Page 18 of Ruthless Son

Her eyes turned dreamy as she talked about the little shop that looked like something straight out of one of her stories, the blooms of color that she was learning to place together into expert bundles of beauty and sold to those who walked in and greeted her by name.

She’d found the small-town atmosphere where everyone knew everyone, and she was thriving on it.

“What about Dad, and your mum? And you can wave to people in the street at home. Why is it so different here?” It felt like my last ditch attempt to get her to come back with me.

“Are you kidding? I wave at random people in London and I’ll probably get mugged.” My lips twitched, holding in the smile that wanted to break free. Her own grin widened, lightening the tension between us. “Come on, don’t be mad, please?”

With a great sigh, I hung my head. Because now I had a bigger job on my hands, and that was getting my stubborn, romantic sister a real place to live before I could go home.

It’s a good thing I had so many holiday days saved at work, because it seemed I’d be staying just a little bit longer.

Mia

My day was winding down, I’d left Millie when she got tired and wanted to sleep, figuring now was the best time. I headed back to the diner to get some food before going back to the motel where I needed to sort my own life out. I needed to call Dad and my boss, put in another leave request so I wouldn’t lose pay for staying longer. I really couldn’t afford to lose money, not with the student loans I was still paying off.

The bell jingled my presence as I stepped through the door. At this time in the evening it was pretty busy. A lone stool at the counter called to my aching feet, after the day I’d had, I was content to take the first available chair and eat to my heart’s content.

After putting in my order—the greasiest, biggest burger and fries I could find on the menu—and slurping the ice-cold Diet Coke, I finally started to relax a little bit. I’d probably go home with a tighter waist line with the large portions here, but hey, when in Rome, right!

The men on either side of me ignored my presence, which I was thankful for, I wasn’t in the mood to make conversation right now, especially before I’d eaten. Mum always made fun of my hangry state when I’d been a kid… before she died.

My grandpa—her dad—had been a formidable presence in my life growing up, especially after she passed away, refusing to allow my dad to move me in with him permanently, as that meant leaving him and moving hours away. He’d just lost his only daughter, he wouldn’t lose me too. And Dad had respected the old man enough to stay close, or at least he’d been terribly scared of Grandpa and didn’t want to get on his bad side. Up until he’d died himself at the grand old age of 84, he lived long enough to see me graduate and put my first pair of scrubs on, the pride in his eyes had been worth the years of grueling work and shitty jobs that are given to the trainees. I lost count of the amount of arses and balls I’d had to clean of those on bed rest, and now I had my own chance to dish out the disgusting jobs to those incoming newbies—it was a horrid cycle, but character building (apparently).

But the fact was, I had a grandparent who loved me… doted on me. Looking back, Millie had never had that bond, both sets of her grandparents were long past. And so when I’d been visiting Grandpa on some weekends, I’d been ignorant of her desire to join me. I just… never really thought about how much she must have struggled with only them for company.

It felt selfish of me now, expecting her to return to a life with helicopter parents where she was unable to really live. The hope and joy that lined her face when she spoke about this place being her home now had made it abundantly clear that this was her scene… this was her home. And I could either accept that or… not. Only one of the options meant that I got to keep my sister in my life… even if we were thousands of miles away from each other.

“That’s a very pensive look on your face, princess.”

In my distraction, I hadn’t noticed the trucker to my right vacate his stool, and in his place sat Rex, the man that had plagued my dreams last night with sweaty visions of him—naked. I’d woken this morning with damp sheets and an ache in my gut that a cold shower couldn’t shake. And here he was, looking just as divine as he did yesterday, his close proximity meant I was unable to escape his potent scent. The fresh just-showered smell was an obsession that had long created problems in romantic relationships for me. Some men were just uncaring of their own personal hygiene, but with Rex, it was clear that he took good care of himself.

The mix of body wash, deodorant and that compelling scent that was all him mixed together to lure me into a state where I wasn’t paying attention to him, and so I didn’t notice that as I twisted around to look at him, his eyes had zeroed in on my face. Or more specifically, my bruising that was on show a bit more where the heat of the day had worn some of the makeup off.

“What. The. Fuck. Is. That!” Rex’s face had grown hard, his jaw clenched around his words as I swiftly sat up straighter, trying to hide the mark with my position, but it was no use. “Who did that to you, princess?”

“Oh this?” I laughed drily. “It’s nothing, I um… walked into a door. Clumsy me.”

I didn’t expect his face could harden anymore, his bright-blue eyes were like flint as they watched me with a preternatural stillness. He was barely breathing as I fiddled with the napkin in front of me, waiting for his attention to turn to something else. Of course, if he was as intelligent as I expected, he wouldn’t be fooled by the lie, I wasn’t fooled by it when women came into the emergency room with broken bones and lame excuses. I didn’t need him to do anything about this, I just wanted him to ignore it, the way everyone else seemed to.

“It’s funny,” he said, without an ounce of humor in his voice, “my mom was clumsy too, she used to walk into a lot of doors.”

He leaned closer, his hot breath brushing against my cheek and I couldn’t help being drawn in by the rage that flared in his eyes on my behalf. “That eventually ended when I got big enough to… stop her walking into doors.”

I gulped at the insight to his childhood. He hovered over me, the tip of his nose almost brushing mine as he offered a silent promise to also help me… with the doors.

The thing is… I was seriously considering taking him up on his offer. I wouldn’t be here forever, and Millie would need someone to keep the wolf away. I didn’t trust that my overly romantic sister wouldn’t be swayed by Mickey’s sweet words and false promises.

“I see the gears turning behind those pretty eyes, you’re thinking ‘should you spill or not?’” he murmured between the small gap that separated us.

Before I could reply, our plates were delivered, a loaded dish of food that could feed two. Or clearly, one hungry biker. He bit into his own burger with relish. His tongue poked out to swipe at a lone drop of mustard at the corner of his lush mouth, and I stared at the pink tip like a hungry woman.

“Ain’t you gonna eat that, princess?” I shook my head, getting the distracting man out of my line of sight and focused on my own food. We ate in silence for a time, just two people filling their bellies and staving off the hunger side by side. It was… comfortable. My problems almost forgotten—almost.

As he chewed on his final fry, his plate cleaned, he turned back to me. “I’m still waiting, princess. But I figured I’d let you finish your food before we continued this conversation.” He shoved his plate forward and rested his crossed arms in front of him, nodding at the woman behind the counter for a refill of his drink.

“Well, I actually considered telling you, but if you’re going to be all pushy about it, I’d rather not.”

“Don’t be stubborn, woman, all you’re doing now is clamming up to spite me when all I’m trying to do is help you fix a situation you seem to have gotten in.” He picked at the leftover fries on my plate, shoving in two at a time.

---