Chapter 27
Elle
We’ve fallen into a routine. We returned to Boulder Canyon early in the week and it felt like coming home. I never thought I’d miss this little slice of heaven in the mountains, but I did. There’s nothing for me in the city anymore. Jorge can run the gallery just fine and maybe we’ll get a resident artist in the studio I never want to step foot in again.
But this—this place—is where I’m supposed to be.
There haven’t been any flowers or dead petals left on my doorstep. I haven’t seen any strange people lurking about. But I don’t really have to keep watch. Ranger is doing that for me. And I guess it’s out. Everyone knows. Of course, it was after he claimed me as his. What a man.
Joker is supposed to be stopping by the shop later today to go over the information they found. So that’s where I’m headed. Figure I’ll bother Ranger until Joker gets there.
“Elle! How you doing, Doll?” Barbie greets me when I walk down the stairs into the shop.
“Hanging in, how you doing, Barb”
“Can’t complain. Wouldn’t do me any good, anyway, would it?”
“That’s the truth.”
“Hey!” Ranger yells from his chair. “I listen!”
“Yeah, but you don’t give a shit,” Barbie laughs.
“I do when it’s Elle,” he defends himself.
“And you’re a love sick fool these days.”
Ranger grumbles something about respect, but I turn to Barbie.
“Is he? Really?”
“You’ve got nothing to worry about. You’ve got that man wrapped so far around your finger, all it would take is a crook to get him to fall. It’s nice to see, honestly. I’m happy for you as long as you’re happy. Just know if he fucks it up, I’ll be here to kick his ass for you.”
“I think I can handle that on my own.” I grin at her. “Thanks for the offer, though.”
“Hey,” he grumbles, walking up beside us and throwing an arm over my shoulders, “who says I’m going to fuck up?”
“You will,” Barb and I say at the same time as the bells over the front door jingle, announcing someone’s arrival.
We all turn to look at the man, and we all have different reactions. I’m curious because he looks familiar, but I know I’ve never met him. Barb has a look of horror on her face. And Ranger? Ranger’s turned into the stone God he was when we first met. Hard, rigid body, a face made of granite. A tick in his jaw that probably means his teeth are a hair’s width away from breaking.
“Jonathan?” I ask quietly.
“No.” His reply is harsh, the sound coming from deep within his chest as his eyes narrow.
I take a harder look between the two. Both of them have dark hair, and tall, muscular builds. But where Ranger looks like he lifts cars for fun, this guy is smaller, not as defined. And brown eyes. Not the soul filled brown of Ranger’s, but a dull, lifeless brown. Oh, fuck.
“Your brother?” I whisper, the surprise in my voice making me feel like I yelled it.
“What the fuck do you want?” Ranger asks.
“I, uh, I just need to talk to you,” he stammers.
“And why should I give a fuck what you have to say?”
“Can I get like five minutes?”
“Three.”
“Can we go somewhere private?” he looks between Barbie and myself.
“No. Whatever you have to say you can say in front of these two.” His arm, still around my shoulder, grips me harder, his fingers digging into my upper arm almost painfully.
I curl into him and put my hand on his chest. “Whatever it is, I’m here. It’ll be okay,” I tell him once he’s made eye contact with me.
He takes a deep breath and loosens his grip, turning back to his brother.
“Well, I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting—”
“Do not talk to her,” Ranger interrupts him. “Don’t even look at her. I will kill you and still sleep like a baby tonight.”
“Huh,” he says. “You know, you never reacted that way about Vanessa.”
“Two minutes,” Ranger growls.
“We need to talk about Mom.”
“What about her?”
“She needs you.”
“She doesn’t need shit from me.”
“Look man, she’s sick. And the money is gone.”
“Spit out what you want.”
“We need to borrow some money so we can pay her medical bills.”
“Does she know you’re here?”
“Yeah. She’s the one who asked me to come.”
“So let me get this straight. You fuck my wife, and when I find out and end up in the hospital actually between life and death, you spin some elaborate tale to turn Mom and Dad against me, but now that she’s sick, I’m important enough to remember?”
“Man, it wasn’t like that,” he tries to defend himself.
“It was exactly fucking like that! You fucked up my life. You took my family from me. And you didn’t give a good Goddamn that I was your fucking family, did you?”
“I loved her! More than you ever did!”
“I don’t care!” Ranger finally explodes, dropping his arm from me and looking ready for battle. His hands fist at his sides and I swear I can see smoke coming from his nostrils. “I don’t care that you loved her and she maybe loved you. All I know is that while I was away serving our country and sending every fucking penny home to take care of my wife, she was fucking you! And not only that, but when you knocked her up, you concocted a plan to keep taking my fucking money and lying to my fucking face! I was in the fucking military, not a fucking billionaire! Then all of you left me in a hospital bed and planned my fucking funeral. Did you and Vanessa create a plan to spend my death benefit and savings plan? Was Mom in on that, too? How about Dad? Because when I lived, you all sure fucking scattered quick.” Ranger’s chest is heaving, his eyes burning with the fire of hell.
“No, man, come on—”
“No. You tell Mom she only has one son. She made that fucking decision the day she walked away from me in that hospital room.”
“But it’s your duty,” he tries.
“No, my duty was to my country, and I proved that until the day I no longer could. This is not my responsibility. Not anymore.”
“What about your girl here?” He gestures to me.
“What do you know about my girl?” Ranger growls, the menace in his voice terrifying.
“I know she’s got money. She could pay, and Mom said—”
“Time’s up, asshole,” Ranger interrupts. “You need to leave. And I never want to see your face again. And you can tell dear, sweet Mom that if I hear about her going after Elle for anything, I’ll come at her with everything I’ve got.”
“But Mom’s dying,” he tries one more time.
I look at Ranger. His face is a stone mask, and all I can think is he must have been terrifying when he was in the military. Oh, and that I never want to make him this mad. Ever. But it’s his eyes. So full of pain and anger and hurt and betrayal. Those eyes tell me everything I need to know about what’s going on right now. I step forward, putting myself between the two men.
“Hi. Jeremy, right?” I ask, sticking out my hand. “I’m Elle.”
“So he talks about me, huh?” The idiot smiles.
“Only once. To tell me what a bastard you are.” I smile at him. The perfect Workman smile. The one that all upper society kids learn from an early age. “I’m going to politely ask you to leave and not return, okay?”
“The fuck?” He looks between the two of us. “Who is this bitch?”
Barbie and I both step in front of Ranger before he can get to his brother.
“I suggest you leave. Now. You won’t be getting anything from me, and I believe Jonathan has already told you everything he needs to say. I’m so sorry that you thought using your mother as an excuse to pry him of the money he earned would be a smart idea, but you were obviously wrong. And if she really is sick, I’m sorry to hear that. But we won’t be bankrolling you today or any other day in the future.”
“Whatever, bitch. You’ll regret this one day.” He looks at Ranger.
“If that’s what you need to tell yourself to get through the day, but you can tell Mom as far as I’m concerned, she died the same day I almost did.”
Ranger grabs my hand and pulls me away from the front door to Jeremy’s protests. He doesn’t stop until we’re up the back stairs and inside the studio. He turns around and pulls me into his arms and holds me tightly. He finally takes a deep breath when he’s wrapped around me. Like he needs me to breathe. To survive. To exist.
“Did that really just happen?” he whispers in my ear.
“Yeah, it did,” I whisper back, kissing his chest over his heart.
“I’m nothing more than a paycheck to them and I think that’s all I’ve ever been.”
I reach up and cup his face, pulling him down to look at me. “You are so much more than a paycheck. And if it makes you feel any better, I’ll never ask you for money, I swear on my bank account.”
He laughs humorlessly. “I hope I did the right thing.” The despair in his voice hurts my soul.
“What do you want to do, Jonathan?”
“I want to forget he ever walked through that door.”
“Then that’s what we do. But if you decide you do want to see your mom, I’ll be right there next to you, holding you up like you’ve been holding me.”
“Thank you.” He brushes a kiss on my cheek.
“I just don’t want you to wake up in fifteen years full of regret because you didn’t go. Regardless of how she treated you, she’s your mom. And that really sucks.”
He hugs me tighter, kissing the top of my head. “Does it make me a bad person if I say I don’t want to see her? Vanessa broke my body, Tink, but my mom? She broke my heart.”
I can’t help the tears that fall, and he’s quick to wipe them away with his thumb.
“Don’t cry for me, Elle.”
“I’m sorry. I know I was lucky. I had the best parents and family. It’s hard to imagine the pain they’ve caused you.”
“I came out alright. I made my own family, brothers who are closer than blood ever could be. And one of those brought you to me.”
“Jonathan,” I breathe out as he captures my lips with his.
I don’t know how long we stand there, holding each other. Long enough for Barbie to come up and let us know Ranger’s brother has left the town limits. Long enough for her to order a pizza and get it delivered. Long enough that she’s prying us apart so Ranger can eat before his afternoon client.
She informs us that she cancelled Joker coming in, and that he will catch up with us later. And she moms the fuck out of him, until the pain has receded from his eyes and a smile graces his face again. We eat pizza and joke until it’s time to get back to work.
But now I’ve got a new worry. How the fuck did his mom and brother know we were together? And who I am? This adds another layer to the worry cake I’m already dealing with. Does this become the icing or the cherry on top?
Fuck me.