by A. C. Arthur
He slipped his hand from her shoulder and rubbed it across his stomach. The ridiculously toned stomach. Rylan didn’t laugh, but she did shake her head at his foolishness. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on Rock’s perfectly sculpted body. Only muscle on top of muscle.
“Well, we’re not going the vegan route,” Camy yelled over the music. “So, go on back and tell Jeret we’ll have two of his sausage specials. And I’d like a beer.”
Rock leaned in, pushing Rylan back so he could get closer to Camy.
“I’m not the waiter,” he said.
Camy kissed the tip of his nose. “I know. You’re the troublemaker. But you’re also the only one not busy so you can ease on back there and put our order in. What’re you drinking, Rylan?”
“And don’t say vodka,” Rock warned as he slowly backed away from Camy.
Rylan recalled the night she’d been attempting to leave here in a drunken stupor, but Rock had put a halt to that with a glass of water and the announcement of GCSports18’s identity. So much had changed in the few weeks since that time.
Rylan still rolled her eyes at him. “Fine. I’ll have a glass of white wine. Is that better?”
“Much better,” he said with a grin that was designed to make women swoon.
As for Rylan and Camy, they both groaned and waved him away.
“He’s such a big oaf sometimes,” Rylan complained.
“They all are,” Camy countered. “Except that one, I guess.”
Rylan watched the direction of Camy’s gaze and tried her best not to blush when she locked gazes with Del.
“Great, now he thinks I’ve been sitting here staring at him the whole time,” she snapped and looked away.
Camy laughed. “You’ve certainly been looking all around the place for him.”
She resisted the urge to look in his direction again. “Have not.”
“Girl, please. First, you know you can’t lie to me and second, I’ve been sitting right here watching you.”
“Well, it might help you find someone to take the place of Mr. Morris tonight if you’d look at someone other than me,” Rylan quipped.
Something happened on the television and a group of guys cheered from across the room. Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You came on and a chorus of women standing near the door began to sing their rendition of the holiday hit. A more cheerful setting Rylan couldn’t have imagined if she’d tried. And for once in the past few months she felt relaxed enough to simply enjoy the atmosphere and not give a second thought to her family problems.
“Well excuse me if I’m basking in my best friend’s glow of love.” Camy continued their conversation.
That last word had Rylan tensing. “Oh no, Del and I are just…we’re like really good friends with benefits or something like that,” she told Camy.
The words didn’t sound right to her ears, so Rylan wasn’t at all surprised when Camy looked at her as if she were crazy and said, “Again, don’t even try it.”
They had both turned so that their backs faced the bar and they could participate in the people-watching pastime. Camy crossed one leg over the other, her thigh-high suede boots looking stylish and sexy at the same time. The shiny black leggings she wore beneath the boots shaped her thighs while a festive red sweater that molded to her every curve accentuated her D cup breasts.
As for Rylan, she’d chosen a cute black corduroy mini-skirt over gray sweater-tights and a long-sleeved gray bodysuit topped off with ankle boots that she’d had for two years but hardly ever wore. They probably looked as if they were trying to pick up men, which they sort of were.
“You know he’s watching you too,” Camy said with a grin.
Rylan didn’t turn her head to look. Years of going to bars or clubs with Camy had taught her that. Never look at the subject at hand.
“It’s his job to watch everyone in his establishment. He needs to make sure his customers are doing okay. He is the manager you know.”
“Uh huh. Well, I think he’s keeping an eye on his woman with all these available guys in the house tonight,” Camy replied.
To prove her point about available guys, when one came up to Camy just seconds after her remark and asked if she’d like to dance, Rylan watched her friend smile and wink in her direction. There wasn’t really much dancing space in Game Changers, but from time-to-time, people did have a tendency to get up and move to the rhythm of a favored song. Rylan remained seated, her elbows resting back on the bar as she continued people watching while waiting for their food.
“You trying to kill me or what?” Del asked when he came up to stand beside her.
He smelled terrific. Dolce and Gabbana’s The One. She’d seen the bottle on his dresser along with a couple of others, but this was her favorite. He looked fabulous too wearing all black tonight from his Game Changers polo down to his black Timberland boots.
“Excuse me?” she asked. “I haven’t seen or talked to you all day.”
Del stood remarkably close to her without actually touching her and Rylan desperately wanted to loop her arms around his neck and touch her warm berry glossed lips to his. But there were way too many people in here for her to venture into the area of PDAs. While Del had made it clear that he had no problem being seen with her or people knowing that they were sort of together at the moment, Rylan still wanted to err on the side of caution.
“Then please let me apologize for that misstep. Because this punishment you’re inflicting is torture.”
He stepped in front of her at that moment, resting his palms on her knees. Heat soared up her legs and straight to her crotch leaving her speechless for a few seconds.
“Are those the kind of lines you’re used to using on women?” she asked when she regained her senses.
Del was touching her quite intimately in the middle of his restaurant. Her heart was thumping wildly at the thought.
He shook his head, his sexy grin spreading.
“Just you,” he told her and leaned forward to kiss first her cheek and then the spot beneath her ear.
Rylan couldn’t help it; her hands came to Del’s shoulders. Otherwise she was sure to fall off the stool.
“Oh please, can’t you two get a room?” Lance said from behind her.
Rylan tilted her head back to see him delivering her and Camy’s drinks.
“Hey Lance,” she said.
Lance tapped Rylan’s forehead the way he used to when they were young. “Hey Rylan. When you turn him loose tell him we’ve got orders in the back he can help bring out.”
Before she could reply, Noah came up behind Del.
“Is this the type of establishment we’re running here? You get to feel your woman up right here at the bar?” he asked.
Rylan did blush then because Del didn’t move away from her but shifted so that he was once again at her side, his arm draped over her shoulder. Of course, she was aware that Lance knew about her and Del, but since she’d been working late, she hadn’t been into the bar or anywhere else that she would’ve seen the rest of the brothers. So, she didn’t know they were in the loop about her and Del. However, she should’ve presumed they knew. Those six guys stuck together like glue, sharing every secret they had.
“Your marketing efforts are working like a charm,” she said to Noah. “One of the cars I worked on yesterday had a flyer in the passenger seat.”
Noah nodded, his dark hair slicked back from his face, goatee trimmed neatly and those dark eyes assessing everything in their path. Noah’s father had been West Indian, moving here with Noah’s grandfather when Noah was just three years old. Rylan and Camy had learned that Noah’s mother, who Noah had no memory of, was a Caucasian woman who chose her career in medicine over a family in Providence, Virginia.
“Good to hear,” he replied.
Del followed with a quick and instantly irritated, “Crap!”
Lance apparently seeing the same thing Del had, said, “Don’t let him phase you. We can take his money just like we take
everyone else’s.”
Rylan followed their gaze to see that Mal Penning dressed in jeans and a sport coat had just walked in.
“He’s still the biggest idiot in town,” Noah said after turning to see Mal.
“This is true,” Rylan replied.
She reached out to take Del’s hand, lacing her fingers with his. He lifted that hand and kissed her fingers.
“Fuck him,” he whispered.
Rylan smiled because that was a much better reaction to Mal than the one Del had a few weeks ago at Margie’s. She hadn’t seen him that irritated in years, and truth be told, was in no hurry to see him that way again. So, operating on pure instinct, Rylan slipped off the stool, pulling Del along with her and said, “Let’s dance.”
He followed her a few feet away from his friends, but quickly said, “They’re playing another Christmas song.”
Rylan nodded because this one was a favorite of hers. Stevie Wonder’s Someday at Christmas.
“It’s fine. I love this one,” Rylan told him and lifted her arms to drape over his shoulders.
Del laced his arms around her waist and they swayed to the festive tune. The fact that this was her favorite holiday song and she was in the arms of the strong, independent and compassionate man that made her feel like no one ever had before, was saying a lot.
It was saying something that Rylan wasn’t sure she was ready to hear.
12
On Monday morning, Rylan walked into the auto shop feeling refreshed and well-loved…no, that wasn’t the correct word. She’d spent the weekend at Del’s place. On Saturday morning the two of them had gone to a Christmas tree farm and cut down the biggest Balsam Fir tree either of them had ever seen. They’d wrestled the tree on top of the SUV Del was still renting because the part for his truck had been delayed. And when they arrived at his place, had laughed and frolicked in the first snowflakes to fall in Providence while dragging the tree into his house.
Camy had divided all of their mother’s Christmas decorations and brought Del’s share over to his house later that afternoon. By evening, the guys were trying out a new manager and full staff at the bar that didn’t include any of them. So Del’s house was full of his friends, Camy, Portia, Rylan and hot chocolate laced this time with peppermint vodka. Rylan had never laughed so much as she did that day when they were decorating and absolutely murdering every Christmas song that was played through the speakers in Del’s living room.
They had so much fun together, all of them, laughing and singing, reminiscing about happy times and planning for the future. Yes, there was a ski trip on tap for Valentine’s Day, a bowling tournament in the spring because Jeret felt as though he was king of the pins, a Fourth of July BBQ and maybe a trip to Virginia Beach if the guys could all get away. Rylan found herself looking forward to everything, all while Del remained close to her throughout the day. There wasn’t a moment that he wasn’t reaching out to touch her hand or rub his fingers over her cheek. When they came around to the same side of the tree and attempted to hang an ornament on the same branch, he’d smiled and leaned in for a kiss.
And after everyone had left, Del had made slow, sweet passionate love to Rylan right there on the floor in front of the tree with its twinkling colorful lights.
Sunday morning, they’d slept in and when Del had gone to the bar later that afternoon, Portia, Rylan and Camy had gone to the outlets to do some Christmas shopping. So, this morning, even though it was the start of a new work week, Rylan was smiling and happier than she’d ever been because Del was in her life.
They were now a “thing” as Camy had pointed out yesterday.
“I don’t care if the two of you refuse to give what you’re doing a real title. It’s a “thing” and you’re both glowing while doing it. So there, be happy and move on,” she’d snapped when Rylan had insisted she not call her and Del a couple.
It was true, Rylan and Del didn’t give what they were doing a specific title. They just kept doing it. And with each time, each moment they spent together and each time they actually did “it”, Rylan felt herself falling deeper and deeper.
She sighed when she walked into her office and removed her coat. Hanging it on the hook behind her door, she was on her way to her desk when her father came in.
“Good morning,” Will said as he entered.
“Mornin, Daddy,” Rylan replied and pulled out her chair to take a seat. “How’s it going? Do we still have those two in the bay to work on?”
Will reached up and pulled the worn Baltimore Orioles hat he loved to wear from his head. He scratched a spot on his scalp and sat in one of the guest chairs across from Rylan’s desk.
“Nope. I took care of them on Saturday while you were out,” he said.
Rylan let her palms fall to her desk and sighed. “Daddy, you didn’t have to do that. We decided that you would only stay open until noon and then you’d head home since I wasn’t coming in.”
Will shook his head. “Nothing to head home to,” he said with a shrug.
His words sounded desolate, but true, and Rylan’s heart hurt for him.
“Well, I’ll work this Saturday and you take the day off. Maybe you and Uncle Larry can finally go get a tree and put up some decorations. Christmas is next Tuesday you know.”
Which reminded Rylan she needed to get Uncle Larry and Aunt Belle gifts since she was going to stop by her mother’s after leaving her father’s house on Christmas. She planned to get a Starbucks gift card for Aunt Belle’s friend and ten-dollar cash cards for his kids since she didn’t really know them. Rylan had a thing about everyone she saw and/or planned to spend time with on Christmas day receiving a gift from her. It didn’t matter what anyone gave her in return, she just loved the feeling of giving.
“I don’t know if we’ll be doing all that. But I’m probably going to take off Friday. Got an appointment with my lawyer and a financial advisor.”
“Oh?” Rylan asked, concern filling her before her father had a chance to elaborate.
“Yeah. It’s time, babygirl. I’ve had lots of time to think about this and I want us all to start the new year off right. Or at least in the best possible way we can considering the circumstances,” he continued.
“What are you saying, Daddy?”
She didn’t really want to hear him say it because deep down Rylan already knew. But this conversation had to happen. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders preparing herself to take what just might be the hardest news of her life.
“The financial guy is doing a valuation of the business. When we meet with the lawyer on Friday, we’re gonna talk about how soon it can be sold and what to offer your mother. I want you to have part of the proceeds too, so don’t you worry. You’ll have a little piece of something to carry you through until you can figure out what your next step is,” he said.
Rylan remained quiet.
“I sure wish you were married and had a good man to take care of you, but I know young folk don’t aim for that goal anymore.”
Will scratched his head again.
“Anyway, you’re a smart girl, Rylan. You can go back to school and get yourself a fancy degree. Do something in one of those office buildings they’re putting up down at the industrial park. We all have to make changes sometimes, and I guess the time for the Kent family to move on is now.”
The pain was different than she’d imagined. It didn’t sit in her chest like a boulder or threaten to suffocate her. Instead, Rylan just felt empty. As if a huge part of her life had just slipped away without her doing a damn thing to hold onto it.
Will scrubbed a hand over his cheek and cleared his throat. “So, what I need you to do this morning is get a good estimate on that Lamborghini. If it’s still sitting on our lot come next Monday, we’re putting it up for sale. The finance guy already advised we liquidate the big assets around here. Once you get the total, send it to my email and I’ll send it over to the lawyer. There’s plenty of buyers for a car like that, but I figure we c
an work the sale through the lawyer to keep everything legal and documented.”
“You’ve thought of everything,” Rylan said finally.
Will shrugged. “I had to. All this is my fault. So, it was my duty to figure it out.”
Rylan nodded, words clogging in her throat alongside the threat of tears.
“Now, don’t get emotional. I don’t know how much more of this I can take, Rylan. Just let me do the right thing for once. The right thing for all of us. Can you do that?”
Could she? Could she walk away from the place she’d dreamed would one day be hers? Could she stand to the side and watch her father sell off everything he’d ever worked for? Did she have another choice?
Rylan had no idea how she made it through the day or into early evening, but she didn’t leave the body shop until after seven that evening. She climbed into her car and drove directly to her mother’s house.
It always smelled like potpourri or a bouquet of fresh flowers whenever she walked through the oak colored door and stepped into the front foyer. Her mother was obsessively neat and loved the monochromatic look. So, the beige runner at the front door was for her to wipe her feet before stepping onto the textured oak laminate flooring that she’d had installed just two years ago. Rylan’s work boots made a muffled sound as she walked through the open archway and into the living room.
Floor to ceiling windows were on two walls of this area, electronic mini blinds lowered three quarters of the way down so that natural light could pour into the room during the daylight hours. Two off white couches faced each other in the center of the room, two beige fabric French armchairs were on the side in between the couches, forming a perfect square within the room. The rugs in this room were of a beige or very light brown hue, coffee and end tables the same. The one burst of color which was totally out of character but a non-negotiable fixture in the room were Naomi’s multiple banners and trophies, crowns and other accolades. A 5x7 picture from Rylan’s graduation with both her parents was in the den.
