Chapter Twenty-Two
God, she was hot when she was spitting fire. I had been looking forward to getting this meeting over with and going back to my place to Chardonnay in that ridiculous overpriced piece of lingerie, but watching her command the room and giving those people a piece of her mind was the perfect foreplay.
She spoke with Laurent and Phoebe for a moment. Lainey cleaned the dessert table and packed the leftover cake for Albert. He took it and even cracked a smile before hurrying away just as Odette was closing in.
Albert smacked me on the shoulder as he passed, and normally I’d walk out with him, but tonight I was waiting for Char. Her eyes met mine, and a slight smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. Most people probably wouldn’t have noticed, but I did.
She said her goodbyes and made her way over to me. “Get me out of here before I sink my teeth into one of those jerkoffs.”
“The only person I want your teeth sinking into is me.”
“Just because I read vampire romance books doesn’t mean I actually want teeth play.”
I leaned in, my lips barely touching the curve of her ear. “Until you’re coming, and you’re screaming so loud, and the only way to quiet yourself is to sink your teeth into my shoulder.”
“Pretty confident in yourself.”
“Always.”
“Why don’t we go back to your place, and you can show me that confidence. I can finally put on that new La Perla set?”
“Don’t have to ask me twice.” Impatient, I wrapped my arm around her waist and pressed my lips to hers.
“So it is true,” Odette said, and I reluctantly broke the kiss.
Chardonnay ran a hand down her suit and turned toward Odette. “Yes, Brady and I are… well we’re…”
“Together,” I said, linking my fingers through hers.
Odette didn’t even bat an eye. “So, what should we call you? Chardy? Bradonay? No, I don’t like that one.”
“Excuse me?” Chardonnay said.
“You know, like all those celebrity couples who have cute nicknames: Tayvis, Brangelina but they’re not together anymore, so that’s a bad example.”
“We do not need or want a nickname,” Chardonnay deadpanned.
“But it’ll make it official. What else are we supposed to call you?”
“By our names. We are two separate people.”
“Who are now together, making one powerful unit.”
Odette snapped her fingers. “I got it. Brachard.”
“That sounds like a type of cheese,” Chardonnay countered.
“Yeah, let’s not go with that one.”
“I’ll keep trying.”
Chardonnay sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t.”
Odette ignored Chardonnay, gave a wave, and trotted off, mumbling more name mashups as she went.
“She’s going to make this a thing, isn’t she?”
“Has Odette ever been stopped when she gets something in her head?”
“Then why hasn’t she given Laurent and Phoebe a name, or Franc and Quinn, or Lainey and Nero, or Rose and Wyatt? Why the hell are we the unfortunate ones?”
“You heard her. We’re a powerful unit.”
Chardonnay groaned and pressed fingers to her forehead. “That does not make me feel any better.”
“It could be worse.”
Her head tilted, and she took me in, those dark brown eyes skeptical. “How?”
“She could get us matching outfits with the name on it.”
A chuckle escaped, and I rubbed at my chin, surprised by the lightness of the moment after an intense town hall meeting.
“Could you imagine? It would probably have flowers on it.”
“Big color coordinated matching flowers.”
“Okay, you’re right. Could be worse.”
“Besides, some new town gossip will pop up in the next few days, and she’ll completely forget about this.”
“God, I hope so.”
I kissed her forehead and lingered for a second. “Let’s go home.”
A flash of surprise crossed her features. It was so fast, if I wasn’t looking right at her, I would have missed it. “Home. I’d like that. I need to stop home first. Grab my laptop and a few things.”
“Like your ‘How to Take Down My Enemy’ notebook?”
“How’d you know I had one of those?”
I laughed. “I wouldn’t expect anything less. Take your time. I’ll be waiting.” I gave her a kiss, and we parted ways. I hopped in my truck and headed home. I pulled into the driveway, and Jack ran through the doggy door to greet me.
“Hey, boy.” I bent down and scratched his ears. The sound of my phone echoed through the calm night. I slipped my cell from my pocket and glanced at the screen. Ron’s nurse was calling again.
I answered, hoping it was another case of missing knobs.
“Hi, Brady. I’m sorry to bother you.”
“No problem. What’s going on?”
“Your dad. He’s been good. Then, out of nowhere, he started accusing me of stealing from him.”
A sharp crash echoed through the phone, followed by an angry roar that twisted my stomach. Ron’s voice rose in the background, and my heart sunk in my chest. “I told you to get the fuck out of my house, you thief!”
“Sir, please,” the nurse pleaded, her voice tight with barely concealed panic. “I’m on the phone with your son.”
“My son?” he spat, as if the words were bitter on his tongue. Indistinguishable mumbles followed before turning into muttered curses and angry rambling that had my hold tightening on the phone.
“How have you handled other patients who have had episodes like this?” I asked.
There was a pause. A long pause. Too long.
“Ron is my first one.”
My jaw clenched, my body a vibrating box of annoyance. “I was told you were experienced.”
“I’ve been in the business for three years, but my last client, while older, had all her faculties about her.”
“Why are you still here?” Ron’s voice grew louder, closer, more threatening, laced with a rage I hadn’t heard in years. A wave of flashbacks slammed into me, shooting ice through my veins. My mind was a battlefield of memories, no, nightmares, exploding open and dragging me to a hell I had long escaped.
I had no idea what he was capable of when he was in this state. If he slipped to the man he was years ago… if he lost control…
“You can go,” I said, my voice a mere growl. “I’m on my way.”
“I don’t want to leave him alone, sir.”
“I’m ten minutes away. He can’t possibly cause that much damage in that timeframe.” Another loud crash followed more cursing. “Go.”
“Do you want me to come back tomorrow?” The nurse's voice shook.
“I think it would be best if we get someone with a little more experience with dementia patients, but thank you for your time.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t a better fit.”
“It’s not your fault.”
Back in my truck, I hung up with the nurse and threw my phone with an angry pitch into the cup holder. Jack barked as it hit hard.
“Sorry, boy.” I gave him a scratch behind the ears. “I don’t know what the fuck I’m going to do now. He was out of my life. My life was better then.” But then I thought of the last couple of months, of Chardonnay and the joy she’d brought to my days. I didn’t want her getting mixed up in this mess. I wanted her as far away from it as possible.
Ron’s place came into view, and I hit the gas to speed up a little. I cut the wheel and turned into the driveway. The nurse was long gone. The dust from her car was evident in the moonlight.
I took a deep breath before hopping out of my truck. Jack jumped down beside me, and I slammed the door. It was like being a teenager again, having no idea what the hell I was about to walk into.
Taking another steadying breath, I pushed the door open and stepped inside, afraid of what I would find. Shattered glass from what was once a bowl greeted me in the kitchen. My muscles tightened, every one of my instincts on high alert. The air was thick with a sharp scent——soup, onions maybe. A pot was left on the stove, the flame killed.
“Jack, stay.” I pointed to him, and he sat in place.
In the middle of the wreckage, chest heaving, eyes wild with confusion and fury, Ron stood.
His hands trembled at his sides, fingers clenching and unclenching into fists, as if he was internally battling between good and evil. He was slipping… spiraling.
“What happened?” I asked, keeping my voice steady.
His eyes met mine, and for a second, I didn’t even know if he recognized me.
“You!” His voice was low and accusing. “You left me with a thief . She tried to rob me blind.”
“From what it looks like, she was trying to cook you dinner.”
“Liar!” he screamed, fist coming up. A familiar chill of fear ran through my spine, but I wasn’t a child anymore. I was bigger than him, stronger. “Put your fucking fist down. We’re not doing this.”
“I’ve been robbed!”
“No, you haven’t. I need you to go into the den while I clean up this damn mess.”
Fury burned hot in his eyes, but beneath that, I could see something entirely different. Fear. Confusion. A man trapped in a mind that no longer made sense to him.
I didn’t want to be sympathetic, but he was barefoot, and there was glass.
Closing my eyes for a second, I inhaled and stepped toward him with my hands up. “Everything is exactly where you left it. No one took anything, and you are safe. I promise you.”
He shook his head almost violently, a panicked lilt in his voice. “No, no. I saw him. I know I did.”
“Look around. Everything is exactly how you left it. Everything.” I darted my arm out to the overturned kitchen chair, the glass on the ground, but also the pots hanging from their hooks, the microwave on its cart, the keys on the table. “It’s all here.”
He took in the room, eyes darting from object to object. He gripped the end of the table as if he needed it to hold him upright. “I… I don’t…” Confusion marred his features, twisting the deep lines in his forehead. “I don’t know what’s real anymore.”
“I know.” I stepped toward him, not wanting to hug him but feeling drawn to comfort him in some way. “But I’m real. I’m here.”
“You should go.” He gave a sharp nod of refusal and motioned wildly toward the door. “Before I say or do something I’ll regret.”
I wanted to say it was too late for that. Thirty-nine years too late, but he was a shell of the man I knew so long ago. “Don’t worry about it. Go sit and watch TV or something while I clean this up.”
His shoulders slumped in defeat, an invisible weight too heavy for him to carry. With a solemn nod, he turned away.
I found a broom and dustpan on the side of the fridge and cleaned the glass. I turned the stovetop on. The soup was already compiled, it just needed to finish cooking. Dishes were stacked in the sink, so I rolled my sleeves up and got to work. After, I shot Ray a text, asking if he’d be able to stop by tomorrow morning since my morning looked as if it would be spent on the phone, trying to find a replacement—someone who had experience with dementia patients.
Ray responded almost immediately with an affirmative.
When I was finished with the kitchen, I went into the den and found Ron on the couch, eyes closed, Fanny in his lap. Fanny spotted Jack and jumped from Ron, taking off. Ron startled awake.
“Brady, when did you get here?” he asked.
I ran a hand over my face and sat on the loveseat. “Just now,” I said. If he couldn’t remember the shitshow from before, I didn’t feel like reliving it. My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I slipped it out.
Chardonnay’s name flashed on the screen. “Shit.”
I tapped into the text.
Chardonnay: I’m knocking and you’re not answering. Where are you?
I stood up to call her.
“Are you doing anything for the fourth?” Ron asked.
“The fourth of what?”
“The Fourth of July. I thought we could shoot off some fireworks like we did when you were a kid.”
“Jesus.” I rubbed a hand over my face. We were coming up on December for fuck's sake, and the last time we shot off fireworks, I was five and burned myself when he didn’t wait for me to take cover and shot it off in my direction. He hadn’t done it on purpose. A drunken fool mistake is all it was, but I hated fireworks after that.
“It’s November,” I said. “Thanksgiving just passed.”
Confusion twisted his brow. “Oh.”
“I have to make a call. I’ll be right back.”
I stepped into the cold night. My breath was barely visible beneath the moonlight. The phone only rang once before Char answered.
“Hey, where are you?” she asked.
I stared at the house that had once been my hell and now felt like a black hole I never fully got away from. “I’m at Ron’s. His nurse called. It was a whole thing. I’m stuck with him for the night.”
“Why don’t you bring him here? We can——”
“No.” I didn’t want him near her. “I’m going to stay here. Ray said he’ll come by in the morning. I’m sorry.”
Silence fell on the line for only a moment. “It’s all right.” The sincerity in her tone nearly undid me. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Maybe.” She had so much on her plate now with the damn mess of Gold Crest, she didn’t need my problems overshadowing hers. “I’ll call you.”
“Okay. Night.”
“Night.” I ended the call and walked into the black hole.