At the wobbly voice, I pinched the bridge of my nose. I should have known she’d call after I left without a word to her. The fact that she needed liquid courage to do so had my jaw clenching again. Living in that cold house, I understood more than Mother realized. I’d walked out of there the moment I could and never looked back. Later, I’d tried to help her, tried to get her to leave, too. But she’d said she couldn’t. Yeah, not when she was tied to the place with the strings Margo pulled.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Why didn’t you stay? I d-don’t see-see you anymore,” her incoherent words had me shutting my eyes. She had to see a therapist. Hell, maybe go to rehab again.
Two women who slurred.
Mrs. L, who’d probably had a stroke—the only thing I could think of that would affect her speech—still appeared to enjoy life.
And my mother, who drank.
“I’ve been busy, work—”
“I miss him, Jack,” she interrupted. “If only he loved me, even a little, I could-I could…” Cope without liquor? “Never mind…”
The line dropped. Christ. I lowered my head and rubbed my temple at the never-ending loop of anger and despair trapping me to a past I could never escape.
Jaw rigid, I pivoted to enter the house and halted as Sean Logan stepped out onto the patio. “Needed to stretch my legs for a bit…” Concerned hazel eyes swept over my face. “You okay?”
I did the only thing I could. I shut down every thought of my family so I could function again and nodded. “Yeah. Family stuff.”
RAY
Man, this sucked. I groaned and pulled my top off before gingerly removing the dressing from my wound. With my breast blocking my view, I had to rely on the mirror to check its progress.
The skin appeared inflamed but wasn’t bleeding anymore. However, the darn fever persisted. Sighing, I swiped my hot brow, then opened the faucet, ran my fingers through the cold water, and dampened my forehead.
“What’s wrong?”
I spun around, flinging my one arm across my bare breasts, my heart lodged in my throat. “Dammit, Jack, don’t sneak up on me—what are you doing in my room?”
“I did knock, you didn’t answer,” he said. “And I don’t sneak, never have. I needed to see you, so I asked Ila. Unless you wanted me to give this to your sister.” He set the pharmacy package on the counter, and I became aware of just how small my bathroom was with Jack in it. Heck, I couldn’t even squeeze scrawny Wilbur in here.
He reached out and laid the back of his cool hand to my brow. I wanted to moan in relief. “You’re burning up.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” I rolled my eyes at the obvious.
“That mouth. Someday, Ray—” His tone was clipped, edged with anger, and something else I couldn’t quite put a finger on…then deep down, a sense of understanding stirred. Something had upset him.
“What is it?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”
The tick in his jaw became pronounced as if he were clenching his teeth. He picked up the meds I’d left on the counter, got out the required dosages, and handed them to me. “It’s nothing.”
“Oh, I see. You can drill me about things, but I can’t ask you questions?”
“It’s family stuff,” he finally relented, and in the same breath, asked, “You’re going to this pub-blast thing?”
I was surprised he’d given me an answer. Whatever had happened had clearly distressed him a great deal. But I let it go. “No, I don’t think I can manage. I need to be fit tomorrow for the festival.”
I swallowed the pills with some water. Jack washed his hands, then opened the new package and got out the cream. He held the arm I had over my breasts and angled his head to check the stitches on my chest.
Sheesh, he’d already seen me braless—I’d slept with him, my boobs smashed against his chest, for God’s sake!Yup, way to go, Ray.Biting back a groan, I rubbed my heated face that had more to do with embarrassment than my temperature as he gently applied the ointment.
An image flashed in my mind of me curling into him and…and kissing him—oh, crap!
I’dkissed Jack, and he hadn’t said anything. Usually, he relished calling me out on things like that. At my sharp inhale, he looked up. “What?”
Unable to cope with my fluctuating emotions because of this man and with my resistance on a precarious edge, I shook my head.
