10. Declan
Chapter 10
Declan
W hen I hear all the shit Riley has gone through, it takes everything I have to not pound my fist through the patio tabletop. That would not only scare Riley, but Nicholas, too. Plus, I would have to buy a new patio table, and this asshole will still be out there. But it doesn’t keep me from wanting to do it anyway.
“What are your plans for the week?” I ask her as she comes back into the kitchen after putting Nicholas down for a nap. He wore himself and Bella out this morning playing in the pool and the backyard.
“Well, I need to figure out what my next move is. Where we’re going to go since I obviously can’t go back to my parents’ house. Hell, I feel guilty enough for bringing this to their front door. Literally.” I can see in her face the memory of the note on her parents’ front door.
“I mean work and school-wise. Where do you need to be and when?” I ask her as I finish cleaning up the disaster in the kitchen from breakfast.
She doesn’t answer me, so I look up and see she’s sitting down on the couch looking completely defeated. Her shoulders are slouched, and her head is hanging down into her hands. “Riley?” That’s when I notice her trying to discreetly wipe away a tear.
She takes a deep breath, sits up, and looks over at me with a fake smile. “I’m not sure what’s next for us yet. My plan for today is to figure out what I’m going to do now since I can’t go home, and I can’t go back to Atlanta.” She gives me a forced smile. “Maybe Canada? Bahamas? Europe? Surely, this whack job won’t follow me around the planet, will he?”
Finishing the kitchen cleanup, I grab two water bottles from the fridge, and hand her one as I sit down next to her on the couch. “You’re not moving to another country. Hell, you’re not moving out of this house.”
“We’re not staying here. I’ve already dragged my family into this – I’m not dragging you, too.”
“Too late. I jumped in with both feet.” She smiles and shakes her head at me when I wink and give her my million-dollar smile. “For now.” I amend. “You’re not moving out of this house, for now. At least not until we’ve caught this guy. Hell, is there even a BOLO out for this guy for attempted kidnapping?”
“BOLO?”
I laugh at her scrunched-up face. “Sorry. Cop jargon. Be On the Look Out - BOLO. Most people know it as an APB or All-Points Bulletin from television.”
“Oh… um, yes. Atlanta PD did do that much, but with only a grainy profile image of a guy wearing a baseball hat, glasses, and a coat – they didn’t have much hope in capturing him.”
I nod as I get it. Everyone loves to say they have video surveillance, but no one wants to invest in the good stuff that will actually capture something useful when it’s needed. Although I understand her frustration with the cops in Georgia, they really don’t have much to go on and they’ve done as much as they can for her – or at least until he makes a colossal fuck up and someone gets it on camera. But then it may be too late.
“Well, you two are staying here until this is all over. No arguments.” I stare directly into her eyes to get my point across and until she finally relents.
She sighs heavily, “Fine. Thank you.”
I push her hair behind one of her ears and I don’t miss how she leans into my touch. This could be very dangerous – welcomed – but dangerous. “Riley,” I whisper.
She takes a moment, but then looks up at me through her lashes and whispers back, “Declan.”
I can’t stop myself – and I don’t want to – as I lean in to kiss her lips. I’ve wanted to kiss Riley Ashford ever since our medieval days.
As our lips touch, I’m waiting for either a four-year-old or a Great Dane to interrupt us because that’s how my luck goes, but instead I can feel Riley’s hand snake around my wrist as I tangle my fingers in her hair. Her lips are so soft and just touching her makes my nerve endings explode in a chaotic firestorm.
Before I know it, our kiss ends, and I just rest my forehead against hers. “I’ve wanted to do that for the last twenty-five years.”
“Really?”
“Really and it was everything I had hoped for.” From this angle, I can see the blush across her cheeks and it’s the most endearing thing I’ve ever seen, but I have to sit back and put some distance between us before I throw her on her back on this couch and do unspeakable things to her.
“Wait. You’ve wanted to kiss me since we were five years old? Me?” She sounds flabbergasted.
I look at my bottle of water, untouched, on the coffee table. I need something stronger. “Want a beer? This isn’t going to cut it for me.” As I stand, I want to adjust myself, but I don’t want to make it obvious, so I don’t. Just being near her makes my head cloudy, but actually kissing her – I have no words.
“No. I’m fine with the water.” She follows me to the kitchen and I’m able to covertly adjust myself as I stand behind the kitchen island hidden from the waist down. “Answer the question, Declan.”
Opening the beer bottle, I take a long swig because I’m about to admit something that I’ve never told anyone – not even River, although I think he always suspected. Once I’ve downed half my beer, I quietly place it on the counter. Riley is standing across the island from me and I’m thankful for this small amount of protection between her and me because this could go really bad, really quick.
With both my arms holding me up on the counter, I look directly into her eyes – I don’t want to miss her reaction because it will tell me what she really thinks – what she really feels.
“Yes, my lady, I’ve wanted to kiss you since we were five and you had the cooties. Once I realized girls don’t have cooties, well, that just made me want to kiss you even more.” The look of disbelief on her face is evident and I don’t know what any of that means.
“Me? Riley Ashford. You’ve wanted to kiss me?”
“Yes.”
“But… but…” She paces around the other side of the island as if she’s lost. It’s amusing.
"But what, Riley?”
“But you were the jock. You had all the girls, including the cheerleaders. You ignored me.”
I storm around the island quickly and pull her into my arms. “I’ve never ignored you, Riley. Never .”
“But I was a geek. You were the jock.”
“I thought your geekiness was cute. And what does playing football have to do with anything?”
She looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “How does it not? Geeks and jocks are like oil and water – they don’t mix.”
I kiss her forehead. “Riley, you need to know that I’ve never ignored you and I’ve never cared about your geekiness. You were my best friend’s twin sister – that’s the only reason I never did anything about it… until now.” I lean down and kiss her ear and feel her shiver. “God, you smell good. Like sunshine.”
I’m just about to kiss Riley on the lips again when a little voice calls from across the room. “Mommy?” Riley pulls out of my arms faster than any bullet I’ve shot from my gun.
“Yes, baby. Are you okay?” She runs over to Nicholas as he rubs his eyes.
“Bella farted and it stinks in my room now.” Both Riley and I burst out laughing as the guilty party strolls out into the living room without a care in the world.
“That probably means she has to go potty.” Riley tells him.
“Eww. She just farted again.” He holds his nose as Riley looks up at me and I can’t help but laugh at the look on her face. Bella’s farts are notoriously stinky.
“Let’s go outside, Bella.” Like the good girl she is, Bella trots to the door so I can let her out into the backyard to do her thing.
Eventually, I knew that a four-year-old would interrupt me, but at least I got to finally taste Riley’s lips. Now I have to figure out where we stand and where we go from here.
Since Nicholas, apparently, had no intention of going back down for the rest of his nap after Bella’s butt stunk up his bedroom, we decided to go back to her parent’s house to get some more of their things since they will be staying with me for the foreseeable future.
Yesterday, all she grabbed were a few things but now that she’s agreed to stay with me, they’ll need more than an outfit or two and all of Nicholas’ toy trucks.
Understandably, Riley didn’t want her son to see the note that is still on the door inside his grandparents’ home, so I took him to the backyard to ‘help grandma with her vegetable garden’. He was all too happy to help pick some of the vegetables that were clearly not ripe enough to harvest yet, but at least he was distracted.
Riley packed a few bags for both of them and grabbed any mail that was in the mailbox. I told her not to open any of it until we got back to my place in case there was something in there from the asshole stalking them. If there is, I want to make sure we handle it with care to get any kind of evidence he may have left behind. It’s the cop in me.
She also grabbed her computer and what looks like a day planner, her phone and tablet chargers, and a video game console with some games, presumably they belong to Nicholas – but then again, she is my little geek; maybe they are hers.
Wait – when did she become my geek? Who are you kidding, Hayes? She’s always been yours.
“Ready?” Riley asks as she climbs into my truck. We moved Nicholas’ car seat into my truck because I don’t want her driving her own car. We’ll switch vehicles for a while – until this is all over. This stalker obviously knows what she drives and the fact that she still has Georgia plates makes her car easy to find in a small town like Hibiscus Harbor.
“Ready. Who’s hungry?” I ask as I start the truck.
“Me! I want chicken fingers,” Nicholas calls from the back.
“I could eat,” Riley agrees.
“Great. I’ve got just the place.”
Maneuvering through easy Sunday evening traffic, we arrive at Hoopla’s quickly. The parking lot is semi-packed, but I’m able to park my big truck in the lot next to the bar since we own that lot, too. “We’re here. Let’s eat.”
Once Steph takes our order, Nicholas gets busy coloring the placemat with the crayons Steph brought over. He’s such a great kid.
“I had no idea you guys wanted to own a restaurant.” Riley looks around admiring our handiwork.
“Bar and grille.” I correct her.
She places her hand on her chest, “My apologies – bar and grille.” She laughs.
I’m pretty proud of all five of us for bringing this place from an idea to a successful business. It’s helped not only for the five of us to stay together, but it’s turning into a place where the community can come together as well. Someplace where everybody knows your name – like that television show from the eighties.
“To tell you the truth, we’ve been talking about it since we were kids. Reid had just graduated medical school and realized that he didn’t want to be only a doctor and that he missed the camaraderie of his classmates from school. Then he had this idea for the five of us to actually go ahead with our childhood idea and create Hooplas.”
“What do you mean he didn’t want to only be a doctor? Isn’t that a great job?”
Steph brings our burgers and chicken fingers and refills our sodas.
“Thanks, Steph.”
“Let me know if you need anything else.” She goes back to the bar.
“Reid is an odd duck. I think he was lonely when he came back to Hibiscus Harbor. You know he has no family – just his friends. Like zero family. Both his parents passed away before he graduated med school and he has no cousins, siblings, or any other family. I think he was looking to stay connected with what he knows.”
“Wow. I knew his parents were older than ours when we were kids, but I didn’t even think about the fact that they would pass away sooner than ours. Of course, they would – but still – you get so wrapped up in your own world, you forget about anyone else’s. God, he graduated med school, and no one got to see it.” She sounds melancholy for Reid as she pops a French fry in her mouth.
“Oh, we all went to his graduation. Surprised the shi…” I manage to stop myself from cursing, remembering there are little ears sitting with us. “irt, the shirt off him.”
Riley laughs, “Good catch.”
“Yeah. That was a close one.” I take a mammoth bite of my burger. Damn they’re good here. We’ve got the best kitchen staff.
“So, you guys all piled into the car and drove to Duke University just to see your friend graduate from medical school?”
“Don’t be silly. We flew, but yes. Why do you sound so surprised?”
She smiles softly at me, “Not surprised – more like jealous.”
“Jealous?”
“Yeah. I miss having friends like that. Although I enjoyed living in Atlanta – it’s nothing like living in a small town; like living at home. I missed Hibiscus Harbor and the sense of community. Atlanta, or any bigger city for that matter, is just too big to have that feeling.” She eats the last of her burger. “I think it’s pretty great that you guys did that for Reid.”
“Yeah, well… he would have done it for any of us.” I’m not too sure what else to say. Maybe it’s a guy thing, but we saw Reid needed us, so we showed up. Not much else to talk about. It’s what you do for a life-long friend.
“You guys are lucky.” She plays with Nicholas’ hair. “It’s what I’m hoping I’ll find again now that I’m on the kickball team. The ladies on my team all seem pretty great, so far.”
“So far?”
She laughs at my question. “Yeah, so far. You’re not a girl, so you have no idea how catty women can be towards each other. But in all fairness, I haven’t seen any of that with these women. It’s kind of refreshing.”
“Speaking of kickball, what’s your schedule look like this week? What are your plans?”
She laughs, “Are we doing the whole domestication thing already? It’s kind of soon, isn’t it?”
I raise one eyebrow at her, “We can if you want to. Don’t tempt me.”
She stares back at me, and I’d pay every penny I have in the bank to know what’s going through her pretty little head right now because I can’t tell by the look on her face. Did I scare her? Did I freak her out? Did I excite her?
“Really, in all seriousness… what’s your schedule for the both of you this week? Just trying to keep you both safe, Riley. That’s all.” I add the last part in case I did actually scare her.
“Um, well, Ian Gallo wants to meet with me to get me signed on as the official event planner for Hibiscus Harbor Country Club.”
“Wow. That’s exciting. Are you going to do it?”
She looks down at her son who is dancing in his seat as he continues to color on his placemat in between eating chicken fingers and then nods at me. “If he offers, then yes, I’ll do it. Depending on what the contract says, of course, but it’s time to create, or reestablish, my roots. For him.” She nods to her son.
“I’m really glad to hear that. For more reasons than you’d think.”
“Really? Like what?”
I look around at all the people laughing, dancing, and having a good time. “Well, Hooplas would like to hire you to be our event planner, as well.”
Her eyes almost bug out of her face as she sits forward in excitement. “Really? Like what kinds of events were you guys thinking?”
“Well, for starters, we’d like to do something for Labor Day. Then, the major holidays. You know, to drum up business and like you said earlier – bring the community together. We own the empty lot next door and we’re thinking that would make a great area to hold stuff like what you put together for Kate and Hudson.”
I can almost see the thoughts growing in her head. Her eyes are dancing around the place as she takes in the atmosphere of Hooplas. She starts nodding, “I can see it. That would be great for business for you guys and for the town.”
“We’d like for you to think about it and maybe bring some ideas to our next meeting?”
“When is your next meeting?”
“Wednesday night. We’ll be meeting here after work. There’s a conference room in the back. No rush, though and no pressure. If you can’t do it – or don’t want to do it – it’s fine.”
“No rush? Labor Day is in four weeks. We’re already late if we want to get this going for this year.” She pulls out her day planner and starts jotting things down.
“What are you doing there?”
“She’s writing. She gets like this when she’s excited,” Nicholas says as he keeps coloring.
I watch the two of them focused on what’s in front of them when I notice my partner Jax walk up to our table. “Hey man.” I shake his hand.
“Hey. What’s up, little man?” He shakes Nicholas’ hand. “How are you doing, Riley?” He kisses her on the cheek, and I have to hold back my knee-jerk reaction to punch him for putting hands on her. She’s not mine and I’m not a barbarian… I think.
“Good.”
“Riley’s agreed to plan our Labor Day event,” I tell him to distract myself from wanting to kill my partner.
“Really? That’s great because the best that all the five of us could come up with is we needed to have food and beer. I’m sure there’s more to it than that.”
She laughs at him, “A bit. I’ll have some ideas for themes, catering, games, and a budget by Wednesday’s meeting.”
We’re both surprised by that. “That fast?” I ask.
Jax sees someone and waves. “Gotta go, but this one’s a keeper, Declan. See ya at work tomorrow. Bye little man.” He knuckle bumps Nicholas and he giggles.
“Who was that? Was that your boss?” He asks me.
“He seems to think he is sometimes. No, he’s my partner. We work together as police officers.”
“You’re a real for real police officer?” His mouth is wide open, and his artwork forgotten.
“I am.”
“Do you have a police car with a siren?”
“I do.”
“Can I see it?”
“We’ll see. You’ll need to eat all your chicken fingers, though. It makes you big and strong.”
Nicholas looks down at his plate and grabs the last part of his last chicken finger and stuffs it in his mouth. “Othay” he says with a mouth full of food.
Suddenly, the enormity of what these two have been through in the last few years hits me and I realize she’s been doing this all by herself. And doing a pretty damn good job. She’s got through the loss of her twin, a pregnancy, birth, raising a terrific kid, and building a business all without support or help. And all of that while fighting a stalker who thinks this kid is his and wants to take him from her.
Strong. Not geeky. Strong is how I would describe Riley.
Silently, I say a little prayer to River for bringing her back to Hibiscus Harbor – back home – where I can be her support system and protect them both from this psycho.
‘ I’ve got them, man. I promise. ’