But she didn’t want that burden either. She begged Erica for years to change her life, but she would never listen.I gotthis, she always said to her.Worry about yourself. But as soon as she got in serious trouble, who did she tell those cops to call? Not Mommy. Not Daddy. Not big brother. But good old Ricki. The one she never listened to nor ever wanted to have anything to do with. And who came running? Good old reliable Ricki. And she brought alone with her a knight in shining armor who didn’t even want to be there and thought Erica was getting what she deserved. It was just bad after bad. And it made Ricki feel squeezed.
On the vanity were those travel-size toothbrush, toothpaste, and mouthwash, all three still in their wrappers, for guests to use. She gladly used them. She always preferred to brush after she smoked even though she only managed to get a few good puffs before Vince broke up her escape. She brushed. And gargled. And then she took a long shower.
It was going to be a long night: she could feel it. But she was also oddly relieved that she didn’t have to spend that long night all alone.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
By the time Ricki showered and made her way back into the room wearing Vince’s oversized dress shirt, he was still fully clothed lying on top of his bed talking with an executive in his office. But as he watched her roam around that room in that shirt, knowing she wore nothing beneath it, he started getting aroused. And her smooth legs beneath that shirt, and her big breasts outlined even in that big shirt, gave him a full erection. So much so that when he got off of that phone, he grabbed his toiletries case and a pair of pajama pants from out of his overnight bag, and then he went into the bathroom and took a long, cold shower of his own.
But when he finally got out and saw that Ricki was already in bed, he got in his bed too, and crashed. Within a few minutes, it seemed to him, he was out like a light.
It was hours later, but when he woke back up he could hear what sounded like someone sniffling. He looked over at Ricki’s bed and realized it was her. She was trying her best to muffle the sound.
“Rasheda?” His voice was soft and laced with concern.
But it was what Ricki didn’t want to hear. She didn’t realize he had awakened. Did he hear her cries? She didn’t want him to hear her! She was being as quiet as she could, but she knew she was sniffling too. And he did call her name. “Yes?” She attempted to conceal any cry in her voice.
“Come here.”
She didn’t want to go to him right in that moment either. What was he going to do? Lecture to her about how her sisterwasn’t worth her tears? She didn’t want to hear that because she knew she was worth every tear!
But when she didn’t go to Vince, he got out of his bed and got into her bed. Ricki, at first, didn’t know what to make of a move like that. It wasn’t what she expected at all! But when he said, “it’s okay,” in such a soft, caring voice, and when she felt him wrapping his big, warm arms around her small, cold body, she broke. She couldn’t conceal it any longer. She cried like a baby. She sobbed in his arms.
Vince held onto her and didn’t try to comfort her with words of reassurance or anything remotely resembling sweetness. Mainly because he didn’t know how to be that man, but also because he felt he knew Ricki well enough to know she didn’t need reassurance. She wasn’t that kind of weak girl. She needed what she was getting: somebody to hold onto.
She cried for nearly an hour straight. But he never said a word, and she appreciated that. He just held her.
It wasn’t until the crying completely stopped, and then several more minutes later, before she began to open up. “It’s wrong that poor people have to sit in jail because they have no money, while rich people can get bailed out. That seems so wrong.”
Once again, that sister was on her mind, Vince thought. “Some states are trying to change the laws.”
“Will they, you think?”
“No,” Vince said honestly. Then he glanced down at her. “Is that why you were crying?”
“That and the fact that I can’t even help myself, you know? But here I am trying to help my sister. And I’m just . . .”
“You’re just what?”
“And I’m scared, Vince. I’m scared.”
“About her fate?”
“Yes! She could get Life in prison. Life! And I know she didn’t do it, I don’t care what you or that prosecutor or even what her public defender says. Erica wouldn’t do that. But that’s not the crazy part.”
There’s a crazy part, Vince thought. “What was the crazy part?” he asked.
“I was scared that you were going to wait until I went to sleep and then leave me here alone. In this town I hate.”
Vince was touched by her words. “I wouldn’t do that to you,” he said, pulling her closer against his body even as he was already fighting against his own arousal.
Ricki was touched by his words. She lifted her head from his chest and looked up at him. “You wouldn’t?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why not?”
Vince studied her anguished face. He started to say he didn’t know why, but he knew that wouldn’t be entirely true. “Because you are somebody I will never hurt, Rasheda,” he found himself saying. Which shocked even him. “That’s why.”
