Chapter 29
Ryder hadn’t been the recipient of a family intervention before, and he had to say he wasn’t happy about it happening now… in his house.
His family had helped him clean up after the party, and then his mom had taken the exhausted yet happy Ally and her two friends home for a sleepover and movie night.
But she’d taken Ryder aside before she left and told him that Libby was a good girl, and she’d not been raised like him, where every problem was a family one, even if you didn’t want it to be. He’d tried to protest. She’d ignored him and told him to shut up, as she wasn’t done yet. She’d then gone on to explain that he was a good, sensitive boy, to which he’d tried to protest but had again been shut down. His mother had then kissed him, patted his cheek, and said she hoped the rest of her family could talk some sense into him.
“There is enough candy in Mom’s house that I fully expect those kids to be awake until well past midnight,” Brody said from his position beside Zoe and JD on the sofa.
“Are we really doing this?” Ryder asked as Dan walked in with pizza boxes and beer. “I have shit to do, so you can all just take your well-meaning advice and fuck off,” he snapped from his kitchen doorway.
“Yes, we are doing this,” Dan said, lowering his supplies to the floor and then dropping down beside them to start opening boxes.
“What shit? That’s just you avoiding talking about your feelings,” Sawyer said, snagging two beers and handing them to JD and Brody. He then took one for himself.
“Right, because you’re such an open book,” Ryder said, staying where he was and not giving in to grabbing a slice of that pizza that clearly had double cheese and jalapenos, just like his family loved.
“We’re not talking about me,” Sawyer said calmly.
So calm that Ryder thought about simply punching the smug look off his face.
“I danced with Libby in the street before coming here,” Dan said around a mouthful of pizza.
Libby is still in Lyntacky. He told himself that wasn’t relief washing through him, but he knew that for a lie.
“You should swallow that mouthful before talking,” Ryder said, ignoring the ache in his chest at hearing her name. Because if he was annoying his family, they couldn’t start in on him, which was the sole reason they were in his house.
He’d allowed himself to get close to Libby, and today they’d made love, and now she was inside his head. The feel of her was imprinted on his hands, and the taste of her on his lips. Fuck.
She lied to me.
“Don’t think we don’t know how good you are at avoiding conversations that involve you or anything personal you don’t want to talk about,” Zoe said, licking her fingers.
Ryder’s stomach rumbled. His insides might feel like they’d been through a wash cycle, but nothing put him off food, even Libby.
The look she’d given him when he’d arrived downstairs to see that shithead, her father, grabbing her arm had been desperate… tortured, even. He’d wanted to slay dragons for her then. And her brother, he’d just stood there and watched. What was that about?
Ryder would do whatever it took to keep Zoe happy. He knew that wasn’t reasonable, but it was how he felt. His mom, Birdie, Phoebe, and Ally—all of them were under his protection.
“So, let’s hear it,” Zoe said.
“What?” Ryder said, pushing off the doorframe and stomping to the table. He then grabbed a slice of pizza and returned.
“If you think being over there will stop them from interrogating you, think again, bud,” JD said. “They’ll just yell louder.”
It had been his small rebellion because he knew what was coming.
“Come on, Ry, it’s inevitable, so give in and talk to us,” Sawyer said.
He sighed and then moved to sit on the footrest his mom had told him he needed beside Dan.
“What? You can’t sit on the floor because you’re better than me?” his little brother asked him.
“Shut up, and I will always be better than you.”
“So what’s the deal with you and Libby Gulliver because we know there is one,” Zoe said.
“Look, I get you all like to be in my face, and this is the first time I’ve cared about… Fuck,” Ryder sighed.
“So you care for her?” Dan asked.
“No.”
“Yes,” JD added. “And I’ll add that she’s a good person, Ryder. The woman who worked her ass off for me sweeping my floors and cleaning out the restroom?—”
“You made her do that?” Ryder roared at him.
JD smiled. “Just changing the hand towels is all, bud, not the other stuff.”
Ryder bit into his pizza to stop from speaking. He hated how irrational Libby made him feel. He’d never felt like this before. Looking at his siblings, he suddenly understood what they’d gone through. Their need to fight the battles of those they loved… love? Surely not. He hadn’t known Libby that long, so he couldn’t love her.
“So, from where I’m sitting, across from you,” Brody said, “I can see she hurt you, and you being you, that cuts deep.”
“Which means what?” Ryder said as calmly as he could. Remember, you’re the even-tempered Duke.
“Real shame what Libby’s asshole father did to her,” Dan said.
“What did he do to her?” Ryder demanded.
“The Caldwells didn’t know I was listening in to their discussion along with Red, Dee, and most of the others who were close in the Rollaway. They were sitting up at the bar.”
“But what did you overhear?” Ryder said through his teeth.
“They were talking about how her father had cut off her finances, and I’m not entirely sure how a person can do that in this day and age, but the guy’s a millionaire?—”
“I think there’s a b in front of that illionaire ,” JD interrupted.
“Whatever,” Dan said. “Red and Dee tore Phillip Caldwell a new one, and it seemed to me like the brother—and when was the last time we saw someone in a suit in Lyntacky?”
“Would you just stay on topic,” Ryder thundered.
“Settle, bud, just building the scene,” Dan said, deliberately needling him.
Ryder lunged at him, and soon they were rolling around the floor, grappling.
“Just leave them. They won’t hurt each other, and when they stop, Ryder will have gotten rid of some of his pent-up energy,” Brody said.
“This family,” JD said. “Never a dull moment.”
“Enough!” Sawyer bellowed.
Dan got up grinning from the wrestling match, and Ryder stayed on his back, looking up at the ceiling. It needed painting, but right then, all he wanted to do was… what? Lock his emotions away so he couldn’t feel the pain? Find Libby?
“Why would her father cut off her finances? She’s an accountant. Surely she had her own bank accounts?” Zoe asked.
“She told me about it. The father handles everything from what I gathered,” Ryder said, feeling like he’d aged at least two hundred years since he’d woken this morning. “I don’t even think she knew he could do that.”
“Red went for Phillip Caldwell, tearing him a new one about leaving his kid to fend for herself with no money when clearly she’s not used to surviving in the wild, so to speak,” Dan said.
“What an a-hole,” Sawyer muttered. “Caldwell, not Red,” he added.
“Libby is a good person, Ryder,” Zoe said.
“You, the person interrogating her at Mom’s that night for dinner, now think she’s good?” Ryder scoffed.
“I can change my mind now that I know her,” Zoe said calmly.
“Libby’s just a talented actress,” Ryder said because she’d certainly fooled him.
“She helped Dee with her books and then took on the Hylands,” Brody said.
“They paid her,” Ryder said.
“Come on, Ryder, you know what state those books would have been in. No way was that a job anyone would willingly take on if they weren’t a good person,” Brody added.
“She wore the amulet Meadow gave her every day because it made her happy,” Sawyer added.
“Did you know she spent an hour with Dr. Hannah’s niece, helping her with some application for something she was struggling with?” Brody asked.
He hadn’t known that because no one had told him… Libby hadn’t told him.
“Ryder, you have more shit going on inside your head than any of us. So don’t tell me that like Libby, you don’t have secrets,” Dan said.
“Not ones that affect anyone but me,” he said.
“What secrets?” Sawyer demanded.
“Mine.”
“We don’t have secrets between us!” his eldest brother roared.
“And we digress,” JD said. “The point here is, bud, that Libby is a good person and clearly had a reason to hold her secrets close. Going out on a limb here, do you think she just wanted to live her life anonymously for a while?”
“Because it can’t be easy being the daughter of Phillip Caldwell,” Brody added.
“I could google their net worth, but that seems invasive,” Dan said.
“Look, I get it. You’re doing that intervention shit, but I don’t need it.” Ryder made himself sit up and look at his family.
“Right, like we didn’t need it all the times you did it to us?” Zoe asked.
He sighed.
“The thing is, Ry,” Brody said. “You’re the deep thinker among us. The one that works through shit and then?—”
“Doesn’t act on anything?” He’d said it to stop the discussion, but as soon as he saw his family’s expressions, Ryder knew it hadn’t had that effect.
“You think you’re a failure, bro?” Sawyer asked, looking devastated.
“No, that came out wrong.”
“Not sure there’s a right way to have that come out,” Dan added.
They were all looking at him now, with varying stages of concern on their faces.
“You’re not a failure,” Brody said. “You’re the rock in our family. The brother who is always there when we need him.”
“The cautious brother who doesn’t rush into things like the rest of us, so he gets shit right before he commits,” Dan added.
“The one I knew I could talk to without him exploding because he didn’t like what he heard,” Zoe added.
“I never exploded!” Sawyer roared.
“And I rest my case,” Zoe said, looking smug. “But the point is, Ry, you’re our rock.”
It shocked Ryder to hear how they felt about him.
“And now we want to be there for you,” Brody added. “So do you or do you not want Libby Caldwell in your life, Ryder? Because if not, then when she leaves, that will be it, and whatever you guys had will be over, but if you do?—”
“We’re too different,” Ryder said.
“Yeah, because let’s face it, Birdie and I are identical in nature,” Sawyer drawled. This had everyone but Ryder laughing.
“And I repeat, do you want Libby Caldwell in your life, or are you happy for her to leave and maybe go back to that shit weasel who doesn’t love her enough to let her be in his wedding photos?” Dan asked.
“Sorry? What did you just say?” JD asked.
“Long story.” Dan waved his hand about. “My point is, bro,” he said, looking at Ryder, “do you want her to live her life with another man and not you?”
No! The answer was instinctive, but he held it inside.
“And now I need to go because it’s girls’ night at Nina’s, which is always awesome. Birdie and Phoebe are already there.” She got off the sofa after kissing her man. “So make sensible decisions and think with your heart and not your head, Ryder.” She then kissed him on the forehead and left.
“Got anything stronger to drink?” JD asked, grabbing a slice of pizza. “Now that Zoe’s gone, we can do that. She’s got me on this low-carb beer, eating-healthy diet.”
“Man, that sucks. Birdie does that to me sometimes. She’s all about celery juice cleanses and how good they are for your liver and shit like that.” Sawyer shuddered.
“Phoebe is all about cruciferous vegetables,” Brody said.
“What the fuck are those?” Dan asked.
“Broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts contain sulforaphane, which helps the liver remove toxins,” Brody said.
Ryder and Dan studied the other three men, who were eating pizza and washing it down with beer like it was their last meal.
“You’re not selling a steady relationship to him,” Dan added, nodding to Ryder.
“I don’t even know you people anymore,” he muttered.
“It’s about compromise, son,” JD said, licking cheese off his fingers. “I love your sister, so I give in to some of her demands, and she does the same.”
“No, she doesn’t,” Dan said. “Zoe is about as malleable as Larry Limpet.”
“Which, translated, means not malleable,” Ryder added.
“Ah, but you see, she loves me back and understands that for us to be happy, there has to be compromise,” JD added.
“Like what?” Ryder demanded.
“Well, just this morning I said we should have PB&J on toast instead of the bowl of nuts, fruit, and natural yogurt sprinkled with small seeds that always get stuck in my teeth, and she agreed,” JD said.
“She’s still eating that?” Dan shuddered.
“Every damn day, but not today. This morning, we had PB&J on toast in bed.”
The Duke brothers howled with outrage, lobbing the three throw pillows Ryder had allowed to enter his home at the man.
“No bed talk in connection with our sister,” Sawyer snarled.
JD just gave them a big shit-eating grin.
“So, Ryder, what are you willing to compromise so Libby can be in your life?” Brody asked.
“I don’t even know if we want to be in each other’s lives,” he admitted.
“Liar. You’ve fallen for that girl, and that’s why it hurts so much that she lied to you. No way in hell would you be hanging onto the hurt and anger otherwise,” Dan said.
Sawyer tipped his beer toward his little brother in acknowledgement of the truth behind his words, and while the others talked, Ryder thought about Libby.
Could he have fallen for a woman he barely knew whose life was miles from his own? A woman who made him feel different when he saw her?
He knew the answer deep inside him was yes.