Chapter 5
Demi hated himself. He hated the way he’d spoken to Mandy. He should have been kinder to her with his words. Something that he’d never…she loved him. When did that happen, or even how? He’d not really spent any time with her, and now she was saying that she loved him.
“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong? You’ve been mumbling to yourself for the last ten minutes. Something about Mandy and loving someone else.” He looked at his brother Knox. “Well? Spill it or not, but you’re here to help me not take your mood out on me.”
“She loves me.” He told him congratulations. “No, you don’t understand. I don’t love her. I like her…I told her that I like her all right, but I don’t love her. I don’t want to love her.”
“So don’t.” Demi told him it wasn’t that easy. “Sure, it is. I’m assuming that you told her that you didn’t want to love her, and she’s all right with that? If she is, then you’re off the hook. Go on the way that you are.”
“I’m afraid that she’s made it awkward now. How am I supposed to be around her when she has this thing for me?” Knox told him that he was reading too much into it. It looked like the two of them were getting along just fine. “But she loves me. How am I supposed to let that go?”
“You don’t let it go, but you don’t dwell on it either. You’re the one who is making it awkward, not her. She’s still the same person, and so are you. What has you tied up in knots over this? You’re being stupid.” He thanked his brother for being so understanding. “I think that you’re protesting too much. I think that you really do love her, but you’re saying this now because she told you first. That’s what I think.”
“Now, who’s being stupid? I don’t love her, moron. I like her, but I don’t…don’t you think that I’d know if I love her or not? I’ve seen love on our brothers. I don’t feel that mushy around her. Nor do I want to…you’re just wrong.” He told him that he didn’t think that all love was the same. “So the three brothers that have wives, all of them treat them the same way too—but they love their wives and are mushy around them. I mean, there are times when I find them to be slightly sickening. Don’t you?”
“No, not at all.” Knox sat down in the chair that was across from his desk. “Think about how you feel about her. I mean, don’t just say that you like her, tell me what it is that you like about her. I’m assuming that you have something that you find likable about her. What is it?” Demi leaned back in his chair and thought about what he was asking. “Don’t think too hard on it, big brother. Just tell me what you like about her.”
“She has beautiful eyes. Not only that, but they shine when she’s happy. I find myself figuring out something to say to her to make them shine. And when she’s deep in thought, you can almost see when she gets something. Understands what it is that she’s thinking about.” Knox told him to go on. “Her skin is flawless. I mean, if there is a scar or any other blemish there, I’ve never seen it. It kinda glows, too, when she’s out in the sun. Like the sun has kissed her and brought out the freckles dancing across her nose.”
“Really? And you don’t love her? I think you’re more sappy than the others are.” He asked what he was talking about. “Dude, you just waxed poetry about her freckles, dancing freckles, I might add. What else are you not in love with her about?”
“I’m not telling you anything more. You’re just looking for reasons to think that I’m in love.” Knox told him that he really wasn’t. “All right. Her laughter is the highlight of my day. No matter too if she’s laughing at me or with me, I lo—like it.” He thought about the last time he’d heard her laugh. He didn’t think he’d heard her since she’d told him that she loved him. Demi looked at his brother when something else occurred to him.
“What? What’s happened?” Demi said that he’d really hurt Mandy. “I would say that’s true. I don’t imagine many women go around telling someone they love them only to be told that you like her all right. Seems like you were sort of cruel to her.”
“I didn’t mean to be.” Knox said that he didn’t think that he had. “I don’t know what to do about this. I enjoyed our friendship. I enjoy being around her, too.”
“Yeah, I got that. Demi, I think that if you really were to think about her and you, you really do love her. You just haven’t caught up with her yet. I bet that if you really think hard about her, you’ll see that she’s perfect for you. I mean, you already love the kids, it’s only another step or two before you’re madly in love with her too. And it sure would make it easier on her if you did love her in order for her to raise those boys as her own.” He asked his brother if he was suggesting that he marry her for the kids. “No. I didn’t say that at all. I’m thinking that you’re also looking for someone to have a fight with over this. I’m not who you should be talking to. And like I said, you seem to be in love with her already, but that could only be me.”
“It is only you. As I’ve said several times already, I don’t love her. She’s just a good friend to me.” Knox nodded but didn’t look convinced. “Go away before we get into a fight. I don’t want to knock you around because of a woman.”
After Knox left him, Demi worked on the order he’d been going over for the restaurant. His new chef, Margo, had put the order together, and he couldn’t find anything wrong with her calculations. Demi was ready to turn it over to her as soon as she had another couple of busy nights under her belt. He was ready to move on.
His computer had gone to sleep when he realized that he’d not been thinking about Margo or the restaurant at all. His mind had been centered wholly on Mandy and the boys. They were, he knew, a package deal, and for some reason that made him feel good about liking her. Because he did. He liked Mandy very much.
They were friends. Just last night, she’d made dinner for the four of them. It was good too. Teddy had said that she could cook all right with a recipe. But nothing on her own. Maybe he’d show her how to cook more creatively. Having them all living with him was going to be hard to let go of when she moved back to her house, he only just realized. He loved having them all around all the time.
Getting up after sending the order on its way, he began putting together some of the things that were going to go into the soup he wanted for the evening. People loved his odd soups. Like last week, he’d had salad soup. It had been a big hit with the creamy lettuce, bacon, and tomatoes with just a pinch of cheese on it before serving. Then there was the loaded baked potato soup that he’d made a couple of nights ago, served with a couple of slices of crusty bread. It was an easy way to get rid of too many baked potatoes, too. He found himself wondering if Mandy would enjoy it as well.
“Damn it.” He couldn’t seem to keep his mind on track without thinking about Mandy. He didn’t love her, but he was thinking about her a great deal, and that was driving him crazy. “Focus, Demitrius. Focus on what’s going on right now.”
“Did you say something?” Margo came into the room with him and smiled. “I have to have a good talk with myself, too, sometimes. Especially when it feels like something more is going on. Who is the non-focusing person on your list today?”
“A woman.” She nodded and told him they were the worst kinds of people to get out of your head. “I didn’t know you were with someone. I thought that you said you weren’t married or something along those lines.”
“I have a girlfriend. She’s cool. We’ve been seeing each other for about ten years now. So we’ve been there, done that sort of relationship.” He told her congratulations. “Thanks. But if you ever want to talk, I’m here for you. Like I said, we’ve been through it all from breakups to makeups and everything in between.”
They did talk, but nothing about Mandy. He told her about the boys and how much he loved being around them. He did mention that he had a roommate now that there was trouble brewing for her, and how he was protecting her from a brother and sister.
“Mandy Wilson, right? I heard about her and Samuel. Those boys, they’re polite as can be when I’ve seen them out and about. Mandy is doing a good job of keeping them on the straight and narrow, too. You two should hook up. She’d be good for you.” He asked her why she’d say that. “I’m only making an observation about the two of you. I see the way you two look at each other. It’s very hot.”
“I don’t look at her like that.” She just laughed but didn’t say anything more. “I like her just fine, but I don’t love her.”
“If you say so. But let me ask you this, would it bother you to have her date one of your single brothers? I kind of think that one of them will ask her out if you don’t stake your claim soon.” For some reason that bothered him. Would she date someone else, loving him the way she said? That would be just…he didn’t like that. He caught himself rubbing his heart while thinking of which brother he was going to have to beat up for…he looked at Margo when she said his name.
“You got it bad, don’t you? I mean, you’re really in love with her. That’s wonderful for you both.” Was he in love or just jealous of his brothers dating her? Something was seriously wrong with him if he was in love with her. But he didn’t know what it was. Looking at Margo, he suddenly wanted to go home and see Mandy. “I’ve got this if you want to go. And if I run into trouble, which I don’t see happening, I know how to call you.”
“Thanks.” He grabbed his shirt and was pulling off his smock as he was going out the door, nearly running Mandy down when she was just opening the door to the back of the restaurant. “I’m sorry. Are you all right?”
“Yes. I was just coming to ask you if you’d watch over the boys tonight. I have plans.” He asked her what her plans were, a little too harshly he realized when she looked at him with a cocked brow. “Knox asked me to go to dinner with him tonight. He said he was tired of being hit on when—”
“No. I forbid it.” She took a step back, her smile wavering just a little. “He’s too handsy with the women he goes out with, and you’re not to go out with him. That’s final.”
He knew he was messing things up with her, but he couldn’t keep his mouth from flapping. Instead of shutting up, he went on to tell her the other things that he knew of his brother and made up a few too. He didn’t want her going out with anyone. But him.
“I’ll go with him if he wants a date.” Mandy laughed, and he didn’t care for that either. There was something very badly wrong with him today. “In fact, while under my roof, you’ll not date at all. I’m going to be putting my foot down on that. And anything else to do with men that come sniffing around.”
The slap to his face stung. Not only that, but he could taste a bit of blood in his mouth from her hitting him. As she turned on her heel and walked away from him, the fool that he’d suddenly become went after her, dragging her around so that she faced him. This time, when she hit him, Demi felt the air whoosh out of him and his head bang against something hard. Then nothing.
When he woke up, Demi tried to sit up, but his brother Locke pushed him back down, telling him to stay put. That was when he noticed that there were medics around him and the bright lights of an ambulance. He asked him what happened.
“Mandy called me to tell me that she had just knocked the shit out of you and that I might want to call an ambulance. So I called them first and then came here. What did you do to piss her off?” He asked him why he thought it was his fault. “Because she’s sobbing with my wife right now about you being a neanderthal bastard that thinks he can control her life. So again, little brother, what did you do to have her pop you in the nose with her forehead and walk away?”
“She said she loved me.” Locke said that any fool could see that. “Well, I didn’t. She told me that she loved me, and I only like her. I think. I don’t know what I feel for her now that she’s hurt me. Why would you do that to someone you love?”
“Plenty of reasons that I can think of right off the top of my head. She also said that she wasn’t to see men while living under your roof. Please tell me you didn’t say that to her.” Demi said he might well have. “You’re an idiot. Why would you say…did you actually tell her that you didn’t love her but liked her? Are you insane? Everyone around the two of you can see that you love each other.”
He thought about what his brother said to him as the medics were telling him he needed stitches in the back of his head. Didn’t sound to him like he was loved. As he was being helped up off the ground, he asked where Mandy was.
“Last I heard, she was moving back into her rental. She said she wasn’t going to be living with someone like you, and she thought that she stood a better chance of being normal without you in her life. You did a number on her, Demi. She’s about as pissed off as I’ve ever seen a woman.” He said he wasn’t all that happy either. “Yeah, I got that too. But she’s crying and you’re not. At least not now. You gotta fix this, Demi. She could be your everything.”
“I figured that out already. I’m a fool.” He said he was only a fool if he didn’t fix this with her. “I don’t even know how to begin. I’ve already pissed her off enough that she’s moving out of the safeness of my home to someplace a known would be killer knows where she lives.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. But if she quits working for the women, you’re going to have a whole lot of new hurts on your pretty body.” He got into the ambulance and was being taken to the hospital when he thought of something else.
The boys were going to be pissed off too when they found out that he’d hurt their aunt. It wouldn’t matter to them that he’d been in the hospital; they had told him not to hurt her, and he had. And he felt terrible about it.
By the time he’d gotten to the hospital, his head was hurting, and so was his pride. He’d just, in one afternoon pissed off three of the most wonderful people in the world with his mouth. Once he was able to make a call, he called Mandy to tell her he was sorry.
“Are you all right?” He said that he was but had a headache. “Good. You deserve it. The things you said to me? I can’t believe that I even wanted to speak to you right now. You hurt my heart.”
“I don’t know why I said those things to you. I’m profoundly sorry. As I said, I don’t know why I said those things. I’ve been thinking about how I feel about you, and I got angry when you said you were going out with my brother. I didn’t care for that at all.” She told him no shit. “Yeah, well, I’m sorry. Will you come here and sit with me? I just want to talk to you for a little bit. Bring the boys.”
“They’re unpacking their things. They’re not at all happy with me either. We’ve moved back into our little house. It was that or I murder you in your sleep. To think that I actually told you that I loved you.” He asked her if she still did. “Of course. You can’t just turn that shit off and on. But I’m pissed off at you for treating me like…I don’t know what, but I won’t have you treating me that way again.”
“I won’t. You have my word on that. I was stupid and foolish for even thinking things like I did.” She asked him what he was thinking. “That I was going to lose the best thing that has ever happened to me. I think I’m about as deeply in love with you as I’ve ever been with anyone before.”
“I love you too.” He wanted to bask in that idea of being in love, but they were taking him to have his head examined. He had a feeling that they were going to need more than an MRI machine to see what was wrong with him.
~*~
Carrie looked at her mom. She’d been doing so much better at the facility than she’d been doing with her at home. Just finding out that she’d been mistreated by the nurse she’d hired hurt her soul, but she was getting the kind of care that she needed now, and so was Carrie.
“Carrie, where are you?” Today was turning out to be a good day for a visit. She mostly knew who she was, and for that, she was grateful. Her mom was in the end stages of Alzheimer’s and dementia caused by a stroke that had limited some blood to her brain. “I need to go home and get dinner started, and I can’t get out of this chair.”
“That’s so you don’t fall again. See? You busted up your knee the other day when you tried to walk to the lounge.” This place had it all. From memory care units to specialized places where her mom could feel comfortable while she was out and about. “Tell me what you had for lunch today? I missed coming to eat with you.”
“I don’t know. They called it fish, but it looked like a hamburger to me.” It had been spaghetti with a slice of garlic toast. “For dessert, I had me a banana. I’ve not had one of them in a long time. Put that on the list for when we go shopping again.”
The ‘banana’ hadn’t been fruit at all but a slice of cake with pink icing on it. It was one of the other residents’ birthday, and the entire ward got to celebrate it with her. Not that she understood any more than her mom did, but it was nice of the staff to make sure every milestone was celebrated. She would be ever so thankful to the Ericksons for what they’d given her in the way of a job and a place to live where her mom was safe.
She’d met the Ericksons when she’d been a grocery store clerk. She’d been ringing out people when one of the men came through her line. Getting him to purchase a winning scratch-off card was easy, and it had come back on her, too. Five grand. And since he’d not needed the money, he’d made sure that she had it. The money was stashed away in an account that her family couldn’t get to right now, and she was banking every penny she could while working for them, too.
“When are we leaving here? I need to get home and watch my shows.” There was no way that she’d be able to keep her mom safe if she were to leave here, so Carrie changed the subject. Asking her about the dog that came around all the time. “He’s so sweet, Carrie. Like he knows that he’s loved or something. I want to get me a dog for home. When are we going home today? I need to watch my shows, you know.”
“They’ve been on already, Mom. You and I watched them together.” She hated lying to her, but it was easier than telling her that she didn’t watch daytime television and that they’d been in the lounge when someone else had them on. “I have to be going soon, Mom. Want me to take you back to the rec center?”
“I want to go home. Damn it, why can’t I go home?” She told her that Allen was looking for her. “Oh. He’ll hurt me bad, won’t he? They all hurt me bad, Carrie. Why would they hurt their poor old mother like that?”
“I wish I knew.” While mom couldn’t remember faces or times, she remembered how Allen had nearly beaten her to death once. Allen was the worst of her siblings—having five brothers and three sisters had gotten her in trouble with them, too. Allen, being the oldest, she figured that he’d had the most practice at being a cold-hearted monster. He’d beaten her so badly once that she could no longer carry a child, it had been that violent.
They were still out there looking for her because they thought that her checks and Mom’s social security checks came to them and damn what Mom might need it for. It had gotten to the point where she was working three jobs just to make it so she could buy Mom’s meds when the two of them were living in the house.
Carrie would be grateful for the Ericksons because of what they did for her mom. They paid for her being in a specialized home so that she could work full-time for them. She wrote programs for computers to make them do what it was they wanted. A few weeks ago, she set up an online grocery store ordering app that they were using now to teach women without a job so they could work at home as a domestic worker in some of the finer homes across the county.
She was very careful when she left the nursing home. Terrified that they’d find their mom was a big motivator. Her mom was all she had in this world, and if her family found her, she shuddered to think what they’d do to her. Just to get money. It was always about money with them.
Her apartment was in a secure building. No one got in or out without permission from the people who lived there. Carrie had gone as far as to not putting her name on the button that went with her apartment, so they couldn’t just happen on her first name or her last name of Sharp. She didn’t want to meet up with any of them as much as her mom didn’t. They were dangerous, the lot of them.
By the time she got home, never taking the same way twice, she was glad that she’d put herself something in the crockpot for dinner. She loved soups of all kinds, and when she’d seen her best buddy Demi the other day, he’d given her the fixings for a large pot of the spicy chili so that she could freeze it and have it over the next few months. Carrie loved chili.
She was just settling down with a big bowl when someone pressed the button that was for her to open it. There was a camera on the buttons that had been installed by the Ericksons, and she could see who was there. It was Syble, the oldest girl in her family. Not answering her, she finally looked up at the camera and smiled. It was her fake smile, Carrie knew so well.
“I’m looking for my little sister. I heard that she lived here. Can you let me in so I can check? I’ve been worried sick over her since I can’t find her.” She didn’t answer her again. “Come on, please? She owes me a great deal of money, and I’m looking to get it back from her. Can you just let me in?”
Picking up her new cell phone, she blindly pushed buttons. When someone answered, she didn’t know who, she whispered that she’d been found and that her sister was trying to get into the building. Whoever it was said they’d be there soon and hung up. Whatever happened now was quite literally life or death.
Syble tried her scam on the other people in the building and was told to leave now before they called the police. She wondered at some point if this were to happen, would they sell her out. But apparently, when you had a secure building, people tended to be secure for themselves, too. No one let her in.
“Can I help you?” She knew the voice. It was Knox. He’d been the one that she’d called. And right now, he was talking to her sister. “You’re not a resident here. I know everyone who lives here. No one is going to let you in.”
“My sister lives here, I think. I saw her the other day coming this way, but her name isn’t on the bell thing.” He asked her name. “Carrie Sharp. She’s been hiding out because she owes me some money. If she’s living here, a great deal of money.”
“I don’t know anyone by that name living here. You need to move on before the police are called.” She asked him why he’d just call the police when she wasn’t doing anything. “Because you’re trespassing. That’s against the law. The people here enjoy their privacy, and you’re messing with that. Move along or I’ll have you moved.”
“Damn, I was just looking for my sister. She’s not at any of her jobs that she had, and I can’t find my mother either. I think she’s done something to her. I’m going to file a missing person thing to find her. She owes me money.” She was barking up the wrong tree if she thought that any of the Ericksons would fall for that trick. Knox asked how much she owed her. “Are you gonna pay me so I go away? Great. Mom’s checks each month are about two grand. I don’t know where Carrie is or what she’s doing. But if she lives here, then—”
“First of all, I said she didn’t live here. I know the residents of this place. I own the building. Secondly, why are you taking your mother’s social security check? That’s what you’re talking about, aren’t you? I’m sure that she could use it more than you. You look fit enough to have a job.” She asked him if he liked what he saw. “Don’t be disgusting. I was talking about you being able-bodied. Get a job and leave your sister and mother alone. I’m sure if they’ve gone missing, it’s because of you. Now, as I said before, move along or I’m calling the police. This residence is for the people who live here.”
“You’re not nice at all. I’m only asking to get into the building to see if my sister is living here. She could be holed up with one of the people that live here, and you’d never know it.” Knox put his arms over his chest. “What are you doing to look like that? Bench pressing trucks? It’ll only take five minutes. That’s all.”
“No.” Then he pulled out his cell phone and told Syble that she’d worn out her welcome. To get out of here before he really did call the police. “I’m not kidding right now, I will call them.”
“Bastard. I was just asking.” Syble turned her back to him, then turned back. “Carrie, if you’re in there, I’m going to find you, and when I do, I’m going to turn you over to Allen. We’ll see how happy he is with you when I find you.”
Backing away from the camera, she was suddenly terrified. Syble would do it too. Snatch her up and turn her over to her brother. He’d kill her this time because Syble would make up some story about her holding out on her. Allen enjoyed it too much to kill when provoked.
“Carrie, it’s Knox. Let me in, please.” She told him to go away. “I’m not leaving until I see you. Come on, your sister is gone, and I’m here to see you. You can trust me to let me in. I just want to make sure you’re all right.”
She unlocked the door and fell into his arms, sobbing. Christ, that was close, and now that her family had figured out where she lived, she was no longer safe in this place. And she so loved it here.
“I’m going to call the others. You can’t stay here any longer.” She nodded between bursts of tears. “Come on, honey, let me sit you down so that I can make a few calls. We’ll get you out of here tonight. You’re going to be just fine.”
No, she wasn’t. They were going to find her and make her pay for them missing Mom’s monthly checks. It wasn’t as though she was getting them either, but the nursing home was. It wouldn’t matter to them where the money was going, she was the reason for it not being in their pockets, and that’s all they would care about. Christ, she was going to die after finding something that she was good at. Working for the Ericksons.