18. Micah

Micah pounded loudly on the front door of his parents' house. Rose opened the door.

"What in the world?" she asked.

"Where is Dad?"

"Out back," Rose said. "What is going on?"

Micah stormed past his mother and headed for the backyard. His father was sitting in a lounge chair, drinking a beer.

"What in the fuck did you think you were doing?" Micah growled. He was almost nose-to-nose with his father.

"You need to back up, boy," Gavin said.

"I'm not going to back up. You and I are going to have a discussion."

"So, your floozy told you about our little chat, huh?" Gavin said. He hadn't moved, pretending to be relaxed in the lounge chair.

"Explain yourself."

"I merely suggested that she wasn't doing you any favors by living in that house with you. I offered her an incentive to go back home."

"You said that the baby wasn't mine."

"I might have said something like that," Gavin replied.

"The baby is mine. I purposely got her pregnant. I want Lucy and I want the baby."

"You are going to ruin your life," Gavin snarled.

"It's my life to ruin," Micah said. "Did you threaten her?"

"She can take what I said however she wants to," Gavin said with a sneer.

"Hear me well, old man. If you go near Lucy again, I will destroy you. Lucy is a part of my life and is going to stay a part of my life. The baby is mine. Get that through your thick skull."

"Or what? You'll cut me off? You won't pay my bills anymore?" Gavin laughed and said, "That's a joke and you know it. You would never hurt your mother."

"You think you have everything figured out, don't you?" Micah's voice dropped to the point where Gavin could barely hear him. "Let me make it clear. I won't stop paying the bills, because, as you say, I would never hurt Mom. What I will do is find you alone. I will shred you into little tiny pieces and scatter your miserable carcass all over the mountain."

"You can't talk to me like that," Gavin said, his voice shaking just a little.

Micah smiled evilly. "I can and I did. Believe me, it is no idle threat. Stay out of my life."

Gavin just stared at him, disbelievingly. Micah had never stood up to him like that before.

Rose was standing by the patio door, her eyes wide and her mouth open. She had never seen Micah so enraged before. They walked into the house together.

"Mom, you need to walk away from him. Divorce his miserable ass. I'll set you up at the mansion or a nice house of your own, and he can rot in hell."

Rose didn't say anything. He didn't know if she was afraid of leaving Gavin or if he had just become a bad habit.

"He's evil," Micah said. "He's going to end up hurting you or Lucy somehow, and then I will have to kill him. If you come to the mansion with us, you can help out with the babies."

"Babies?" Rose asked.

"Babies. We're having twins. The doctor said they are healthy."

"I'm so excited," Rose said. "I'll think about it. I promise."

Micah knew that she wasn't going to leave. Heaving a heavy sigh, he kissed his mom's cheek and headed home.

Dinner was being put on the table as he walked in.

"We weren't going to wait," Lucy said. "Three of us are starving."

"The other three of us are hungry, too," Ronnie said.

He looked around the room at his family and felt the tension leave his shoulders. Micah wasn't sure that either Caroline or his father was going to take his warnings seriously and leave Lucy alone. He decided that he would talk to Zac about the situation when he had a chance. Right now, though, he was going to enjoy his night.

Lucy joined him in bed again. She was tired, so they just snuggled. He breathed in her scent. It was like a drug that made him feel as though all was right in the world.

We're going to have to talk, soon. I think she tried twice. She needs to know that I have deep feelings for her.

Micah knew that he loved her, but wasn't ready to say that he was "in love." He was taking baby steps in that direction, though.

Martha was waiting for him the next morning.

"What does my day look like?" he asked.

"You have a report to look at. One of the properties Ginger was looking at tested positive for super high levels of nickel and arsenic," Martha said.

"Ugh. Ginger's not going to be happy about that."

"She has plenty of others," Martha said.

An hour later, she knocked on his door. "I'm sorry to bother you, but a man named Leo is here to see you. He doesn't have an appointment, but he says that it's urgent."

Micah rubbed his forehead.

"Do you want me to get rid of him?" Martha asked.

"No. He'll just keep coming back until he talks to me," Micah said. "Send him in."

A few minutes later, Leo sauntered in and sat down in the chair across from Micah.

"What can I do for you?" Micah asked, steepling his fingers.

"Lucy and I were meant to be together," Leo said.

"Obviously not, because she's with me. You were the dumbass who dumped her at the altar."

"I made a stupid mistake. But I know she still loves me. She's with you because you're rich and she's on the rebound."

"Is she, now," Micah said, in a low tone.

"Yes. Send her back to the shifter world. I love her. I will love the baby," Leo said.

"It is my understanding that you have your own baby on the way. I strongly suggest that you go back to the shifter world, go back to your woman, take care of your baby, and leave Lucy alone."

"I will fight for Lucy," Leo said.

"Stay away from her," Micah warned. "We might be a little more civilized in the human world, but we do protect our own."

"Is that a threat?"

"More like a promise," Micah said, shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't like being threatened," Leo growled.

Micah stood up, towering over Leo. "I'm really sorry to hear that. It's time for you to go home."

Leo glared into Micah's eyes, but then looked away, as he slowly walked out of Micah's office with as much dignity as possible.

Frustrated, Micah looked at his desk and shook his head.

"Martha, I told Ginger to let the seller know we aren't interested in the land. I need to get out of the office. I'm going home for lunch and then I'll be at the house."

Micah told Ronnie, Michelle, and Vera about Leo's visit. "He isn't to go near her. I'm not going to tell her about the confrontation because she has enough stress as it is."

Lucy asked if she could go with him to the house.

"Are you sure you won't be bored?" he asked.

"I'm sure. There will be something that I can help with," she told him.

She looked around and said, "The house is very empty. You took everything but the kitchen sink out of the kitchen."

"It will be removed when I buy a new one. I'm planning on changing out the bathroom sinks and the tubs. The toilets are going to be replaced with energy efficient and water-saving commodes."

"The ones where you flush one handle for pee and a different handle for poo?" she asked.

"Those would be the ones."

"What can I do to help?" she asked.

Micah smiled when he thought about the difference between Lucy and Caroline. Lucy was ready to get to work helping him on the project. Caroline probably threw away the shoes and clothes she was wearing when she had stepped into the house full of dust.

"Look at the wallpaper in this room," he said.

It was white with blue velvety designs all over it.

"Ick," she said.

"Get the wallpaper super wet. Then, carefully use this scraper to remove the wallpaper. Be careful not to dig holes into the sheetrock underneath it."

"Got it," she said.

He got her a bucket of water and a sponge and handed her the scraper. She found her '80s music playlist on her music streaming app and went to work.

Micah checked on her a few times. She was always singing along to the music, rather badly, and diligently making progress. The walls were bare by the time they were ready to go home.

"Nice job," he said.

"Thanks. It was fun. I've never done that before," she said.

"I give my hired help thirty-five an hour," he said.

"I'm not hired help. I'm just the help."

"You could use the money to take singing lessons."

"Ouch. That hurt my feel-goods," she said.

"I'm pretty sure that it didn't," he told her.

That evening, after dinner, they sat outside on the back deck. It was a beautiful night. It was about seventy degrees with just the slightest hint of a breeze.

Lucy got up and walked over to a large pot full of red and white carnations in full bloom. "I love these. They smell like peppermint."

"They are Ronnie's pride and joy. He does great with all the flowers, but he has a penchant for carnations."

She looked at him and gently caressed his face. "Have I told you lately how sexy you are?"

"No, I don't believe you have," Micah said.

"You are so sexy that you would make the ancient Greek gods jealous."

"Really?" he asked, brushing a wisp of hair out of her face.

She grinned. "Really."

Lucy stood on her toes, put both hands on his face, and pressed her lips against his.