9. Darius

Chapter nine

Darius

E verleigh, her mom, Heather, and Hans all burst through the front door, and before anyone can say anything, there’s a low whine and then a not-so-low whine before all hell erupts into screeching and growling and hisses coming from the cage in Heather’s hand—the cage which she has to set down on the ground because it’s rocking and swaying violently. The yowling continues as soon as it’s on the floor.

Everleigh was with her family for a few days before they flew back in the jet. And when she was gone, the house was empty and quiet. Exactly how it used to be. But somehow, it didn’t feel right. It felt upside down and echoey. I threw myself into work, but I still missed her. Hans told me about his latest romance, but I still missed her. I tossed and turned at night, and I missed her then, too. She called to give me updates on her few days in Philly. I didn’t know we were at that point yet, some invisible line designating phases we’ve crossed over to, and one of them is phone calls, but it was a delight. I missed her as soon as I hung up.

Today was the day, and I was up at the butt crack of dawn to get ready, even though there was nothing for me to do. I had my regular cleaning company come in last night and do a thorough clean, not that there was much that wasn’t spotless, because they’re insanely good at what they do. I was going to go over meal plans with my chef but then decided to give him control of the kitchen and not be a commanding, nosy bastard. I’ll just keep an eye out for extra beard seasoning.

I wandered around the house while I tried to pretend I wasn’t doing exactly that, working when I could and working out my shoulder when I couldn’t focus on that anymore. I had no idea noon would take so long to get here.

Hans took Everleigh’s convertible to pick everyone up from the airport. He dropped her off when she left and then brought it back here, and she insisted on Hans bringing it today as well instead of getting a cab.

“Heather, don’t unleash him yet,” Everleigh says cautiously. “This place is like a castle. If he gets loose and makes a break for it, we might never catch him.”

“He’s just rattled by the flight,” Heather insists.

They brought the cat.

The cat that broke into their home.

They freaking brought it.

I had no idea it was coming, and no, I’m not put out. I don’t mind one bit because cats are great. All animals are great. I should really take Everleigh’s advice and get a dog. It would probably be good for me.

“We brought the cat,” Heather turns to me and announces like it isn’t obvious. “I hope that’s okay. He’s a member of the family now, and we didn’t want to just leave him. He might jump ship on us, and I’m getting attached to his feral ass.”

She looks so much like Everleigh that it’s obvious they’re sisters. They have the same heart-shaped face, coral lips, and light blue eyes, as well as the same high cheekbones and thick lashes. Heather has a bright green toque covering her head, and long pink hair flows from it. I remember what Everleigh said before.

She catches me looking, and I feel like both a creep and an asshole, but she just smiles warmly and points to her hair. “It’s a wig. Probably the only time I’m ever going to want to rock one because they’re itchy and annoying, but I always wanted to dye my hair pink. And now, we’re kind of semi-rich, so I can afford good wigs. I bought this one before, but I have some really good, real-hair ones on order. Thanks for the extra cash.” She walks over and sticks out her hand. “Good to finally meet you, D.”

Only Hans calls me D, but I’m going to let this one slide because Heather is awesome and kind, and even though she’s sick and her skin is on the pale side, she’s still smiling, and she’s radiating charm and warmth. I like her. I like her a lot. She’s like her sister that way too. Tough but warm. They both have those kick life’s ass vibes about them. Tiny but mighty—that cliché totally suits them.

I go to shake her hand, but at the last second, she tricks me, throwing herself into my arms. I barely have time to catch her. It’s a lucky thing my shoulder gives me a break and lets my arm be strong enough to support her. If I dropped Everleigh’s sister when she sneak attacked and hugged me, it would definitely make a bad first impression.

The cat yowls from its carrier again, and Heather backs up a few paces. “This is my mom,” she says. “Mom, Everleigh’s hot husband, Darius. Now, we had better get this guy upstairs to our room and let him out before he blows a gasket. He’s barely past the feral stage, and it was hell getting him in there. It took four cans of tuna, a set of oven mitts, and full-on layers of clothing to half lure and half shove him in. He’s probably going to need a bath since he’s likely covered in tuna. Yeah, that’s the smell coming from the cage.”

“I can show you where it is. Your room, I mean. Uh, and I can also call in some kind of professional if you want to bathe him so he doesn’t rip you apart.”

“Like a swat team?” Heather jokes.

“I was thinking more like a vet so they can sedate him.”

“Sedate him?” Heather’s mouth drops.

“Sedation,” I confirm. “Just that.”

“I think we’ll be okay.” Everleigh’s mom, who is an older, elegant, stunning version of her girls with long blonde hair and the same gorgeous eyes and petite build, picks the cage up. “We’ll manage, even if we have to dress in layers again.”

“Dress in layers,” Everleigh repeats for my benefit. “You should have seen us this morning trying to get this cat in the cage. Can you order a welding apron, welding gloves, and the helmet and everything for us so we’re armed when we have to get him back into the cage?”

“That’s an excellent idea.” Heather throws her arm around her sister’s shoulders, and Everleigh hugs her back, draping one arm affectionately around Heather’s waist after. In jeans and blue sweaters, I don’t think they planned to be matching, but from the back, they could be twins, even with Heather’s pink hair. “But she’s kidding. We’ll be okay.”

“I’m pretty sure that cat is the spawn of all things unholy,” I mutter, not meaning to be overheard.

“Undoubtedly,” Heather agrees, turning her head back over her shoulder to grin at me. “But we love him anyway. Thanks for taking us in, D. You’re as good at adopting strays as we are.”

“Your sister didn’t cat burglar her way into my life,” I protest, then realize how awful that sounds. I have a darker complexion, dark hair, dark eyes, and an olive undertone to match, thanks to my dad’s side of the family, but I’m pretty sure I’m blushing. It’s not something I ever really feel myself doing, though, so maybe I’m not. Maybe my face is just a thousand degrees on the inside, but outside, it’s not red at all.

“Ignore her,” Everleigh pleads. “She’s trying to be inappropriate on purpose.”

“If we can’t laugh about the crazy wedding where the guy’s brother switched himself out and you married the wrong one, but they both have the same name, and then they drugged you and flew you across the country, and you ended up in some big old house that kind of looks like a creepy old castle with so much land that it might as well be one, and also the whole granny’s will thing, and how your life became a fairy tale to save all our asses, but mostly mine, then what can we do?”

A moment of stunned silence follows that. Finally, Hans appears around the corner, and he’s all smiles. “Shall I take the rabid beast?” he asks, this time adopting an Australian accent.

Heather grins, and Everleigh’s mom passes the cage to Hans. She looks tired but hopeful. And happy. Happy to be with both of her daughters again, even if she’s a bit worn out with worry. Worrying about Everleigh and worrying about Heather. It’s tough to be a parent. I can only imagine. Your kids’ happiness is your happiness. I want to promise her that everything is going to be okay with both her daughters, and I wish it were in my power to make it happen. I’ll do everything I damn well can, that’s for sure.

The intensity of that feeling surprises me. I don’t just mean Heather and having a talk with her about her treatments and doctors in order to offer her the best medical care I can, but I mean Everleigh as well. I have a deep-seated need in me all of a sudden to make sure she’s happy.

Although maybe it’s not so sudden.

This is getting weird.

Hans peers into the cage and lets out a low hum. “Hello, there, beastie.” The cat answers back with a feral yell, and a black paw with razor-sharp claws darts out from the slats on the cage door. “Ooohhohhh there, the wee beastie likes me, I can tell.” I’m not even sure what part of the world that’s supposed to be from.

Heather giggles again. She blinks at Hans, and now there’s the slightest flush at the base of her throat. I think she might like the accents thing. Or maybe it’s him. I don’t know. Hans is intimidating at first, but he grows on you, he really does.

After a tour of the house, which includes dropping off the hot devil cat from hell—it is actually a cow-looking cat and not all black like its leg and paw indicated—we end up in the library. Everleigh wanted to save that room for last. I think it might be her favorite. She spends a lot of time here when I’m working, which is often because I made work my entire life before I had a visitor in my house. That might have more to do with why I’m unmarried than my shoulder problem and the fact that I can’t get in a vehicle. Maybe. Kind of.

I’m just glad that in here, it’s relatively silent, and the hounds of hell, or rather, just one small cat, isn’t caged and hissing bloody cat murder and making inhumane noises anymore. That thing puts the cat in caterwauling. Big time.

“How was it this time?” Everleigh asks Heather. They’re seated on the same vintage sofa together. Everleigh’s mom is sitting with Hans on the other, and I chose a big wingback chair. It’s the kind of thing that is nice and good for brooding, and Hans would probably say it suits me perfectly, even if I’m not as much of a broody bastard as most people would think. “You barely talked about it yesterday when you and Mom got home.”

“It was okay,” Heather says. She’s trying to reassure her sister with her smile and a tight hand squeeze to show she’s okay. “The first one was the scariest because I had no idea what to expect, but it’s getting easier. I feel better, actually. I mean, the treatments make you feel gross and make your hair fall out and all the other things you already know, but people don’t explain how you actually kind of feel better for it. Like, you know there’s something off with you, and it’s addressing that, even if there are some crappy side effects.”

I don’t really want to butt in, but I feel like if I’m going to make the offer, then it would be better to do it when we’re on the topic and not bring it up later like some tone-deaf beast. “I happen to know some good doctors. They’re mostly here, but they probably know people all over the country. Philly is a big city. If you don’t think you’re getting the best treatments or you’re looking for other options, then let me know, and I’ll look into it. I know good people here, so you could always come to stay with us and get treatments as well.”

Heather’s stunned. Everleigh even more so. Hans shifts on the couch, and it creaks, or maybe that was Everleigh’s mom’s jaw. I’m really starting to get the whole foot-in-the-mouth vibes over here.

“I just wanted to make sure you’re getting the best possible options,” I add, probably not helpfully either. I don’t tell them I had contemplated finding someone who could do some digging and get me Heather’s medical files so I could poke into her business like an asshat, but with good intentions. Anyway, I decided against that. For now.

“Yeah,” Heather says, glancing at Everleigh before she turns back to me. “Yeah, I think I’m getting good treatment. My doctors are amazing, and the nurses are all so nice. Everyone I’ve talked to has just been awesome. I’m not one of those super dangerous cases. I have a really good prognosis, and I only have to do so many rounds of chemo. No radiation, at least they don’t think. I’m already progressing well, and my values look good. But…but thank you. That’s really kind.”

I let out a breath. “Okay, I thought maybe it was weird.”

“No! That’s…I didn’t expect you’d be interested or care enough that you’d make such an offer. You’re not only hot, but you’re actually super nice. My sister got really lucky.”

“Heather!” Everleigh gives her a I could totally curl up and die right now look and elbows her gently in the arm.

“You have a really nice house, too,” Heather says, steering the conversation away from herself. “That tour was insane. And this library. Wow! Look at all these books! I can’t believe you said most of them came with the house.”

“Hans orders books all the time. He likes reading.” It’s a move designed entirely to shift the focus further from me since I’m not so good with meeting my arranged wife’s family, and I’d like to actually dig my foot out from between my teeth. It works, though, because everyone starts talking animatedly about their favorite books. It’s lucky for me that Everleigh and her family are a bunch of readers.

Hans doesn’t seem to mind since books are his favorite thing, I’m pretty sure. You know, right up there with shaving me every morning. I’m joking about that. That was said in my head with a butt ton of sarcasm.

I want to get up and make a run for it. Thank goodness I didn’t start talking about specialists or alternative therapies and treatments or telling everyone that I could afford to make it happen, no matter the cost. I cut myself off at ultra humiliating instead of super uber ultra humiliating.

I let my eyes track around the room, but I can’t avoid the magnetic pull Everleigh seems to have whenever we’re in the same space, and soon enough, my eyes track back to her. I wilt into the chair when I realize she’s been watching me, studying me. I wasn’t aware. Or maybe I was, hence the magnetic pull. She doesn’t look pissed or annoyed. In fact, she smiles when our eyes meet, and she mouths something that I think is thank you.

I scratch the back of my neck and nod. I hope that was thank you, and not asshole or douchebag or other two-syllable words.

“So, D, what do you have planned for us?” Heather asks, jerking me out of my trance. “Can we go in the pool? Please tell me we can go into the pool. Everleigh says it’s saltwater, and my skin is crap right now, but it should be okay. I love swimming.”

“Yes. The pool is at your disposal, as is the rest of the house.”

“Just please keep out of your office so we don’t mess with your work stuff?”

“Yeah, something like that,” I respond with a small grin.

“Everleigh already told us that you’re a shut-in.”

“Oh my god, Heather!” Everleigh blanches and sinks down deeper on the sofa. “I didn’t say he was a shut-in.” She’s scarlet as she suddenly leaps up and paces across the room to the nearest shelf of books. “I said he worked from home. There’s a difference. That does not mean shut-in.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Yeah, she’s clearly not.

Everleigh spins around, grabs a book, and holds it out. “Oh, look at this!”

Her mom coughs into her hand. “Sweetheart, I didn’t know you had an interest in that.”

Everleigh turns the book around, sees what we all see, which is that it’s a book on hemorrhoid treatment from like nineteen fifty-two, lets out a yelp, and shoves it back on the bookcase.

Her mom pats her knee. “Come and sit back down.” She smiles at me. “She didn’t say you were a shut-in. Heather just has a habit of blurting out things that aren’t true.”

“I can’t ride in vehicles,” I admit, even though it was like some painful dark secret before I told Everleigh. Might as well get it out there now.

“Yeah, she might have mentioned that,” her mom admits. “But we weren’t supposed to bring it up.” She shoots Heather a mom look of recrimination, which Heather wilts under.

“Are you agoraphobic? You can’t leave your house?” Heather asks.

I shake my head. “Nah. Just messed up from a car accident a long time ago, and I can’t stand them now. It’s like being claustrophobic, but way worse.”

“Ugh, small spaces. Barf.”

“Count me out, mate,” Hans agrees.

“The private jet ride was amazing, though,” Everleigh’s mom goes on, sparing me. “Thank you for letting us use it. And for letting us bring our cat. He really is a sweetheart, I’m sure.”

“At the heart of all that aggression is a marshmallow soul,” Heather confirms. “He’s just misunderstood. He doesn’t know people very well yet, and this is a lot of change for him.”

“I’m sure he won’t slash the drapes, wreck the bedroom, or poop on your rug.” Heather is vastly hopeful, and I can also see her trying not to laugh.

“My sister takes after her cat,” Everleigh says as she sits back down beside Heather. She loops her arm over Heather’s shoulders and pulls her in against her. Heather looks affectionately back at her sister, and they share some special sisterly moment that, honestly, I would endure any amount of telling my secrets, being called a shut-in, having my house ripped apart by feral devil cats, and other embarrassments to let them have that.

“I’ll poop on the rug and bite the hand that feeds me?”

Everleigh laughs. “You’re a brat. That’s what I was going to say. Like cat like owner.”

“Technically, I think cats can’t be owned,” Heather argues.

“I’m starved,” Hans announces all of a sudden. “Should we move into the living room and get ready for lunch?”

It’s not nearly lunchtime yet, but I’m glad for this. It’s hard to talk when you have a mouthful of food. Hans is a smart guy.

“After lunch, swimming!” Heather says with a fist bump to the air. “Unless there happens to be a home theatre or a bowling alley or a mall in this place?” She looks so hopeful that I’m sorry to disappoint.

“No. Just a gym and a pool and a whole bunch of big rooms that no one uses.”

“That’s sad,” Heather says genuinely. “Regardless, I’m really glad my sister met you. At least we can take up some of those rooms, and the place won’t be so lonely. But you should really start on the plans to add a bowling alley. Bowling is awesome. And a home theatre too. I know a big TV is adequate for most people, but you have lots and lots of cash, so you can afford to be a little bit extra.”

“Extra?”

“Do you have social media? Please tell me you have social media.”

“Not a chance.”

“Ahh, that’s why you don’t know what extra means.”

“I know what extra means,” Hans declares. With a proud grin, he stands and holds out his arm, which Everleigh’s mom takes, looking delighted and flushed. I want to do the same for Everleigh, but that would be too much. I don’t have Hans’ easy charm. And then, if I do that, who would escort Heather?

It’s much easier to let them link arms and do their sisterly thing and enjoy that while I take up the rear. It’s really not a bad place to be.

Also? Heather’s right. There are two fewer rooms that are empty now, and it makes my chest feel a heck of a lot fuller than it did before.