Truly Mine (32 page)

My heart sinks. I want to kill this bastard. “I love you, too, baby.”

I pull her into my chest and rest my head on top of hers just as the front door bursts open. I jump in front of Truly and grasp my pistol that’s holstered on my hip.

“Fuck, Rion!”

“Jesus, Dad.” He holds one hand up in front of his body while the other is behind him on Lissa’s hip. He pushes her behind him, shielding her. “What the hell? You told us to come over. We’re here,” Rion says, exasperated.

I feel the same way he does. This shit just keeps getting better and better. As soon as I think the excitement is over, I realize it’s just begun.

I walk to the couch and collect my bag. “I have to take care of something. Do
not
leave this house, and do not let Truly or Lissa leave either. I don’t know when I’ll be back.” I turn and leave before they can start asking questions.

I go straight to the office in hopes of finding Dara still there. When I see her car parked out front, I’m relieved yet anxious. She doesn’t have to help me, and there’s no doubt in my mind that she won’t want to. I walk into the office, already feeling defeated.

“Hey, Ty,” Kailin greets me.

“Hi.” I point toward Dara’s office door. “What kind of mood is she in?”

“Oddly, a pretty good one,” she responds.

“Hmm.” I wonder what could have possibly put her in a good mood. That’s not an easy task. No matter who or what it was, I’m taking advantage of it. I knock softly and crack the door.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite sibling,” she says sarcastically.

I push the door open further and walk into her office. “Hi.”

“To what do I owe this visit?”

I contemplate lying to her, making up a story that will play to her soft side. I decide that her good mood might be all the advantage I need. Sitting across from her, I don’t say a word. I only smile.

“Tyler, are you going to speak?” she asks.

“How are you?” I ask.

“I’m well. And you?” She’s clearly curious about what I’m up to.

“I’ve been better.”

“Spill it, little brother.” She moves to the chair next to me.

Turning toward me, she tips her head to the side. I know that our disagreement is not an issue anymore.

“I need a favor, Dara.”

“Go on.”

“Truly’s in trouble.” I stand.

Dara lets out a deep breath. “Why me? Why didn’t you go to Kail with this? You know my feelings about Truly.”

“Because you’re the only one who can help me. Can you please just set aside whatever issues you two have?” I pace the floor, my heart beating a mile a minute. “She’s in danger, Dara. Someone attacked her last week.”

Before I get the entire sentence out, she’s standing also. “What? Who, Tyler? Why?” She’s nearly as frantic as I am.

“Well, he’s been calling and threatening her for weeks. He finally found her alone on her way home from work the other day, and he fucking attacked her. Rion actually found out and told me—that’s a whole other story—but the guy called her today, and I traced the call.”

“Breathe, Tyler.” She takes hold of my forearms in an effort to calm me. “Who? Who attacked her?”

“Rodney Addison.”

She drops her arms to her sides and steps back. “Whoa…seriously?”

“Yeah, and there’s more. He’s been cooking up schemes to get to her for months.” I choose not to tell her those details.

“Okay. What do you need from me? Whatever it is, Tyler, I’m in.”

I let out an audible sigh. “Thanks, Dara.” I sit in the chair and bury my face in my hands. “He hurt her, and now, I’m going to hurt him.”

Dara walks to me and stands in front of me. “No, Tyler. You’re going to call the police. That’s what you’re going to do. She made a report, right?”

“No, she didn’t. And it doesn’t matter anyway,” I insist.

“You’re not going to get yourself in trouble, Tyler. I won’t help you do that.”

“All I need you to do is call and set up an appointment to meet with him. Tell him you have some new information on his case. I’ll take it from there,” I explain.

“Tyler, no!” Dara holds her hands up, clenching her fists in the air. “I won’t set you up to do something that will get you locked up. We do things the right way,” she declares.

“Here’s where the problem lies, Dara. There’s no proof that he’s done anything illegal. We all know what he’s tried to do, regarding Truly’s mother’s estate, but there were no laws broken. He only tried to claim an inheritance that wasn’t his. And Truly knows he is the one who attacked her, but she didn’t even make a report. I do have proof that he’s behind the phone threats, but that’s not enough for them to hold him. And I’ll be goddamned if he’s going to keep tormenting her now that I know what’s going on.” I stand and walk around Dara to her office door.

“Well, we have to come up with a happy medium here, Tyler.” Dara taps her fingers on her desk and blankly looks around. “There has to be a smarter way to do this.”

“Well, I don’t know what it would be,” I retort.

As always, it’s Dara’s way or no way. She did call Rodney and set up the meeting, but it’s not until tomorrow. And I have to wear a wire and hope that he will admit to attacking Truly. If he does, the police will be waiting to arrest him. That’s a far cry from what I planned to do with the bastard. But I’ll take it, if it means that he’ll be off the streets.

It’s nearly nine p.m. when I get home. Truly is crashed out on one of the couches, and Lissa is on the other. Rion is sitting on the back patio, relaxing and playing his guitar.

I take a seat across from him, slumping into my chair. “Thanks for hanging out.”

“Anytime, Dad. Did you get things squared away?”

“Not exactly. But, tomorrow, I think we’ll have it settled.” I lean forward, placing my elbows on my thighs. “I have to ask you something.”

He stops playing.

“What’s going on with you and Lissa?” I ask flat-out.

He sets the guitar down, leaning it against the chair. With that immature grin that I know all too well, he looks me in the eyes. “How much detail do you want, Dad?”

“Rion, seriously?” I did not want confirmation that something was going on between them. “You do realize, there is a huge age difference between the two of you, right?”

“I’m well aware, Dad. It’s not like we’re planning on getting married and having babies. We’re hanging out…and stuff. She’s cool. I like her.”

Fuck, that is not what I wanted to hear at all. “What does Truly think about this?”

He takes in a deep breath. “I don’t know if she even knows anything.”

I narrow my eyes, not believing that is true. “It’s become quite obvious.”

“Dad, don’t worry. It’s nothing serious. I promise.”

I have to ask. “You’re being safe, right?”

Again, that juvenile grin takes over his face. “Oh my God! Yes, Dad. We had this talk a long time ago. It’s all good. I promise.”

I lean back in the chair and lay my head back, looking up at the night sky. “Ugh…you people are killing me, I swear.”

I didn’t sleep much last night, knowing what was in store for me today.

I’ll be meeting with Rodney in less than an hour. Truly has no idea. She thinks I took care of everything yesterday when I went to see Dara.

I filled Rion in on today’s plan. He’s taking Truly and Lissa shopping out of town for the day. I want them as far away from Rodney as possible.

pronunciation
troo-lee

(adv.) in agreement with fact; truthfully; sincerely.

T
yler walks in the door and straight to me. When he reaches me, he wraps his arms around my waist and lifts me. I wrap my arms around his neck and hold him tight.

“Hi, babe. I missed you.” Tyler thinks he’s pulled a fast one on me.

I know he was up to something today. Although I’ve been a wreck all day, worrying about him, I’ve not let on to Rion or Lissa.

“I love you, Tru. I love you so much,” he whispers into my neck.

“I love you, Ty. Is it over?”

“Yes. It’s over.” He pulls his face back and looks me in the eyes. “Don’t ever keep me in the dark again. Okay?” he whispers.

“Okay.” I want to say the same to him.

It’s been a very eventful three months.

Tyler’s father passed away, and I witnessed not only the Burke family come together, but also the entire town of Fallport. Tyler’s mother insisted on a celebration of a life instead of mourning the loss of her husband. Nancy is an inspiration to me. I hope to be as good for her son as she was for her husband. Although brokenhearted to see his father go, Tyler was also grateful that his father’s suffering was finally over.

As I stood by Tyler’s side through it all, I fell even more in love with him. Although the guilt nearly ripped my heart out when I realized that, unlike his father, whose illness cost him so much lost time with his son, I chose to do that of my own free will. I lost precious time all because I was a hardheaded know-it-all. I try not to think about what our lives might be like if I’d never left Fallport all those years ago.

These days, I enjoy letting Tyler take care of me. To my surprise, it’s as if a weight has been lifted. No more worrying about what I should and shouldn’t allow myself to feel. I’m not spending my days numbing myself to deal with clients and my evenings sad and lonely. And I’m finally at peace with my past. I’m overjoyed with my life today.