Page 33 of Tin

“What the hell?” Riker bolts into an upright position. “You can’t just come bursting in here like you own the goddamn place, Sid.” In an instant he’s on his feet, and while he was courteous enough to cover me up before he jumped out of bed, he’s not hurrying as he moves to the recliner in search of a pair of pants.

“I knocked!” Sid throws back. “You know I was halfway home before I registered the fucking BMW in your driveway? That’s how out of it I was when I showed up here. Took me the whole drive back to figure out whose it was. Kirsten Bernheimer.” She laughs, but she’s not hiding her insults in humor this time. “Well, wasn’t hard to narrow it down from there.” She stares at me, blasting daggers straight at my heart, but the joke’s on her. Nothing left there to hit.

“This is none of your business, Sid.” Riker steps in front of me to shield me from her murderous glare. “I don’t need your approval. Not for this. Not for anything.”

Sidney doesn’t seem all that interested in hearing his arguments. She flies at him again. “You’re out of your fucking mind if you think I’m just going to sit back and watch you fuck up your life a second time. God! You really only know how to attract one type of woman, don’t you!?” She pauses briefly to deliver the most depreciating sneer I’ve ever witnessed, and I’ve been on the receiving end of plenty. “You know how this is going to end, don’t you? I mean, you’ve met her sister.”

“Whoa!” Now it’s my turn to leap to my feet. Although not from the bed. I’m liking the higher ground. Besides, at five foot three I’m the shortest person in the room. I need the extra edge. “What the hell does my sister have to do with any of this?”

Riker spins around to address me, but Sidney beats him to it. “Nothing much. Except she’s a money hungry gold digger and considering I already heard all about how she’s been fixing you up with the likes of Carson Winn, I’m guessing you’re no different.”

Riker’s attention is back on Sidney one hundred percent. “Shut up, Sid,” he snarls. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“No fucking kidding.” Standing on the bed doesn’t feel right anymore. Still wrapped in the sheet, I march straight off the edge for Sidney, but Riker catches me halfway. “You don’t know the first thing about my sister.”

“Oh, please. There isn’t a person in town whodoesn’tknow about your sister. Or the misery she put every real estate agent in the state through trying to make sure she had the fanciest, priciest house in the land.” Her mocking tone makes me want to rip out her tongue. My sister’s a handful and a half on a good day. And yeah, I talk my share of shit about her, but I won’t stand for it from anyone else. Not even a grieving woman who’s too broken to see that she’s pushing away the only person she has left in her life.

“So what? So what if she wanted to buy the most expensive house she could find? Who gives a shit?”

Sidney throws her arms up at me like it’s obvious. “Um, I don’t know. Nate might.”

Gotcha, bitch.“Guess again. It’s not his fucking money she’s spending. It’s hers.” Both Riker and Sidney are so caught off guard by this news, I have free reign to just keep going. “Kirsten has more money than Nate’s entire family. When they got married,hewas the one my parents wanted to sign the prenup, but Kirsten refused. So tell me again what a fucking gold digger she is. Because you don’t know shit about it.”

Sidney’s slowly processing this new information, but she clearly isn’t prepared to admit she was wrong just yet. “If your family’s so loaded, what’s your fucking deal? Why don’t you have your own beachside mansion instead of moving your way through this town like a fucking leech?”

“Because my family isn’t loaded. Kirsten is.” I’m about to reveal her most personal private history, and I shouldn’t. But I’m so tired of keeping secrets. And I can’t stand any more rumors about our family and who we are. Especially when they’re always so fucking hideous. “Kirsten was married once before, right out of high school. She and Levi grew up together. Knew each other since kindergarten. Shared their first kiss in middle school. Fell in love in high school. By the time they were sixteen, everyone knew they’d be together forever. Only forever wasn’t quite as long as they planned.”

I stop. Last chance to back out. I don’t take it. “Then Levi got sick. Wasn’t the first time. He’d battled childhood leukemia once before and won, so they were confident he would do it again. Then, senior year, three months before graduation, doctors told him they were out of options. Nothing was working. The cancer was spreading.” I clear my throat. In the sudden silence of this room, it sounds like a lion’s roar, and I almost startle myself. Probably because I know Kirsten would kill me if she knew I was talking about this. “Everyone was devastated. His family. Our family. It was the last thing anyone ever expected. But, in spite of everything, Levi was determined to marry my sister. And so he did. Two weeks after they graduated, they had a little ceremony at his parents’ house. It was beautiful. I’ve never seen two people so truly in love with one another.” I sigh painfully. “Levi died three days later.”

“Shit.” Tears are pooling in Sidney’s eyes now, and I know she’s connecting with my sister in a way she didn’t even know was possible.

“Levi was a trust fund baby. He left it all to Kirsten. She didn’t even want it, but his parents insisted she keep it. He was their only son, and she was the only woman he ever loved. That meant something to them. So much so that someday when they pass, Kirsten will inherit all over again. And she’s terrified of the day it happens. Kirsten hates money. That’s the reason she spends it all the damn time. Because she’s trying to get rid of it. If it wasn’t for me andthe fact that I’m an ongoing charity case, she would have just chosen a random cause and donated the bulk of it, keeping only a sliver of it to secure Sophie’s future. But she can’t. Because of me. Because she refuses to let me fall on my ass, even if I deserve to.” I’m feeling oddly deflated after all that. Maybe pain and anger really are my life source and releasing some of it wasn’t such a bright idea after all.

“I’m really sorry, Quinn.” Sidney shifts a desperate glance back and forth between me and Riker, waiting for one of us to tell her it’s alright. I can tell he’s not ready. So I do it for him.

“Forget it. Seriously. Kirsten would prefer if you did.” I force the corner of my mouth upward. “Honestly, she’d probably rather you just went on thinking she was a money hungry gold digger.”

She nods. “Don’t worry. I get it. No one likes to walk around with the dreaded ‘W’ word following them around.” She turns toward Riker one more time. “I owe you an apology as well.”

“Sid.” It’s all he says as he shakes his head at her. I’ve never seen him like this. He’s cold, like he’s standing behind an ice wall that can’t be penetrated by her pain or anyone else’s. “You should go. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Sidney gasps loudly, then bites down on her lip, probably trying to force back the tears I imagine are making their way up to the surface again. Then she just turns and walks out, closing the door behind her.

“That was a bit harsh, don’t you think?” I don’t know why I expect to be on the right side of his stupid ice wall, but I do. And surprisingly, I am, because his expression is filled with concern and care when he turns to face me.

“She crossed a line. Besides, she knows I love her. My being pissed at her changes nothing.” His hands reach up to rub my shoulders and arms. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I shrug. “I don’t think any of this was really about me.”

He smirks. “Just your money-grubbing sister.”

“That gold-digging whore.” I laugh. “Incidentally, I couldn’t quite follow why searching for a sugar daddy would have led me straight to this shithole. Unless, of course, I was just slumming it here with you until I locked in a better prospect.” Then it hits me. “Wait. Is that what happened to you before? You were with someone and she left you for a guy with more money?”

“That’s not exactly what went down; although he’s a pilot, so I’m sure he’s doing pretty well for himself.” His hand glides down my arm to land in my palm. “Come sit with me.”

In an instant, mini explosions blast off in in the pit of my stomach warning me not to go any further. “Why?”

He smiles, but his eyes don’t. “Because. It’s time I tell you some things.”

---