“Do you do that often?” she asked with an annoyed look on her face. That was adorable . . . dammit.
“What? Ask people if they slept well?” I wasn’t going to let that face get to me. She was leaving as soon as I talked to Abe. This was his problem, not mine. The fact that I enjoyed looking at her was even more of a reason to get her the hell out of here.
“Have sex with girls and then throw them out like trash,” she replied. Those big eyes of hers went wide, as if she were shocked at the words that had come out of her own mouth.
I wanted to laugh. She made it hard to stay focused. I set my cup down and stretched out on the lounge chair beside me. The best course of action was to get Blaire to hate me. I’d be doing us both a favor. If she hated me, I could easily keep my distance. “Do you always stick your nose where it doesn’t belong?” I asked.
Instead of the anger I expected to flash in her eyes, I saw remorse. Really? I had been an ass. She wasn’t supposed to look as if she were sorry for calling me out on my shit.
“Not normally, no. I’m sorry,” she said with an apologetic half-smile, and she hurried inside.
What the fuck? Had she just really apologized to me? Where did this girl come from? Women didn’t act like her. Had no one taught her not to back down from bullies?
I stood up and turned to look inside and found her picking up empty bottles and garbage littered all over the place from last night. I hated a mess, but I tried to overlook it when Nan wanted to party.
“You don’t have to do that. Henrietta will be here tomorrow,” I said, hating to see her clean up.
She put the bottles in with the trash she had collected and glanced back at me. “I just thought I’d help out.”
I was calling her father this morning. I needed to get her out of here. Until then, I had to make sure she hated me. “I already have a housekeeper. I’m not looking to hire another one, if that is what you’re thinking.” The harsh tone in my own voice made me want to wince, but I kept the bored look on my face. I had perfected it years ago. I could not look at her right now.
“No. I know that. I was just trying to be helpful. You let me sleep in your house last night.” Her voice was soft and pleading, as if she needed me to believe her. Fuck that.
We needed to set some ground rules before I fucked up. “About that. We need to talk.”
“OK,” she said in a whisper. Dammit, why did she look so defeated again? I hadn’t kicked her damn puppy.
“I don’t like your father. He’s a mooch. My mother always tends to find men like him. It’s her talent. But I’m thinking you may already know this about him. Which makes me curious. Why did you come to him for help if you knew what he was like?” I needed her to tell me something real. Or I needed to catch her in a lie. I couldn’t keep her here much longer. Those fucking long legs of hers and her big blue eyes were driving me crazy .
“My mother just passed away. She had cancer. Three years’ worth of treatments add up. The only thing we owned was the house my grandmother left us. I had to sell the house and everything else to pay off all my mother’s medical bills. I haven’t seen my dad since he walked out on us five years ago. But he’s the only family I have left. I had no one else to ask for help. I need a place to stay until I can find a job and get a few paychecks. Then I’ll get my own place. I never intended to be around long. I knew my dad wouldn’t want me here.” She paused and laughed, but it wasn’t real. It was filled with pain, which only twisted my gut. “Although I never expected him to run off before I arrived.”
Holy fucking hell. I was going to kill Abe Wynn. The motherfucker had abandoned his daughter while she took care of her ill mother? What kind of sick monster did that shit? I couldn’t kick her out. I was, however, about to make Abe’s life a living hell. The asshole was going to pay for this. “I’m sorry to hear about your mom,” I managed to say through the blood boiling in my veins. “That’s got to be rough. You said she was sick for three years. So since you were sixteen?” She’d been a kid. He’d left her, and she’d just been a kid.
She simply nodded and watched me cautiously.
“You’re planning on getting a job and a place of your own,” I said, wanting to remind myself that this was her plan. I could help her long enough so that she could achieve this. Someone needed to help her, dammit. She was fucking alone. “The room under the stairs is yours for one month. You should be able to find a job and get enough money together to find an apartment. Destin isn’t too far from here, and the cost of living is more affordable there. If our parents return before that time, I expect your father will be able to help you out.”
She let out a small sigh, and her shoulders sagged. “Thank you.”
I couldn’t look at her. It made me want to murder Abe with my bare hands. Right now, I couldn’t focus on Nan and her need for a father. The man she wanted as a father was a bastard. A bastard I was gonna make pay for this shit. “I’ve got some things to do. Good luck on the job hunt,” I said, before walking away from her. I had a phone call to make.
CHAPTER FOUR
I let the phone ring three times before hanging up and dialing again. I would call my mother’s phone until she answered. She’d better not fuck with me, or I would turn the damn thing off and cancel her credit cards. She’d be calling me then.
“Honestly, Rush, is it really necessary to call me incessantly? If I don’t answer, leave a message, and I will return your calls when it’s convenient for me.”
“I don’t give a shit about your convenience. I want to talk to the motherfucker you’re married to. Now.”
Mom huffed into the phone. “I most certainly will not listen to my son talk to me that way, or to my husband. You can call back when you’re ready to speak with respect and—”
“Mom, so help me God, if you don’t put that man on the phone, your phone and credit cards will be shut down within the next ten minutes. Do not fuck with me.”
That shut her up. Her sharp inhalation was the only response I got.
“Now, Mom,” I repeated firmly.
There was muffled whispering before I heard Abe clear his throat. “Hello,” he said, as if he wasn’t ignoring the fact that he had abandoned his daughter.
“Understand one thing. I control it all. The money. My mother. Everything. It’s mine. You fuck with me, and you will be cut off. I brought you here because I love my sister. But you’re showing me that you’re not worth her time. Now, explain to me how you told your other daughter to come to my house and then just left the motherfucking country.”
Abe paused, and I heard him take a deep breath. “I forgot she was coming.”
The fuck he did. “She’s here now, dipshit, and she needs help. You and my mother need to get on a plane and get your asses back here.”
“I haven’t seen her in five years. I don’t . . . I don’t know what to say to her. She’s an adult now. She can make her own way. I shouldn’t have told her to come to your house, but I needed to tell her something. She was begging for help. If you don’t want her there, then send her away. She’s a smart girl. She has a gun. She’ll survive. She’s a survivor.”
She’s a survivor. Had he just said that? For real? My head started throbbing, and I pressed my fingers against my temples for some relief. “You have got to be kidding me,” I managed to say through my complete, horrified shock. “She just lost her mother, you sorry piece of shit. She’s fucking helpless. Have you seen her? She’s too damn innocent to be walking around unprotected. You can’t tell me she’s a survivor, because the girl who showed up on my doorstep last night looked completely broken and alone.”