by Shannyn Leah
Dale held his hands up. “You know, he told me not to mention it to you if we crossed paths. Maybe we could keep it on the down low.” He lowered his voice which was still loud over the music. “Just like him being in a wheelchair.” He stepped back and zipped a finger over his lips. “I got both your backs. If he doesn’t share, I have lots I can set you up with.”
A bad feeling ran through her. Reed hadn’t touched the stuff since the accident.
Why now? Why so much?
Dale slipped past her, planting a kiss on her cheek she didn’t even feel. Her body numbed as a blur of this evening’s events played in her head: Reed’s apology, his blessing to pursue Stone, and his almost serene ambience.
Fear descended over her and kicked her concern into panic. Her brother planned to hurt himself, more than likely kill himself.
Her feet moved without order, her heart pumped louder than the music. She didn’t care who she pushed out of the way or who she insulted, her brother’s life took priority to pissing off strangers.
The halls seemed never-ending, the elevator took longer to chime open and she almost exploded watching each floor pass until the doors finally slid open.
Her hands shook as she dug through her purse for her key card, knocking a trail of contents, lipstick, Kleenex, and change down the hallway floor to their suite.
She groaned when her repeated card swipes didn’t line up correctly. When the door finally opened, she pushed it open and dropped everything.
“Reed! Reed!”
She prayed Dale had exaggerated and she was jumping to conclusions when really her brother had simply fallen asleep.
Running through the main area, she checked the kitchen and living room, both empty.
“Reed! Answer me!” She remembered playing hide and seek in hotel rooms as kids when they’d been left with Susan while their dad fought in the ring. At the time, they’d been too young to know details of his extracurricular activities. At the time, they’d been happy and free, giggling as they ran through the rooms, looking for one another.
Her shaking hand turned the knob now and threw the door open. She hadn’t been nearly prepared for the outcome which unraveled before her.
“No!” The scream ripped from her chest at the horrific sight of her brother’s body sprawled out on the floor. Dale’s white powder spread across the table by the window like puffs of a cloud dotted with a rainbow of pills.
What had he done? What had he taken?
At his side, she dropped to her knees and lifted his torso, feeling his neck for a pulse. “Reed, talk to me. Wake up. Dammit.” Her fingers weren’t steady enough to feel the pulse or there wasn’t one to find.
“No, no, no,” she chanted, pushing harder into his neck.
Hands covered hers and she knew they were Stone’s before he spoke. “There’s a pulse.”
“Call 911 and move her.” Registering Hawk’s voice was nearly an impossible task, but when Stone lifted her, she felt her world crumbling around them.
Were they too late?
Chapter Twenty-Three
“THEY HAD HIM drink charcoal to soak up the drugs and they’re keeping him overnight.” Bowie leaned against the elevator wall listening to Stone update his father on Reed’s condition.
She stared straight ahead at nothing specific. Not the chipping paints on the closed doors or the scraped buttons on the right. Not the lit red sign indicating the floor numbers as they declined.
Nothing. Just like the emptiness inside her.
“The doctor tried to send him for a psych evaluation after what he believed was attempted suicide—” Stone paused and she could hear Slate’s muffled rambling, unable to make out specific words, but knew it was his own assessment of Reed’s undertaking. “Bowie tossed around some connections and had the whole thing dropped.”
Reed needed a psychiatrist, but not a recommendation from this hospital. Too public, too many snitches around each corner ready to sell information to the highest bidder. Bowie would phone around in the morning and get him into a private facility.
“We’re heading back now. Don’t wait up we can talk in the morning. We just waited for him to be transferred to a private room. They’ll release him in the morning.”
She couldn’t wrap her head around the fact her brother had tried to take his life when she finally had seen him smile, witnessed him take steps toward his recovery.
The elevator doors opened and Stone cut his conversation short, sliding his phone away and grasping her hand as they stepped into the chilly hallway.
Antiseptic, bleach, all the familiar smells dredged back up from the day she’d barrelled through these exact same doors with Reed when their father had been rushed to emergency. Only hours ago she’d run down this long hallway thinking she’d lost her brother too. The selfish jerk had planned on leaving her.
Walking down the hall, slipping into the limo, and the ride home was a blur. It wasn’t until she stood in the foyer of her house that she realized how angry she felt inside. This was her home and although she’d grown up here and had an abundance of good memories, lately the memories have been sad, depressing and hopeless.
“Are you hungry? Thirsty? Tea?” Stone’s unceasing kindness wasn’t deserved after she’d dragged him here to fight, do something he’d long given up and left behind.
Bowie didn’t answer. She couldn’t find her voice or the words. She walked to the table in the centre of the foyer and stared at the tall vase that Susan maintained with fresh, brightly colored roses. They represented optimism and hope in a world that had grown so cynical she couldn’t recognize anything different.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, held it until her head leveled her emotions and then blew it out, releasing all the events from the last ten years. The sadness that had put her into hiding, the fear of saying something that might offend the only people left in her life. She inwardly dug out the woman who didn’t stand back and watch events unfold but instead stood up and did something about it.
She wouldn’t fade away because her brother couldn’t get his shit together. She wouldn’t baby him anymore. She wouldn’t dream through her paintings instead of living her life right now. She had wasted so many years of her life. She refused to push the anger and resentment of the past and present back under the surface any longer.
Opening her eyes, she seized her anger and thrust her hands out, hitting the vase and sliding it off the table. The shattering glass and the splashing sound of water on the marble floor was an eye opener for her. When had she lost who she was?
Ignoring Stone’s surprised sounds, and tired of following everyone else’s rules and suggestions, she stalked to the hall table against the wall and swiped her arms along the surface. Two more vases and a pottery figurine knocked over and crashed to the floor at her feet.
Adrenaline pumped through her as she decided to take charge of her life.
Grabbing an umbrella from the cast iron umbrella stand, she swung it at the mirror. The glass cracked and shattered to the ground. Damn, that felt good.
“Whoa!” Stone’s arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her away from the mess. He set her down and grabbed the top of the umbrella. “What are you doing? Take a breath, Bowie. Calm down.”
“Calm down? All I’ve been is calm and look where it’s gotten me? Reed just tried to kill himself!” She let go of the umbrella. “He did it at the hotel on purpose. He planned it all along because he didn’t want to do it here, where I live.” She let out a humourless laugh. “I don’t understand how someone as selfish as him can still have empathy.”
“He needs to talk to someone about the accident.”
She poked Stone’s chest. “Don’t you make excuses for him. You’ll end up disappointed just like me. Face the truth, he hated you. The way you and my dad clicked drove Reed to despise you.”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know.”
“He went wild after dad died.”
“I was th
ere.”
“And when dad left you his bike, Reed snapped.”
He grasped her shaking hands. “Bowie, I don’t care about any of that.”
“I lost you because of him. I can say I would’ve driven you away, and maybe I would have, but I also would’ve chased you down afterwards. I couldn’t have stayed away from you that long. I wouldn’t have wanted to.”
He rubbed the pads of his thumbs on her skin and in a soft voice said, “Doll, we can’t change the past.”
Bowie slipped her hands away and stepped back, feeling his resolve seeping into her. “I’m done living this life.” She threw her hands in the air and twirled. “It’s all fake.” She stopped and faced him again. “Or at least, I’ve been fake, in a way that’s different than the sham I played on television. And you know what’s real?”
He shook his head.
“Me, right now. This moment, realizing my secrets and truths have been exposed. You know about Reed hiring Walker, you know everything I’ve been hiding. And I’m tired of hiding. I’m finished trying to fix Reed.”
“Baby him.”
“Excuse me?”
“You baby him. If you’re laying it all out, you should’ve had him admitted to a hospital long before today and you shouldn’t have been protecting him from the mess he’d dug himself into. It’s not your job to act like his parent.”
Tears burned her eyes. “Life is hard.”
He shrugged, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his suit pants. “It’s not rainbows and money.”
“I pushed away the only person who contested my decisions. You were always straight-forward whether I liked it or not, and sometimes I was...”
“Spoiled.” He grinned. “Spoiled is the word you’re looking for.”
She laughed and swiped away the tears. “You, you’re real. And my feelings for you, they’re real. I ignore them, and deny them with this mix of anger and guilt and all I can think about is whether you have a dog or not and if you named it Bridge.” She let out a breath. “And I’ve asked myself every day since you’ve arrived how I’m going to survive when you walk away from me, because, Stone Patino, I’ve gone and fallen in love with you all over again.”
HE’D WAITED TEN YEARS to hear her say the words.
In two large strides, he stepped over the glass and grabbed the sides of her head, not waiting another second to hungrily devour her mouth.
Her lips parted and met his tongue with forceful, passionate strokes. She moaned against his lips, melting in his arms. Her fingers slid up his front and snaked around his neck at the same time he wrapped his arms around her to crush her front against his.
He couldn’t get enough of her taste, her lips, her touch—her. He’d always been a sucker for touching and tasting her, and that certainly hadn’t changed over the years.
He grabbed her ass and lifted her. When her legs wrapped around his middle, he carried her to the table in the center of the room that she’d only moments ago pushed a vase from. As he set her down, her dress hiked so far up that her lace-covered ass pressed against the marble.
Her fingers worked to unbuttoned his shirt and he unzipped the back of her dress while kissing a path down her throat. She felt damn amazing. His fingers gripped the top of her dress, slowly sliding it off her shoulder and kissing every inch of skin he revealed. Her hands slid under his shirt warming his abdomen and flaring a heated trail moving downwards.
Just as he was about to slip the dress off her shoulders and over her breasts, he stopped. “I can’t do this.”
Her hands froze right at the zipper of his pants. When her rigid body began to pull away, he sensed he’d offended her.
Lacing his fingers through her hair, he cupped the back of her neck and pulled her forehead to his. “It’s not that I don’t want to, doll.” He felt her relax in his arms. “You’re fresh dealing with Reed and I won’t take advantage of that. This doesn’t have to be now or never.”
He felt her nod against him. He placed a finger under her chin and lifted her eyes to meet his. “I don’t have a dog. I wake up every morning, every single goddam morning, and you’re there. For that brief morning of haze, I feel complete, whole again, until my hand reaches to the empty bed beside me. I’m not leaving you again. I won’t. This time they’ll have to handcuff me and drag me out.”
She grinned at him. “They did handcuff and drag you away last time.”
“Is that what you want?”
“No.”
“What do you want?”
She bit her bottom lip, tempting him to latch on again. “Take me to your house.”
He smiled at the one thing he’d wanted to do all his life. He slipped her dress back into place.
“Okay.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
STONE DIDN’T RUSH down the highway out of Oakston. He wanted to give Bowie the opportunity to change her mind. But a half hour outside of Oakston she fell into a deep sleep and her escape from the night’s events thwarted him from speeding along the country roads toward Willow Valley.
By the time they hit the outskirts of his home town he still didn’t feel tired. Instead of driving straight to his house, he took the scenic route and detoured along Willow Valley’s main strip. Still dark, with the sun only slightly beginning to rise in the east behind them, Stone steered his truck in the empty parking lot along the beach and parked.
Bowie stirred, head facing him, mouth slightly apart, but eyes remaining closed. The relaxed features of her face eased his worry about her. She’d been through a lot in the last week, facing her fear of underground matches, fighting with him, and now hospitalizing her brother. It was too much strain for one person to carry and her outburst had proved the point. A break away from the bumpy trail her life currently bounced down would be good for her.
But was that all this was? Or would be? A getaway for her, a vacation to refresh before returning to her life? He’d heard her declaration, but he took it with a grain of salt considering the events leading up to it.
He scrubbed his hands over his face.
“Tired?” Bowie’s soft voice flowed like a breeze through the truck’s cab.
“No.” He was rarely tired, although fighting and training had sure drained him.
He tilted his head to watch her stretch her arms out and sit straighter. Her eyes gazed over the white sandy beach still coated in a lightening dark. “What time is it?”
“Likely before six.”
“What time does it get busy here?”
“Businesses open around ten and morning breakfast earlier.”
“It’s beautiful. No wonder you enjoy living here.”
“How are you feeling? You want me to drive to my place so you can get more sleep?
She shook her head. “I like it here. It’s peaceful.” She stretched her legs out on the dashboard and he followed her gaze across the darkened water.
Right now, without a soul on the beach, it was peaceful. But when once the tourists awoke and headed to spend a day at the beach, it would be a mad house.
“What are you thinking?”
He shrugged.
She sat up abruptly. “I have to call Susan and tell her about the mess. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
He touched her arm to stop her from searching for her cell phone. “I messaged my dad and he cleaned it up.”
“Oh.” She slunk back in the seat and scrubbed her hands over her face. “I’m sorry. Tell him I’m sorry.”
“He understands.”
She made a skeptical grunt. “I bet.”
“What would make you happy right now? It can be anything in the world. What would make you smile right now because I’ll do it.”
She laughed.
“I’m not joking. We’ve spent a week tip-toeing around each other in a situation that’s been scary all around. So forget all of it. Where is the sporadic jump on a plane and jaunt to Paris for the night girl I used to know?”
She smiled. “That was a good week.”<
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He grinned back. “I thought I’d get to see more of Paris.”
She laughed. “Are you complaining?”
He shook his head. “No, being wrapped up in the sheets was my favorite part.”
“Mine too.”
“So do you want to go to Paris? Me and you. For a couple days, or a week.”
“To sightsee?” The innocent way she asked sent desire straight to his groin.
“If that’s what you want to do.” If sightseeing included random make-out sessions and sex in public places they shouldn’t, he was ready.
She shook her head and sucked her lips in before pursing them out again. Desire took over her sleepy eyes. Would pulling her onto his lap right here and having sex with her in the parking lot be as unethical as taking her on the table at her house?
“We should stretch our legs. Do you want to go for a walk?”
She smiled at him. “You’re really firm on this no sex, huh?”
Desire darkened his eyes and every grain of him wanted to forget whatever gentleman shit he was trying to abide by. “For now.”
“What about a make out session? Kissing? Heavy petting?”
He glanced down at her in her black dress with only panties between them if she climbed onto his lap. “Not a good idea.”
“I think it’s a really good idea.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I’ve never had sex on this beach before.” But they’d had sex on the beach more than once and a few times on her dad’s boat.
“What happened to just making out?”
“The longer you leave me, the hornier I get.”
Stone laughed and rubbed one eyebrow. “Damn, Bowie, you know how to turn a guy on.”
“You.” She touched his thigh, transmitting fire through the material of his pants. “Only you, Stone.”
He caught her hand and brought the top to his lips. “Let’s get some air.”
She pouted at him.
“We should have a conversation before complicating things.”