by Juliette Poe
Her dad grins at his kill. “Your old man still has it, huh, Trixie-girl?”
“Totally still has it,” she says proudly.
“I’m going to go throw this in the woods,” Gerry says, and I’m slightly surprised he’s not going to skin it and eat it. Trixie turns and walks back to where I became frozen in place when the gun went off.
She smiles up at me, yet I can’t return it, my face just as frozen as my body. “Your dad just shot a moving snake with one bullet to its head,” I manage to say.
Trixie nods effusively, her eyes sparkling with pride.
“He scares the absolute shit out of me,” I mutter.
She laughs and throws her arms around me. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he planned that whole snake thing just to scare you.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” I tell her as my arms come around her waist and I squeeze her back.
But based on our conversation a bit ago, I’m fairly certain that Gerry Mancinkus and I are okay with each other.
CHAPTER 16
Trixie
“The notice of appearance has been faxed. I’m just going to hover over the phone to wait for that call from the defense to offer Mr. Ogletree the million-dollar policy now that they know you’re involved,” I tell Ry with a grin as I walk into the small room he’s been using across from my office.
Ry turns in his chair, chuckles, and shakes his head at me. “Why you think my name has so much value in scare tactics is beyond me.”
“Seriously?” I ask as I walk up beside his chair and thread my fingers through the hair on the back of his head. He always loved when I did this. Apparently, he still does as he pushes his head into my hand, almost like a cat demanding a scratch. I oblige, trailing my fingers over his scalp as I say, “How do you not know the value of what you’ve made of yourself in the legal world?”
Ry surprises me by catching me by the waist and pulling me down sideways onto his lap. He nuzzles his face into my neck and murmurs, “How do you not understand that you touching me turns me on?”
And hello… I feel right where I’m sitting on him that he is indeed turned on. But I need to know something, so I put the prospect of mid-morning sex in my law firm on hold for just a moment. Curling an arm upward, I once again put my fingers in his hair. This time, I grip onto it, so I can gently tug to pull his face away from my neck.
When I have his full attention—although, his eyes are so hot and sexy right now, I almost falter—I ask him, “Ry… you’re practically famous by legal standards on some of the cases you’ve won. Why do you always downplay it?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do,” I push at him, because I’ve watched him do this a few times now since he’s been here, and Ry has never been that humble about his legal skills. “Why?”
After a huge sigh, he wraps his arms around me and squeezes. “Honestly… those huge cases weren’t a big deal to me.”
“I don’t believe that,” I say softly.
“The people I represented… yes, they were important to me,” he clarifies. “I made a true difference in their lives. But those cases were before me because of the money they represented to my firm. Millions and millions of dollars I’ve made, and once we do the congratulatory hugs with our clients and send them on their way, we just sit around, count our money, and cackle with glee.”
“There’s nothing wrong with making money,” I point out.
“No, I know,” he says with a reassuring smile. “I guess I’m just tired of that being a motivating factor for what I do, and when I get recognized for my accomplishments and asked to help on cases, it’s always about getting more money.”
My face flushes hot, because that’s exactly why I called Ry into this case. But not for me… I want Dan to get what he deserves.
“And before you think I’m talking about you, I’m not,” Ry says as if he can read my mind. “Your case is actually pretty paltry in size compared to what I’m used to. I’m doing this to help a friend, and Dan deserves every cent of that million-dollar policy. I’m talking about these mega cases worth millions—as in plural. It’s just… all my partners seem to care about is trawling for the next big one that will make us even richer.”
I’m immediately feeling sad that the almighty dollar has tarnished a bit of life as a lawyer for him, but I never saw Ry as someone motivated by greed. He was always about the justice of it.
“So,” I say coyly as I turn in his lap a little. I brush my lips against his and whisper, “Guess you’re pretty rich, huh? You know that makes you infinitely more attractive to me.”
Ry snorts, because he knows damn well I’ve never been about the money. And after he snorts, he kisses me hard, and then all thoughts of money and cases are out the window. I kiss him back, and it’s a good kiss. Deep and sexy with wandering hands—
“Trixie, you here?” I hear my brother Lowe call out from the lobby.
“Shit,” I mutter after I break the kiss and scramble off Ry’s lap. I hear Lowe’s footsteps coming down the hall as I straighten my clothing.
Ry mutters, “That sucks,” and then turns his chair toward the table to hide his erection. I have a moment to smooth my hair just a bit before Lowe is there.
“Hey, what’s up?” I ask him with a smile in a voice that sounds completely nervous to me. Does it look like we were just making out?
Lowe seems distracted though as he says, “I need some advice.”
“Oh, okay. Let’s just go into my office,” I respond with a warm smile, actually quite happy my brother is seeking me out.
His eyes cut to Ry, who has his back to us with his head bent back over the Ogletree file, which is assuredly taking care of his erection, and then says, “Actually… I’d like to talk to Ry.”
“Oh,” I say in surprise, and Ry’s head lifts. He turns in his chair to look at Lowe with raised eyebrows. “I’ll just go over to my office and give you two privacy,” I mutter with some level of hurt he’s not choosing his sister.
Lowe’s gaze comes back to me. “I don’t care if you stay, Trixie. But I want to talk about the Mainer House, and I want Ry’s take on it.”
I have to forcefully control myself not to let out an exasperated sigh at Lowe, giving him an encouraging smile instead as I sweep my hand toward one of the chairs. “By all means.”
Lowe doesn’t take a seat. He paces as he talks to Ry. “I know you already know the details of the sale of the Mainer House, but I want to know if there’s anything I can do to undo it.”
Ry doesn’t bother looking at me, which is good. I know what his advice is going to be, and I don’t want Lowe to think I’m an influence at all.
“Lowe,” Ry begins firmly but gently. “Outside of there being some type of fraud on the buyer’s part, there’s nothing that can undo that sale. And even if there were, that would be up to your parents to pursue it as they were the legal owners.”
Lowe’s expression goes from hopeful to angry in a nanosecond. He punches one fist into the palm of his other hand and lets loose with some cursing he learned from Pap. “I can’t believe there’s not a single thing that can be done about this.”
“I’m sorry—” Ry starts to say, but Lowe cuts him off with a conciliatory raising of his hands.
“No… I’m sorry… I’m not mad at you,” Lowe says quickly. “And I appreciate your help the other day. Besides, I know where to direct my anger.”
And with this, Lowe turns to give me a nasty stare as he practically spits the words out, “My family.”
“Lowe,” I chastise in a soft tone. “That’s not fair.”
“You know what’s not fair, Trix?” Lowe says as he steps toward me, pointing an accusing finger my way. “Having a family that wouldn’t work just a little harder to keep that history in our family. It would have taken just a little bit of harder work, and damn it… I was willing to work harder and contribute. But everyone else just gave up on it.”
“It just was
n’t worth—” I try to say, but he’s having none of it.
“Christ, Trixie,” he says with frustration, throwing his arms out. “Haven’t you ever had a deep, consuming passion for anything in your life? Hasn’t there been just one thing that meant the world to you, and you’d bleed to keep it? Like it was part of your soul and deep in your bones, and you don’t feel complete without it?”
Ry.
It’s the first word that comes to my head.
I let my gaze slide over, and I see Ry looking back at me intently.
“Just forget it,” Lowe growls and starts to stomp out of the office. I’m loathe to break that eye contact with Ry, but I turn and follow my brother down the hall.
“Lowe… please, don’t be like this,” I plead with him.
He spins on me. “Be like what, Trix? Someone who feels deeply about something and feels like his family let him down?”
“I’m sorry,” is all I can say, because I’m starting to get a new appreciation of just how important that house was to Lowe.
“Yeah… I know you are,” he says tiredly, but then turns away from me. “I’ll catch you later.”
I watch for a moment as he walks out of my office, then I step to the door and flip the lock. I don’t have an open/close sign I can flip, but I have always operated my business with the simple concept that if my door is locked, I am unavailable to clients. I need some time to talk to Ry, because Lowe’s rant just triggered something within me.
When I get back into the office where Ry is seated, he merely kicks the chair beside him out and nods toward it. “Guess we need to talk.”
“Lowe get to you too?” I ask softly as I sit down and pull my feet up to sit cross-legged in the chair. My elbows go to my thighs, and I lean toward Ry as I hold his gaze. This is a serious discussion.
Ry nods. “He got to me, but I can’t deny I haven’t been feeling something since we’ve been together again.”
“Me too,” I admit.
“Feeling what though?” he asks as he leans forward, placing his elbows on his knees to give me his undivided attention.
I don’t hesitate at all. “Feeling like I might have made a big mistake eleven years ago.”
Ry’s breath rushes out of his lungs, and he looks at me with stunned surprise. “That’s huge, Trix.”
I nod, feeling completely at peace with that declaration. It’s truly how I feel, despite having a really good life the last eleven years. But Lowe made me realize something… it could have been better with Ry. I let something amazing get away.
“I feel the same way,” he says. “Like I shouldn’t have stayed in Boston.”
My heart actually swells so big I’m afraid it will burst my chest apart. “Really?”
“Really,” he says with a soft smile. “In fact, I was thinking—”
But he’s cut off by his phone ringing. He’d set it on the round table and doesn’t hesitate to reach for it, hitting the button on the side to send the call to voice mail.
“So, I was thinking—” he starts, only to have the phone ring again.
I’m surprised when he immediately picks it up and answers this time. “Leslie… everything okay?”
Leslie?
What in tarnation?
Ry looks at me the entire time as he listens. And just listens, listens, and listens. His expression doesn’t change, but I note his jaw hardening.
Finally, he says, “Okay… I can catch a flight out of here pretty quickly. I’ll call you from the airport to let you know my arrival time.”
Flight out of here? To go to Leslie?
My head starts spinning in confusion.
He ends the conversation with, “Just try to stay calm. I’ll be there as soon as I can. It will be fine.”
When he hangs up, he immediately shoots out of his chair and takes one step to me. After dropping the phone on the table, he brings his hands to my face and bends down to give me a hard but swift kiss.
“It’s not what you’re thinking,” he says as he pulls back slightly but doesn’t release my face.
“I’m not even sure what I’m thinking,” I murmur, still very discombobulated by the fact that his ex called and he’s flying out of here right away to go to her while we were on the verge of discussing our future. Oh, and that kiss was good too.
Ry squats down in front of me, his hands dropping to my thighs where he gives them a reassuring squeeze. “Never really felt it was important to tell you all the details of my relationship with Leslie, but it appears I need to.”
“Okay,” I say hesitantly, not sure where this is going.
“Leslie has a son… Aaron, who’s now ten. I obviously grew close to him, especially after we all moved in together,” he says, and the air seems frozen in my lungs. He continues, “Apparently, Leslie took a really bad fall down some stairs at her apartment a bit ago and shattered her ankle. She’s going to be going into surgery this afternoon, and there’s no one to watch Aaron.”
“No one?” I ask, because I find that hard to believe.
“Well, no one who can come at such short notice,” Ry explains. “Her family is all on the West Coast, and Aaron’s dad is out of the country on business.”
I don’t even know what to say. I have no freaking clue if I should be mad or not. I’m totally lost.
Thinking I apparently need more details since I’ve been rendered speechless, Ry tells me, “I know this is hard to understand, but Leslie and I didn’t part on bad terms. And like I said… I was really close to Aaron. That was the hardest part of our breakup. She was right to call me to watch him while she’s in the hospital, especially as he’s a little freaked out now.”
“Still,” I finally manage to say. “It’s odd that you’d run off to help an ex-girlfriend right in the middle of having a serious conversation with another ex-girlfriend about if we could have a future together.”
Ry gives me an understanding smile. “I’m sorry, Trix. I know this probably just makes no sense, but Leslie and I are still friends. Good friends, so I need to do this.”
“How?” I ask bluntly.
“How what?”
“How are you still such good friends?” I ask, and yeah… I’m a little bitter. “You and I never stayed in touch or remained friends.”
I’m taken slightly aback when Ry’s eyes narrow at me. “Well, first… maybe you need to know the circumstances of what happened with Leslie and me. I told you I suspected she was cheating, but I wasn’t sure. Turns out her ex-husband had reached out to her, and they were talking about potentially reconciling. They’d only been divorced for about a year before I started seeing her. And it was Aaron’s dad, so she gave it some consideration. She eventually came clean to me that she had been talking to him, and she wanted to give it a go. That’s why we broke up, and frankly… I couldn’t really be all that mad about a woman wanting to put her family back together again. So that’s why we didn’t part on bad terms. Ultimately, her ex-husband was still a douche and it didn’t work out for them, but that’s beside the point. However, to really answer your question, and so you know the true difference between my breakup with you and my breakup with Leslie, is that my heart wasn’t torn apart when Leslie and I split up. It was shredded to pieces when you left, and that’s why I stayed friends with Leslie but not you after.”
I wince. “Ouch.”
“You know I didn’t mean that to be hurtful,” he says reproachfully. “Only to point out that you were my one true love, Trix.”
I sigh with butterflies dancing around my stomach, no longer feeling the sting of that prior statement. My heart was shredded too, and I know exactly what he means. I have to admit to him, “You were my one true love too.”
“I know,” he says with a chuckle as he stands up and pulls me out of my chair. “I think that was the realization we both just came to after Lowe stormed out, and we absolutely have to talk about this very seriously. But babe… I’m really, really sorry… I do have to get packed up and catch the next flig
ht out to Boston. Aaron is in the hospital with his mom, and Leslie said he’s not taking this well.”
“Yes, of course,” I say quickly as I swing left and then right again, trying to figure out what I need to do to help him go. I totally understand why he needs to do it, and I know we’ll be able to pick back up on the story of “us” once he can get this handled.
Ry’s hands come to my shoulders, and he stops me in place. “Trix?”
“Yeah?” I whisper back as he bends a little closer to me.
“I still love you,” he says softly.
And it’s like the last piece of the puzzle to my life snaps into place with a resounding “snick”. I smile at him. “I still love you too.”
CHAPTER 17
Ryland
One week later…
The phone buzzes on my desk and I think about ignoring it, but that’s just not feasible. There’s too much going on, and it could be one of my partners.
I reach out without taking my eyes off the legal case I’m reading and slap at the speaker button. “What?” I say tersely.
It’s our receptionist. “You have a call on—”
“I don’t have time,” I snap as I rub at the tension headache brewing in the center of my forehead. “Take a message.”
“Yes, Mr. Powers,” she says quietly, and I feel like shit for speaking that way. But she disconnects before I can apologize.
I sit up straighter. Blowing out a deep breath of frustration, I push my chair back from my desk and swivel it to the floor-to-ceiling glass window that looks out over the city.
It’s been seven long days away from Trixie, and I think I might actually be going crazy. How I could have gone eleven years without this type of angst over not being with her is beyond me, because these past days have felt like torture?
But I do know the answer to that really, and it’s simply because who I am today is not who I was eleven years ago. The same can be said for her.
When we split up so long ago, we were barely twenty-four and had all kinds of stars in our eyes about being new lawyers on a quest for justice. We were filled with hopes and dreams and probably grandiose ideas of saving the world, figuring we could have it all with no real thought that perhaps we couldn’t. At that young age, I figure heartbreak hurt a lot more than it would after having age and wisdom to help temper things. Perhaps we just didn’t have the maturity and grace to work through things in a way that could have possibly salvaged our relationship.
