Need You Tonight (19 page)

I open the door and she walks inside.

“I hope you don’t mind that I came to you,” she says with an uncertain look on her face.

“Your in-laws leave?”

“Yes.”

“How was their visit?” I ask, trying to be patient when all I want to know is if she went through with it.

“They got there right after you left.” Her gaze slides away. “They asked me to move to Florida with them.”

My heart stops. Literally stops. “And you said?”

“That I had a nice job and a pretty house. But they countered with no state income tax and an in-ground pool.”

“Who’d want to compete with that?”

“I don’t know. They also told me about Betty Swartz’s nephew—that he’s a snazzy dresser, owns his own house, and has a good job as the resident handyman of their resort.”

I can only imagine what this asshole looks like. Some preppy, white dude with—I give myself a mental shake. No way I’m thinking about Betty Swartz’s nephew. And there’s no way I’m going to let Brooklyn go without a fight.

“I don’t give a damn about her nephew or Florida,” I snarl.

“I didn’t think you would, so that’s why I told them I already had my very own handyman who fixes the things that break around my house, cooks me dinners, brings me flowers, writes me love letters, and sends in reinforcements to help me get through an afternoon that was potentially painful.”

I swallow. “You said all that?”

She nods, taking a step closer to me. Taking my hand in hers, she opens my clenched fist and presses a kiss to the center of my palm. “I told them that I love you, and that you loved me.”

“How did they—were they okay?”

“Yes.” She kisses my palm again, and then works her way over to my fingers, taking one in her mouth and swirling her tongue around. “I told them the truth about us—how could it not be okay?” She tilts her head to one side. “There were lots of tears—some were happy, some were sad, and others were…well, a combination. But in the end, because of you, I was able to finally break free of my past. I’m all unstuck now.”

Her words hit me hard, not only because she’s so damn happy and proud of herself in this moment, but because I’m still lying to her. I still haven’t told her the truth, and it’s hanging over me like an ax ready to fall at a moments notice.

“Brooklyn, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Can it wait?” she asks. She strips off her top and skirt, only to stand before me wearing nothing at all. “I want to celebrate tonight, and I wore your favorite outfit.”

My mind goes blank at the sight of her round breasts. Her pink nipples are already hardening in the cool night air. I run the tip of my finger over one, and she moans a little.

“It can wait.” Then I pick her up and carry her to my bedroom.

“Damn it,” I growl, pulling out of her. Brooklyn looks at me, bewildered, as I answer the phone. I lay my hand over it. “My brother. I think something’s wrong.” Something had better be wrong, like Rae got pissed at him and set his balls on fire.

She sits up, her tits bouncing, and I have to look away. There’s no way I’ll be able to concentrate when I have her in my bed.

“Parker.”

“This better not be a butt dial.”

“It’s mom. She relapsed. Ford wants us to come now. I land in Charlotte in thirty. I have a ticket for you on the next flight out. You have three hours to get here and through security. I’ll text you the flight info so you can check in before you leave.”

My phone buzzes with his incoming text. “Got it. I’ll be there.” I end our call and roll to one side.

“What’s wrong?” Brooklyn lays down beside me, her hand inches away from my now semi-erect dick.

“My mom’s relapsed, and Ford wants us to fly out tonight instead of next week. I don’t know if it’s serious or not since it’s happened so many times before.” But to Crystal’s credit, she’d gone two years without using again.

“Then go.”

I glance at her. “Way to stroke my ego.”

Her mouth drops open. “You need to get on a plane to go see your sick mother and you want to finish having sex first?”

“Kinda.” Turning away from her, I stare at my walls, at the cracks and dents and peeling paint that tell story of my life. “You’re the first woman I’ve ever had here.”

“In your room?”

I lean up on my elbows and shake my head. “This house.” Getting out of bed, I rid myself of the condom I no longer need and start to pack.

After a minute, Brooklyn joins me, handing me clothes until I ask her to stop. She lays her head against me. “I love you.”

Zipping my suitcase shut, I turn to her. So much love shines in her eyes that I can hardly stand it. Today, she put her past behind her and made a decision to be with me, wholly in the present and the foreseeable future.

“I love you, Brooklyn Reeves, and when I get back, I’m going to marry you.”
After I tell you the truth, and I’ll convince you to move away with me.

Rowan’s perched on the couch, watching
Real Ways to Die
with Boyd. They cackle like two old women when a man shoves a tube up his rectum to relieve his gas pains. He falls to the floor in obvious pain.

“Oh Lord,” Rowan laughs. “Only a man would do something so stupid.”

“Only because a woman drove him to it.”

Rowan glares, then shrugs. “You have a point.”

The news breaks in, and the two of them groan. I half listen to them and the news with a little smile. This place has become a second home for me, with its engine smell and slick floors. The people here, especially Rowan, are ones I could call on anytime, for anything.

Like Parker.

“Oh shit,” Boyd says.

“Where’s the remote? Find the remote,” Rowan screeches.

I roll my eyes as I open my can of soda. “What did this guy put up his butt?” I ask, turning my attention to the television. Parker’s image appears on screen in a video, or at least I think it’s him. He’s dressed in a tux, his normally messy hair carefully styled as he leads a woman to a waiting elevator.

Just as the doors closed, she drops to her knees in front of him and his head falls back. The can of soda slips from my hand, hitting the floor with a dull thud.

“This video, obtained on the condition of anonymity, was taken two week ago, at a Groves’ fundraiser. Mrs. Groves, the wife of Democratic candidate Michael Groves, is one of many caught up in this Escort Agency Scandal. Some of the escorts are reported to be underage. If you have any information about Annabelle Butler’s escort agency, please call us at—”

I’m a whore. I sold my body. I started when I was fifteen.

The television screen goes black.

I blink as Rowan takes a step toward me. “Hey, stupid news, right? So depressing. Blech. So…did I tell you about that time I saw my brother on
The Price’s Rig
ht? Yeah, well he’s never been on
The Price’s Right
. The dude was his doppelgänger.”

“I remember that, Little Boss,” Boyd says.

I nod, my head jerking like a bobble head. “Yeah, I’ve heard that can happen. My parents sent me a postcard from Wyoming where they swore they saw Uncle D’s twin.” I edge toward the door, unsure of what to do. “I think I need to get back to work.”

“Boyd and I will take care of the mess,” Rowan says.

“What mess?” I look down again. “Oh, I’ll get it.” I grab a wad of paper towels and try to blot it up, but no matter what I do, more liquid keeps coming out.

Rowan kneels beside me and grabs the can, tossing it into the recycling bin. “It had a hole in one side.”

“Thanks. I’ll get the rest.”

“But you’re messing up your pretty skirt.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Rowan takes me by the hand and pulls me up. She grabs my head and makes me look her in the eye. “I don’t know what’s going on, and I sure as hell don’t know if that was him or not, but what I do know…what I’m going to plead with you to do is talk to him first. Get his side before you do something you regret. That man loves you. I
know
he does. He’s the reason why I showed up at your house for moral support.”

“What if he lied to me?”

“Then I’ll cut the son of a bitch,” Boyd says solemnly.

“And I’ll hide the body,” Rowan adds.

Ford has the decency to look guilty, not something I’d expect a former sheriff to do. It has to be against code of something. “I love your mother. She wants to see you, and that was the only way I knew to get you out here.”

“We were coming next weekend,” I point out. “Didn’t you get the memo?”

“Parker,” my mother coos, rising from the sofa that takes up half of the room. “You shouldn’t talk to your daddy that way.”

“He is not my dad.”

Cole grunts. “Want mine? He’s a winner.” Cole’s dad is an award winning country music producer. He’s also a violent, scum-sucking son of a bitch who recently went to jail for getting a fifteen year old girl pregnant.

At least the guy Crystal claims is not only mine, but also Kelly’s dad, is decent enough. Or he’s whipped. Either way, he’s never put his hands on her, and he gave up everything to move out here with her, including a solid job with the county.

“Shut up, Cole,” she snaps, and then turns her baby blues on me. “Parker, my handsome boy, come take a walk with me.”

“I’m good right here.”

She pouts, but unlike how she treats Cole, she doesn’t say shit to me. “You boys hungry? Brett made dinner.”

“I’ve lost my appetite,” my brother snaps.

Crystal’s sugary sweet demeanor turns hateful as hell. “Oh, I’m sorry. Is my food not good enough for you? Maybe you should tell that rich little wife of yours to let you spend some money, and you can go to the store to get what you like.”

Normally, I’d let Cole handle things while I make sure Kelly remained oblivious, but Kelly’s not here. “Lay off him, Crystal.”

“Parker, don’t,” Cole says with a shake of his head.

“Parker don’t,” Crystal mimics. “Be a good boy.”

I clench my jaw so hard that I hear a pop.

“Always my sweet boy. Always took care of me when
you
wouldn’t,” she whines to my brother.

“Enough,” Ford says, stepping between the three of us. “I didn’t invite them out here for you to be a bitch to Parker or Cole.”

She pouts. “They didn’t bring Kelly.”

“Like you miss her,” Cole snaps.

“I do miss her, but she doesn’t know me anymore. The last time I spoke to her, she hardly had anything to say,” Crystal says softly, almost like she’s really hurt. “I thought she’d be more excited about the baby.

Cole narrows his eyes. “What baby?”

Brett comes to stand beside my mother, putting an arm around her shoulders. “Ours.”

“You mean to tell me that the reason why Kelly’s been crying and pleading for me and Rae not to have a baby, because she thinks we won’t want her anymore, is you?” Cole growls. “Unfuckingbelievable.”

I swing my gaze between the three of them, settling on my brother. “You’re trying to have a baby with Rae? That’s awesome.”

“That would be one hell of a miracle,” Crystal sneers, placing her hand on her belly. “Considering her medical condition and all.”

I explode, getting right in her face. I would never lay a hand on her, but damn it, she needs someone to talk some sense into her. “What’s wrong with you? Can’t you just be civil towards him? What happened to the woman who attempted to be nice before she moved out here? I thought you were trying to change.”

Baby blue eyes glare at me. “Could you be civil to the image of the man who used to abuse you?”

“I’d like to think I’d know the difference between him and his son.” Suddenly her eyes clear, and she lets out a horrified gasp. “I’m sorry.” She turns to Cole. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t take my meds today. I’m so sorry.” Crystal breaks away from Ford’s embrace and runs from the room.

“What in the hell was that?” Cole asks, just as stunned as I am by her reversal in attitude.

Ford runs a hand through his short, black hair. “This is why I asked you to come out here.” He sits down, his shoulder drooping a little. “The rehabilitation center was very good to her. They helped figure out what her problem was, gave her the tools…they diagnosed your mother as being manic. She’s been this way since I first met her, but the abuse she suffered while growing up made it worse. By the time she had you guys, she was full blown and self-medicating. She fixated on you Cole, because you remind her of your dad.”

“That’s no excuse,” he growls.

Ford holds up his hand. “Not an excuse. An explanation.”

“Is this supposed to make us feel better? Are we supposed to start coming over at Christmas and Thanksgiving?” I ask.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, you had better figure it out real quick, because you got her ass pregnant again,” Cole says. “I don’t see a ring on either of your fingers, so I suggest you find one and do right by her.”

This is the man my mother refuses to see. A man who stands up for her, willing to go toe to toe with a former sheriff to make sure she’s taken care of.

“We live together,” Ford points out. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Cole crosses his arms over his chest. “Any dumbass can move in with a woman he claims to love and move right back out again when he gets tired of her.”

I stare at my brother in shock. Who is this guy? Then guilt washes over me. Hadn’t I offered that to Brooklyn? Hadn’t I offered her good enough instead of my best? It wasn’t until I thought I’d never see her again, never hold or kiss her again, that I manned up.

“Either make it official and give that baby a last name, or move the hell out of her house.”

“This is
our
house.”

“Not when I pay the fucking mortgage it’s not.” Cole tips his chin up. “That’s right. All that money she told you she came into when her parents passed, she didn’t get shit from them.”

“They didn’t leave me anything?” Crystal asks, reappearing out of nowhere.

My brother’s face heats. He glances away from her. “No.”

“Did they leave y’all anything?”

“Yeah, right,” I say. “We’re the spawns of Satan. Pretty sure they left us nothing.”

She frowns. “I can’t keep taking your money, Cole.”

“It’s not just my money,” he says, rubbing a spot over his ear, just like he’s always done as a kid.

“Whose money is it?” I ask.

“Ours.” He finally looks at me. “I’ve been writing songs for Rae for a while now. Discovered that I had a real talent for it. There’s money in the bank for you. I was waiting to give it to you when you decided where you wanted to go.”

“I don’t want your money,” I say.

“Don’t care. You wouldn’t take your half of The Double Deuce, so at least take this.”

“I don’t need it.”

“Don’t be a punk. Take the money. You need it. I know you do. No one would voluntarily live at that place if they did.”

“Maybe I’m saving up.”

“How will you pay for school?” he presses.

“Don’t worry about it,” I say, growing more uncomfortable by the minute.

“Who else will worry about it—her? Him? My dad?” He laughs, but it’s bitter. “It’s always been the Morgan boys against the world. It’s always been us looking out for one another.”

“But you have a family now. I can’t take that from them.” I’m grasping at straws now. My sister-in-law is a famous country music singer who has more money than she could probably spend in a lifetime.

“Parker—”

“Drop it, okay?” I turn to Crystal. “I think it’s great you know what’s wrong with you and congrats on the baby. But I’m fucking tired. Where can I crash?”

Crystal leads me to a room with a view of a lake. “The next time y’all come with Kelly, I can show her the room that’s waiting for a little princess like her.”

I glance at the bed. “Are Cole and I bunking up together?”

“No. Y’all have your own rooms, too.”

“What about when the baby’s born?” I can’t help but ask.

“There’s a nursery attached to the master bedroom.” She walks to me, stopping just shy of touching me. “Does Cole know you paid for my medical bills?”

“No.” I didn’t think she knew either.

“They weren’t cheap, baby. I saw the last bill before I left Forrestville.” She tucks a strand of pale hair behind her ear. “What did you do to pay them?”

I can’t stand to look at the concern in her eyes. It’s not foreign to me, but I don’t want it. I don’t want to be reminded of any of that, especially since I haven’t shared the whole truth with Brooklyn.

Taking a deep breath, I force my gaze back to hers. “What I had to.”