37. Parker
37
PARKER
H ope was gone for over an hour and a half.
When I stepped from the bathroom, freshly showered and still rubbing a towel over my damp hair, I sensed her absence immediately. The pool house just felt…abandoned.
It felt wrong.
That alone filled me with enough unease. But then half an hour passed, and I started to wonder where the hell she was. When I reached for my phone to check the location of Lucy , I paused, deciding I should stop stalking her. But with my phone in my hand, I caught the notification from Raina’s messages.
Reading that she’d found my parents in the afterlife—and that they actually wanted to meet up—made my nerves twist uneasily. I sat down on the edge of the bed and stared sightlessly across the room.
I didn’t feel ready for this. But I’d been searching for them for over ten years; I couldn’t let an opportunity to see them just pass by.
So Raina and I scheduled the attempt for Tuesday evening since Foster wouldn’t return from his away game until tomorrow, and we wanted to give him some time to recuperate before having to play chaperone all night.
And from there, I paced, even antsier for Langston to get her ass back home.
When she finally did blow through the door, toting two carryout bags from different places, plus a drink carrier full of what smelled like coffee, she wouldn’t look at me.
“Sorry it took so long, but I stopped for Froyo first, then got the works.” She went straight to the table to set everything down. “Drinks, waffles, muffins, fruits, breakfast burritos, ham and eggs, bacon. We’re not going to need to eat again for at least another week.”
As she busied herself with opening the first bag and pulling out various containers, I strode over to capture her chin and force her to look at me.
She blinked in surprise. “Wha?—?”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’ve been crying.”
Her lips parted. But then she waved a dismissive hand. “Oh yeah. And then there was that.”
“That?” I repeated, stepping closer. “What’s that ? Did someone fuck with you?”
“No.” She shook her head jerkily. “Of course not. Nothing like that.” She tried to turn away from me to continue setting out the food.
But I wasn’t having it. Grasping her arm, I turned her back. “Then what happened?”
She sighed before stepping toward me and cupping my face in her hands. Looking me dead in the eye, she said, “I’m dying, Grumpy. And that scares the crap out of me; so sometimes I just need to run off to have a quick freak-out session alone before I can shake it off and function again. Okay?”
God. Just hearing her say that slaughtered me. My brave, independent little trooper. Lost her dad at ten and was left with a mother who didn’t know how to love her anymore; she only knew how to take care of herself now. She had no idea how to turn to anyone else for help.
So I sank my fingers into her hair and pressed my brow to hers, whispering, “Hey. You know you don’t have to worry about that, right? I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I don’t care if I have to spend every cent I have on the black market to buy you a new liver. I’m not letting you go out this way. I’m just not. You got me?”
Hope gazed up at me for a moment before her face bloomed into a smile. “I got you,” she murmured as her hand slid up my arm to massage my shoulder. “And I must say, I’m glad you’re in charge of the situation now and have complete control over what you’ll allow my body to do. I should’ve just come straight to you in the first place—and not some idiot doctor—as soon as I started feeling poorly again.”
I knew she was being a sarcastic smart-ass, but I answered, “You should have.” Slipping an arm around her waist, I added, “And the next time you feel a freak-out coming on, bring that to me too. Don’t ever go through that shit alone again. Do you hear me?”
“Wow,” she murmured, lifting her eyebrows as if impressed as she smoothed her hands up my shoulders and neck to play with the back of my hair. “You’re just going to solve all my problems now, huh?”
“Yes, I am,” I told her with authority as I dipped my head and took a kiss from her lips.
She kissed me back, closing her eyes and humming in pleasure as she did, only to pull away again just when I started to deepen it.
“Then you gotta tell me about your text messages from Raina,” she demanded, sending me a stern glance. “If you’re taking on my issues, I’m taking on yours.”
I lifted one eyebrow, amused that she was always so willing to give as good as she got. “Been snooping through my phone, Trouble?”
“Yep,” she answered without any remorse. “So are you going over there tonight to see your parents or not?”
“Can’t,” I told her. “Foster won’t be getting home from his away game until either late tonight or early tomorrow, so we’re going to wait until Tuesday, when he can be rested enough to watch over us all night.”
“Considerate of you.” Hope nodded in understanding. “How’s Foster been doing with all that football stuff, anyway? Are there still assholes out there determined to run his name through the mud?”
I rolled my eyes. “There are always assholes out there determined to destroy someone else’s reputation. But yeah, it doesn’t seem to matter that the team’s undefeated; the rumors that his mental state will ruin the season are still running rampant. Then, when they’re not worried about his propensity for panic attacks, they go after him for finally having a girlfriend.”
“Say what?” Hope shook her head. “Why?”
I shrugged. “Some douche came up to Raina on the first week of school to tell her that if the Stallions lost a game this year, it’d be her fault for distracting the quarterback.”
“Oh my God. You’re fucking kidding me?”
“Nope. Poor guy.” I made a face of sympathy for him. “Lost his spot on the student council shortly after that.”
Hope snickered. “Oh, did he?” Smoothing a hand over my face lovingly, she murmured, “I wonder how that happened.”
“It’s a mystery,” I agreed.
“You know, Grumpy,” she said, shaking her head in amusement. “You really need to learn how not to completely destroy the lives of people who just barely pick on your friends.”
“Hey, all they gotta do is learn to pick on someone else, and I’ll leave them alone. It’s as easy as that.”
She smiled and pressed her face to my shoulder as she hugged me. “You’re such a good friend.”
“Wow.” Threading my fingers through her hair, I kissed her temple gently. “I can’t believe I got you to compliment me before I even told you I had a bucket list item set up for us tonight.”
“You do? Oh my God.” With a gasp, she pulled back to gape at me in excitement. “Which one?”
“I can’t believe I’m actually going to sleep out on the water,” Hope gushed as she trailed me down the dock, toting a new sleeping bag under one arm and dragging a new piece of rolling luggage behind her with the other.
It was actually a double -bucket list day. Earlier in the afternoon, I’d taken her shopping, and she’d gotten whatever she wanted without once looking at a price tag.
Not sure why she’d even put that one on her list, but it was thoroughly checked off now.
The damn woman hadn’t gone crazy with jewelry or a ton of designer clothes, though. The first thing she wanted was a freaking sleeping bag.
“The boat has sleeping quarters , you know,” I made sure to tell her. “You don’t have to camp out in a sleeping bag.”
But she didn’t care. “I still want to lay out on the deck and enjoy the stars for a while. And that’ll be much more comfortable in a sleeping bag.” Then she bounced her eyebrows at me seductively. “If you’re nice, I might share it with you.”
I laughed and decided not to question her purchases after that. Not until she wanted to pick out a two-piece swimsuit, anyway.
That’s when I felt compelled to say, “I really didn’t mind your skinny-dipping phase. You can keep going without a suit if you want. Just saying.”
She sent me a sly smile and murmured, “Good to know,” as she got the bikini anyway.
And now she had everything she’d bought earlier today tucked in her new suitcase, ready for a night out on the water.
“You rented a really nice boat for us, right?” she asked, nudging my arm curiously.
“Didn’t rent one,” was my answer.
“Parker!” she screeched. “Please tell me you didn’t buy a boat just for tonight.”
I glanced over at her and smirked. “I’m rich and live on the Gulf. I already had a boat, darlin’.”
She gasped. “No way. You did? When did you get a boat? Alec never mentioned you having a boat. Does he even know?”
“Not sure if you ever realized this about your brother,” I told her with lifted eyebrows. “But if a topic isn’t about movies, food, supernatural shit, or—most recently—Union’s cousin, Younger’s not exactly the best listener. Because I know I’ve mentioned it around him before.”
“Huh,” she murmured, only to jar to a halt when we approached my Crownline. “Oh my God, you named your boat Grumpy Buoy?”
I sighed. “Don’t make it a thing, Langston,” I ordered as I jumped on board and held my hand out to her.
She handed me her sleeping bag first. “Oh, I’m making it a thing.”
I took the suitcase from her next and tossed that onto the deck behind me before reaching for her hand.
She smirked as she took my fingers. “Thought you didn’t like being called Grumpy.”
“I don’t.” As soon as she was on board, I pulled her snugly against me and then shrugged. “But the boat doesn’t seem to mind.”
When she threw her head back and laughed, I growled hungrily and dipped my head to kiss her throat.
Her laugh turned into a sigh as I made my way up her jaw to her lips. By the time I captured her mouth for our first kiss on the water, she was practically vibrating with need. So it was really no wonder why I felt as if I should haul her down into the cabin and strip her naked seconds later.
Which is exactly what I did.
We didn’t leave the dock for a couple of hours. But when we finally got around to it, Hope turned out to be a stellar first mate. She helped me untie us as I pulled up the anchor. Then she sat beside me as we motored into the bay, smiling with her eyes closed and face tipped toward the sun.
“This is amazing,” she murmured.
Once I got us out of the no-wake zone, I opened up the engine. She screamed out a surprised laugh and grabbed my arm to catch her balance.
I chuckled along with her, and we spent a good hour just cruising the bay.
Early in the afternoon, Hope spread her sleeping bag out on the deck, and we broke open the picnic basket.
We sat crisscross, facing each other, feasting on chicken and shrimp sandwiches and potato salad that I’d ordered from a nearby market.
And Hope couldn’t stop smiling. I’d never seen her look happier.
With a mouthful, she nodded her approval, and muffled, “Mmph. This is perfect. This is so perfect, Parker. It’s better than I ever imagined it could be.”
“Good.” I reached for my glass of bourbon, only for the wake from a passing pontoon to swell under us and cause me to spill half of it on my board shorts. “Shit.”
I lurched to my feet, as the alcohol soaked through the cloth.
Hope only laughed. “Oops,” she said. “Looks like you’re going to have to lose the shorts.”
Sending her an arch glance, I shot back, “If I lose these shorts, you’re losing that bikini.”
“Hey,” she huffed in offense. “I thought you liked this bikini.”
“I do,” I agreed, reaching out to grab her hand and haul her to her feet so I could lead her down the steps into the lower hull. “I just think it’d look better on the floor of my cabin.”
It was dark out by the time we returned to the pier and docked Grumpy Buoy. Hope had started to look a little green around the gills, so I decided to get us as close to land as possible.
“You sure you want to stay?” I asked, cringing over at her as she wrapped a hand around her stomach and sat near the edge of the boat in case she had to heave. “We can come out here literally any night you want to.”
“I’m good,” she swore. “This will pass.”
Then she grabbed the railing and dry heaved.
I laughed as I watched. “I had no idea you got seasick so easily.”
“I don’t,” she muttered, scowling at me. “It was probably just something I ate.”
I lifted my brows, not buying it. “You took your pills tonight, right?”
She huffed out an impatient sigh and rolled her eyes. “Yes, father. I took—oh God.” Leaning out into the water, she emptied her stomach.
I laughed again and went to fetch her a bottle of water. By the time she finished, I was sitting beside her with a waiting drink, rubbing her back.
She looked worn and ragged as she glanced over at me, exhaustion lining her features. “You look like shit,” I told her bluntly as she gulped greedily, swishing the first mouthful around and spitting before swallowing the rest. “How about we pack it in and call it a night?”
“No,” she moaned. “It’ll pass. Just give me a damn minute.”
“Well, you look as if you’re going to conk out any second. Let’s at least get you tucked into the bed below. Okay?”
“But I wanted to sit out here and stargaze for a while.”
I glanced up briefly. “Oh, look. Stars. Great. Let’s go.”
“You are such a bully,” she grumbled but followed my prodding as I pulled her to her feet and helped her down into the cabin.
“We’ll stargaze all you like when you’re feeling better.”
“Promise?”
“Nope. I’m lying. I’m never going to let you look at another star again. Jesus, Trouble. Get in the damn bed.”
Hope didn’t even try to smart anything back; she merely whimpered when she saw the mattress. She was crawling under the covers in the next second and closing her eyes a moment later, already fast asleep.
I sat next to her for a while, stroking her hair and hoping I hadn’t pushed too much on her in one day. But she had seemed so happy for most of it. It felt worth it.
When I was sure she was out for the rest of the night, I went back above deck and cleaned up before finishing my drink. Then I stargazed a little myself because it was such a nice night, and I felt so at peace with the world. I couldn’t remember feeling this content in—fuck—maybe ever.
And it was all because of the feisty, curly-headed brunette I had tucked peacefully below.
Smiling at the thought of her, I tossed the ice from my cup overboard and stood, ready to join her when I heard a thump.
Her voice slurred up the steps, saying something I didn’t catch.
“On my way,” I called and jogged down to check on her.
She was trying to sit up but seemed to be having problems with her motor function. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused, and her face was a bright red as she swayed.
“Shit,” I hissed, diving to catch her when she started to pitch forward. The moment I wrapped my arms around her, I knew she had a fever. It felt as if I were hugging a damn oven.
“That’s it,” I announced. “We’re going home.”
Hope shook her head. “No,” she mumbled. “Wanna go to Westport.”
Fear coated my skin. “Hope,” I said slowly. “You are in Westport.”
“Shut up, Mom. You don’t know…best…me.”
Disoriented and talking nonsense, she pushed at my arm to shove me away, but she had absolutely no power behind it.
“Hope?” I repeated. “Who do you think I am?”
“Not ready,” she slurred before bending over my arm and vomiting all over the floor.
When I saw blood in the bile, I knew she’d been lying to me about the severity of her condition, and I swear my entire life flashed before my eyes.