Chapter Thirteen
Phoebe
Tucker parks in the back, and I hurry into the store to find a man standing at the counter with his arms crossed. And he looks pissed. Beyond pissed, actually.
And oddly familiar.
This would have to happen when I’m hungover. My first ever hangover.
Sarah cries as she huddles by my desk in the back. “I’m sorry, Phoebe. I can’t find the order anywhere, but he says he called it in. And he didn’t want me to make them. He just wanted to scream at me.”
Crouching in front of her, I try to look reassuring. “It’s not your fault. Did he say what he thought he’d ordered?”
Her lip quivers and she shakes her head. “He just started screaming at me. No one’s ever done that before. Not like this. I thought he might reach across the counter and hit me.”
My eyebrows lift. “Okay, well, I’ll go—”
“Motherfucker,” Tucker growls, bumping me as he rushes into the lobby.
The jostling makes vomit rise in my throat, and I force it down as Sarah helps steady me. But now I’m worried because Tucker is not a people person. Something Scotty has said multiple times.
I have to stop him before he does something to one of my customers, but as I step out front, I know I’m too late. We rush into the lobby to find Tucker pushing the customer against the wall, his forearm pressed against the man’s throat.
But the man isn’t scared. He’s smiling.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?” Tucker growls.
There’s a venom to his tone that has me grabbing for Sarah’s arm. She holds me right back as we watch the terrifying scene before us.
“Nice to see you, too, big brother,” the man chokes out.
Brother? That explains why he looks familiar. He resembles Tucker.
“You know him?” I ask, stupidly.
Yep, hangovers and Phoebe do not mix.
“He doesn’t want cupcakes.”
Pushing Tucker off him, the man smiles and locks eyes with me. “He’s right. Though, I have heard they’re the best in the state.”
“Then what are you doing here?” I ask. “Why did you threaten my employee?”
His eyes move to Tucker. “Because I needed to get his attention. Nothing else was working.”
Nothing else was working? What does that mean?
“It was you,” Tucker growls.
He smirks and looks at me again. “Sorry, Phoebe. You were just a means to an end. I needed to get my brother’s attention, and he’s not as smart as he used to be. He should’ve figured it out long before now.”
“What are you doing here, Ryan?”
Sarah and I share a look when Ryan just smiles even brighter. The tone directed towards his brother has me trembling. There is something terrifying about a pissed-off Tucker.
I guess that explains why he’s the enforcer. I get it now.
“Father wants to talk to you.”
“Tell Father he can fuck off. I don’t give a fuck what he wants. Haven’t since the day I walked away from the family.”
Okay, so definitely not needing to find a way to get him two hundred cupcakes. Thank God. But this seems bad. Really bad.
“He won’t let up until you come home.”
“Come for me, but you leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with this.”
Ryan tilts his head, the smirk still on his face. He looks so different from Tucker. About the same height, but he’s a lot smaller. Much less muscular. And he looks out of place wearing an expensive suit while Tucker wears his leather, T-shirt, and jeans.
“You know that’s not how he works, Tuck. Until you come home, she’ll be his target. Especially because the plan has just started to work. I had to put a lot more effort into getting your attention, but hey, I have it now.”
Wait, am I the she he’s talking about? Why would they come after me? Tucker didn’t know I existed until the robbery.
Oh…
“You broke into a bakery and stole twelve grand?” Tucker asks with a humorless chuckle. “That’s what he had you do to get my attention?”
Ryan shrugs, and suddenly I hate the family resemblance. He seems like such a sleazy guy. “Yep.”
“She’s not Joanna. I’m not in love with her. Father made sure I’ll never fall in love again,” Tucker says, his words stabbing me right in the heart. “It won’t hit me like it did before if you hurt her.”
If I wasn’t hungover, that comment alone would make me want to throw up. He can’t fall in love. I’m nothing. Just the temporary girl in his house he screws until he’s done with her.
Then what? He just throws me to the curb and pretends like I don’t exist when we see each other around town? Or maybe he doesn’t plan to see me ever again.
He did just say that if they killed me, it wouldn’t matter to him. I really don’t matter.
The fight moves outside, and I walk into the back to sit at my desk. It’s fitting I’d fall for a man who can’t love. The only time it’s ever happened would be like this.
And like a glutton for punishment, I can’t walk away. I’ll let him use me until he’s done and tosses me out. By then, I’ll be the old version of Phoebe who I hated. The one who hated everyone and everything in the world.
I hate being this weak.
“Phoebs, are you okay?” Sarah asks.
No one’s called me that since my mom, and it takes all the strength I have not to break down crying. All I want in this moment is my mom. She’d know what to do. What to say. How to fix the situation.
I have to do something. Save myself from the pain of falling more in love with the man I thought might warm up to me eventually. Who could see beyond my cheery disposition and see the real me. The version no one else ever gets to see.
I really thought he’d come around. Everyone thinks I’m too much, but I honestly thought he liked me. For more than just the sex. Even if it’s just being friends.
But friends don’t say they wouldn’t be hurt if someone killed you. If you just disappeared, it wouldn’t matter to them. We’re nothing. And we’ll never be anything.
“Can I take you up on your offer to stay at your place for a while?” I ask, my voice cracking.
“Of course. Phoebe, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
Her arms wrap around me as I lose it, tears falling as the pain takes over.
I’m not worth loving. It’s all I want, and I thought he’d be the one person to see the bright light I choose to hide the pitch-black darkness I fight every single day.
But if I don’t get out now, he’s the one who will bring the darkness out again.
The only chance I have to save myself from more pain than I’m in already is to remove myself from the situation with no other outcome but death. Whether literal or figurative, it doesn’t really matter. Either way, it won’t be long before I’m hit and bleeding out on the floor.
And Tucker will just step over me and walk away like it’s nothing. Because he can’t love. I’ll be nothing but a shell again, and I don’t think I have the strength to build myself up a second time. Not after letting him destroy me from the inside out.
“I need a way out,” I whisper, clinging to her. “I can’t be with him anymore. Please, Sarah. Please help me.”
“Anything. I’ll do anything, Phoebe. Shh, don’t cry. It’s going to be okay.”
Except it won’t. None of this is okay. I just hope I’m getting out in time to be okay myself again. It might already be too late.