Good Morning Heartache (24 page)

He stopped walking toward
her and spoke loudly across the room. “Riley. I’m Ryan.” Her eyes softened, and
she stood up from the table, and he met her halfway. “Are you okay?”

She nodded vigorously, but
he looked her over to be sure. She looked fine except she was holding her
wrist. He gently held her hand and lifted it. The wrist was dark blue and
swollen, almost certainly broken.

“Does it hurt?”

Riley nodded, her swollen
eyes staring fearfully up at him.

“Let’s go to the hospital.”

“I just want to go home.
Please.” She sniffled and pulled her hand away.

He put an arm around her
shoulder and led her out of the terminal. She didn’t speak the entire way to
the car or for the first ten minutes of the ride.

The silence was beginning to
worry Ryan, so he asked if she needed anything.

“I’m really hungry,” she
admitted half-heartedly.

He pulled into the closest
fast food restaurant and ordered her some food before getting back on the road.

She didn’t thank him, and he
didn’t tell her the hell she’d caused. Ryan didn’t have the energy, the right,
or even the right words. He didn’t want her thanks, either. He figured it would
be more appropriate for him to thank her. Now he could make his exit from
Alexis’s life. It was one he didn’t want to make but knew was for the best.

By the time they reached
Maple Field they had spoken no more than ten total sentences to one another.

The house was different when
they arrived. It looked like every light in the house was on. He guessed Alexis
knew he was gone. He wondered why she hadn’t tried to call him.

Ryan walked Riley inside. He
didn’t want to stay long but was going to make sure that Alexis saw her right
away.

Alexis was in the kitchen
drinking a cup of coffee at the counter, and Sam was next to her barking
incessantly. “Where have you been?” she asked looking straight ahead instead of
at him and Riley. She slowly turned her head and spotted her sister who was
hesitantly walking down the hallway. “What are you doing here?” she demanded. “Get
the hell out right now.”

Riley took a step back and
bumped into Ryan. “I’m sorry, Alexis,” she said. “You have every right to be
mad at me.” Riley looked up into Ryan’s eyes, and he could see the sadness and
fear in her dark brown eyes.

“Alexis, what’s going on?”
he asked.

“Both of you get out of here
right now!” she shouted.

Riley broke down into sobs
and turned to run, but Ryan grabbed her gently by the shoulders and told her to
wait right there. Then he entered the kitchen and saw Richard Dunn pointing a
gun at Alexis’s head.

“You heard her,” Richard
growled. “This is between us.”

“Riley,” Ryan called out
over his shoulder, “get out of the house.”

“Better leave with her, or
I’ll take you out myself,” Richard threatened. “You’ve had her for a couple of
days now. It’s my turn.”

“Can’t do that.” Ryan
shrugged calmly, though his heart was nearly beating out of his chest. “If it
involves her, it involves me.”

Richard swung the gun in a
quick, smooth motion so that it was now pointing at Ryan’s forehead. Ryan
raised his hands up by his shoulders defenselessly.

“Listen, prick. Alexis is in
love with me. We’re going away together. Tell him Alexis.” Ryan looked over at
her, and she gave him a few quick nods, tears streaming down her cheeks.

 Ryan leaned against the
counter casually. “That’s going to be a problem because I’m in love with her.”
He hated that this was the way she was going to hear it from him; he didn’t
want to tell her in the first place.

“Sucks for you.” Richard
smiled at him, and his guard was loosening. While the gun was still pointed at
Ryan, it wasn’t at his forehead anymore, and there was a little comfort in
that.

“Where are you planning on
living?” He could see Alexis wiping her cheeks with her hands out of the corner
of his eye.

“What?” she said softly.

Ryan knew how to talk about
one thing without locking up completely: work. He would talk business as long
as it took to get Richard to calm down. “Wherever it is, you should let me
design something for you both. You know, as a final gift.”

“I’m not telling you
anything,” Richard said, raising the gun a little.

“That’s too bad. If you let
Alexis choose, she’ll probably pick the guy she used for this place, and I hate
to be cocky, but I’m a lot better. Let me get you my business card in case you
change your mind.” Ryan stood up straight and reached for his wallet. “It’s
your home, you’ll…”

“Don’t move.” The gun
pointed at the center of his chest. “And shut up.”

Ryan’s plan wasn’t working.
Richard wasn’t lowering his guard enough.

“Now that I think about it,
I don’t think I can let her go off with a psycho like you.”

Richard closed one of his
eyes and aimed the gun higher. Alexis, obviously taking advantage of Richard’s
limited sight on her side, quickly slid out of the stool and rammed her knee
into Richard’s stomach. Ryan would have applauded her move, but a shot echoing
through the large, open room served that purpose. Ryan took this as an opportunity
and charged low at the short, muscular figure as fast as he could.

Two more bangs echoed
through the kitchen, and a tinny ring told them a bullet had hit one of the
stainless steel appliances.

Ryan hit Richard in the
chest with his forearm and rushed him into the counter across the room.
Richard’s back hit the marble with an “ugh,” and Ryan punched him across the
face. Ryan grabbed the hand holding the gun and slammed it against the marble
and was able to pry the pistol from Richard’s fingers. He held it by the barrel
and swung the butt into the side of Richard’s face. His eyes fluttered shut as
he fell to the ground. Ryan stepped back and threw the gun into the sink. He
ran his hand through his beard, grazing his own bruise.

“Now we’re even,” he said to
the unconscious figure.

As he turned he saw Alexis
charging at them with a pink object in her hand. She stopped a few feet in
front of Richard and pushed a button. Two small probes on wires launched across
the space between them and Richard’s body jolted off the floor several times.

She dropped the stun gun to
the floor and looked at Ryan, whose eyes were wide. “Just being careful,” she
shrugged. He reached over and pulled her against his body. She trembled against
him for a few sobs.

“What happened?” He asked
quietly against her forehead as he kissed it gently.

“He came into my bedroom
while I was sleeping. He must have seen you leave.”

Guilt washed over Ryan. He
hadn’t locked the door. He hadn’t taken her along with him to get Riley. He
could have prevented this. “I am so sorry,” he whispered into her hair,
inhaling her minty scent.

She pushed herself against
him tighter. “I’m just glad you came back.”

They stood there for a
moment but were interrupted when they heard someone shout “clear!” in the front
of the house.

Alexis pushed away from Ryan
and wiped her face with the back of her hand. “In here!” she called. “We’re in
here!”

Several police officers
entered the room with their guns raised until they saw the slumped over figure
on the floor. They rushed over to his prone body, turned him on his stomach,
and pulled his wrists behind him into cuffs.

Officer Moreno pulled the
probes out of Richard’s chest and picked up the stun gun. “I suppose this is
yours?” he asked Alexis.

“You bet your ass it is, and
I don’t care what the consequence is,” she replied, holding her arms out toward
him, ready to be cuffed.

Moreno smiled. “How about I
dispose of this for you?”

Alexis’s hands dropped back
to her sides and she shrugged her shoulders. “I won’t need it anymore.”

“Alexis!” Riley’s voice
called from the doorway.

Ryan stepped back and slid
into the corner, away from the commotion. He watched as the crying sisters
reunited with a hug.

Soon after, a couple of
paramedics took Richard on a stretcher, and Ryan gave his version of the story
to a tired, confused detective. When they finally got his story down, he walked
in to the great room where Alexis and Riley were sitting.

Riley’s head lay in Alexis’s
lap, and Alexis stroked Riley’s hair. They whispered to one another and both
were still crying.

Ryan figured this as good a
time as any to go. He took a long look at the only woman he had ever loved,
then turned and left. For good.

Chapter 17

Alexis was sure that her
heart had skipped a beat when her sister walked in. She was relieved to see her
but terrified at the same time. When it was all done, she didn’t yell or scold
her. She hugged her, told her she loved her, and let her fall asleep on her lap
before sending her to her bedroom for a good night’s sleep.

Now that it was morning—late
morning—she wanted to know the details and figure out if she had to go Taser
another bastard—once her new Taser got there, that is. She put on running
shorts, a tank top, and sneakers just in case she had to get physical. Since
last night, she was considering buying a wardrobe consisting solely of these
items and donating everything else.

She knew that she would have
some explaining to do, as well. They didn’t talk about anything important after
the cops left, which was okay. Alexis talked about Richard more than she wanted
to the night before.

Alexis was losing patience
waiting for Riley to wake up, and she feared a couple of times that the girl
had snuck out again, but when she checked her bed, she was there, sleeping
soundly.

She took a sip of coffee and
let the bittersweet flavor swirl around her mouth. There were few things that
she appreciated more than coffee over the last few days. The one thing that she
did appreciate more had disappeared without a word or even a friendly wave.

Ryan had been with her
almost every moment that Riley was gone; he brought her sister home and
probably saved both of their lives. After sending Riley to bed she went
searching for him, but he was gone. Though she was a little angry with him for
not taking her with him to pick up Riley, her anger was overwhelmed by
appreciation, and she was ready to show him just how appreciative she was, but
he’d left without even a goodbye kiss. It was strange, especially since they
were getting along really well. She’d never felt that comfortable with a man
for so long a period of time. The night before only strengthened that, and she
felt—for the first time in a long time—that a man could do more for her than
satisfy her sexually. He was her friend, and if she had it her way, one with
fantastic benefits.

“Alexis?” a voice whispered
from the hallway.

Alexis turned to find her
sister. She was holding Dudley, the stuffed dog she’d had since she was a
toddler, and she looked a lot like the kid she was right after their parents
died. She looked sad instead of angry. It wasn’t necessarily better, but Alexis
understood sadness. She knew broken hearts, and she knew that she could help
with this if Riley wanted her to.

She motioned with her head
for Riley to sit in the other chair at the breakfast bar. Riley shuffled over,
and Alexis poured her a cup of coffee from the stainless steel carafe on the
counter.

“I want you to tell me what
happened,” Alexis informed her sister.

Riley’s eyes remained on the
steaming liquid in the coffee cup.

“I won’t be mad,” she
promised gently.

Riley scoffed. “I called you
a bitch—verbally and on paper. You have every right to be mad at me.”

“I’m over it. I’m just glad
you’re okay. Just tell me what happened so we can fix it and move on.”

“There’s nothing to fix. I
thought Jimmy loved me—just me—but that’s obviously not true.”

Alexis could see tears
welling in the corners of her sister’s eyes, but Riley wiped them away before
they could roll down her cheeks. Then she moved her attention to her thumbnail
and played with it nervously, bending it back and forth and occasionally
chipping off the neon blue paint.

“He was sleeping with other
girls—pretty girls—in the apartment that I paid for.”

Typical. Men were so
predictable. They couldn’t keep their penises in the proper place no matter
what a woman did for them.

Alexis was not surprised by
any of Riley’s story as she told her about Jimmy telling her to ask for her
trust money, leaving her alone in the apartment all day, abandoning her at the
grocery store, and Riley walking in on a booty call. Despite not being
surprised, Alexis could feel herself becoming angry. As she listened, her teeth
were tightly clenched, and she vigorously swirled the remaining half inch of
coffee in the bottom of her mug.

Jimmy had obviously been
using Riley for her money. This is why the Conner sisters had to be extra
careful about who they let into their lives. If they didn’t guard their hearts,
people were likely to take advantage of all their money had to offer without
offering anything real in return.

 “What do you want to do
about it?” Alexis asked. Then she offered, “We could throw him in prison with
Richard.” She was primed to go into the city, kick some ass, and then call the
cops and have him charged with statutory rape and anything else she could pin
on him.

Riley’s answer was the only
part of the conversation that surprised Alexis. “Nothing,” she stated plainly. “I
don’t want to talk about him, talk to him, or see him ever again.”

“I could have him in jail,
or at least in a cast, by dinner.”

“No. No more about him.”
There was a pause as the sisters finished off their coffees, and Alexis poured
more into each mug. “Could you do one thing for me though?”