Chapter Twenty-One

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Riven

When I got to work the next day, Wayne told me Parrish had called in sick, which made me frown. Had he gotten something while we were camping this weekend? Even if that was the case, it didn’t seem like him not to tell me. I was the kind of guy who would do that shit, not Parrish. He was always thinking of others and wouldn’t want me to wonder what was going on.

I nodded as if it didn’t matter, then climbed into the cab of the work truck. Smitty sat up front with Wayne, who I guessed took lead when Parrish wasn’t there. I immediately pulled out my phone and sent him a text.

You good?

It was still early, so since he was sick, he was likely sleeping. Still, I couldn’t stop myself from checking my cell every few minutes for a text from him, my skin getting tighter each time there wasn’t one.

His response came right at the end of lunch. I’d eaten with Smitty and Wayne rather than keeping myself separated from people like I usually did, which I guessed was some kind of progress. They were talking about a party they’d gone to over the weekend, while I lost myself in my phone.

Stomach bug or something. Might be out for a few days. I’ll hit you up when I’m feeling better.

For the second time today, I frowned because of something Parrish did. This didn’t sound like him at all. It was almost like he was trying not to talk to me, like he didn’t want me to check on him in a way that I knew he would check on me if the situation were reversed.

I’ll come see how you’re doing after work. Grandma would kick my ass if I didn’t.

Better not. I don’t want you to get sick too. I’ll probably be asleep anyway. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?

No, it wasn’t okay at all.

I didn’t reply, and it was hard as hell to finish out my workday. All I wanted was to go to Parrish and see what the hell was going on.

Harold was at the office when we got back, and he signed off on my stupid fucking form, and then I headed straight to Parrish’s house. I was filthy and sweaty, but I didn’t care about that.

Nerves made my gut twist up in a way I was completely unfamiliar with. I worried when it came to Grandma, of course, but had I really spent my life so detached from people that I hadn’t cared for anyone enough to feel this deep-seated fear over someone? That they weren’t okay, or that I’d screwed up and they were done with me? I hated all these thoughts but couldn’t get them out of my head.

My heart was beating too fast when I pulled up at the curb. This was torture. Who in the hell wanted to feel this way? I wished I could shut it down, turn it off, walk away so I could end this torment and never have to feel it again, but I knew I couldn’t do that. The good stuff made me want to hold on.

I banged on Parrish’s door with a closed fist. When he didn’t come out right away, I gave it another thud, thud, thud before tugging out my cell phone and calling him. As soon as he picked up, I said, “Answer the fucking door, Parrish.”

“Shit,” he cursed softly, then added, “I don’t want you to see me like this. I don’t want you to do something stupid.”

A heatwave took over my whole body, heart pounding against my chest the way my fist had come down on the door. I knew it. I knew something was wrong.

I tried the handle, and like I figured it would be, the door was locked. “Let me inside, baby,” fell from my lips, the term of endearment a first for me, not just with Parrish, but with anyone.

“Riv…”

“I’ll break the door down if I have to.”

“Stop it. I’m too sore to be turned on by your growly response.” He tried to make a joke of it, but I couldn’t laugh. With a sigh, Parrish said, “Go through the gate. There’s a loose board on the left side of the back porch by the door. There’s a key hidden in there.”

I hurried over, found it exactly where he said, and let myself in. There were no lights on in the house, no blinds or curtains open to let the sun in. I made my way down the hallway to Parrish’s room.

The bathroom light in his bedroom was on. Parrish was in bed, his face black and blue, his bottom lip and left eye swollen. A blanket only reached his waist, his torso bruised and battered as well. Rage created a volcano inside me that erupted angrily, spewing red-hot lava through my blood.

“I gave as good as I took,” Parrish said. When I didn’t respond, couldn’t find the words, he added, “This isn’t the first time I’ve fought with Rex, and it won’t be the last.”

I was shaking too bad to speak, like the anger had closed my throat up, my body cracking and vibrating with fury. When I found my words, all I could make come out was, “I’m going to fucking kill him,” then turned to go.

Parrish moved faster than he should have been able to, catching me halfway down the hallway, arms around me, and pinning me to the wall. My chest heaved, my breath trying to run away from me. Jesus, why couldn’t I breathe? Why was I so dizzy?

“Don’t. What happens if you do something dumb and get locked up again? Or worse? I can heal from getting the shit beat out of me, but I can’t heal from losing you. You’re inside me now, Riv. Like you’re my goddamned heart or lungs. I can’t live without you.”

His words poured over me, a balm to the wound that was my life. I didn’t understand it, how I could mean that much to him, but I knew he meant that much to me.

When I tried to move out of his embrace, Parrish hissed out in pain. Hearing it flipped a switch in me, temporarily dimmed my anger, because in that moment, all that mattered was him. Parrish took care of everyone in his life, but this time, I was going to be the one to take care of him.

And then…then I would find a way to burn Parrish’s brother to the motherfucking ground.

“Come on. Let’s get you dressed and some shit packed. I’m taking you home with me.”

I turned in his arms, Parrish staring at me for a moment. I couldn’t make out what his gaze was saying, what it all meant, but I knew my insides felt like they were being ripped apart. Like people were scavenging my organs while I was still alive.

I didn’t know what else to do, couldn’t stop myself from it if I wanted to, so I leaned in and gently pressed my lips to the cut in his eyebrow, to the bruise on his temple, then over to his swollen eye, kissing that too. My mouth journeyed down his face, kissing and trying to soothe every injury on him, lingering on his swollen lip, before I bent and did the same to every bruise on his chest.

Can you feel it? How much I care about you? The words I struggle to say?whispered through my head, before his soft, “Jesus, Riv,” which to me sounded like, Yes, I feel it. Yes, I know.

Wrapping an arm around him, I helped Parrish back to his room. I sat him on the edge of the bed. He was only wearing a pair of underwear, so I found some shorts, bent down and put one leg in, then the other, and tugged them up. He stood enough so I could get them over his ass and around his hips.

He chuckled. “I can dress myself, but I’m going to enjoy this.”

“Should we go to a doctor? What if there’s internal shit wrong?”

“I’m fine. I just need a few days to heal.”

I nodded and hoped like hell he was right.

After putting a T-shirt on him, I found a duffel bag in his closet and packed clothes and toiletries. “Where’s your wallet? Anything else you need?”

“In my jeans on the floor, and no.”

I took it out and tossed it in the bag, along with his phone from the nightstand. There was a bottle of ibuprofen too, so I gave him four of those with the water, then tossed them in the bag.

“Shoes?”

“Living room, I think. I can get them.” He tried to stand, but I put a hand on his shoulder.

“Sit the fuck down, Parrish. Let me take care of you.”

He gave me a dopey smile that said he liked the sound of that.

Once his shoes and socks were on, I wrapped an arm around him and helped him out to my truck, making sure the house was locked up when we left. I tossed his bag into the back.

“I’ll come back for your truck later.”

He nodded without arguing, though I could tell he wanted to. I leaned over, grabbing his seat belt and buckling him in. Parrish held my wrist before I could pull away. “Thank you, Riv…for everything.”

“For getting you beaten up? I have no doubt this is about me.”

“You can’t make yourself responsible for choices they make. This was on them. I just…thank you for loving me, is all.”

And I did love him, didn’t I? And he knew it without me saying it, knew I would struggle with the words. But Parrish was giving me an out on saying it for now, while letting me know he saw how I felt and there was no running. He wouldn’t let me.

I gave him a quick nod, started the truck, and drove away. “Is my grandma in danger?”

“Hell, I don’t know. I think they’re all talk with anyone except me. I think they just want to show us they’re in control. That’s all they care about. They know you can’t really do anything about what happened in the past. They have you by the balls—three against one, no proof—but they want to play games with you, show their power and manipulate people to keep them right where they want them.”

I believed that. They were fucking with me because they could, not for any other reason. That was how Rex and Frank worked.

Parrish winced when I drove over a bump. “Sorry.”

“You called me baby.” His head was leaning back against the headrest, and he turned it toward me.

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did.”

“Shut up.”

Parrish chuckled, then grabbed his side in pain. It made a second wave of anger rush over me.

“I’ll be okay,” he said, reading my mind. “I don’t want Betsy to see me.”

Yeah, that was a problem. I didn’t want her to see him either, but I wasn’t letting him stay at home alone, and I didn’t want to leave her either. I’d feel better knowing he was with Grandma when I had to work.

“We’ll do our best. It might help that your truck isn’t there. We should come up with a story, though, in case.”

“Can’t I just tell her I got into a fight with Rex? She knows we aren’t close. She doesn’t have to know why.”

I shook my head. “If she sees him, she’ll say something to him. I don’t want her on his radar.”

“Bar fight? Some guy was hitting on my man?”

Yeah, that was probably the best scenario to use, without the part about some guy hitting on me.

We didn’t talk much the rest of the drive. Luckily, Grandma didn’t come out of the house when I helped Parrish inside. He collapsed straight onto my bed, worn out from the short journey.

“I need a nap,” he said, face in the pillow.

“Okay.”

“Come here. I can’t sleep without you.”

“You’ve been sleeping without me just fine.” I was jittery, my pulse still erratic.

“That was before you called me baby. C’mere, Riv.”

“I’m dirty.”

“I like you that way.”

I didn’t have it in me to deny him. I took my clothes off, removed his socks and shoes, and made sure the door was locked. The second I was in bed with him, Parrish cuddled close, so I wrapped an arm around him and held him while he slept. The whole time, I quietly simmered with rage, trying to figure out what I was going to do about Frank and Rex.