Chapter 14
Piper
Anger flashed over Everett’s face.
The shaking came back. “I’m worried about Chance. And I definitely don’t want to get abducted by bad guys.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Everett growled.
“And I really don’t want my mom or Gram to find out. They’ll panic. Gram suffered some heart issues last year and landed in hospital. She doesn’t need the stress.”
He reached out and took my hand.
“I’ve tried to help Chance and get him into rehab for his gambling. I tried to get him a job.” My laugh was harsh. “That didn’t work out very well.”
“You can’t help people who don’t want to get better.”
My lip trembled. God, I hated feeling like this. Weak, helpless. “He’s in debt to some really bad people, isn’t he?”
“It appears that way.” Everett shifted closer. “I promise, you don’t have to worry about being snatched. I won’t let that happen. We’re going to keep you safe.”
“You’re being so nice to me,” I whispered.
The corner of his mouth lifted. “I told you, I’m actually a nice guy.”
I felt prickly heat hit my eyes. God, I didn’t want to cry. It never helped. I’d cried so much when my father had left, when things had been tough. It hadn’t changed a damn thing.
“Hey.” He slid an arm around me and tugged me against him.
My face hit his hard chest, covered by the soft fabric of his shirt.
“My father left when I was six. Just one day announced he wanted something different, a more exciting life than working to provide for his wife and two kids.”
Everett’s arm tightened.
“I barely remember him. I never had the experience of a father, someone to take care of us, protect us, keep us safe.” I rubbed my cheek against his shirt.
“My mom hadn’t worked since she’d had me and Chance.
Her skills were rusty and she was now a single mom.
Dad never paid child support. She worked two jobs.
She waitressed and got a job at a grocery store.
Things were tight. I did what I could to help her. ”
“Babe…” His big hand rubbed against my back.
“Things got a little easier when we moved in with my Gram in Chicago. Her house wasn’t big, but at least Mom didn’t pay rent.
She bought the groceries and paid the utilities.
And Gram is awesome. I don’t know when Chance went off the rails exactly.
” I rubbed my cheek against the soft cotton of Everett’s shirt.
“He and I were so close, right up until I finished high school. Then he just decided he deserved more, and needed it yesterday, without putting in the work or effort.” I shook my head. God, Everett was so warm.
And I was clinging to him like some needy mess.
I started to pull away.
“No.” He kept me pinned against him. “For once in your life, Piper, just lean on someone, okay? You don’t have to take it all on. Let me help.”
I held myself stiff. I couldn’t lean on him. That opened up a path of needing more of him, and I was well aware that whatever the hell was simmering between us didn’t change the fact that I was a career-driven city girl, and he was a laid-back mountain man.
We were opposites.
Oil and water.
Chalk and cheese.
High heels and flannel shirts.
“Piper?”
“I’m trying. I’ve never…”
“Never let anyone share the load.”
“Never,” I confessed. “I’m always the one other people depend on.”
“I’ve noticed you aren’t that great with delegation.”
I lifted my head. “I’m very good at delegation.”
“You’re moderately good at it, at work. Not in your personal life.”
I was quiet for a moment. “Maybe.”
“Tonight, we’re switching it up. Now, relax.”
I forced myself to relax.
Just for tonight. I’d lean for tonight, then tomorrow, I’d find my brother and fix his mess.
Which brought me back to the hundred thousand dollars.
“How the hell does someone with no job or money end up a hundred thousand dollars in debt?” I whispered.
“When bad guys give it to them.”
“I don’t know if I can fix this.”
“It isn’t your job to fix it. Your brother needs to.”
“What if they hurt him?”
“I’m more concerned about stopping them from hurting you.”
I swallowed, the tears threatening again. Suddenly, all the fear and worry welled up inside me, and my chest hitched.
“There it is,” he said quietly. “Let it out.”
The first sob escaped, then a second. I pressed my face to his chest and cried. He rubbed a big, soothing hand against my back.
Everett held me, made me feel safe and warm, and didn’t say anything. He let me cry it out until I had nothing left.
“Feel better?”
“Not really. Maybe. My brother is still a screwup and in trouble.” Desperate for a change of topic, I looked around.
The fireplace was awesome. There was a gas one in my suite at the hotel, but I’d had zero time to turn it on and enjoy it.
Hell, I never relaxed because I was always working.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d taken a vacation, except for my annual trip with Mom and Gram. God, it had been three years.
I focused back on the fireplace and the pretty vase sitting on the rustic, wooden mantlepiece. The vase was a swirl of blues and greens.
“I like your place.” It suited him.
“Thanks.”
“Did you make that mantle?”
“I did.”
“The hotel’s lucky you didn’t go into business making furniture.”
He shrugged. “If I turned it into work, I think I’d lose the joy of doing it. I make the odd thing for a friend, on my own timetable. It works for me, and I enjoy working at the hotel.”
I shifted a little and he snuggled me deeper against him. He was all hard, warm muscle. It really was a comfortable couch. “I’ve seen your resume. I know you had a big engineering job in California. The hotel maintenance work can’t be as challenging.”
He was quiet a moment. “Not technically, but it’s challenging in different ways. More people and personalities to manage and deal with, and trust me, no day is the same at the Windward.”
“No day is the same at any hotel.”
“Once, a skunk ended up in the hotel lobby.”
I gasped. “No way.”
“Everyone was screaming. The receptionists were on the reception desk, including Coral, who was screeching like a hysterical girl.”
A laugh escaped me.
“Anyway, it was up to me and my team member, Dee, to rescue the poor thing without hurting it or having it spray everywhere.”
“How did you do it?”
“Slowly and carefully. We used ammonia-soaked rags. They hate the smell, it simulates predator urine.”
I pulled a face.
“Got the frightened critter out of there safely.” He smiled down at me.
“There was the time I had to hack through handcuffs for a guest. He was handcuffed to a bed and lost the key.” Everett paused.
“He was dressed as Superman, and his embarrassed girlfriend was a rather skimpily dressed Lois Lane.”
“No.” I burst out laughing.
He watched my face, a smile on his lips.
“It’s never dull.” Then he leaned his head back against the cushion.
“In California, I turned into a workaholic. The work was interesting at first, it fueled me, but soon, I was burned out. I worked weekends, stayed up late doing extra work, didn’t take any vacations. ”
I felt an uncomfortable pinch.
“I didn’t get home much, and by the time I realized my Mom was sick, it was too late.”
I sucked in a breath.
“She had cancer and she was dying.”
I heard the pain in his voice. “I’m so sorry, Everett.” The thought of losing my mom or Gram left me aching.
“So, I quit and came home. I spent the little time I had left with Mom, I got a job at the hotel, bought this place. I have dinner with my dad a few nights a week. I’m living for now instead of turning myself inside out for some promise of a future that might never come.
Instead, I’m enjoying the life I have right here.
A little hiking in the summer, a little skiing or snowboarding in the winter. ”
I pulled a face, and he laughed.
One day, he’d no doubt meet some sweet, young woman who loved hiking, camping, skiing and other outdoor activities. I could see him with some pretty woman tucked under his arm. She’d wear jeans, have freckles, and braid her hair.
For some reason, I really didn’t want to think about his hypothetical mountain girl. “You must miss your mom.”
“Yeah, but I talk to her. I sit on my back deck and look at the stars and talk to her.”
My heart clenched. “That’s nice. I’m sorry you lost her.”
“Thanks. You see your father?”
“Nope. After he left, we saw him sporadically. He’d turn up and take us to a movie or out for lunch, but it slowly faded. I haven’t seen him in over ten years. And I don’t want to see him. He took himself out of our lives, but thankfully, I had two amazing women who raised me and loved me.”
“You’re lucky.” He tugged her my hair. “Anyway, you haven’t cornered the market on sad life stories.”
“I guess everyone has their ups and downs.”
“True, big city, very true.”
My eyes started drooping.
“Why don’t I show you the guest room?”
The idea of being alone, in an unfamiliar room, made my pulse spike. “I…um…”
Everett being Everett must have sensed it. He shifted us until we were lying down on the couch. “Or, we can just rest here for a bit.”
“That sounds good,” I murmured.
I felt his fingers sifting through my hair. “You have great hair.”
“Thanks.”
“And great legs.”
I let out a watery laugh. “And you have terrible fashion sense.”
“I reckon the mountain man look might grow on you.”
I was afraid it already was.
It was on that thought, tangled up with him, that I fell asleep.