a bit of a growth spurt while you were away,” Regina says soothingly and pats my arm.
“So they’re real?” I ask, eyes narrowing on Leila in suspicion.
“Of course they are, you big jerk!” Leila gasps in outrage and shoves at my chest with both hands.
Her shove barely moves me. I can’t help but give her a smug smirk. Leila makes an aggravated noise and punches me in the arm before stomping off. I chuckle quietly.
“Beau,” my mother chides, frowning at me.
“What?” I shrug. “I had the right to know.”
Before my mom can answer, a beat up blue pickup truck comes barreling up the driveway followed by a cloud of dust. I grin, my little brother drives like a maniac. He is an adrenaline junkie and is always doing off the wall things to get that high. He’s gone skydiving multiple times, bungee jumping, base jumping, and rock climbing, been on every rollercoaster on the East Coast, and the list just goes on. The truck comes to a stop next to my mother and me. My brother, who looks like a slightly shorter, thinner, and leaner version of me, hops out of the truck. Kaden’s bright blue eyes are alight with amusement, as he looks me over.
“Well, well, well, look at what the cat dragged in, Mr. Rich and Famous himself,” Kaden drawls, his naturally cocky smirk firmly in place.
“Shut up, butt-munch,” I mutter as I pull him into a hug. We both slap each other on the back a few times before separating.
“You look good, Beau,” Kaden says, propping his hands on his hips. The baseball cap he’s wearing is beat to hell and falling apart, but he doesn’t care, that’s his favorite hat, won’t go anywhere without it.
“So do you.” And he does. He looks like he put on a bit of muscle in his upper body since I’ve last seen him.
“Beau, help your brother with the groceries, I have food cooking on the stove that I need to check on,” Regina says as she turns and starts for the house.
“Sure, Ma,” I call after her then turn back to Kaden. “It’s good to be home.”
Kaden smiles and winks. “It’s good to have you here, brother.”
“Are you sure you’re only 21? You could pass for 30 with the way you talk,” I snort.
“I’m the man of the house now, Beau, I’ve got responsibilities and whatnot,” Kaden mutters as he turns and reaches into the back of the pickup to grab some bags.
I move to help him, eyeing him incredulously. “Responsibilities, huh?” I smirk.
Kaden rolls his eyes at me. “You’re not around often enough to really understand everything that needs to be done around here. Leila is a girly-girl and refuses to help with the horses and most of the other dirty work. Ma is getting older and she definitely can’t do the things that I can do, like lift and stack the bales of hay and all the other physically demanding chores that need to be done. My day starts at sun-up and doesn’t end until well after dark.”
“Why don’t you hire help?” I ask as we start for the house with the bags.
“I have in the past, but it’s never worked out,” he replies. “One guy only took the job to try and get closer to Leila, so he was off sweet-talkin’ her when he was supposed to be workin’. Another guy I hired, I had to practically supervise the entire time because he was dumb as a rock and couldn’t do nothin’ right, fuckin’ idiot almost killed one of the horses once.”
Grunting, I shift the bags in my hands to fit through the doorway to the kitchen. I place the bags on the counter then follow Kaden’s example and start unloading them. Leila comes in and starts grabbing stuff and putting things away. The three of us work in comfortable silence to unload the bags. I think about everything my brother just said and it makes me wonder when the last time he had the chance to go out and do what he loves to do best. It’s not fair that I’m out living my dream while my brother is stuck at home taking care of our mother’s ranch.
“Ma, you’re still teaching riding lessons, right?” I ask.
“Yes, I’ve got the perfect amount of students right now, a couple who even have their own horses that we board here,” she replies happily.
I nod. “That’s good.”
At least my mother is still happy. I watch Kaden out of the corner of my eye. I can see the bitterness lurking deep in his eyes. Shit. I don’t want my brother to resent me. I doubt he even realizes that he is a little bitter about it. And I’m sure if I ask him, he will deny it. I’m going to have to make some phone calls to see if I can hire some real help around here. That will free up Kaden to go out and be twenty-one.
Chapter Two
*Lizette*
“What do you mean no one can get a hold of Beau?” I ask my secretary, Danielle, dryly, giving her a bored look along with it.
“I have called all of the guys, they all say that his phone is off or doesn’t have a signal and the ranch’s land line is down,” Danielle says with a wince.
Everyone and their mother has been trying to get in touch with Beau for the past day and a half. The schedule for the promotional tour has been bumped up, cutting the guys’ two-week vacation down to one. Everyone knows except for Beau. He needs to know that he only has four more days before he needs to be back in New York. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
Okay, I can handle this, no problem.
“I guess I’m going to have to go there and tell him myself…damn it.” I sigh.
I really don’t want to go to West Virginia. I am a city girl through and through, and I hate the wilderness. The blackness at night freaks me out and oh god, the bugs! I’m not good with big giant country bugs. I groan. I am going to have to be alone with Beau, too. Crapolla!
“Get me on the first flight to West Virginia,” I say to Danielle, who nods quickly and races out of my office.
Three hours later, I’m on an airplane and on my way to Beau. It’s a short flight, but then it is an hour drive from the airport to the Kennedy Ranch, but I will rent a car and make the drive myself. I finally pull up to the gate that closes off the road leading to the ranch. I know that Beau is the reason for the gate. The whole property is enclosed with wrought iron fencing and barbed wire so that if the paparazzi ever found out about this place, they would have a hell of a time sneaking onto the property. So far, though, they don’t know about it. I hit the buzzer on the intercom and wait for an answer. A minute later, a male voice answered.
“Can I help you?” he asks. It kind of sounds like Beau, but n
ot really.
“This is Lizette Parrish, Beau’s manager, I came to see him,” I reply.
“Sure, come on in,” he answers.
The gates swing open and I drive through, glancing in the rearview mirror to see them shut smoothly behind me. I slowly make my way up the mile of dirt and gravel before parking off to the side of a gorgeous ranch house that is backed up to soft rolling hills of green. Everything is so green here, it is absolutely beautiful. This is the first time that I’ve ever come to Beau’s mother’s home. I’ve met his mother in the past, but have never been here. I can see why Beau loves to come home whenever he can. I get out of the car and make my way toward the house. I just reach the top step when a young man steps out the front door. I have to do a double take when I first see him. He is a smaller, younger version of Beau. Beau looked exactly like this guy a couple of years ago, which could only mean that this is his brother, Kaden.
Sweet Renegade Page 2