There was a knock at my door and I told whomever it was to come in before remembering that the door was locked. I got up to open it and was shocked to find my father standing in front of my office.
“Oh, hi Dad.” I smiled and stepped back so he could come in. “Sorry about the locked door. I was calling to check on Lucah and didn’t want to take the risk that someone would walk in on me.”
He nodded and sat down.
“Understood. That’s actually what I came to talk to you about. He’s been out for three days now. What’s going on?” I’d hoped to put this off until that Sunday when Lucah would come with me to dinner, but it had to be addressed now.
“Okay, so it’s Lucah’s brother, Ryder, that’s actually in trouble. To make a long story short, he overdosed on some pills and ended up in the hospital.” I reiterated that they were prescribed and not illegal and that he hadn’t been trying to kill himself and so on and so forth. Then came the rough part.
“Since he’s trying to get back on his feet and has no money and nowhere to go, he’s going to stay with us for a little while.” I waited for his reaction. I had no idea if it would be good or bad, which was why I had avoided talking to him.
“Are you sure you’re up for that? He doesn’t sound like the most stable fellow.” He wasn’t, but there wasn’t really anything I could do about that.
“It’s the best solution for right now. We have the space and he’s family.” I shrugged. That was the best way to explain it. Lucah’s family was my family now, even if we weren’t married.
“That is a very generous thing you’re doing, Rory. Not many would do that in your situation.” I found that hard to believe. My parents were extremely generous people, and were always giving to one charity or another, and Mom volunteered so much it was almost her full-time job.
“He’s family,” I repeated. That was it. The end. Ryder was staying.
Dad finally smiled and came over to give me a hug.
“I’m so honored to be able to call myself your father, Aurora.” He kissed the top of my head like he did when I was young and got a good report card. “And if you need anything, anything at all, please let me or your mother know. You know we would be more than happy to help in any way we can.” I could just picture it. Mom would be worse than Sloane.
“I’m honored to be able to call myself your daughter, Walter.” He chuckled and then left, stopping to say hello to Lilia on his way back to his office.
I considered, for a moment, asking him if he knew of any jobs for Ryder, but I didn’t think the kinds of jobs Dad would know about would be good for Ryder. Lucah might be a bad boy who was able to work it in the boardroom, but I just couldn’t see Ryder sitting at a desk in a suit. Maybe in a music store or a hip coffeehouse. But I knew he’d already gotten fired from places like that, so the chances of finding somewhere he hadn’t already gotten fired from were pretty slim, even in a city this size. Plus, the economy was so bad that people with Masters degrees were having trouble finding employment.
But Lucah would find a way to make it work. I had complete and total faith in him, even if I didn’t have it for Ryder. Yet.
Seventeen
“Knock, knock,” I said, opening the door slowly and making sure I made plenty of noise jingling my keys. “I thought I would come and see how things were going.”
“Hey, Sunshine!” Lucah said, coming out of the room formerly known as the guest room and now was Ryder’s room. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I would come and see how everything was going. So, how’s it going?” I peered toward the room, but Lucah had closed the door.
“He’s sleeping. The new meds they’ve given him are going to take a little while to adjust to. I also think he went to sleep so he wouldn’t have to talk to me. He’s got his first therapy session tomorrow.” Oh, that should be fun.
“But anyway, how are you? How’s work? Is it weird that I miss it?” He put his arms around my waist.
“Not weird at all. I’d miss it too. Work is good. Dad asked if he could do anything to help, by the way. I gave him the abbreviated version and he was surprisingly okay with Ryder moving in.”
“Really?”
“Uh huh.” He leaned down and gave me a kiss and then licked my top lip. He had the metal tongue bar in again. Mmmm . . .
“I’m not tired anymore,” he said, withdrawing his mouth from mine only lick a spot behind my ear that made me quiver in every place that mattered.
“Lucah, I can’t. Ryder is right there.” He pulled back to look at me.
“You do realize that we had sex in the office with people right next door.” That was different, but it was true that we hadn’t had sex in a few days and I was definitely missing it in my life.
Lucah smiled because he saw my face change.
“Just once. Or twice if you can rush it. I have to get back to work.” We ran to the bedroom and slammed the door and then ripped off each other’s clothes.
“Shhh,” I said as Lucah took me and tossed me on the bed. “Lock the door. If he walked in on us, I would die of embarrassment.” Lucah locked the door and then dived on top of me. Before I could say another word, he was straddling me and asking me if I wanted him inside me.