20. Flynn
***Flynn***
Seeing the numbers behind Daisy’s constant sacrifice killed the erection I’d been fighting.
My stomach sank with disgust at her family and horror at seeing just how much the kind woman in my arms felt she had to do and give to be enough.
It wasn’t just an apartment that Daisy was paying for.
There was even a monthly payment towards a credit card her sister was paying off.
I sat up when I saw the total and, without meaning to, tightened my grip on her.
“Daisy…” It was breathtaking in the worst way; it was proof that Daisy had been willing to give everything she had for the smallest show of care.
“Stop it all. You don’t owe her anything, much less all of this.
She chose to hurt you after everything you do for her…
That’s fucked up. Not even Tyler would stoop low enough to fuck over his own brothers. ”
Her eyes dropped in shame and I felt her draw into herself. “Doing this will hurt him, too. I don’t have to do it if you’re worried about Tyler.”
She was trying to protect my asshole little brother for me. Those last two words were the difference between a lifetime on the outside and finally getting to feel the warmth of her full attention. She wasn’t worried about hurting Tyler; she was worried about upsetting me by hurting him.
“Tyler made his bed.” I pressed my lips to Daisy’s head and breathed her in. My blood raced through my veins because things felt different with her. It felt like I had a chance at everything I’d ever wanted and it scared the shit out of me. Just not enough to make me let go.
I watched as Daisy worked. She stopped payments and methodically worked her way down the list of things she’d carried for Brooke without ever being asked to, just expected to. Just when I thought she was finished she dialed a number and put the call on speaker.
My pulse thumped and my erection came back angrier and hungrier than ever. She looked like a fucking Goddess to me as she sat up straight and braced for battle. I didn’t understand the war until I heard an older woman’s voice answer the call and Daisy refer to her as mom.
Daisy grabbed my hand and took a deep breath. “I have bad news for your house guests, Mom.”
The older woman sighed and did nothing to hide how inconvenient she found the call. “What’s this about, Daisy? Your sister and her boyfriend are visiting and they deserve my full attention. If you’d just come see us, you’d get the same reception.”
I scowled at the phone. What the hell was wrong with the woman?
Daisy gripped my thigh with her free hand and tipped her chin a little higher. “Boyfriend? You mean the man who cheated on me with my sister and somehow still found the audacity to visit my parents?”
There was a tsking sound from the background and it seemed like Daisy’s mom had also put her phone on speaker. A man’s voice boomed over the line. “Now, Daisy. We’re trying to enjoy a nice visit. Whatever ugliness you’re talking about can wait until Brookey is back in Atlanta with you.”
Daisy let out a humorless laugh. “Well, that’s part of why I’m calling, Dad.
Brooke is going to have a hell of a time getting back to Atlanta without the credit card I pay for.
No matter how many times she tries to swipe for whatever fruity mixed drink Tyler wants to try at the bar tonight, that card isn’t going to do a damn thing for her.
Just like I’m not going to do another damn thing for her.
You should consider keeping her on the island with y’all.
That way you can guarantee that she gets everything you think she deserves. ”
My dick was a twisted, twisted thing because hearing Daisy cut her bitch of a sister off had it hard as stone.
“Daisy Harper!” Her mom screeched, losing all of her aloof coolness. “You can’t do that. She’s your sister. We didn’t raise you to turn your back on family.”
“You didn’t raise me at all.” The words seemed to fall out of Daisy’s mouth before she could catch them.
She went rigid but instead of backing down or taking it back, she pushed on.
“And then you left me to raise Brooke but you two had already done enough damage that I couldn’t bring her back from the selfish brat you’d made.
I’ve carried her life for over a decade.
It ends today. The fact that all of you expected me to continue funding her life after she slept with my boyfriend shows just how little you truly think of me. ”
“You’re not being fair, Daisy.” The bravado was gone from her father’s voice.
For a moment he sounded like a man watching his daughter slip away.
I could feel the hope in Daisy as she sat up a little straighter.
She was waiting for him to say something, anything that would soothe the part of her still waiting for a father.
I wanted to scream and beg the man to be there for her, to support her, to say something that wouldn’t crush the shy hope I could see on his daughter’s face. “They’re in love.”
That one sentence was a bomb going off in the middle of Daisy’s small bit of hope.
I let out a harsh breath and shook my head.
“And you expect your daughter to finance that love? Did you stop for even one second to think about how Daisy would feel about seeing you posing with the man who cheated on her? Or about what kind of woman steals her sister’s boyfriend while living off that sister completely? ”
Daisy twisted around to stare at me, eyes wide and mouth open in surprise.
She didn’t look angry that I’d butted into her call, though, and that’s the part I’d remember for the rest of my life.
She looked surprised that someone was fighting for her, like it was such a novel experience that she wasn’t sure what to do with it.
“Who is that? Are you already with another man, Daisy?” A younger version of the mom spoke up suddenly.
Brooke, the giant disappointment who was going to have to hitchhike her way home.
“Why are you even acting like you’re going to cut me off if you’re already over Tyler and hooking up with someone else?
Don’t mess with my credit card, Daisy. I mean it. It’s mine.”
Daisy’s entire body relaxed as she continued to hold my gaze.
She rested her hand on my chest and when she spoke again she was so calm that it was almost cause for concern.
“For it to be yours you would’ve had to have the credit to get more than laughed out of a bank.
Or your name on it. Or evidence that you’ve even considered paying the bill even once.
You have none of those things, Brooke. What you have is my credit card, my apartment, my business’ social media, and I’m taking it all back. ”
“Daisy!” Brooke’s voice reached a level that would’ve called dogs two towns over. “If you touch my stuff, I swear to God!”
“Mom and Dad always made sure that you were taken care of, Brooke. I’m sure they’ll either let you move in with them or support you financially until you get back to the states and sort out your living arrangements.
I’d suggest moving in with Tyler but…oof, he was begging to live at my place just a few weeks ago. ”
“Stop it, Daisy. We get it. You’re upset we took a picture with your ex. I’ll apologize if it’ll stop all of this.” Their mom wasn’t getting it. At all.
“I don’t want your apology. I want you to deal with Brooke from now on because I’m done.
You passed me the parenting reins when I was just barely eighteen.
Now I’m passing them back to you. Good luck.
She’s a real handful. Luckily for you, though, you’re married to her father so that’s one thing you won’t have to worry about her taking.
” Daisy leaned over and rested her head on my shoulder.
“I don’t want to talk to any of you for a while.
I know I probably don’t need to say this since you only call me once a year if someone reminds you that you have two daughters, but don’t call me. ”
She hung up the call and that’s when the shaking started. She vibrated in my lap and let out a laugh that might’ve been a cry. “I can’t believe I said all that.”
I held her tight, wanting to take some of the tension from her body into mine if it’d help calm her down. “They’re horrible, Daisy. I’m sorry, but they are. You deserve so much more than the people in your life have given you.”
It was the truth. My own brother had been just the latest in what seemed like a long line of dicks. Daisy deserved the world. She was brilliant, funny, kind, could bake like a motherfucker, and she looked like a wet dream. She’d been the woman I measured all women against for three years.
I wasn’t going to let another of my brothers steal her away from me.
There wouldn’t be another three years of watching someone else have her.
The thought should’ve terrified me. I wasn’t the guy who made big declarations.
If anything, I let life happen to me the way it wanted and I went along for whatever.
I wasn’t risking life fucking me over by deciding for me that Daisy would be better with Wes.
“No more pouring yourself into people who haven’t earned it, Daisy. From now on, you let people work for it.” I lifted her face and stared into her blue green eyes. They were flooded with tears that she wouldn’t let fall. “You let me work for it.”
The tears fell and each one felt like a sharp punch to the gut. She’d stopped shaking as hard, though, and her lips weren’t trembling anymore. They were tipped up at the edges in the smallest of smiles. “Boundaries, Flynn.”
I slid my hand into her hair and licked my lips. “We both know you don’t mean that, sweetheart.”
That earned me a wet laugh. She wiped her face and rolled her eyes at me. “Be serious, Flynn.”
I was serious. I was more serious than I could remember being since Charlie was born. I doubted she could handle it, though. Not yet. So I just pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and smiled. “What’s that saying? No one believes the funny guy on stage until they see the fire for themselves?”
“That’s not a saying.”
“Yes, it is. I just said it. Therefore, it’s a saying.” I traced the line of her top lip with my eyes as she laughed. I wasn’t sure I’d ever felt so at peace.
“Are you the funny guy or the fire?”
“Just watch the sunset.”
“You don’t know because it’s not a saying.” She giggled, the sound stunning coming from the same woman who’d been crumbling minutes before.
“I’m the funny guy.” I hesitated. “Or maybe the fire.”
Daisy threw her head back and laughed and I didn’t give a fuck if I was the funny guy, the fire, or the building burning to the ground, not when she was laughing like that.