Chapter 12 Willow #2
He doesn’t press me for more information, and there’s something in his expression that tells me he understands how I feel without me having to go into detail about it.
He’s always so good at that. I swear he can read me like he’s got an open line directly into my brain sometimes.
“Okay,” he murmurs. “Then how about we turn on the TV and relax that way? Watching cable is the best thing about hotels. Or at least that’s what Ransom always says.”
I nod my agreement, and Vic shuffles things around. He steals the pillows from the other bed and props them up on mine, fluffing them and arranging the sheets.
I scoot up and make myself comfortable, hugging one of the pillows close. Vic climbs up beside me, keeping some distance between us as he settles in.
Just like before, when Vic was anxious about being touched, there’s tension between us—although now the roles are reversed.
But I can feel it, crackling and electric in the space between our bodies on the bed.
There’s so much want there, so much desire, and it’s coming from both of us.
I want more than anything to just roll over there and tuck myself under his arm.
To rest my head on his chest and feel that closeness.
And more than that, I want to act on those feelings that rose up before, in the wake of our confessions.
But I know I can’t. I’m still not ready for it, and Vic doesn’t push for anything. He understands, which helps more than he’ll ever know.
Picking up the remote, he scrolls through the TV guide channel for a bit before turning to one of the home improvement shows I like so much.
“Oh, this one,” he comments. “This isn’t one of the better ones.”
I glance over at him. “How do you know? I didn’t think you really watched TV.”
He shrugs lightly. “I don’t, normally. But I did some research.”
“On home improvement shows?” I furrow my brow, confused. Of all the things for Vic to put his considerable talent at hunting down information toward, this one seems very strange.
“Yes. And the concept of home improvement itself, I guess. At first, I just wanted to see how accurate these shows are when it comes to showing the process of remodeling a home. I assumed a good amount of it was just dramatized for the show, and I was right about that. Some of them get it closer than others, and some are just full of drama. This is one of the dramatic ones.”
He nods to where the woman in overalls is talking to the home owners.
And he’s not wrong. This is one of the ones where a family calls in an expert to renovate their house, and usually they either don’t have enough money or the house turns out to be in worse shape than they thought, and it all gets very emotional.
As if on cue, the wife in the couple starts crying on camera, talking about how their baby is only five months old and has barely been able to sleep at night because of a heating issue with the house.
“We’re all just so exhausted,” she says, weeping to the designer. “When she’s not sleeping, we’re not sleeping, and we’re at the point where we’re considering just paying for a hotel for a while, because we can’t go on like this.”
The shot shows her holding the baby, rocking her in her arms, and then zooms in on her exhausted face.
Yup. Definitely dramatic.
“But why?” I ask Vic, turning back to him.
“Because drama sells,” he explains with a shrug. “Probably more than discussing crown molding or outdated HVAC systems.”
“No, I mean… why did you do all that research?”
“Because you like these shows,” he answers, as if it should be obvious.
“At first, I wanted to know why. They didn’t seem all that entertaining, and you were so fascinated with them.
I wanted to see if there was something I was missing.
And then I just wanted to feel… closer to you, I guess.
I wanted to understand you better, so I started with something you enjoyed.
It helped me keep my shit together when you had to stay away from us.
I imagined you in your apartment watching a show like this, and it made me feel like we were there together. ”
“Oh.” For a second, I just stare at him, surprised and touched. “You really do love me, don’t you?”
His brows pull together, a confused look crossing his face. “Of course I do. Did you not believe me earlier?”
It’s such a classic Vic response that I can’t help but laugh a little. “Of course I did. Don’t worry.”
We go back to watching the show, and the designer lady faces the camera, explaining the problem to the audience as if we didn’t just see it happen on the screen.
“The Hampton family thought they were saving money by having a friend from Joshua’s job come in and do their HVAC work for the last few years. But our team uncovered more problems than they were bargaining for once they went in.”
The shot cuts to a close up of mold, thick and dark, as well as termites in the wall.
“Gross,” I mutter. “They’re definitely not coming in under budget.”
Vic snorts. “They’ll be lucky if they’re not bankrupted by the end of this. They’re going to need a completely new HVAC system run through there because of the friend cutting corners, and the termite damage looks extensive.”
“Maybe they should have called you in instead.”
“Absolutely not.” Vic snorts under his breath. “Unlike Joshua’s friend, I know what my skills are. Home renovation is not one of them.”
In the end, he’s right. There’s a whole section of the episode where the Hamptons have to borrow more money from the wife’s family in order to complete the work. They lean heavily on the fact that they have a new baby, and of course in the end, the house is beautiful.
“Notice how they didn’t show them fixing any of the termite damage,” Vic comments. “Which opens up the question of if they even did or if they just slapped a new coat of paint on the walls and called it good enough.”
I laugh as the next show comes on, one where a husband and wife team come through and each try to convince the homeowners to go with their vision for renovating the house.
“This is one of the ones you like better, isn’t it?” Vic says, lifting an eyebrow as if wanting to confirm his guess.
“Yeah.” I grin. “I like when they change the house completely. It always starts as a regular old house at best and a total disaster at worst, and then it turns out so beautiful and bright in the end. And the couple always has such interesting ideas.”
We watch the show together, getting caught up in it as the homeowners, two men who are preparing to adopt their first child, give the hosts a tour of their house. It’s a beautiful ranch style place that seems to go on forever, and I sigh dreamily at the walk-in closets and the big, bright kitchen.
Vic laughs under his breath, and I shoot him a look. “What?”
“Nothing. It’s just nice to see you enjoying yourself. And that is a very nice kitchen. Well organized.”
“Of course that’s what you’d notice,” I tease back, shaking my head. “There’s not even anything on the counters, so how do you know it’s organized?”
He nods at the screen. “The fact that there’s nothing on the counters.
That means it’s all put away somewhere. Probably with a system that makes sense for pulling things out and keeping them in order.
I bet they don’t have to worry about someone coming through and leaving chip bags all over the place. ”
“Not until their new kid arrives, at least,” I add.
“Then it’ll be like living with Malice and Ransom,” Vic mutters, and I laugh.
“I’d really like a skylight in here somewhere,” one of the men on screen says, gesturing around their bedroom. “Natural light is incredibly healthy.”
Vic rolls his eyes. “Oh, yes. Just grab a sledge hammer and put a skylight in the bedroom. What a wonderful idea.”
“What’s wrong with a skylight?” I ask him.
“Nothing. But the attic is definitely above the bedroom.”
That makes me burst out laughing. It’s not surprising that Vic has memorized the layout of the house already, just from watching one quick tour of the place.
When they go into the kitchen, the other husband starts listing his plans for new appliances, and the two designers nod along and take notes.
“That’s the ugliest backsplash I have ever seen,” Vic says later, when one of the designers shows his mockup for the house. “It doesn’t match anything in that kitchen.”
“It kind of hurts my eyes to look at it,” I agree. “What would you do?”
“Something neutral,” he replies immediately. “That way if I wanted to repaint or get new appliances, it wouldn’t all have to be ripped out.”
“Sensible.” I smile, nestling deeper into the pillows.
The combination of the shows I like and Vic’s running commentary lightens the pain in my chest even more, and after a while, I start to nod off.
I can still mostly hear the TV, and I’m not sleeping deeply enough to dream, thank goodness.
But lying next to Vic feels restorative in its own way, and I drift in and out, comfortable and relaxed.
I lose track of time, and when the door opens, I blink awake to see Malice and Ransom coming back in.
I rub my eyes as Ransom makes his way over to the bed, sitting down on the other side of it.
“Hi,” I mumble through a yawn.
“Hey, sleeping beauty,” he replies, grinning.
Malice comes to sit at the foot of the bed, leaving me with a brother on all sides of me. They’re surrounding me, and it makes me feel so safe. There’s nothing here that wants to hurt me, but if there was, they wouldn’t let it get through.
“Did you get what you need?” I ask, shaking off the last of my doze.
Ransom makes a face, puffing out his cheeks like he’s holding in vomit. “Yeah, and then some. I saw shit I never wanted to see.”
I wince at that, not eager to know the details of whatever weird sex stuff the judge is into. It’s got to be bad, if it will work for blackmail.
“So it was good enough? You guys are going to be safe?”
That’s the most important part of all of this. If whatever this judge gets up to while he’s sneaking around on his wife isn’t enough to keep him in line, then finding out about his weird kinks or whatever will have been for nothing.
“Yeah. Definitely,” Ransom confirms. “I can’t imagine this guy won’t go along with our plan with what we’ve got. I wouldn’t want it getting out if I was into that kind of shit, married or not.”
I sigh with relief, a little bubble of hope rising in my chest. If the men are safe from being arrested, that will help me sleep better at night. I can’t bear the thought of any of the brothers being arrested—especially not Malice, after what he went through the first time he was locked up.
“We’ll go ahead and mark that off the list, then,” Vic says, breaking into my thoughts. “And move on to the next part of the plan.”
“Which is?” I ask, glancing his way.
“Preparing to face Olivia.”
Just hearing her name makes me feel sick to my stomach, but he’s right.
Facing off with her is the next big thing we have to do.
As awful as Troy was, as disgusting and cruel as he could be, Olivia is the one who set everything into motion.
She’s the one we have to set our sights on next.
We need to get her off our backs permanently somehow, or we’ll live the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders.
“Do we have anything to work off of?” Malice asks.
Vic nods. “I’ve been digging through Troy’s laptop, and I’ve got some information about his family that we can use. Like most rich assholes, they’re clean on the surface, but it just took a little digging to find what I wanted.”
“Do you think they know that their precious little Troy is no longer with us?” Ransom asks.
“As far as I can tell, no one knows anything. Troy was off the grid up in that house, out of touch with everyone. I feel like if there was news of his death already, it would be everywhere.”
We all nod in agreement at that.
“Even if they wanted to keep it quiet, it wouldn’t be that easy when it’s someone like Troy Copeland,” I say, and the name tastes bitter in my mouth.
He’s dead, I remind myself. You saw him die. Painfully.
That last thought is a bit vicious, but I don’t try to push it aside. I’m learning to embrace my vicious side, which is probably thanks to Malice’s influence. I’m not mad about it though.
“We have a limited window,” Vic is saying as I tune back into the conversation. “I think it’s best if we make our first move before everyone finds out what happened to Troy. Him going off the grid the way he did could actually work in our favor here. We don’t want to waste the opportunity.”
Malice smiles, and there’s a sharp, deadly edge to it.
“I agree. We should pay a little visit to Olivia soon,” he says. “Someone should let her know that things have changed.”