23. Tucker
23
TUCKER
“ W hat would you like? We have cereal, oatmeal.” Closing the cabinet door, I go to the fridge. “There are eggs in here, and I think there are waffles in the freezer. We have bread and avocado if you want toast. And some smoothies, too. Yogurt.”
Looking over my shoulder at where Maya sits at the counter, all I find is nervousness. Her hands are folded tight enough that her knuckles stand out under her skin. “Whatever you’re having, I guess. I don’t want you to go to any trouble.” She glances around the room, taking it all in. She looks small and unsure of herself.
It’s a little too late to worry about me going to trouble. Somehow, I manage to stop myself before that comes out. She feels bad enough already, and I don’t want to make it worse. I sort of sprung all this on her, but then how was I supposed to know I’d come out of the shower and hear her begging her father—her own father, for Christ’s sake—not to make her marry a stranger after everything he put her through?
I’m an asshole, but I’m not a complete fucking asshole. And I guess it pisses me off more than I thought it did, somebody getting hurt by a person who is supposed to take care of them. I honestly didn’t know there were people like him in the world, and I thought I’d seen everything.
“I could go for a big plate of eggs and toast,” I decide, pulling the carton from the fridge.
“Don’t tell me you cook.” For the first time today, her lips twitch. She’s trying to hold back a grin. That’s a good sign, I guess. Until now, she’s been kind of a zombie, right down to the way I had to take her by the hand and lead her down to the kitchen. Otherwise, she might’ve stayed in my room, frozen in shock. That fucking bastard. What else has he put her through?
“I can do the basics. I’m not totally useless.” Really, this is pretty much the extent of my culinary prowess, but I leave that part out as I pull a pan from under the counter and take the butter dish with me to the stove.
“Did you really mean it?” she asks while my back is turned. Maybe it’s easier for her to talk to me when I’m not looking at her. “About me staying here? Did you mean that?”
I sort of spoke before I thought, but that prick needed to be put in his place. Now that I think about it, why would I send her home, anyway? Now that I know what it’s like for her there. Only I get to play with her, dammit. “Yeah, I meant it. This is where you live now.”
“Your parents are going to be okay with it?”
I hadn’t really thought much about them, either. “My parents will understand.”
“But—”
I cut her off with a raised hand before reaching for a fork to beat the eggs. “Enough, okay? It’s too early for so many questions.”
She heaves a sigh before muttering, “I was just going to ask what I’m supposed to wear to school today.”
Right, considering she’s wearing my shirt along with a pair of sweatpants cinched as tight as they can go, but still ready to fall off her ass. “Maybe we can stop by Briggs’s house. Do you think you could borrow something from Wren?”
“Oh, yeah! I didn’t think of that.” She sounds almost happy, or at least relieved. I hate how glad I am to hear it. I hate her for making me feel this way. It was bad enough, feeling compelled to help her last night. This is why I didn’t want anything to do with her. One warm feeling leads to another, then another, until I can’t remember why I wanted to stay away from her in the first place.
But this is why. The way something about her makes me want to protect her.
“Is there anything I can do to help you cook? I’m actually pretty good,” she offers.
“Can you make toast?” Glancing over my shoulder, I see the way she rolls her eyes
“Yes, I can toast bread. Jesus.” But she’s chuckling as she hops down from her stool and opens the bag of bread sitting on the counter. The toaster is close to where I stand at the stove, melting butter in the pan, and we exchange a brief grin when our eyes meet. It’s nice, maybe too nice. So much of the tension that’s been between us for so long has melted, or at least thawed. It’s easier to smile as I crack eggs into a bowl.
“What is all this?”
Shit. I didn’t expect Mom and Dad so early. Maya makes a choking sound, but I turn to them, spatula in hand. “Mom, Dad, this is Maya.”
“Yes, I know. Maya.” Dad nods. Not exactly rude, but not exactly warm, either. Probably because he’s on the spot right now, and he hates when I put him there.
“Maya needs a place to stay right now. She… she’s my girlfriend,” I announce, and she makes that choking sound again. It would be nice if she could just play along. “So I offered to let her stay here with us for a while.”
Mom clears her throat, offering a smile which Maya returns. “Well, we’ll be glad to have you,” she assures her, though the look she slides my way tells me I have some explaining to do. I would expect nothing less, but at least she’s being supportive. I hear the soft sigh Maya releases and know some of her fears are dissipating.
“Things aren’t going well at home with your father?” Dad asks, because of course he is more blunt, to the point. Something I inherited from him.
Looking Maya’s way, I catch her lifting her chin and rolling her shoulders back before shaking her head. “No. They’re not. Things are very bad right now, sir.”
His jaw tightens, his eyes narrowing, but soon he nods firmly. “Then I’d rather you be here. I’ve never trusted your father.”
Now it’s my turn to be surprised, my eyes opening wide, but Dad shakes his head slightly before I can ask what that means.
“Thank you both. That’s so kind of you.” There’s emotion in Maya’s voice, which is now shaky and thick. “This is so generous.”
“Generous?” Mom laughs lightly, shaking her head as she goes to the coffee maker. “Sweetie, I walked into this kitchen to find my son cooking. If this is the effect you have on him, you are more than welcome here.”
“Okay, okay,” I grumble, but it’s nice to hear them laugh together. Almost too nice. I finish scrambling the eggs and serve them up while Maya plops toast on our plates. There is something comfortable about sitting down and chatting with Mom and Dad, making small talk, discussing logistics and what not.
Though every once in a while, I look Dad’s way and find he’s not smiling. Is he going to give me shit? When I meet his gaze, he shakes his head slightly—obviously, there’s something he wants to discuss in private.
When we’re finished eating, Maya goes back upstairs to take a shower before heading over to grab some clothes from Wren. Dad takes the opportunity to pull me into his study, where the mild expression he’s been wearing drops from his face. “Listen…” I begin, but he shakes his head before I can get another word out.
“Listen to what I have to tell you,” he warns, sitting on the corner of his desk. “There’s something you need to know about Maya’s father.”
“I already know he’s a real bastard,” I grunt, folding my arms.
“I won’t argue with you on that,” he replies with a scowl. “I need you to be extra careful. It is for the best Maya stays here—really, no matter how concerned I seem about everything else,” he assures me.
“Thank you for that.”
“But that son of a bitch has scammed half the town out of a lot of money.”
I wasn’t expecting that. My mouth drops open while he nods slowly. “What?”
“Paul Wilder is currently in the process of building a case against him with the district attorney.” He glances toward the door like he wants to make sure nobody’s listening before he continues. “He has made enemies of way too many people. From what I understand, he has essentially been running a Ponzi scheme, but everything’s falling apart. That sort of thing is only good for so long—eventually, investors want answers. Generally around the time when the incredible returns they were boasting about go dry,” he adds. “A scheme like that can’t last—there are only so many new people to pull in, so the person running the scheme can take the initial investment as the money they’re using to make it look like everything’s above board. Nothing lasts forever.”
“He’s not managing any legit investments, though?”
“Exactly,” he concludes, sounding grim. “There are still loose ends that need tying up, statements Paul needs to gather to prove beyond a doubt what’s been going on. As far as Paul knows, he’s unaware of how close the authorities are to putting a stop to all of it. But the closer they come,” he warns, “the more unpredictable he’s going to be. I don’t want you getting caught up in something that has nothing to do with you.”
None of this is exactly surprising. That’s the worst part. It goes right along with everything Maya has already told me about him, not to mention what I heard from him over the phone. “I am not going to let him hurt her more than he already has,” I vow, grinding my teeth, imagining how nice it would be to squash that bastard like the bug he is.
“Yes, I got that impression.” Dad looks almost sorrowful, shaking his head. “Don’t make any rash decisions. That’s all I ask. It’s commendable that you would want to help her, since I’m sure she needs help, considering who we’re talking about. But my first responsibility is to you. My son. As much as I would like to shelter her from whatever is coming, I need to think of you first.”
“I have everything under control.”
He only chuckles, giving his head a slight shake. “The certainty of youth. I remember being sure of myself when I was your age, too.”
“Oh, yeah? What changed?”
“The world changed me. Eventually, you figure out there’s only so much you can control.”
I’m already starting to learn that. It’s going to be a challenge, getting everybody at school to lay off her from now on. I put the ball in motion, didn’t I? “She’s getting a lot of shit at school, too,” I confess, because I’m hoping maybe he can give me some insight into what to do.
He only shrugs. “No big surprise. Most of the kids there have parents who invested with her dad. Between you and me, more than a few of them won’t come back next semester, thanks to their tuition money being wasted on those so-called sure thing investments.”
“No way.” Now I’m more sure than ever that I can’t let her out of my sight. “The guy is lucky he’s still alive.”
“Be sure not to tell her about any of this, and not only because we want to shield her from it. We can’t risk him finding out how close he’s coming to the end of this scheme.”
“Don’t worry about it. I won’t breathe the word.” Narrowing my eyes, I add, “I would like to see him pay for everything he’s done.”
“Why do I get the feeling there’s much more to it than I’m aware of?” Dad asks, arching an eyebrow.
“There is, but it’s not my story to tell.” As much as I would love to tell him, Maya would be humiliated—and if anybody ever told me I would one day want to spare her humiliation, I would’ve laughed myself sick. Who the hell am I becoming? “I should warn you, he knows she’s staying here.”
“I enjoy the fact that you made an announcement like that without clearing it with your mother and me.” He might say he enjoys it, but his scowl tells a different story.
“I had to do something. He was demanding she come home, threatening her. It was ugly. She was?—”
Dad makes a slashing motion with his hand. “Please. I already have more than enough reason to loathe him. I don’t need any more.”
I can’t help the question that comes next. It’s only natural I would be curious. “Dad, you didn’t… I mean, he didn’t convince you…”
“Now that is insulting.” He stands, arms folded, and I remember he doesn’t like having his pride wounded any more than I do. “What have I always taught you? If something seems too good to be true, it is. I only wish I could have stopped the others who had to learn the hard way.” Scowling, he shakes his head.
Well, that would explain why the bastard has been determined to make money off of Maya. It’s like another piece of the puzzle slides into place, and the result is getting uglier all the time.
Buttoning his suit jacket, Dad adds, “Come on. You better get moving. I have to get to school, and you have to go get her something to wear. What else does she need? Do you want to take her shopping?”
“I’ll take care of it.” Because she is mine. Mind to protect, to provide for, to shelter. I’ve never been so sure of anything in all my life as I am of that. There is a reason I’ve never been able to get her out of my head, and this is it. Somehow, in some way, I must’ve known she would need me someday.
And one thing is for sure: I am not going to let her down.
If I get the pleasure of watching her father crumble, it will be an added bonus.