by Shayla Black
“That’s for one of us,” Seth cut in.
Seth hated to concede that, but he’d damn well rather she surrendered herself to Beck, who’d also lost his heart to Heavenly, than to River or a stranger who would make him homicidal the instant they touched her.
His mind was going ninety miles a minute, but he saw the instant Beck’s anger gave way to hunger. The doctor lowered his lips toward her. Seth pulled back on his fistful of her silky blond hair until their eyes met. The moment unfolded in slow motion. She blinked up at him, pleading for mercy, though not a word spilled from her lush mouth. Holding her stare, he deliberately exposed her vulnerable throat to Beck. Her eyes darkened. Heavenly wasn’t trying to go anywhere now. She liked this. She wanted them. No missing the goose bumps breaking out all over her body or the harsh pants of her aroused breaths.
Yeah… The way he felt right now with the air thickening around all three of them…he wasn’t sure anyone would be singing happy birthday to her. He and Beck would be taking her to bed. And then getting some answers.
Holy fuck.
Suddenly, a god-awful air horn of racket pealed in his ears.
The sound was too close to a siren not to get his attention. He snapped upright and scanned the kitchen. “What the hell?”
Everything went downhill from there.
Like a wild thing, Heavenly struggled free from their firm grasp and wrestled to grab her phone from her back pocket. Her hands were shaking so badly she almost dropped it twice before answering it. “Dad, what’s wrong? Are you all right?”
A glance confirmed to Seth that Beck was equally clueless about the fact her father was in the picture.
Within seconds, Heavenly’s panic made it clear he was having some sort of medical emergency. Then Seth helped them scramble into his car and they sped to the hospital. It didn’t take long to pin down that the man had an autoimmune disease Heavenly had talked to Beck about in a strictly academic way. Clearly, she’d failed mentioning all her questions about the ailment had anything to do with the man who’d given her life and raised her.
By the time they reached the hospital, it became even clearer that her father’s secret illness was just the tip of his medical iceberg…
While Beck checked on Abel as he received treatment, Seth coaxed Heavenly down the hall to get some fresh coffee.
They sat together in the largely deserted cafeteria, and a sense of déjà vu played through his head. Their first conversation had taken place across an impersonal white table in the middle of a sterile environment like this. He’d been dazzled then. He was confused and mad as hell…but, damn it, still dazzled now.
He stared at Heavenly—her tear-stained face and slumped shoulders. Exhaustion pulled at her. Seth couldn’t stand it any longer.
He reached out for her, so gut-wrenchingly relieved when she laid her fingers across his palm. “Angel, I can only imagine the pressure you’ve been under, trying to cope with all this on your own. Why didn’t you say anything? Beck is a damn doctor. He could have helped. Hell, I would have—”
“None of my problems were yours.” She dropped her gaze to the cup of coffee in front of her and took a deep breath. “After eight years, you get used to juggling everything alone. Maybe that sounds like an excuse to you. I don’t expect anyone who hasn’t been in my shoes to understand.”
She was right; he didn’t understand. But now wasn’t the time to hound her for answers. Tonight, she needed support, especially since she looked half a breath from falling apart.
He inched his chair back and spread his arms open. “Come here, angel. You look like you could use a friend. Why don’t you let me hold you?”
Tears filled her eyes as she hesitated, then bolted out of her chair and crawled onto his lap. Wrapping her up tightly, he smoothed a hand over her head.
“I’m scared.” She sniffled. “Dad dying is my worst nightmare.”
“I’m sure,” he whispered. “But if that happens, I’ll be here for you. I don’t know what it’s like to watch my father slowly fade away, since I lost mine suddenly. But I get the grief. I can lend you an ear and my sympathy. Think positive right now. Beck will make sure Abel gets the best medical care possible.”
“Dad shouldn’t be relapsing this much. Each time he does, I’m afraid he won’t be coming home with me,” she choked out.
Seth couldn’t help her father, but he could give Heavenly something priceless: comfort.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pressed her face against his chest and sobbed in huge, heaving, chest-buckling gasps, like she hadn’t had anyone to cry on in forever. It ripped his goddamn heart to listen to her. Seth wished he could protect her from the world and the pain and whatever happened next with her father. But he couldn’t, so he let her cling, held her tight, and murmured soft assurances as he stroked her hair.
It was well after two in the morning when they pulled to the curb in the slum surrounding the dump Heavenly and her father called home. To say he was shocked was the understatement of a lifetime.
As Heavenly guided her father up the walk, Seth shared a look of disbelief with Beck.
“If you have a couple of assault rifles, pass ’em out,” the doctor mumbled. “We might need them to make it inside her place.”
“No shit,” Seth whispered. “I can’t believe she lives here.”
Obviously, his angel was surviving off the nickels and dimes she made waiting tables. He’d had no idea—and he wanted to howl in regret.
“Not for much longer.”
“You got that right,” Seth vowed.
As he and Beck helped the old man across an uneven courtyard and up to the front door, Heavenly ripped away a bright orange overdue rent notice. Her embarrassment spoke volumes. Fuck, this night kept getting worse. Seth was kicking himself for not looking into Heavenly from the beginning, for ignoring his instincts, and for not pushing her for information. If he’d learned about her dad’s health and her substandard living conditions months ago, would he be hovering over her protectively now? Would he be wondering if tonight would bring her closer or just give her another excuse to pull away?
The whole night had been an epic WTF.
When Heavenly opened the door to her tiny studio apartment and flipped on the light, Beck’s stomach pitched as cockroaches scurried to find darkness. Yes, it was clean, but by the looks of the peeling paint, matted carpet, and water-stained ceiling, the place should have been condemned decades ago.
Well, he understood now why Heavenly refused to let him pick her up for any of their dates. She’d been embarrassed. He’d give her a pass for pride since he had plenty of his own, but he wouldn’t absolve her for lying to him about everything else, especially her father and his deteriorating medical condition. For fuck’s sake, he was a doctor. One phone call, and he’d have set Abel up with the best physicians in LA months ago. All she’d had to do was open her goddamn mouth.
Instead, tonight had felt like a game of Whac-A-Mole. Each time some new problem popped up and he thought he’d clobbered it, another took its place. She had a father. Fine. He was dying. Not so fine, but he’d spoken to Abel, who had already guessed the inevitable. Thankfully, the older man had seemed relieved when Beck had vowed to care for Heavenly after he was gone. Then they’d pulled up to this hovel. He’d been livid and heartbroken that she and Abel called this shithole in the middle of gang turf home. But her living situation could—and would—be changed. He had an empty condo complete with security, a fluffy king-size bed, thick carpet, and pristine walls. He’d get Heavenly moved in there pronto, even if he had to toss her over his shoulder and haul her out kicking and screaming. But before he could whack the mole of her living situation on the fucking head, he’d seen that rent overdue notice.
He was almost afraid to ask what would pop up next.
As he and Seth led Abel to the rented hospital bed, Beck skimmed a glance over the sparse room. A pillow and blanket lay poised on the end of a saggy, threadbare couch. The realization
that he was staring at Heavenly’s bed hit him like a punch to the gut. His anger and blood pressure spiked.
“Can you settle Dad on the bed? Then I’ll adjust him until he’s comfortable,” Heavenly murmured.
“I know how to maneuver a hospital bed,” Beck said as he and Seth helped Abel onto the mattress. “Relax, little girl.”
“Actually, if you two don’t mind staying with Dad for a few minutes, I’ll pop across the courtyard and deal with last month’s rent.”
Beck didn’t miss the quiver in her voice. Was she nervous because she knew that he and Seth would sit her down and interrogate the shit out of her the moment they could? Or exhausted because the whole damn night had been a shit show?
Granted, he and Seth were there to keep an eye on Abel, but why decide to pay the rent at two in the morning? A niggling voice in the back of his brain said something wasn’t right. But he’d be goddamned if he could imagine what else could possibly be wrong.
After he and Seth helped Abel into bed, Beck bent and removed the man’s shoes. “Would you like something to drink?”
“Water, thank you,” he replied. “Clean glasses are in the cabinet to the left of the sink. Help yourselves.”
Beck stepped across the room and opened the cabinet, grabbing three clean glasses from a shelf that otherwise held half a dozen mismatched plates, a pair of chipped bowls, and a coffee mug about nursing students always studying. Nothing else. He frowned against his mounting concern as he opened the freezer for some ice but found only a thick layer of frost. No frozen treats or vegetables. Not even a scrap of meat. Worry smacked him like a wrecking ball to the chest.
Heart thudding, he peeked inside the refrigerator. A nearly empty container of milk, two eggs, and a half-empty bottle of catsup. His alarm only grew when he pulled open the rest of the cabinets and found a few packages of Ramen, a canister of oatmeal, and some saltines tucked into one shelf. A bottle of wine lay on its side beside them. Everything else was bare.
He bit back a roar, his hands shaking with rage as he gripped the kitchen faucet and filled the glasses before striding across the room and taking a seat beside Seth. After sending the PI a sidelong glance that signaled more shit, he began mentally counting the minutes until they could talk and he could make some phone calls and start changing Heavenly’s life.
“Thank you for helping Heavenly and me tonight.” Abel took a long gulp from his glass, fighting his shaking hands. “We truly appreciate it.”
“We’re happy to,” Beck assured the man.
Seth nodded. “I wish we could do more.”
“I know this place isn’t fancy. It’s certainly not as big or homey as our farmhouse in Wisconsin…”
Abel’s uneven voice told Beck the man’s strength was fading, but he rambled on with the verve of someone lonely who suddenly had an audience willing to listen. He waxed on about how cozy their house had once been, about their dairy cows, about how much it had killed him to sell the farm once his illness had progressed.
“How much has Heavenly told you?” Abel’s voice quivered even more as the joy on his face dimmed.
As little as humanly possible. But Beck would love to hear whatever details the man was willing to spill since he clearly didn’t know shit.
“I’d appreciate it if you filled in the gaps,” Seth remarked as if he had all day to listen.
“In other words, she said nothing.” Abel sighed. “That girl… She’s private, a bit shy, and even more proud. You may have noticed she doesn’t trust easily.”
No, she didn’t. Not at all. Not when it mattered most.
“We did,” Beck grumbled. “Why is that?”
“Well, my wife left after I got sick, said she hadn’t signed up to spend her life taking care of an invalid. Heavenly was just a teenager, in school and far too young to manage the spread by herself.”
Beck’s heart tripped in his chest, thundering in his ears. He forced himself to keep his expression neutral.
I’m the guy your mother warned you about.
My mother never warned me about anything. I haven’t seen her in eight years.
Their conversation careened through Beck’s head. Sympathy and fury mingled and crushed him in a single wave.
“Heavenly must have taken that hard,” Seth murmured somberly.
“She felt so abandoned after Lisa walked out. I’m afraid the experience taught her that those who should care most often don’t give two shits. Unfortunately, she’s had to shoulder most of the responsibility since. But Heavenly is a good girl. She’s taken good care of me all these years.”
The man’s words went off like a bomb in Beck’s brain. In a couple of sentences, Abel had explained the reason Heavenly kept every last one of her fucking secrets to herself. She’d had no one to rely on since she’d been a child. Her own mother had crumbled the very foundation of Heavenly’s life before she’d been mature enough to understand. When she should have been thinking about boyfriends, football games, and prom, she’d been a cook, caretaker, maid, and helper. She might still be a virgin, but the minute her mother had abandoned her, she’d lost her goddamn innocence.
And there was another fucking mole to whack on the head…maybe one that could never be vanquished.
He knew now why Heavenly hadn’t asked him for help. But Beck still intended to take control of her situation.
Seth quickly banked his shock, then pinned him with a pointed stare. Yeah, he fully planned to stick his two cents in to help Heavenly, too.
Yippee.
“After I sold the farm, I rented a little house in town for us…” Abel went on about his illness, his doctors in Wisconsin, and the reason he and Heavenly had moved to LA. By the end of his speech, his strength had waned. His voice was cracking, his sentences trailing off.
“I promise I’ll make some phone calls and set you up with the best neurologist in the city,” Beck said, patting the man’s shoulder.
When he pulled back, he couldn’t help but notice the slew of prescription meds on the table beside the bed. After a quick scan of the labels, he closed his eyes and sighed heavily. Jesus, no wonder his little girl couldn’t afford food. Every dime she made waiting tables must be paying for medicine. If she had anything left over, it couldn’t be much.
The older man smiled in gratitude. “I can’t thank you enough. If your medical friends can’t cover all the expenses, maybe we can pay some now that Heavenly got that raise at the hospital and started working so many hours. It’s the only way we’ve been able to afford that gawd-awfully expensive medicine my doctor recently prescribed…”
Raise? Abel’s words sent Beck’s warning bells ringing, his pulse racing. His mouth went dry. The old man thought she earned money volunteering at the hospital? Was that the well-meaning lie she’d been telling her father so he wouldn’t worry?
Oh, little girl… You’re going to have the reddest ass when I get done with you. You will learn never to lie again.
Beside him, Seth tensed and whipped a concerned look Beck’s way. So the PI knew her “raise” was bullshit, too.
And if she barely had money to buy meds, how the hell was she paying rent?
Skin prickling, Beck glanced at the door. Heavenly had been gone a long time for someone who merely intended to drop off cash. And she hadn’t actually taken money with her.
Because she didn’t have any. So how exactly had she planned on keeping this roof over her head?
Goddamn it, there was another fucking mole.
A sick feeling tilted his gut as the pieces of her reality slid together. Heavenly hadn’t asked River to have sex with her because she wanted the prick. She simply hadn’t wanted to give her virginity to her fucking landlord.
Beside him, fear and rage warred across Seth’s face before he shot out of his chair and charged for the door. So the PI had put two and two together and come up with shit, as well. Good. That saved him the time and explanation.
Beck leapt to his feet, too. Abel—nearly asleep—mu
mbled something Beck didn’t hear.
“We’re going to check on Heavenly,” Seth shot over his shoulder as he ran outside.
Beck followed. Then they both skidded to a stop, eyeing the units across the courtyard.
While he was trying to remember which fucking apartment belonged to the landlord, a door on the far side of the atrium suddenly slammed against the stucco wall. A terrified, gut-churning cry followed.
Heavenly.
Beck spied the whip of pale hair in the moonlight as she raced across the concrete toward them barefoot, frantically tugging her shirt over her bare breasts. A sob tore from her throat. Tears spilled down the cheeks. Horror twisted her face.
“You still owe me, puta.” A guy in a dirty wife-beater with a paunching beer belly chased after her, waving her bra in his fist. “You promised me that cherry pie.”
A violent blast of fury filled Beck’s veins. A low growl rumbled up from deep in his chest. The beast he’d kept locked away for months tore off its chain.
The son of a bitch who’d threatened his girl was going to pay.
As Heavenly neared, he felt terror and revulsion pour off of her. She shuddered, struggled to catch her breath between the panting and the tears. The sight ripped him in two.
Seth gripped her shoulders. “Get inside.”
“B-but—” she sputtered, peering over her shoulder as if she expected hell to be nipping at her heels.
“Go!” Beck snarled. “We’ll take care of this.”
The moment Heavenly dashed to her unit and slammed the door, he and Seth stormed across the cracked cement.
“I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“Not if I do it first,” Beck growled right beside him.
“We could make it hurt more if we did it together.”
Beck shot the man a nasty grin. “You’re on.”
Fury pumped through his veins. He welcomed it as he and Seth sprinted across the concrete. Beck narrowed his eyes at the cocksucker, who had the balls to flash them a smarmy smile and dangle Heavenly’s bra in the air.
