He quirks a brow at my question. “When was the last time you got her out of the house to goout anywhere?”
“Well, it’s been a while… Fine, I can’t remember the last time. But she did show up at my apartment not that long ago, looking for me,” I admit. “Would you rather just meet at her place and cook dinner for her?”
His eyes bore into me, suspiciously, like he’s processing the information and trying to determine his next move.
“Realistically sis, I don’t care. This is your thing and I agreed to do it with you so you’re not forced to do it alone.” My eyes widen. How gracious of him. “Tell me what you want to do and when you want me where and I’ll show up.”
My heart starts pounding harder in my chest, anxiety pulling at me from all directions. Once again, everything falls on me to handle… alone. “Fine, let’s meet at Mom’s house, late afternoon on her birthday, and you can help me cook dinner for her.”
His eyes droop, clearly bored of this conversation, as he turns back to his excessive amount of monitors. “Fine.”
I stand there for a moment, regarding him in his element, and I realize Ryker may be right. The blanket laid out on the couch, and a bag full of clothes do make it seem like he’s living, or at least sleeping here from time to time.
“Fine. I guess I’ll go now?” He doesn’t bother saying anything back. Instead, he lifts his arm and waves it dismissively in my direction. Fuck him.
My mood has soured considerably by the time I make it back downstairs to help Ryker. My shift doesn’t start until about half an hour before we open, so I have a solid couple of hours to take my feelings out on the bar glasses before the doors open. I’m notgoing to break them, but I’m going to give all these smudges a big what for.
“Hey, sweet girl,” Ryker coos as I approach. “How’d it go?”
Sliding behind the bar, I grab a glass and proceed to aggressively wipe its non-existent water spots, focusing intently on the task at hand.
“Hey–” Ryker grabs my bicep, pulling me toward him and lifting the glass delicately from my hand. “I asked you a question.”
With an exasperated huff, my eyes find his and the frustrations melt away in an instant. I swear this man has the power to soothe me with just a look. I can’t get enough of him.
“My brother is a fucking douchebag asshole dickface.”
He assesses me for a moment, before tugging my body into his hard, toned chest and wrapping his arms snugly around my waist. I can’t help but bury my head in his warmth.
“Went that good, huh?”
“I don’t even know what the point of that was. He gave me nothing to work with. He doesn’t give a shit what we do, so I decided.”
Leaning his head back, he tips my chin up with his finger. “Don’t let him get to you, baby. You need to be more firm with him, or he’ll never step up and do his part to help you. It's not all on you. At least it shouldn’t be.”
“I know. I know. It doesn’t feel like it’s worth the fight it would cause, though,” I whine.
He considers me for a moment. “I bet you’d feel better if you pushed back a little from time to time.”
He’s right, I should push back. “I don’t know how,” I admit.
“I know you don’t.”
After a long pregnant pause, I whisper, “I don’t want to talk about his dumbass anymore.”
52
Ryker
Bella steps away from me, resuming her work, like it never happened. I’ll never understand her knee jerk reaction to dismiss uncomfortable feelings like they don’t exist. It probably shouldn’t surprise me that she won’t talk about it for more than five minutes. She rarely does and it’s starting to piss me off. I’ve tried to stay out of her family issues because I didn’t think it was my business, but I’m starting to realize that thisismy business… becauseshe’smy business.
“Bella,” I interrupt her aggressive glass polishing. She’s cute when she’s frustrated, but I need her attention right now. “Look at me.”
Her head tilts my way at the command. “I have an errand to run. You know what to do. Jake and Roxie will be here in about an hour and I’ll be back in a couple of hours at most.”
“Where are you going?” her face twists in confusion.
I grab her face with my hands planted on each side and pull her to meet my lips for a kiss. “We’ll talk about it another time.”You get what you give, sweet girl. Then I release her, heading for the offices and I can feel her eyes on me the entire way.
