Chapter 38
Dax
Their voices reach me despite the movements in the hospital hallway. I left Ruby with her grandfather so I could join my wife and mother-in-law, but their conversation prevents me from going inside the room.
“He’s very handsome,” Annette Lamb says.
“Mom, stop.” Cori’s voice is more firm than playful. “How are you feeling? You look good.”
“I feel more optimistic than I have in years, Cori. The doctors and nurses are taking good care of me, and I might go home in a few days. I can get the rest of my treatment in Shadow Cove. Dax has arranged twenty-four-hour care for me for the first month. Then, we’ll go from there.”
I hear a sniffle, and I’m sure it’s Cori. Annette Lamb never struck me as the emotional type.
“I’m so glad, Mom.”
“Me, too, baby. How has your brother been? Have you been looking out for him?”
My instinct is to go in there and do damage control, but I have a feeling that this will be a learning experience.
“Devin is a grown man with a child. He can take care of himself, but let me get you fresh water. Do you want anything to eat? I can go get it for you.”
There’s silence, and I move closer so I can hear better.
“Devin’s not like you, Cori.”
“What do you mean?” I can hear an edge in her voice now.
“He needs us. All of us. And so does Ruby.”
“And what should my role be?”
“Ruby will need a woman’s influence in her life, and you’re a good girl. Always have been. I’m proud of you.”
A heavy sigh follows.
“Really? What are you proud of? I never went to college. I have no degree. I never left Shadow Cove like I wanted. What about me makes you proud?”
I hear a sniffle, and I decide to go inside the room. Annette has her head turned toward the window, while Cori stares down at the floor.
I snake an arm around her waist and kiss her cheek.
“These are for you,” I say to Annette. I put down the bouquet of roses, and she reaches her hands out. I take them in mine.
“My favorite son-in-law. When I get back home, I’m going to make you your favorite dinner. Cori will tell me what it is.” She kisses the backs of my hands.
“I would love that.” She pats the side of her bed, and I sit down. I make sure to pull Cori onto my lap.
“Everything good with you two? Cori won’t tell me anything.” She swipes imaginary lint from my shoulders.
“Everything is wonderful. Don’t worry. I will take care of your daughter.”
She claps her hands together in happiness.
“And please don’t forget about Ruby. She will need people like you two in her life.” She sighs. “I love my son, but he’s—”
“He’s Ruby’s father. She is his responsibility.” Cori stands abruptly. Annette purses her lips shut. “I’m so sick of everyone bending over backward to look out for him.”
“This isn’t about him, Cori. This is about Ruby,” Annette exclaims. She extends her hand to her daughter, but Cori storms out of the room. I stand to go after her, but Annette speaks.
“Cori resents him.” She looks away. “And maybe that’s our fault, but she’s letting her resentment—”
“She doesn’t resent anyone,” I say in my wife’s defense, but I know it’s not true. Cori hates that little bastard, and I understand why. “And she’s right. Your son is an adult. It’s not her job to parent him or to raise his child.”
“We put a lot on her. She loves us but resents us. That’s the truth, but I’m glad she has you.”
“Why would she resent you?” Annette won’t meet my eyes at my question. She looks down at the bed, takes a deep breath, and opens her mouth.
“It was a difficult time, Daxton. The most difficult time of my life, and we made some bad choices. We asked her for things we shouldn’t have.” She exhales again, but she doesn’t offer any more.
“What does any of that have to do with her brother?”
Silence blankets the room until she says, “That’s nothing for you to worry about. I’ll fix it when I get home.”
“We’ll have to go to Ocean Prime tomorrow.” I pour a glass of wine, but she shakes her head and points to the teakettle. I fill it and turn on the burner. “Who knew Ripley was so picky? How is a guy as big as him a picky eater? Asshole.”
“First of all, he’s not an asshole. Second, I knew it,” Cori says. “But the steakhouse was amazing.”
I stand behind her and rub her shoulders.
“Let’s get in the tub.” I wrap my arms around her and rub myself on her ass.
“Okay. Bring the tea.” I let her go and watch her ass bounce all the way to the bedroom.
Ten minutes later, I position her between my legs, and I have my arms wrapped around her. The tub is huge, but I’m still too tall for it. She leans over the side and sips tea from her mug.
I squeeze her ass.
“I still want to take you to Milan this summer.”
“We’ll see.”
“And when are you going to let me see that business plan?”
“This is our honeymoon. We can talk about that another time. When are we going home?”
We need to go back soon, but I’d rather stay out of Shadow Cove until the issue with the Brennans is settled, which can be weeks or months. I can’t hide forever, and I want to return to a sense of normalcy.
“You know what I want to know?” she asks. “How did you get into this line of work?”
I can feel her holding her breath, and I wonder if this is a test. Does she really want to know more about me, or is this feeding her nosy side? I remember a conversation I had with my mother after she met Cori.
Then
“Son, you do whatever you have to do to get that girl, you hear me? She’s perfect for you.” Mom has her back turned to me while she cooks breakfast.
“But what if she’s just nosy?”
“She is, but she wants you. I can tell. Two things can be true at the same time.”
Now
“My stepfather owned a diner. I had no idea he used to wash money for some dealers.”
“Dealers?” She turns her head to look at me with her mouth hanging open in shock. “Drug dealers?” she asks in awe.
“Yeah, Pandora. Drug dealers. He was a bit of a tech wizard, so he set up their accounts. Neal was one of the many small businesses they used. I didn’t find out until he died.”
“How old were you when he died?”
“Twenty-two. It was my last year of college. He had MS, so he was sick for a while, but his death was sudden. I had just been home for spring break, and he was fine, but he got pneumonia and died. Mom was a mess. Josie was barely five at the time. Mom had me when she was sixteen, and she met Neal when he hired her to work at the diner. I was seven, and from the moment he met me, he was my dad in every way. I graduated a few months after he died, and I thought I could make the diner a success.”
“When did you find out about your dad’s activities?”
“It didn’t take long until one of them came in. I thought he was a patron. He ordered food and left. He was waiting for me in the parking lot hours later. He said he’d been watching me and thought we could continue to do business together.”
What I don’t tell Cori is that I didn’t believe Steele Titan when he told me what my father had been up to.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell Mom, but three weeks later, Neal’s lawyer found me and gave me a manila envelope.
In it, Neal had an audio recording detailing everything.
Until that moment, I thought he was only keeping the diner afloat, but we were flush with money that Dad had put into a secret account.
Titan came back the next day. By then, I had a good grasp of what Neal had done, and I decided to continue the business.
After talking to Mom, we agreed to use some of the money Neal left us to buy two car washes. We offered to use that to help the Titans, too. We worked together for years.
“When did you meet Ripley?” Of course, she would ask that.
Everyone in Shadow Cove immediately became obsessed with him, just like I knew they would.
Every woman wanted him, and all the men wanted to be him.
While they were focused on him, I got to live in plain sight, and no one suspected a thing.
Not until my nosy little wife got an inkling and decided to use her investigative skills to follow me.
“About three years later. I hired King as a short-order cook at the diner.” It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
He fit all the parameters. He had nothing.
He had no one. He was big and didn’t take any shit from anyone.
He was also loyal, which is the main thing that I look for, and the hardest to find.
“Are all your businesses used for that?”
“No, Bella. You don’t have to worry about that. Yours will be legit and belong to you. I’m just here to help and to provide the funding. You can let me in.”
“You’ve been in.” She giggles uncontrollably when she says it. I like this side of her. The only time she’s never guarded is when she’s with Selene and Eden.
“I’m serious.”
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to say to that.” She tries to climb out of the tub, but I easily keep her in place.
“I’m your husband. You’re supposed to lean on me.” I nip her ear to keep it playful, but the room suddenly goes from light to heavy. “You’ve never had someone on your side before?”
“Selene and Eden always have my back.”
“But they’re not your husband. I am. And they can still have your back, but I can do more than that.”
She doesn’t answer, but she puts a wet hand to my cheek.
“I have to learn to trust you first.”
“Why can’t you trust me now?”
“Really?” she asks.
“Yeah, really. Our marriage wasn’t conventional. So, what? There’s no guidebook for a relationship. We’re together now. You said you would make the marriage work, and I swear to you, Cori, I will never hurt you. Did you ever think that you were following me because you wanted me?”
She remains quiet, and I wonder if she’s warring with herself.
“Even if I did, it doesn’t give you the right to—”
“Maybe I wanted you, and this was the only way I could have you.” I tighten my arms around her waist.
“I’m not a possession. I’m a person with feelings, wants, and needs.”
“And I’ll give you everything you want and need. I’ll make you feel good, too.”