Chapter 3
Chapter Three
“ H e what?” Riley shouted, then closed her eyes and forced herself to bring her tone down. “I’m sorry,” she said into the phone. “I didn’t mean to shout, but seriously, Aspen. I need you to repeat that again, because I’m sure I didn’t hear you correctly.”
Aspen snorted. “Oh, you heard correctly. I’m just as ticked as you. That boy is so stubborn, I’m pretty sure he’d eat cardboard before admitting he needed help.”
Riley groaned and rubbed her forehead. Why? Why did Antony Harrison have such a hold over her? The guy was gorgeous, strong, a fighter and a hero…but he was also grumpy, scowly and stubborn. She had a better chance of changing a grizzly bear than she did the wounded war vet.
“He’s sleeping,” Riley said slowly and with emphasis. “On the floor of a basement apartment.”
“Yes,” Aspen responded.
“Because he refuses to use, even for a short time, use the mattress from his bed in your mother’s house.”
“Yes, again!” Aspen’s voice was sarcastically cheery .
“Because he’s decided in that brick head of his, that he has to make his own way and that includes turning away any and all help that might possibly save him some pain.” Riley’s breathing was too shallow, but she couldn’t help herself. This man was going to be the death of her. “Just what is he trying to accomplish?” Riley seethed.
Aspen sighed and the bite went out of her tone. “Honestly? I think he’s refusing to acknowledge there’s anything wrong with him. Sleeping on the ground was nothing before he got hurt. It’s like, if he just does the same things he used to do, he doesn’t have to admit that he can’t do the same things he used to do.”
The fight in Riley drained quicker than the water in a hole-filled swimming pool, and she slumped in her seat. “Is he letting anyone come visit?” she asked.
“Not yet,” Aspen bit out. “He says he wants to clean the place up, then he’ll let us come see it.”
Riley nodded, reading between the lines, though she didn’t bother to share that with Aspen. “Maybe I’ll try to stop by after work,” Riley mused.
“You know he’ll probably yell,” Aspen warned.
“I know,” Riley responded with a sigh. “But better me than any of you.” She rubbed her forehead again. “I can take it.”
“That’s not the point,” Aspen scolded. “You shouldn’t have to take it. No one should.”
“Your brother is hurt,” Riley reminded Aspen softly.
“Then he should get help!” Aspen's voice rose before falling silent. “Now it’s my turn to apologize,” she whispered thickly. “I’m just so frustrated. We love him. We want to see him get better, but he won’t let us get close enough to do anything.” She sniffed. “What are we supposed to do, Ri? Not even the babies have helped soften him, though he doesn’t yell or scowl at them, he just watches. Like he’s refusing to get attached or something.”
Riley nodded slowly. “Well, maybe it’s time someone other than family stepped in then, huh? Maybe I can push through in a way you can’t. ”
“I’ll pray for that miracle,” Aspen retorted.
“Please do,” Riley said with a small laugh. “I think I’m gonna need all the help I can get.” A few minutes later, the women hung up, and Riley eyed the wall clock. Her office was plain and simple, but it held everything she needed to take care of her animals.
“And now I need to take care of another animal,” she murmured to herself, laughing softly at her comparison. “Antony isn’t a wounded puppy,” she told the empty space. “I can’t go around treating him like one.”
Throughout the next hour, however, the comparison simply wouldn’t leave her mind. The man was acting exactly like one of her strays that came in and refused to turn its back to anyone, watching every movement, teeth bared and ribs nearly poking through their skin.
If Riley could help calm and tame a true wild beast, surely she should be able to get through to the human kind.
At five o’clock on the dot, she packed Griffin into her car and followed the GPS to the address that Aspen had supplied. The apartment was clear on the other side of town, and Riley smiled a little as she drove through an old, but cute neighborhood.
The houses were small and tidy and looked like a picture from the 1950’s. The hedges were neatly trimmed, the lawns cut, but the color from the houses was faded, announcing its age to passersby.
This house stood out a little. While still clean, it wore a look of resigned weariness. The eaves drooped, and the paint was chipping. Without any spring flowers to brighten the look, the whole property looked…sad.
Frowning, Riley put the car in park and turned off the ignition. “Ready, Griff?” she asked softly. The dog whined in the backseat, and his tail thumped. “Yeah…me either.” She took a deep breath and pushed open her door. “Here we go anyway.”
Riley would never admit how much her hand was shaking as she set down the bucket of cleaning supplies in order to knock on Antony’s door. Or at least, she hoped it was Antony’s door. Otherwise, she was going to look like a bigger idiot than she felt.
The knock seemed to ring through the small ramp area she was standing in, but no one answered. Riley waited, then knocked again. When no one answered again, she pinched her lips and stared down at Griffin. “Where else could he be?” she whispered.
Griffin’s tail thumped once more and his tongue lolled out as he waited patiently for her to instruct him.
Frustration welling, Riley made a fist and beat it against the door. “Antony Harrison!” she shouted. “You open this door right this minute! I know you’re in there, and you’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
Her chest was heaving as she waited him out. She could be just as stubborn as him, if need be. A single, young woman in her twenties didn’t manage to run a shelter without having a bit of a persistent streak, and it was alive and screaming at the moment.
When Antony still didn’t answer, Riley pounded again, only to have the door open on the third hit.
“You knock this down, and you pay for it,” Antony growled, his dark eyes flashing in the dim light of his apartment.
Riley stuck her nose in the air and sniffed. “If you’d open when I knocked nicely, I wouldn’t have to knock it down.”
The edge of Antony’s lips pulled down. “What are you doing here, Riley?” he demanded. “I’m not hosting visitors right now.” His eyes drifted down to Griffin. “Especially not the four-legged kind.”
Ignoring his remark and feeling rather bold at the moment, Riley bent over, retrieved the cleaning bucket and held it up. “I come bearing gifts.” Stepping forward, she slowed just enough to give him time to move out of her way. “This is for you.” She dropped Griffin’s leash in Antony’s hand and continued farther inside.
“What the crap are you talking about?” Antony growled.
Ignoring him, Riley looked around the space. It wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t bad. The space was mostly one square. A kitchen in the corner was open to a small dining area that held two metal chairs and the open space to the right was more than likely where a couch would go…if Antony had a couch.
At the far side of the room was a hallway, a little wider than normal, and must be where the bedroom and bathroom were.
“His name is Griffin,” she said, still studying the room. It was clear that Antony had truly refused any help from his mom and sisters. The metal chairs were the only place to sit, the sink was filled with dirty dishes, and the streaks in the dirt of the laminate floor said no one had been around to help clean either.
Even for a bachelor pad, the place was disgusting.
“I don’t care what his name is,” Antony said, stepping up enough to thrust the leash in her direction. “Take him back and go away.”
It was odd, really…the calm that came over Riley as she slowly turned to look at her angry friend. She still thought he was the most handsome man she’d ever seen, despite the furrows between his eyebrows and the pinching of his lips.
But in that moment, she knew…she knew… that if she didn’t do something, Antony Harrison would be lost to everyone, not just herself. He had no idea how far he had sunk, and everyone else was too busy with their families and lives to help save him.
It was up to her.
She took a slow breath and stared him dead in the eye before responding, “No.”
Antony jerked, though the word was said softly and calmly. He blinked rapidly. “No?” he rasped, choking on his own air. “What do you mean, no?”
“I mean,” Riley said slowly as if speaking to a child, “that I’m not leaving.” She held up a bright yellow bucket. “I’m here to make sure you don’t catch a disease in this place.” Bringing her arm down, she pointed to the dog sitting very quietly at Antony’s foot. “I’m also here to bring you an early, or late if you want, Christmas present. Like I said, his name is Griffin, and he’s been specially trained to help you.”
Antony’s nostrils flared, and he worked his jaw back and forth. “I don’t need help,” he ground out. “I’m doing just fine.” That smothered feeling he got from his mother was threatening to pull him under and drown him. Why couldn’t everyone just leave him alone? How could they not see that he needed to do something by himself?
Riley nodded, swinging the bucket in front to hold with both hands. “I know you don’t need help, Antony. No one is denying that.”
“Oh, really?” he retorted, not even trying to hold back his anger. “Because that’s certainly not what this looks like.”
She raised those perfectly shaped eyebrows, her green eyes challenging. “And just what does this look like?” she asked softly.
How did she do that? How did the sound of her voice cause that weird sensation in his gut? It made Antony want to pause and listen, as if she were some kind of enchantress. The thought was so stupid he refused to acknowledge it.
Pointing at the bucket, Antony continued, shoving the odd feeling away. “It looks to me like you think the cripple can’t clean his own apartment.” He jerked up the leash. “Or that he can’t handle his own emotions, so you had to come fix it.” He shook the leash. “I don’t need fixing.”
“The tone of your voice says otherwise.”
It was as if he’d been slapped, and Antony stumbled back a couple of steps, the dog quickly following. The two of them stared at each other for several long, loooong moments.
Green. Her eyes were so green. And what about that hair? There was so much of it. Long, shiny, and blonde. It was in a high ponytail, but several pieces were framing her face, dancing against delicate cheekbones and begging Antony to tuck one behind her ear. An ear that was small and rounded and?—-
Antony clenched his fist and dropped his eyes first, feeling like a failure. What was going on here? Riley was his kid sister’s friend, and Antony had known her forever. She’d always been a stubborn, little thing, which she was proving by breaking into his apartment and demanding that he accept her help. He wasn’t supposed to notice her eyes or her hair. He was supposed to be mad that she was forcing her company on him and also a…
Antony’s brows pulled together. “You said you trained him for me?”
That cute, stubborn tilt of her chin relaxed. “I did,” she admitted. “I’ve been working with him for almost a year.”
Antony’s eyes widened, and he looked down at the quiet animal. He was medium sized, as far as dogs went, his fur sleek, dark, and short. There had to be some black lab in there somewhere, but the shape of his ears was wrong and maybe the snout? Anyway, it didn’t matter.
Antony held the leash between them. “I can’t accept him,” he stated bluntly. “You’ll have to take him back.”
Riley shook her head and stepped back. “Giving back a gift is rude,” she said with a wide smile, her white teeth flashing. “So, where should we start?”
Antony rolled his eyes. “Riley. I said no.”
“And I also said no,” she continued, her voice too bright. “I’m not leaving.” She began walking toward the hallway. “You’ll have to call the police,” she sang over her shoulder. “Meanwhile, I’ll start in the bathroom!”
Fear licked up his spine. “Riley! Wait!” Dropping the leash, he began to try to run, only to stumble and land on his knees, his breath whooshing out of his chest at the impact against his still-healing limb. A dozen curses slipped from his lips before Riley’s arms went around his back.
“If you didn’t want me to see your dirty underwear,” she said in that ridiculously soothing tone, “all you had to do was say so.”
“You wouldn’t have listened,” Antony wheezed, his burned hand stinging from landing on the palm and the stub of his leg screaming from being bumped .
“True.” Tightening her hold, Riley held surprisingly strong as she helped Antony back on his feet.
He hated how much he was sweating and breathing, and especially how much he leaned on Riley until they reached one of the chairs Antony had found in the corner of the kitchen. Someday he’d have his own furniture, but right now he was content to simply be left alone.
Or he’d tried to be. It looked like peace and quiet were going to be harder to come by than he thought.
“What do you need?”
Antony looked up, right back into Riley’s concerned eyes, and for a moment, he lost his breath again before he had to force that stupid feeling away again.
What was wrong with him?
“I don’t need anything,” he snapped.
“When was the last time you took some pain pills?”
When she began eyeing the cupboards, Antony grabbed her arm, ignoring the heat that instantly crawled up his arm. “Seriously, Riley. Go home. I don’t need help…I don’t need you.”
The acidic bite of a lie made him want to puke.
He did need her. Or at least he needed someone. He’d dove out of his mom’s house without a parachute, and he’d been regretting it for three days now. His cupboards were bare, he had no idea how to get the nasty looking stains out of the toilet. The dust on the floor was so thick that Antony sneezed every time he tried to walk around, and his back hurt so bad from sleeping on the floor that Antony was ready to punch a hole in the wall.
If his words injured her, Riley was a master of hiding it because instead of crying like Antony had expected, she smiled.
“I know,” she said calmly. “I’m not here because you need me, Antony.” She raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes, as if waiting for him to really hear her. “I’m here because you’re family. I love my family, and I refuse to let you drive me away.” Standing up, she headed for the cupboards, opening and closing them as she searched for something, probably the pain pills she’d been asking about, while Antony sat in stunned silence.
I’m here because you’re family…I love my family.
He knew she was saying he was like a brother, but something about those words hit differently. Right beside that tiny flame of independence, something new began, and it felt suspiciously like the butterflies of attraction.
Her hair swayed as she moved, and her pink lips were pursed. Her nose was neither too short, nor too long, and her slim figure had those dang insects in his gut flapping their wings faster than ever before.
“Here we go.” Riley smiled, and it lit up her whole face. She opened a bottle, poured a couple of pills into her palm, then searched the countertop, eventually grabbing a plastic cup and rinsing it out before bringing him the medication. “I’m sure you could really use something stronger,” she said, her tone apologetic. “But this is what there is for now.”
Antony’s eyes dropped to her open palm, and slowly, as if he wasn’t in charge of his own body, his hand moved up for the tiny, white pills. With a flick of his fingers, they were in his mouth, and he took the offered cup, draining the whole thing.
Riley took the cup without comment and came back, squatting before him with her smile twitching at the corner. “I knew it,” she said through her grin.
His forehead immediately grew tight. “Knew what?”
That mischievous look turned smug. “That one day I’d have you eating out of the palm of my hand.”