Chapter 6
Chapter Six
RAVEN
“Can I ask you a question?” I blurt, not even waiting for the front door to close behind Rhys
He rakes his sunglasses down his nose, pinning me with a look that makes my stomach quiver and jump.
His half-smirk sends my heart into overdrive.
How he’s still single, I don’t know. The man is ridiculously hot, especially when he’s dressed for work.
I never knew a man carrying a badge and a gun could be sexy, but this one is.
“You been working up the nerve to ask me this question long?” he asks.
“Only most of the day,” I admit with a rueful laugh, tucking my legs under me on the sofa.
As usual, he reads me like a book. He’s scary good at it.
It’s been two days since he went to see Marnie.
I don’t know how he did it, but she paid my tuition.
I got the email yesterday. She texted to tell me that she was sending new credit cards to me too.
I told her not to worry about it. She never responded to that message. I know she read it though.
I’ve been dying to know what happened, but he hasn’t shared. He hasn’t said anything at all about it, in fact. When I told him I got the email, he just grunted and said good. I’m not sure what that means, but it’s driving me crazy.
Rhys and I have settled into a…I don’t know what to call it, honestly.
Anytime I’m within five feet of him, my body aches.
It feels like the air around me catches fire.
I want to throw myself into his arms and let the flames consume us.
I know he feels it too. But somehow, we’ve both managed to keep our hands to ourselves.
Whenever I feel myself slipping, I blurt my dad’s name.
He knows what I’m doing when I do it. He doesn’t call me on it.
Instead, he shares some memory of my dad, or I do.
It’s helped in more ways than one. Being able to talk about him with someone who loved him just as much as I do is healing.
For once, I don’t feel completely alone with my grief. I don’t cry myself to sleep at night.
We remember and we laugh.
“What’s your question, songbird?” He tosses his glasses on the table by the door. His badge goes next. He’ll keep the gun on his hip until he gets to his room. That goes in the safe. I’m not sure if he’s always so careful with it or if he’s just extra cautious because I’m here.
“What happened with Marnie?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” he mutters. “Women like her poison themselves until they’re bitter, miserable, and die alone. My mother is the same way.”
“Really?” I frown, pulling a throw pillow into my lap. “I didn’t know that.”
“Don’t talk about her much.”
“I’m sorry.”
He shrugs. “She didn’t raise me. My stepmom did.” A smile overtakes his face, lighting him up. “She’s a real mom. She’d do anything for me. I have a little sister, Cassia. She isn’t my dad’s kid, but my stepmom would do anything for her too. As far as she’s concerned, Cassia is family too.”
“My mom was great too,” I whisper, squeezing the pillow. “She was a singer like me. When I was younger, she’d take me with her sometimes while she busked in the subway. It was so much fun to watch her. People just loved her energy. Life with her was an adventure.”
“I’m sorry you lost her.”
“You sent me flowers.” He sent the biggest bouquet of pink, white, and purple lilies and carnations. They were beautiful. The rest of the flowers went to nursing homes, but I kept his until every last petal died.
“I did,” he says, his voice soft. His forest eyes are even softer.
“I hate that I couldn’t be there, princess.
” Sometimes, he looks at me like I’m the only thing he sees.
Like he’s just waiting for me to tell him that I’m his, and he’ll betray every belief he’s ever held to keep me.
In those moments, the words climb up my throat like an aria, desperate to burst free.
I want to utter them. I want to set us both free. So damn bad.
Does he know how much? Can he see me falling deeper?
“Rhys, I…”
“Jack Hale,” he blurts.
I blink twice. “What?”
“Jack Hale was there when I got there,” he says.
“Oh.” I frown, trying to drag myself back from the ledge. Back to reality. I can’t tell him that I’m in love with him. I can’t set us free. He may want me, but that’s not the same as what I feel. Besides, he’s still keeping secrets. Big ones. “Why was Jack there?”
“Good question,” he mutters, scrubbing a hand down his face. He looks weary, tired all the way to his bones. “They were allegedly meeting about something business related.”
“You don’t believe that.” It’s not a question. I’ve gotten pretty good at reading him too.
“I’ve been to business meetings with Jack,” he says. “He never drinks when business is on the table. And Marnie never discusses business at home. Brant was banished to his home office for any and all business discussions.”
“So maybe they weren’t meeting about the company,” I suggest.
“Then what?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug helplessly. “Jack helps Marnie with all kinds of stuff. She likes working with him because my dad trusted him. That’s hard to come by in the business world.
People are always looking for ways to take you down and claim your spot.
Jack isn’t like that. He was perfectly content being the small fish because my dad made him billions.
He didn’t want the headache that came with being the majority stakeholder. ”
“What do you think about him?” Rhys leans back against the door, the picture of casual indifference even though the question is anything but. “You trust him?”
“I guess so. He’s been kind of like an uncle to me for the last half of my life.
We’ve never been super close or anything, but he’s always been nice to me,” I say.
“I’m glad he’s helping Marnie oversee the company.
I know I’ll have to deal with it sooner or later, but I guess I’m kind of relieved it’s not my responsibility yet. ”
“You don’t want it?” Rhys seems surprised.
“It’s not that. It’s just…I don’t know the first thing about running a company.
” I glance down at my lap, plucking at the tassels on the pillow.
“My dream was always music. Maybe that sounds na?ve or makes me foolish or whatever, but I never wanted to be a billionaire. I never wanted to inherit my dad’s fortune or his company or any of it. I just wanted to sing.”
“Chase your dream, songbird.”
I glance up at him.
“Life is too fucking short to spend it doing something you hate,” he says, his eyes locked on mine.
“If you don’t want to run the company, don’t.
Let Jack run it or hire someone to run it for you.
Sell it. Set it aside for the baby. You have options and plenty of time to figure it out.
Brant wouldn’t want you to give up your dream to babysit his. ”
“What if I want to run it?” I whisper.
“Do you?”
“I don’t know. Part of me feels like I need to do it,” I admit.
“I know you don’t agree with what Marnie did, but she wasn’t entirely wrong.
My dad did coddle me. I like to think I’m not a spoiled little rich girl, but the truth is that I am.
Everything has always been handed to me.
Sure, I’ve worked hard to make sure I earned my spot, but that doesn’t change the fact that I had opportunities others didn’t.
I have no real-world skills. What happens if I fail at singing? ”
“You won’t fail.”
“People fail every day, Rhys. Incredibly talented, deserving people.”
“So you’re just going to give up?” His eyes narrow, his voice dropping to a growl.
“No, of course not.” I shake my head emphatically. “I’m just saying…oh, I don’t know what I’m saying!” I groan, tipping my head forward into my hands.
“You’re confused.”
“No, I’m tired of being poor little Raven,” I correct.
That’s the heart of the problem, isn’t it?
No one takes me seriously, and why should they?
When have I ever given them a reason to take me seriously?
“Everyone else makes decisions for me or decides what’s best for me because they don’t think I’m capable of doing it myself.
I’m tired of being infantilized and treated like a child.
And that’s my fault for allowing it to happen.
I let my dad coddle me. I let myself be the spoiled little rich girl.
I let myself get to a place where I’m almost twenty-two and have no real-world experience.
I put my dream before everything, and this is the result. ”
Rhys pushes away from the door and strolls toward me. “You aren’t a child, songbird. You aren’t a spoiled little rich girl. You’re allowed to have dreams and throw your heart into them. Your dad didn’t spoil you because he thought you weren’t strong or capable, he spoiled you because he loved you.”
“I know that.”
“Do you?” He sits on the ottoman in front of me, putting us at eye level.
He’s so close that I can see the flecks of gold in his eyes.
“Your dad didn’t leave you the company to force you into running it.
He left the company to you because, out of everyone, he trusted you to make the best decision for the company.
He knew you wouldn’t be blinded by greed or driven by your own self-interests.
When the time comes, you’ll make the decision that’s best for the company. ”
He’s right, I know he is.
“I feel like I know nothing,” I sigh. “I’m tired of being protected from everything.”
Tell me what you’re keeping from me. Please.
“Brant kept you close because it’s so goddamn easy to keep you close,” he says, watching me intently.
“God, princess. You light up every room you walk into. There’s just this innocence about you that people want to protect.
We’re drawn to your light because it shines like a fucking beacon in the dark. ”
“Rhys,” I whisper, my heart thudding against my ribcage so loudly I’m sure he can hear it.