His (Hers Book 6)

by Dawn Robertson

  Levi went on and on about how much of a fool he was when he threw divorce papers at me. The reality of it all was he was backed into a corner and was out of moves. I don’t blame him and looking back at it now, I should have known better. But, I wasn’t in my right mind. I still am getting there, but I can tell you one thing… the peace and quiet the sleep brought me was unlike anything I’ve ever felt.

  You think they would offer those coma things as mental vacations away from life? Yeah, only I would come up with some bullshit like that… right?

  “Star, I remember everything you told me. There is no need to go through it again and cause yourself more hurt than you have already.” I take her off guard.

  “They said you couldn’t hear us. Hell, they all told us you may not wake up because of all the blood you lost.” Her words shake as her voice gives out and cracks.

  “I don’t blame you. It may make me heartless, but it is for the best, Star. Magnolia doesn’t need someone like that creeping in the shadows. You don’t need that constant reminder. You need to heal and I can only hope that in the time after this all happened, it finally brought you the peace and clarity you’ve needed for so long.” I don’t want to do this whole emotional heart-to-heart, but I have no choice since I am still stuck in this bed. It is an opportunity I usually wouldn’t take up, because I am not that open and honest person with anyone.

  “I should tell you, Star…” I pause and think about the weight my words are going to have. On her and everyone whom I consider family these days. All of our lives are going to change as a result of the choices I am going to make. The choices I have already made.

  “We are moving back to Manhattan. We’re going to keep the house up here, but this whole life isn’t for me. I needed it for the time being, but long term… we all know this just isn’t me. I gave it a try. I really did. But, if there is anything my time in Woodstock has taught me, it is that I am just not meant to stay here.” I regret my words as soon as they come from my mouth, but there is no turning back. I’ve told Levi and we have started to look for real estate in the city. It is only a matter of time before we find something worth making an offer on. It’s a buyers market and people are unloading expensive penthouses all over the place.

  It is something I miss. I miss the nasty smell of rotting garbage in the summer. I miss the shitty food off of the street carts, the hustle and bustle of everyone being in such a damn hurry that they run you over when you are trying to cross the sidewalk. I miss SoHo and Battery Park. I miss Central Park and I’m dying to bring my girls to the zoo. I miss strolling into my building everyday and kicking my feet up on my desk. In my office. Mine.

  James left me with this task. He didn’t leave me here in the position I am in to hand the reigns over to someone else. The fact of the matter is: I can never trust someone else enough to give them that kind of power. I respect James for trusting me enough to take over his empire, but there will never be anyone in my life that can fill those same shoes.

  “I know,” Star says, like she isn’t fazed by the news I thought would be earth shattering. “Levi told me. Chrome and I are looking at penthouses too. If you go we all go.” I watch her face in shock. Wondering when this huge decision was made.

  “Is that something you can handle?” I worry about her. I worry about the culture and choices that fucked her life up before she made the decision to isolate herself here. I worry about the transition for Scarlett and Magnolia. I worry about everyone but my damn self and that is part of the problem.

  “Seven, a lot has happened in the past couple years. If I have lived through everything we have been through… I can handle living in Manhattan and not becoming a strung out whore again.” She laughs like she just made a joke and I guess if anyone is allowed to poke fun at themselves, it is her. “What you fail to realize is, I still have a lot of business I handle through the city. Katy is still there taking care of so much of my business. Chrome is constantly down there. Most of the chapter guys are from there. Manhattan is what most of us consider home.” I never thought about it as home, but I guess it really is the only place any of us could call home.

  Woodstock… it never really felt like home. It felt like a place filled with nothing more than bad memories of a lifetime none of us want to remember. Staying in Woodstock would mean continuing to keep the connections with our past. Keeping all that shit we want to forget and put behind us alive. Nothing good will come of it.

  “Woodstock has changed our lives. For better or for worse. We wouldn’t have our children if we never came back for this chapter. We wouldn’t have the lives we live today and the love we share with our families. I wouldn’t have Chrome or Magnolia. I wouldn’t have Scarlett or my sisters. If we stayed in Manhattan, I would probably be dead and you would still be just as miserable as you were before you left for your time up here.” Star makes so many valid points.

  “Woodstock has been closure. We made peace with a place that brought us nothing but pain as children. We made peace with the demons of our parents and the toxic relationships that were created here. You are right, if I stayed in Manhattan I would still be miserable and I’d probably still be bat shit crazy. I needed this. We needed this. But this chapter is over. If anything taught me that… it was getting run the fuck over and landing here. It’s given me too much time to think about shit.” I laugh. I genuinely laugh at my own misfortune.

  “We will all leave Woodstock as a family. Because that is what we are, family.” Star says.

  “There is just one goodbye that is going to be hard for me to say…”

  I remember back to the first time I laid eyes on Lyric. She was so vibrant and full of life. The short time I have been involved in her life has done far too much damage and when I see her for the first time since I finally woke up from that stupid accident, she isn’t the girl I remember from before. The bright light her blue eyes had is gone. She has a noticeable scar above her eye and she has lost the confidence she once had.

  “Hey…” she trails off, as she finally sits down next to me. “I’m sorry I haven’t come sooner. I had some stuff going on.”

  I can’t blame her. The stuff was all my fault.

  “It’s not a big deal. None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for me. For that, I will never be able to apologize to you enough.” I stop and look at her again.

  “It isn’t your fault at all. I just got caught up in something that wasn’t real. I wear my heart on my sleeve and at the end of the day, shit just wasn’t going to work out.” Lyric goes on. But this is about more than just being kidnapped and recovering from the injuries. This is a different kind of hurt, one I have known so well in my past. It all adds up. The sadness, being caught up in her own shit, lack of confidence, everything…

  “Which guy fucked with your head?” I ask. She looks at me confused, wondering how I could pick that out from the vague details of our short conversation. “Lyric, I’ve been there and done that so many times before. You fail to remember… I’m an old lady compared to you.”

  She laughs.

  “I put too much stock into his kindness. I read his messages wrong. He was being nice and taking care of me after he came to my rescue. He wasn’t interested in someone like me. We are just too different. I’m not one of those women and I never will be.” Her confession narrows it down to the two men who went with Chrome and Levi to rescue her from this fucked up kidnapping.

  “Please say it’s Ryker and not Judge.” I admit, not wanting to think about my baby sister getting mixed up with a liar who is pretty shitty in bed.

  “Ryker,” Lyric whispers. “He took care of me when everyone ran here to be at your bedside. He stayed with me for a couple days. The last night I asked him to lay with me. He wrapped me in his arms and for the first night in ages I slept without a nightmare. I actually was able to sleep. The next morning when I woke up, he was gone. Not as much as a goodbye.” She sniffles like she is going to cry.

  “Don’t let him get to you. He
’s just a guy, and there will be plenty more where he came from.” It is true. Especially for someone like her. She genuinely is the whole package and any man would be beyond lucky to have her. “With that being said… It hurts me to tell you this, but we are going to be moving back to Manhattan. I can’t stay here after everything that has happened. Woodstock to me is a toxic place. It helped me heal, but as soon as I can get out of this hospital and hit the road back home, we are gone.” I feel tears burning at my eyes. I don’t want to be an emotional mess, but I don’t want to lose Lyric either.

  “We barely had any time together and that is my fault. I wish I could change everything that happened. But, you can’t change the past, as much as so many of us would like to. I can only try and make it up to you now.” I pause and think about how I am going to word what I really want to say.

  “Seven, shit happens. It isn’t your fault. We live, we learn, and we move on. Learning from our experiences. I wouldn’t trade the time we’ve had. I never dreamt I would have had a sister. Being able to meet you and know that you actually exist is a gift enough for me. I will always cherish that.” Lyric says as a small tear slips from her eye.

  “Don’t cry. Because then I’m gonna cry and it’s all downhill from there!” I laugh and try and lighten the mood. “I did want to give you something though.”

  “I don’t want anything from you, Seven. Seriously.” She says while putting her hand up. There is no way I am not going to at least throw this on the table. I’ve been thinking about it since I decided we would move back to Manhattan. There is no way to abandon ship now.

  “Just hear me out. I have a penthouse in Manhattan. It’s too small for our family. It was mine before Levi and I got married and had Marley. I don’t want to part with it because it holds a lot of memories. But, I hate to see it empty.”

  She hangs off of every word, barely blinking as I speak.

  “I know it is a lot of me to ask of you and it might be a little selfish…” I can’t help but laugh because it is the truth. It is selfish of me to ask her this, but I’d never be able to live with myself if I didn’t. “Would you come with us? Live in my penthouse? Don’t worry about bills or the cost. Just live there. Decorate it however you want. Make it your home. Be part of our family.”

  It is a lot to ask of someone who was a stranger not so long ago and is still a stranger is virtually every way. But, she is my sister. My own flesh and blood. Family. She is family and that is something I’ll always take seriously.

  “Wow. I don’t know what to say, Seven.” Lyric looks at the ceiling while blinking back the tears forming in her eyes. “I just… I have no idea what to say.”

  “You don’t have to say anything or even answer me now. Just know that the offer stands. I’d like for you to come with us. I want to build a real relationship with you. I want you to be a part of the girls’ lives and be their aunt. I just don’t want to lose you now that I have found you. That’s all.” I admit exactly why I don’t want to let her go. I let it all out and I open up. Because there should be nothing I have to hide from Lyric. She is my blood.

  The question lingers in the air for what seems like forever while we both sit in silence. Neither saying a word or even looking at the other person. I want Lyric to be able to make her choice because it is what she wants or what is best for her. Not because she thinks it will please me.

  “I’ll do it.” she says without further thought. Her words surprise me, and just when I am about to say that it is all right that she doesn’t want to come with us, I am shocked into silence. Yes, people… she shocked me into silence.

  “You are gonna come to Manhattan with us?” I ask again, like I was actually hearing shit.

  “Yes, I am gonna come with you guys. I need a change and I ain’t got much here. New beginnings. I think that is exactly what I need.” Lyric smiles and pushes her hair back behind her ear. “Besides, maybe I can snag me a sexy billionaire when I am down there.” We both burst out in laughter. Yup, she certainly is my little sister.

  Seven

  6 Months Later

  “That isn’t going to do. Call over to Alexander Mobile and get the graphics team to redesign the entire campaign. My fuckin’ two year old could have done a better job than this Picasa bullshit.” I slam the phone down on my desk and kick my feet down off of my desk. “Fuckin’ idiots. Every last one of them.” I mumble under my breath. “LIVIE!” I yell through the intercom.

  “Coming!” she replies as the door to my office opens up and she trips in through the entryway. “Yes, Seven?” she asks. Seven, yes. I allow her to call me by my first name now. I figured the girl deserved it for dealing with my bullshit all these years. Hell, she took my office abuse like a champ.

  “I need you to make some arrangements for Friday evening. I am going to need six limos to the penthouse. One is going to be for Mr. Parker and I. Another for Star and her guest, Ms. Paisley Bloom and guest, Lyric James and guest, Journey Bloom and her guest and one on stand by. They are to all be there for six sharp.” She quickly jots all the notes down and nods.

  Standby, I hate the sound of that. I wish River would get his head out of his ass and come back, at least for this. Show us a little bit of support, if not for anyone else but me. I know he doesn’t want to see Paisley and her happily ever after, but the kid became like a little brother to me. I’m proud for what he has accomplished in Charleston since he left. The best thing he did was leave Woodstock, just like the rest of us. I’d hold the limo in hopes that my constant phone calls for the week and the plane ticket I bought him would at least bring him home to us to celebrate. Even if it is only for one night.

  “Anything else?” Livie flips her golden blonde locks to the side, pushing it from her face.

  “Yes, actually there would be.” I give her a smug grin. “You are more than welcome to join us for the grand opening Friday night. But, there are a lot of rules that come along with the privilege of being part of this club.” I wink. She has seen the contracts flowing around the office in the past two months.

  “I understand, Seven.” She is quiet and shy. For someone who almost fell into bed with my married ex-boyfriend, Daniel Alexander, you would think that she wouldn’t be as shy as she is today about the taboo subject of kinky sex.

  “If you would like to join us, the offer stands. You would be a special guest of mine. You know, for all the years you’ve dealt with my abuse.” I wink at her.

  “I’d love to come and get my feet wet. I don’t have to do anything if I don’t want to… right?” Livie asks with hesitation.

  “Livie, this is a place where you should feel most powerful. No, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. No one has to. These clubs are a safe place, someplace where you can truly be free to understand who you are and act on the impulses we normally would feel ashamed of. Embrace yourself.” I smile and hand her a copy of one of the club contracts. “If you want to come, you read over this and fill it out. If you don’t want to come and explore… rip it up and throw it in the trash. Simple. No pressure. Just freedom.”

  It is a cold day in hell. I invited my personal assistant to be part of the world I held a secret for so long. But at the end of the day, the world knows all the shit I’m into. Vince bluffed us for so long, but once he was arrested, the videos he promised he had went viral. They were everywhere for weeks. You couldn’t turn on a television without seeing a picture of my face. Or Star’s face. Or Levi. Poor Levi.

  They started calling him the Strap On Stud. Thinking back, I thought it was fuckin’ hysterical. I would never tell him that though. He would divorce me and be on his way. His ego took more than a minor hit. Personally? I think it has a nice ring to it.

  At the end of the day, Vince landed himself in prison and we won a defamation suit that was handled quickly and quietly. Out of the eyes and ears of the press. Gotta love gag orders.

  “Friday night, meet Levi and myself at our home. You are a guest and you will ride in style with us.
” I smile and add, “Be sure Rosie knows this Friday night, she is not going to have off.”

  Livie smiles and jots that down on the paper and exits the room.

  We’ve been pretty good at not abusing the nanny we hired. Yes, we have a lot of family and friends here with us… hell, we all live in the same building. But it’s important to us to be fair and give her time off when she needs it. She is human and single. We all know women have needs.

  “Is that all?” Livie asks one last time before I dismiss her.

  “You do know that just because we all live in the same building doesn’t mean we need to be together every night of the week, right?” Levi harasses me about the fact that when we walked in the door from the office, our house was filled with pure chaos. The kids are crawling and running from side-to-side. Willow is screaming in the arms of Rosie while she vacuumed up a mass amount of crumbs on the floor and Star just sits at the breakfast bar with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s propped on her growing belly.

  “Ran out of ice cream?” I ask her as I toss my purse on the counter.

  “Nope, ran out of patience for my kids, so I brought them over here. Poor Rosie.” She laughs as she shoves a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. “Scarlett and Magnolia are at their painting lessons and I just couldn’t take it anymore.” She laughs. “At least coming over here I can pretend I am watching Rainbow while Rosie follows behind her making sure she doesn’t crack her head open.”

  “You really need to find a Nanny before that baby comes.” I tell her. Rosie was the best thing we ever did. I am still a very involved mom, but I realized there was no way I could take care of my children, my house and work full time without making sacrifices somewhere. And there was no way I could have anyone going without.