Surrendering to Us

  “Did you hear what I just said?” Lucah turned in his seat so he could look Ryder full in the face.

  “Yes, I heard you. Calm the fuck down. Are you telling me your girlfriend’s parents don’t know about your poorer-than-dirt past?”

  “No, I’m just saying that it’s not acceptable dinner conversation and you never should have brought it up.” He turned back around and started the car. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever seen Lucah this angry, and I could understand him being upset, but this kind of anger was something else entirely.

  “I didn’t bring it up! Mrs. Clarke did! Why are you freaking out about this?” Lucah just shook his head and his hands gripped the steering wheel so hard I was getting a little scared. Neither Sloane nor I said anything, afraid of making it worse.

  “Just watch your mouth.”

  Ryder didn’t answer and just stared out the window.

  I waited for a few minutes of silence to pass before I gingerly touched Lucah’s arm.

  “Are you okay?” I tried to keep my voice down, but of course everyone heard me.

  “Fine,” he snapped, and I took my hand back.

  “What the fuck? Now you’re mad at her? What did she do?” Ryder couldn’t keep his mouth shut anymore.

  “Shhh,” Sloane said in a feeble attempt to calm the situation so it didn’t escalate any more than it already had.

  Lucah didn’t answer Ryder and just kept his eyes on the road. I looked out the window, and everyone else did the same.

  The ride back was silent and tense. I couldn’t wait to get out of the car. Lucah got up and let Ryder out, and I did the same with Sloane. Ryder stomped off and Sloane followed him, running a little to catch up.

  Lucah pushed the driver’s seat back in place and sat back down, so I did the same. I wasn’t going anywhere until he told me what the hell was going on. His jaw was hard and his hands clenched the steering wheel again.

  Lucah might have been pissed, but it only took a few moments for him to start thawing. His hands slipped down the steering wheel and his face relaxed. He took one deep breath and then closed his eyes.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “What are you sorry for?” I said.

  “I’m sorry for doing that in front of you. I’m sorry for lashing out at Ryder. I’m sorry for lashing out at you. And I’m sorry for the way you’re looking at me right now.” He leaned forward and rested his head on the steering wheel.

  “Why were you so upset that Ryder mentioned living in a car?” He lifted his head and sighed.

  “It was a knee-jerk reaction. I don’t know, Rory. Honestly I don’t. I just hate talking about that part of my life and it got me upset seeing Ryder being so cavalier about it. I hope your parents didn’t notice.”

  “Oh, I’m sure they didn’t,” I lied. My parents weren’t born yesterday. But I’d let Lucah believe that little white lie.

  “That’s sweet, Rory,” Lucah said. “But I’m pretty sure they did.” Lucah wasn’t born yesterday, either.

  “I’ll smooth it over. Don’t worry about that. Are you sure you’re doing okay?” I touched his shoulder and he took my hand and kissed it.

  “I think so. Shit, now I have to deal with Ryder. Where the hell did they go?” He looked over his shoulder, but Ryder and Sloane were nowhere to be seen.

  “Let’s go find them.” Lucah gave my hand back, but as soon as we both got out of the car, he took it again.

  I wanted to ask him again if he was okay, but that might be a thing we could talk about tonight when we shared what was bothering us. We’d only been doing it for a short time, but I kind of loved it.

  It took walking through a few levels of the garage before we found Sloane and Ryder leaning against one of the walls and looking out over the city.

  “Ryder,” Lucah said, and they both turned. Ryder’s face darkened when he saw Lucah. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” Lucah held his arms open, as if he was coming in peace.

  Ryder shook his head. “Look, I don’t give a shit about your rich girlfriend or her rich family. But don’t ever talk to me like that again. Ever. I might be your fucked-up little brother, but I’m an adult. Stop talking to me like a child. I’m getting really sick of it, Lucah. Do you know the reason I’m still here? It’s not to piss you off, or to make your life miserable. I realized, when I woke up in that hospital that you, and Tate, you were it. You were the only ones there. Mom and Dad are gone, and I might not like it, but you’re what I’m stuck with.” He shrugged and I could tell it was hard for him to express himself like this. Especially in front of Sloane and me.

  I let go of Lucah’s hand and nodded my head at Sloane, and she followed me a little ways away so they could talk together. Brother to brother.

  “That was intense,” Sloane said in a low voice so they couldn’t hear us.

  “Agreed. I thought they needed a moment alone.” We might have been trying to ignore what they were saying, but that didn’t stop us from watching the interaction. Words were said on both sides, but there was no more yelling. Lucah still used his hands and Ryder made some of the same gestures. Must have been a family trait.

  “Aren’t they supposed to punch each other to work out their differences?” Sloane said. “That’s what mine always do. But they’re usually really drunk first.” I’d heard plenty of those stories. Her life was one of those cases of truth being stranger than fiction. It would have made quite a reality show.

  “Maybe they’re more civilized?” Sloane gave me a look.

  “Most men are the same. They revert to cavemen when a football game is on, or some guy hits on their woman, or anyone questions their manhood. It’s primal,” she said as she stared at Ryder with her head tipped to the side as if she found the potential for him to be primal appealing. I had to say, that night when Lucah covered me with the sticky notes and declared me his was one of the sexiest nights of my life, so maybe there was something to this primal thing.

  “Shit, they’re watching us,” Sloane said as both Blythe heads turned in our direction and we both tried to pretend that we hadn’t been eavesdropping on them.

  “You can come back now,” Lucah said, waving us over. “Blythe crisis averted.” I looked at Sloane and she shrugged as we walked back over to the boys.

  “What no man hug?” Sloane said to Ryder. He shrugged. “Come on, hug it out.” She bumped Ryder’s shoulder and he smiled and his ears went a little red. I turned my attention to Lucah.

  “What are you waiting for?” I said. He just shook his head and then turned to face Ryder, his arms outstretched.

  They hugged, banging each other on the back before releasing each other.

  “Good enough?” Ryder asked Sloane.

  “Congrats. You may be a member of the human race,” she said, patting him on the shoulder. Lucah waited for my assessment.

  “Good hug, Mr. Blythe. Good hug.” He started laughing and then hugged me, but without the back slapping. He might have knocked the wind out of me if he had.

  “I don’t know about anyone else, but I need a fucking drink,” Ryder said, not taking his eyes off Sloane. We were definitely on the same page.

  “One drink,” Lucah said, holding up one finger to illustrate his point. Ryder glared. “Okay, two. And we’ll take a cab.”

  “Don’t get too crazy now, big brother, you might actually have some fun.”

  “I can have fun,” Lucah protested. Didn’t I know it. We had “fun” all the time.

  “I’ll believe that when I see it,” Ryder said as we headed for the exit of the parking garage.

  They bickered all the way down the street to the closest restaurant, but it made my heart swell to see it. For the first time since Ryder had moved in with us, they seemed like friends. Not just brothers who had to put up with each other. Now we just needed to get Tate here, and they’d be one big happy Blythe family.

  That gave me an idea and I immediately texted Marisol about it while the guys were getting the second round of Shipya
rd Summer Ale’s for all of us. It seemed like a beer kind of night.

  I got an answer back immediately, and if you could squeal with delight via text, she definitely had. Now I just had to contact Tate and April and see if it was okay with them. The guys came back and we all started in on our second drinks and watched the rest of the patrons. A few women walked by and gave Lucah or Ryder the eye, but neither guy seemed to notice. Ryder didn’t seem to see anything but Sloane and the fascination was mutual.

  “So I may have found an apartment,” Ryder said as he swigged his second drink. Lucah looked ready to jump in with something, but then he thought better of it and waited a moment before he responded.

  “Where?”

  “It’s actually a block away from yours. It’s a studio, and it’s not much, but I wouldn’t have to share it and I’d be close. So you could keep an eye on me.” He was joking about the last part, but the fact that Lucah’s previous occupation was keeping an eye on people made me wonder if he was being serious. I also noticed a little smile on Sloane’s face at the fact that Ryder would be nearby.

  “And where are you going to get the money for this apartment?” Lucah couldn’t resist asking. Ryder’s eyes narrowed a fraction, and I wanted to sit back so I could avoid the explosion that it looked like was about to happen. But then he shifted, and took another sip of his beer and set it down, tracing his finger around the lip of the bottle.

  “I have some money set aside. An emergency fund, if you will. I have enough for first month’s rent and the security deposit. But after that, I’ve got nothing. So maybe, you could, uh . . . “ The table started moving because his knee was jiggling up and down and kept knocking into the underside of the table. I’d never seen Ryder so nervous.

  “A loan? Do you need a loan?” Lucah said, finishing Ryder’s sentence so he didn’t have to keep floundering.

  “A loan,” Ryder said, nodding. “I’ll pay you back, with interest. You know I will.” As far as I knew, this was the first time Ryder had asked Lucah for money. Lucah had offered it before, but Ryder had always turned it down.

  “You don’t have to pay me interest. You’re my brother. How much do you need?” Though the light was dim, Ryder’s pink ears were noticeable.

  “Maybe this isn’t something we should discuss right now. Money seems to be a touchy subject,” Ryder said with a tiny smile. You could say that again.

  “Sure. Just let me know. I’m always here for you, no matter what.” Lucah clasped Ryder’s shoulder and my eyes got misty, but I ducked my head to wipe them so no one would see.

  We moved to talk about other things, and Ryder started telling stories about shenanigans he and Lucah used to get into. I knew it was hard for Lucah to hear about those things, but I held his hand under the table and he started laughing, and interrupting Ryder when he felt he wasn’t telling the story right, or adding his own comments. They both had Sloane and me in stiches. So much so that it felt like I’d done hundreds of crunches. Between the sex and the laughter, I never needed to go to the gym. Best workout ever.

  We were all a little loose from the alcohol as we took a cab back to our respective apartments.

  “I think I’m going to give you some privacy. I’ll just be using Sloane’s computer to fill out job applications,” Ryder said as I unlocked the door.

  “Job applications?” Lucah said, one eyebrow raised. This was quite a change from just a few days ago.

  “Okay, so I might screw around a little bit and then fill out some job applications.”

  “That’s more like it,” Lucah said as Ryder and Sloane walked back to her place.

  Sloane’s giggle echoed down the hallway. Lucah turned to me and put his arms around my waist.

  “We have the place to ourselves, Miss Clarke.”

  I snaked my arms around his neck. “It seems that we do, Mr. Blythe. Whatever shall we do with our entirely empty apartment?” His answer was to lean down and kiss me.

  Monday morning I was exhausted from the excitement of the day before, but then I had to deal with my work problems instead of my home problems. It was back to worrying about the Board and what other slimy things they were up to next. The only way to put this to rest was to call a vote, have Dad win that vote, and impeach Hal as Head of the Board. That would require us to have a majority of the stockholders and Board members on our side. It only needed to be 51 percent, and that would do it.

  That was the easy part. The hard part was convincing 51 percent of those people that we were in the right. When Dad said that he was handling things that was probably what he meant. At least I hoped so. My father wasn’t the kind of man who would get involved in something illegal to save his position.

  Still, I needed to talk to him and see what his plan was. He’d told me numerous times that he didn’t want me involved and so on and so forth, but I was part of this company. A Vice President. In this instance, he couldn’t treat me like his daughter. He had to treat me like one of his colleagues. I wasn’t taking no for an answer this time.

  So I marched myself right toward his office and asked Mrs. Andrews if he was in. I was hoping to catch him before he got fully immersed in work mode.

  Mrs. Andrews could tell I was on a mission, so she told me to go right in. I did knock first, and wait for him to tell me I could enter. He was in the midst of hanging up the phone, but he smiled when he saw me.

  “Rory, I’m surprised to see you today. It’s a rare treat for me to see you two days in a row.” He chuckled and I sat down, trying to keep my stern face on. That was hard to do with your father, no matter how old you were.

  “Dad, I’m here to ask if you know anything more about what I told you on Friday. About the Board asking Violet to spy for them.” He sat back and shook his head.

  “No, no, I don’t. But it’s only Monday morning. I haven’t really had time to deal with that yet.” That made sense.

  “Okay, well, what else are you doing about the Board and their effort to take over? I want to know. I need to know.” I was not above begging.

  He waited for a moment and then sighed deeply like he would when I’d ask for a pony for Christmas every year before I hit puberty. But this wasn’t a pony.

  “Rory . . . “ he said in a tone that I didn’t like. “It’s complicated.”

  “Not really. They want to vote you out. They need a majority of stockholders to do that. But if you can get the majority on your side, then you can force the vote and take the rug out from under them. Plus, I think we need to get rid of Hal. I have the sneaking suspicion that he’s behind all this.” He was at least behind the attempted bribery of Violet.

  “Whoa, Rory, I think we need to take a step back.”

  “This is not the time to be cautious, Walter. We have to fight for this company. They’re trying to take it away from us.” I couldn’t sit anymore, so I sprung to my feet, and so did he.

  “Don’t you think I know what I’m fighting for? I know, Rory. I’ve built this company from the ground up. Other than you or your mother, I don’t love anything more. I have given my life to this, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let someone try to take that away.” His face was red and his eyes seared into mine. I hadn’t seen this side of him in a long time, and then only when we were in the boardroom.

  I opened my mouth to say something, but he stopped me.

  “But you have to let me do this my way. I know I’m treating you unfairly, and I’m sorry. You might be my coworker, but you are also my daughter and I can’t separate that. That’s probably why children shouldn’t work for their parents, but there you are. My need to protect you outweighs my need to inform you. Now you can be mad at me, but that’s the way things are, and I’m sorry.” He sat down in his chair. Or more like he flopped down into his chair, as if the stress and pressure had become too much.

  I sunk down in my own chair and tried to think of what to say. He might have been wrong, but I couldn’t fault him for how he felt. It was sweet, in a way. And probably unethical.
If Hal found out, he’d use that against Dad as well as anything else he’d dug up. Thank goodness Violet hadn’t given him anything. Especially about Lucah and me.

  “I’m sorry,” I finally said, because it seemed like the right thing. One of those phrases you used when you didn’t know what else to say.

  “No, I’m the one who’s sorry. Sorry this whole thing happened in the first place. If I had just—” He rested his head in his hands. Oh no. Not another person taking on responsibility for something they shouldn’t. I had enough of those in my life already.

  “Walter,” I said, which made him look up. “You and I both know that’s not a productive line of thinking and won’t accomplish anything, or help anyone.” He sighed again.

  “I know, Rory. I know. That was just me throwing myself a little pity party. Probably shouldn’t have done that in front of you, but I’m having kind of a rough time right now, if you couldn’t tell.” His voice broke on the last few words and he looked like he was about to cry. I got up and hugged him, putting my arms around his neck like I did when I was little and he would swing me around. Those days were long over, but sometimes I wished I could be little again, and ride on his shoulders. Just for a little while.

  “Thank you, Rory. I needed that.” He rubbed my arms. “I don’t want you to worry, but I do want you to be prepared. There will be something happening at the next Board meeting, if you understand my meaning.” I did.

  I tried to ask a question, but he put his hand up to stop me.

  “This is hopefully going to be over very soon and then things can get back to normal.”

  “Normal,” I said. I didn’t know what that was anymore. My normal had vanished a long time ago. Besides. Normal had been exceedingly boring.

  “Right, normal. So don’t worry about your old dad and get back to work, okay?” I gave him one last squeeze before letting him go.

  “Okay, Dad.” I left his office not knowing how I felt. I’d gone for answers, but I didn’t have many when I left. The most important, however, was that something was going down at the next Board meeting, which was only a few days away.