35. Parker
35
PARKER
W e stayed in bed the rest of the morning. I found some blueberries in the refrigerator and bagels on the counter, so I carried the meal over to the mattress and we dined naked together.
Hope tore off chunks of her bagel and dipped them into a cream cheese tub instead of smearing the spread onto the roll. I’d never seen anyone eat them that way; it was fascinating to watch.
I tried to impress her with my own uniqueness by lining berries along her stomach before picking them off one by one with my teeth. When I placed them strategically down her thigh, I finally noticed the tattoo on her ankle just as I was eating the last blueberry.
“Mmm. This wasn’t here last weekend,” I said as I chewed, lifting her foot in my hand to study the Roman numeral four just below her ankle.
“I know.” She lifted her other foot to show me the matching black number there. “I got them yesterday. What do you think?”
I glanced up at her, realizing, “You checked another item off on your list.”
“Yep.” She seemed proud of herself.
But I couldn’t share her pleasure because the tattoos bothered me. I’d been present for the first few items that she’d checked off, so it had started to feel like my list too.
For her to go off and complete something without me… It stung.
“What else have you done?” I asked, sliding my hand up from her ankle and along the outside of her thigh as I crawled back up her body.
“Let’s see.” She lifted her gaze to me from the cream cheese tub and frowned for a thoughtful minute, licking the side of her lip. “Oh. Alec and I went to your restaurant without reservations on…Thursday, I think, and we got right in. That was pretty cool.” Setting her bagel and schmear aside, she sat up so she could dance her fingers up my chest. “I didn’t think getting into a fancy place without reservations would ever get checkmarked off the list, to be honest, so thank you for that. And thanks for clearing the tab too.”
When she kissed me, I hummed out a hungry sound and wrapped my hand around the back of her neck, a little more okay with her doing that bucket list item without me being present because I’d at least been involved in some way.
But the tattoos…
They had nothing to do with me, and I found myself jealous of them. My gaze dropped to the one under her right ankle with a bit of resentment as Hope started to kiss her way along my neck.
“What does the four represent?” I asked, reaching down to wipe my thumb over the I and the V.
Hope gave a husky, elusive chuckle and ran her fingers down my chest until she wrapped her palm around my dick. “Maybe I’ll tell you someday.”
I looked up at her and lifted my eyebrows. Then I smiled darkly and tackled her onto her back, causing her to scream out a surprised laugh. There, I pinned her to the mattress with my body and held her hands against the pillows as I looked into her eyes.
“Tell me now,” I commanded as I shifted my hips just enough to fit my growing erection between her legs.
Her gaze flooded with arousal, but she bit her lip and resisted, shaking her head to refuse me, even as her hips lifted to grind back against me, her pussy growing slippery and wet against my cock.
“Not yet,” she rasped.
“Trouble,” I warned. “Tell me what the four means, or I won’t give you the rest of this.” And I started to nudge myself inside her only to pause and resist giving her any more than just the tip.
“Parker,” she panted in yearning as she tried to arch her body to take more of me, but I pulled back, denying her.
“Tell me.”
She shook her head stubbornly, refusing to spill her secret. Perspiration gathered on her brow and upper lip, her chest heaved with every breath, and she was so turned on it was dripping down my dick, but she still wouldn’t talk. She loved this type of foreplay just as much as I did.
Shaking my head and tsking with mock disappointment, I pulled all the way out of her, and her eyes widened in alarm. “No, wait. Wait.”
“Then talk,” I whispered, making sure my breath tickled the side of her throat just under her ear like I knew she liked.
She shuddered and swallowed loudly before wetting her lips. “It’s—” Her gaze shifted to me as if worried.
“Yes?” I pressed, reaching down to drift the backs of my fingers over her clit.
“Oh God,” she groaned, arching into my hand. “It’s—it’s to commemorate number four of—of?—”
I started to push my erection back into her slowly, and she moaned in need, her inner muscles clamping around me greedily.
I paused with all the willpower I possessed, suffering under the same torment she was but determined to get my answer.
She whimpered, and I asked, “To commemorate number four of what ?”
Thrashing her head in an attempt to resist, Hope met my gaze, and she melted. “What do you think?” she rasped. “It’s for number four on the bucket list.”
Me.
The tattoo was about me.
That suddenly negated the fact that I hadn’t been there when she’d gotten it. I’d still been involved. And my chest heaved as it filled with a crazy pressure that made me experience more emotions in one moment than I could honestly contain.
“Jesus God, woman,” I muttered, shaking my head. “What’re you doing to me?”
Plastering my mouth to hers, I surged deep inside her.
She gasped and started to shudder, constricting around my length, but I just kept pumping mercilessly into her, not letting her off the bed for hours.
It was mid-Saturday afternoon before I stirred next to a placid, quiet Hope and turned on my side to face her. “I want to take you somewhere.”
Her eyebrows arched as if interested, but she kept playing with my hair, looking perfectly content as she was. “Where?” she asked.
I shook my head and felt my gaze dance with pleasure as I murmured, “It’s a surprise.”
She started to smile, and I knew she liked the sound of that. But a second later, her eyes flickered with concern, and she winced. “I really need to check in with Alec sometime today so he doesn’t worry.”
I shrugged. “So call him. Or text. Whatever.”
She still seemed hesitant. “And I left Lucy at Archer House.”
“Lucy?”
Who the fuck was Lucy?
“Yeah. The Lucid Air,” she explained.
My lips parted. “Oh, you did not just name my car.”
An immediate smile lit her face. “Oh, yes , I did. And I thought it was my car.”
“Our car,” I countered. “And I refuse to call it Lucy.”
“That’s fine. You don’t have to call her anything. But I’m still calling her Lucy. We should probably pick her up soon, too, so Alec doesn’t worry about something being wrong.”
“Her?”
Before we could get into an argument about Hope gendering the car, I quieted her with a long, sweet kiss and then drifted my finger down her jaw as I pressed my brow to hers. “So we call a ride to take us to the car, then we’ll drive Lucy to the surprise, and on the way, you can contact your brother and check in.”
Hope’s lashes fluttered as she looked up into my eyes. “Why do you make it so hard for me to disagree with you sometimes?”
I only smiled, knowing I was going to get my way on this one. “Because I’m good like that.”
Less than an hour later, we’d picked up the car from Archer House, and then we had to stop by Hope’s apartment so she could change clothes, and finally I drove us to the university.
Since it was the weekend, the campus was quiet. We only passed one or two people as we crossed the quad.
“ This is my surprise?” Hope asked skeptically as I opened the door for her to enter the library ahead of me. “What’re you going to do? Read me a story?”
“You’ll see. Almost there,” I assured her with a wink. Then taking her hand, I led her across the main entrance to the reference section, where I turned her down a row and took her to the other side of the shelves to a nondescript door. After pushing it open, I entered a stairwell that smelled strongly of paint.
“Parker?” she asked uneasily. “Are you sure?—?”
I glanced back at her and chuckled at her uneasy expression. “Just a little bit further.”
“I swear,” she warned, lifting a stern eyebrow. “If you take me to a torture chamber to?—”
“Jesus, Langston,” I muttered, shaking my head. “Paranoid much? I was just going to introduce you to Dugger’s mom.”
“Keene’s—?” She stalled short on the steps behind me, and I looked back to see her blinking in shock. “But?—”
“What?” I lifted my eyebrows in question. “Did Alec not tell you about her?”
“Of course he did. She’s haunting the campus library, but—” Her lips parted, and her eyes widened. “My bucket list.”
Now she was catching on. “Number six,” I encouraged.
“To meet a ghost. Oh my God! Parker…” She shook her head, stunned. “I can’t believe you remembered that.”
Seeing her pleasure made the whole trip worth it. “Surprise,” I murmured as we reached the base of the steps.
“Holy shit,” she gasped, throwing herself at me so she could hug me hard. “Who knew you were so damn sweet and considerate?”
“Whoa. Hey.” I pulled back to point threateningly. “You take that back. Right now.”
Mischief entered her gaze. Then she smiled slyly and whispered, “So…freaking…sweet.”
“Oh, you’re going to pay for those words,” I warned, shaking my head with a disgusted sigh as I reached for the door to lead us into the basement stacks.
But Hope caught my wrist. When I glanced back, she looked suddenly worried.
“Is it scary?” she asked.
She reminded me of her brother and his aversion to ghosts.
I released the handle to turn back and loop my arms around her waist. “Robin’s okay. You’ll feel a cold spot when she’s near, and if she wants to talk, she’ll use books to communicate. But other than that, nothing else is even remotely abnormal or frightening.”
Bobbing her head jerkily, she answered, “Okay. Good. I mean—” Tucking a curl behind her ear with trembling fingers, she sent me a nervous smile. “If she’s still hanging around just to make sure her son finds true love, then she can’t be too mean and terrifying, right?”
“Exactly,” I assured. “She’s a librarian; how mean can she be?”
Hope snorted, only to take my hand and squeeze hard, moving right up against my side as I opened the door and stepped into the basement. “Oh, I’ve met a couple of frightening librarians. Damn, it’s cold down here. And it stinks.”
When she huddled closer to my side, I wrapped an arm over her shoulders and led her to the study nook in the back where I’d first seen Dugger’s mom move books.
It’d been eerie as hell.
Not that I was going to mention that to Hope.
She acted as if she were going to run at the slightest boo .
“Robin?” I called as I pulled the ghost amulet from my pocket and held it out to let the little glass bauble dangle from my keychain. I extended my arm away from Hope as far as I could so she didn’t activate it with her green smoke. “Are you here?”
Hope and I waited in silence, not speaking, not moving, until a minute later, a cold draft shifted across the back of my neck. Next to me, Hope sucked in a quick breath and squeaked, “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.”
A white cloud started to fill my ghost amulet, and I smiled. “There she is. Hey, Robin. Do you remember who I am?”
From a nearby shelf, a book fell to the floor, landing with a thud that made Hope yelp and jump nearly out of her skin.
We shared a look before I stepped over and leaned down to pick the book up. The title read The Cow in the Parking Lot: A Zen Approach to Overcoming Anger .
I chuckled and looked up. “Yeah,” I told the ghost. “I’m Parker. The angry one. Very good.” Hitching my head toward Hope, I added, “So I just wanted to introduce you to Hope, if that was okay.”
A second later, another book tipped off the shelf and landed on the floor. This time Hope picked it up, and we read the cover together. Hope Rising: How the Science of HOPE Can Change Your Life .
With a grin, Hope looked up. “This is so cool.” She glanced at me, then turned back to address the room at large. “I know your son, Keene, too. And actually,” she added as if it were an afterthought. Biting her lip, she sent me a quick glance before whirling away. “I’m completely in love with him.”
I had to lift my eyebrows over that announcement. “Say what now?”
Hope waved me silent and kept gushing to Dugger’s mom. “Yeah. He’s just so—” She floundered for a moment before saying, “ Keene . You know? He’s such a good dancer and so handsome. I just—I want to spend the rest of my life loving him. So I guess I wanted to get your approval before—oww!”
When a book came flying from the shelves and smacked her in the arm, she threw up her hands with a screech to guard her face.
“Hey!” I boomed, stepping between her and the shelf. “No more of that. She really is one of Keene’s friends.”
From my fingers, the cloud in the amulet dissipated, letting me know Robin had left.
I turned to Hope to check on her, and a new cloud appeared, turning a dingy green.
“You okay?” I asked.
She nodded, gulping unsteadily before she bent down to pick up the book that had struck her. The title read How to Stop Lying .
Lifting her gaze, she sent me a sad sigh and admitted, “Something tells me she didn’t believe me.”
“Gee, I wonder why not,” I answered, tipping my head sympathetically. “You were so convincing about it.”
“Oh, hush.” Slapping my arm, she rolled her eyes and huffed, “I just thought I’d try to help Keene out. Alec says it really bothers him that she didn’t move on.”
“I know,” I murmured and pulled her into my arms to kiss her temple. “And it was incredibly sweet of you to try.”
“Shh,” she warned as she shifted her face to hide it in my neck. “Don’t go telling anyone I have a sweet side too. You’ll ruin my bad bitch reputation.”
I smiled before inhaling the fragrance of her hair. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”
“Deal,” she murmured as she ran her hand up my arm. “And thank you. Thanks for doing this for me. I mean it.”
“No problem,” I answered, closing my eyes and basking in her presence. “In fact, how about I help you with all the items on your bucket list?”
“What?” Hope lifted her face from my throat to blink into my eyes. “What’re you talking about?”
“I know how important this list is to you. And I think you’re purposely ignoring your condition because you’re so determined to work on it. So if I promise to help you clear the entire list, will you promise to seriously start looking into finding a donor, someone who’s willing to donate to you, not just waiting for your name to reach the top of some list?”
Her lips parted as she gazed up at me. Then she nodded slowly. “If you really want to help me with my list, then okay. Yeah. I’ll start actively seeking a donor.”
“Good.” Exhaling in relief, I kissed the center of her forehead.
But Hope grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled my face down so she could kiss me on the mouth.
I hummed and stepped closer, deepening the contact until a clattering of footsteps broke us apart. I was just taking a step back and wiping my mouth discreetly when Waverly flew around the corner, breathing hard, her eyes wide with concern.
“What the hell?” I started, blinking at her in confusion and shaking my head to ask what she was doing.
“Saw you two walk in together,” she panted breathlessly, pausing to rest her hands on her knees before she motioned above us. “And now Keene’s here. Just came in, so… You can’t go up there.”
“Shit.” My gaze slid to Hope.
She bit her lip, wincing and already glancing around for an escape plan.
“There’s a back exit. This way,” Waverly finally added. “It’s for staff only, but I can get you out without being seen.”
I blinked at her in surprise. “You’d do that for us?”
She nodded back before asking, “I mean, unless you’d rather he catch you down here, canoodling his best friend’s sister?”
I straightened, giving her a funny look. “How do you know who Hope is?”
Down the row of books, the door from the stairwell opened, squeaking loudly before whistling followed. It was a tune that Keene often whistled to himself.
“Shit.”
“Later,” Waverly hissed as she motioned for us to follow.
Hope and I exchanged a glance. When she shrugged, I grabbed her hand and hauled her behind me as I trailed Waverly down the tight row.
At the end of the stacks, she turned right, and we entered a part of the basement I’d never been to before. The number of overhead lights decreased, making the area darker and danker than the other half, which was dark and dank enough as it was.
When we came to a door marked Employees Only , Waverly yanked it open and darted through. I was right behind her, drawing Hope along with me.
Inside, we found a room full of pipes and a wall full of computer servers.
“Whoa,” Hope breathed beside me, taking it all in.
Not pausing to let us gawk, Waverly started up a steel, spiral staircase, calling over the clanging of the rungs, “This way.”
I glanced at Hope again. Perspiration was beading on her brow, and she was already winded, but she didn’t seem to need a break yet.
“Ladies first,” I told her with a smirk as I splayed my hand over the first step.
“He says as he shoves me onto the death trap,” she grumbled, eyeing the stairs as if she were afraid of heights. But she moved forward anyway.
Latching onto the railing with both hands, she whimpered as she climbed on, only to gasp and glare up at Waverly’s retreating form when the whole staircase wobbled. Glancing back at me, she scowled sternly. “If you shake this staircase on purpose, I swear to God, I will murder you in your sleep.”
“I’ll irritate you later, Trouble,” I assured as I stepped up behind her. “Right now, just get your gorgeous ass up those steps before Dugger comes to investigate the clatter of us fleeing the scene.”
“Sounds good.” She turned and took another cautious step, only to whimper and look up at how far we still had to go.
I touched her hip in reassurance. “I’m right here with you, every step of the way. I won’t let you fall.”
Scowling over her shoulder at me, she hissed, “Stop being so sweet when it’s physically impossible for me to turn around and climb you like a tree.”
I chuckled and wrapped a hand around her waist. “You can climb me like a tree as soon as you reach the top,” I promised huskily. “How about that?”
She shuddered and took another meaningful step up. “It feels so weird to be turned on and scared at the same time.”
Grinning, I patted her bottom. “You’re doing great. Just keep going.”
She did.
Despite her fears, she hiked the admittedly terrifying steps like a pro. At the top, Waverly was waiting for us on a small, wired platform where she had a hatch open that looked as if it belonged on a submarine. Ducking through, she warned, “Watch your head,” and disappeared inside.
Following, we found ourselves in a workroom with large, wooden tables crowded with books and laminating sheets, pages of barcodes, and paper cutters.
Waverly hurried past them as if they were nothing and went straight to another door that was labeled To Loading Dock .
Inside, we had to turn sideways to make it down a tight hall that had shelves full of cleaning supplies, toilet paper, and paper towels.
At the end of the hall, there was an old, rusted service elevator across from a pair of double, metal doors.
Waverly pushed through the two doors, and we were suddenly outside, on a concrete loading dock platform behind the library.
“Whew!” Hope exclaimed, wiping herself down. “That was kind of fun.”
I glanced at her, only to crack a smile. “You have a spiderweb in your hair.”
“I know,” she groused, batting at it. “I can feel it.”
With a chuckle, I caught her hand. “Stop. Just let me—” I picked the dusty webs away, and she actually went still, letting me groom her.
Glancing over at Waverly as I worked, I nodded out my gratitude. “Thanks, Waverly. I owe you one. Again.”
She only shrugged, not arguing with me this time.
Hope turned her attention to the other girl. “Waverly?” she repeated, blinking in recognition.
“Right,” I said. Introductions. “Library Girl. Hope,” I told them, motioning between the two.
Mouth dropping open, Hope gaped before blurting, “You mean, Waverly Frank is Library Girl?”
I furrowed my brow, wondering how she knew Waverly’s last name.
Waverly seemed similarly surprised. “I didn’t think you’d remember me,” she admitted.
“Oh my God! Of course, I remember you. Took me a second to recognize you after all these years, but when Parker said your name—oh my God,” she repeated. A big smile burst across her face. “Waverly!” She hopped forward and wrapped her arms around Library Girl, squeezing her tight.
Waverly scowled at me over her shoulder. “She’s hugging me.”
“Yeah,” I grumbled along with her before lifting a single shoulder. “She’s a cuddler.”
Waverly’s face filled with distaste, but she allowed the hug until Hope pulled away, grasping both of her arms for a happy shake. “It’s so nice to see you again.”
“So…” I waved a hand between the pair. “How do y’all know each other again?”
“We met at the center,” Hope announced as she tossed an arm over Waverly’s shoulders and turned to face me with a big grin. “I was put into her group after you chased me out of yours.”
There was a teasing quality in her voice that let me know she no longer held that day against me, no matter how much she liked to give me grief for it, but I was too busy staring at Waverly and feeling my entire body prickle with cold dread.
“What do you mean you were in the same group?” I demanded in a hard voice. My eyes narrowed as I addressed Waverly. “Her name never came up as being in your group. Why did you never mention Hope when you filled out the list of possible?—”
“I—” Waverly’s eyes flared, and she stuttered around before adding, “Honestly, I kind of forgot about her. She only came for a month or two before dropping out again. Surely, that couldn’t have been enough time for?—”
When she broke off abruptly, Hope eased her arm from around Waverly’s shoulders and took a small, hesitant step back. “Enough time for what?”
“ Couldn’t have been?” I demanded of Library Girl. “Or wasn’t ?”
My hard tone made Waverly shrink a step back and simply peer up at me with wide, worried eyes, unable to answer.
“No,” I told her harshly. “No.” But then my gaze strayed to Hope, and everything inside me tightened with dread. My voice broke as I repeated, “No.”
But not Hope. I would lose my fucking mind if it were true.
“What the hell is happening right now?” Hope demanded, glancing between me and Waverly with utter bewilderment.
It made me think my fears were unfounded, but if she’d been in Waverly’s group—for no matter how short a time—then it was still possible.
“Let’s go,” I said, taking her hand as I glanced toward Waverly darkly and repeated, “Thanks again. I do owe you one.”
Waverly looked scared shitless, but she silently nodded and waved me goodbye.
Hope let me drag her off, her confusion probably helping me tug her along without resistance. But it definitely didn’t keep her from asking questions.
“Are you gonna tell me what that was about?”
“Can’t,” I muttered from a clenched jaw. “I signed an NDA.” Fuck, were you even allowed to say when you’d signed papers, legally agreeing to keep something confidential?
“You— what ?” Hope blinked at me as if I’d lost my mind. She glanced over her shoulder and then returned her attention to me before her features flooded with horror. “Oh shit,” she breathed. “This is about the grief center scandal, isn’t it?”
I sent her a sharp, startled glance. The damn woman had always been more perceptive than was normal.
“Hope,” I ground out slowly. “I’m not allowed to talk about it.”
Her mouth fell open. “It is,” she realized with wide eyes. “You know what happened with all that, don’t you? Of course, you do. The counselor for your group didn’t just happen to become the new director after the old one went to jail. That has you written all over it. And Waverly…” Her voice trailed off as her eyes widened even more with realization. “Oh my God, not Waverly.”
I stopped walking to make sure we were out of sight of the library. Then I turned to Hope and whispered, “You cannot tell anyone. Not a single word to a single soul.”
Tears sprouted in her eyes, but she bobbed her head immediately. “Of course not,” she agreed readily. “I would never do that to Waverly. But oh my God. Oh my God. I had no idea.” Her tearstained eyes lifted to me. “And you—what role did you play in all this?”
My jaw twitched. I knew I wasn’t allowed to tell her, but she’d already guessed so much. “I’m the one who took him down,” I admitted quietly. “When I learned Director Sprout had gotten a girl pregnant, I hired a private investigator. And after I decided I could trust Matt, I went to him. He helped figure out who else knew and was protecting the bastard. It took us nine months to gather enough evidence to take to the police and expose the whole fucking scandal. We made sure we found everyone who was a part of it. They all paid for their crimes.”
Hope shuddered as she listened. Tears poured down her cheeks. “And Waverly?” She hiccupped, clearly upset. “She—she was one of his victims?”
I nodded sadly. “Her share group was probably hit the hardest. Which is why I flipped the fuck out when I learned you had been in it. Even briefly.”
Hope immediately shook her head. “No. I wasn’t—never. I never even met the director while I was there. I had no idea who he even was.”
I peered at her closely. “Truth?”
She shook her head some more. “I’ve never been raped, Parker. I swear.”
“God. Thank God,” I breathed and yanked her into my arms, more grateful than I could express.
“I probably didn’t even attend a full two months’ worth of sessions,” she went on. “I never really connected with anyone, except maybe Waverly. And I gave Liz enough grief for making me go in the first place that she gave up trying about as soon as she started.”
“Good,” I told her, keeping her trapped in my embrace. “Because this was one time where your being difficult probably saved you from a lifetime’s worth of trauma.”
“I’m not difficult,” she uttered indignantly. “I’m just always right. It’s not my fault everyone else seems to have such a big, damn problem with that.”
I laughed and pulled back enough to press my brow to hers. Tucking a piece of her hair behind one ear, I murmured, “It’s not you being right so often that’s the problem,” I countered. “It’s just fucking annoying when you make sure we all know it.”
She grinned and rolled her brow against mine. “Whatever,” she murmured lovingly, touching my face before the skin around her eyes wrinkled with sadness. “Poor Waverly, though. Is she okay now?”
I shrugged. “She seems to be. She’s kind of adopted the emo outlook on life, and that appears to get her through. That and giving Dugger a hard time at the library.” I snickered, only to fall serious again. I knew I shouldn’t tell Hope the next part, but it felt good to let some of it off my chest. “She had a rough go after her parents found out, though.” Taking Hope’s hand and smoothing my fingers over her knuckles, I confessed, “She overdosed on some pills and tried to end it all.”
With a horrified gasp, Hope slapped a hand over her mouth.
“But I’ve kept track of her through the years, and she seems better—healthier—these days.” With a sad shrug, I admitted, “I keep track of them all.”
“So you know the name of every girl who was?—”
When I nodded, Hope shuddered and sank closer to me. “You’re the new owner who bought and took over the center to rebuild it to what it is today, aren’t you?”
I kissed her hair without answering because she already knew the truth.
“I was wrong,” she decided, smoothing her hand up my chest. “You’re not a sweet, compassionate man. You’re quite possibly the best person I’ve ever met.”
“Jesus, Trouble,” I warned irritably. “Stop.”
“Stop what?” she asked, not understanding.
Tightening my arms around her, I whispered, “How’re you doing this to me?”
“Doing what?”
Not able to verbalize it, I gripped her hair and kissed her brow with emotion.
She shuddered as if finally understanding, but she didn’t answer. I don’t think she knew how either.