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“Of course you’re important, Charlie. You’re her daughter,” Rick assured.
Her scoff echoed bitterly. “We should be clear by now that blood ties mean nothing to my family. My father was barely around, and my mother took it out on me by molding me into what she thinks she should have done with herself. I’m just a piece to pass around!”
He gripped her hands and felt them shake. Disappointment over a parent’s mistreatment was nothing new to him. He just didn’t want to witness the pain it caused in someone else. Especially someone he cared about. He’d done his best keeping it from Alex, but sometimes the reality needed recognition.
“I’ll be alright,” she said shakily. “I’ll have to talk to Aera for a backup plan. Oh, god, our employees, everything that we’ve built to this day…”
“Is there no way you can keep it running on your own?”
Shaking her head, she used her hand to wipe over her cheek. “Not right away. Unless I take out a massive loan, we won’t be able to maintain what we already have.”
“Let me get this straight. You’re losing your business because your mother refused to accept me?” Rick said. “You’re getting disinherited because you’re choosing to stick with me?”
It didn’t sound good.At all.As a sick joke, déjà vu cornered him like a bully, reminding him of the far-fetched drama he endured from his parents. He vowed to never let himself get into such a ridiculous situation because,whodoes that anymore? To be so prejudiced against someone because of their standing, that they’d be willing to cut off ties entirely.
Him. That’s who.
There it was.The irony found him, and so did karma. And they came with a mean bite.
Charlie’s eyes rounded with alarm, going into full defense mode after catching his thoughts. “No! Rick, none of this is your fault. I decided to confront her, so I made the choice.”
“But you had to do something about it, right? You were defending me, and it didn’t go the way you thought. And now you’ve pretty much lost a mother?”
“Don’t say it like that,” she insisted. “This was a long time coming. Even if it wasn’t about you, it would’ve been something else?—”
“But itisabout me.” His voice thickened with frustration. “It’s a horrific history repeat that I spent my whole life trying to avoid. No matter what I do, I can’t win.”
“You’re making it worse than it is…”
“Charlie, you’re losing your business, your mother, and who knows what else by choosing me? How is this not as bad as it sounds? How can I live with this in my conscience?”
“It’smychoice!” she thundered, now animated enough to bolt from her seat. He caught the fire spiraling from her eyes. “What are you trying to insinuate now? Your conscience? You’re suddenly making this about you when the problem is between me and my family.”
“But—”
“I came here for comfort, Rick. I’m not asking you to solve my problems.” She glared at him. “Don’t tell me. You’re going to break it off with me because it’ll be for my own good?”
Rickbristled and stood, forcing her to look back up at him. “Break it off? Hell no.I love you. Why the fuck would I do that?” he said so gruffly he sounded more aggressive than he wanted. “I can be an asshole, but I’m not fuckingstupid.”
She gasped, the angry flush flooded out of her skin tone. “You love me?”
Oh, shit. Cat was out of the bag, so he might as well own it. Pride was out the door before he realized. The notion of love had been at the tip of his tongue since he and Charlie started their cohabitating routine. He found himself in the morning’s craving for her. When she wasn’t around, his thoughts of her were a mix of sexual and fondness. Her scent had imprinted his olfactory like the triggering of happiness.
He didn’t want to delve too deeply into his feelings, because they’d only been at it for a few months. It hadn’t been long since she was supposed to marry someone else, and he needed time to absorb it himself. Hell, going from tolerating her presence to falling balls deep for her was more thrilling than stepping into a different world each time he went on his photography gig. That was saying a lot, because he loved what his job offered.
“Yeah. I love you. It’s no contest,” he said with his arms crossed. “You’re sexy, beautiful, kind, and smart. You go for what you want despite wanting to please everyone. You’re not afraid to tell me I’m a dick, but also picked me, anyway. You’re sweet. And pink.So pink. All the time that I don’t want to see any other color—” he heard her cough out what sounded like a laugh amid his unscripted speech. “Your heart is as priceless as you are. Why would I give that up?”
“Oh, Rick.” She covered both hands over her face, but her shoulders were steady. “I love you, too.”
Her arms fell, revealing her glassy eyes where the tears wetted her face. It was a rare time he’d seen her in disarray, but the emotions that carried from her smile shot through his chest like Cupid’s arrow.
Rick swept over the wet skin with his thumb and cupped her cheek. “I know. You’re willing to give up family for me. If that’s not love, then I don’t want it.”
She hiked up to her tiptoes and looped her arms around his neck. “I wasn’t sure if you’d feel the same way. I didn’t want to put so much pressure on you when our relationship is still so… young. It shouldn’t have to be this complicated so early on.”
He traced the small of her back as he pulled her tighter against him. “And it’s not your fault that it turned complicated. I’m not blaming you for any of this, but I’m not going to just let it go on while you suffer. I have to do something.”
“There’s nothing you can do,” she said.
