Page 48 of Lucy
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I’d been working late to close a deal so when I got off I was extremely happy and more than ready to crack into a beer. I never expected to see Lauren standing beside my car. I slowed in my stride and looked around for the hidden cameras. I hadn’t bothered to contact her since she told me we were over.
I didn’t like the way she looked at Lucy.
Even though I wasn’t fucking her anymore, she was still my little sister.
“What are you doing here?” I unlocked the door and tossed my briefcase in.
“Can we talk, Abel? Please?” Her brown eyes already looked ripe with tears.
“About what? You hate my sister. You think I want to fuck her.” I did but I was moving away from that. “You said we were through. Does that about sum it up, Lauren?”
“Yes, but…”
“But what?”
“But I’m sorry. I was hasty. Help me understand you and Lucy. I want to understand. I don’t want to lose you.” The tears were rolling and they were fat and fast.
“Lauren, I’ve been in that fucking office for eleven hours working on a media package complete with video. I don’t feel like dealing with bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit. Can we go to dinner? My treat?” She sniffled and smiled through the tears. I looked down at my watch to see Lucy calling me and I tapped decline. I had to.
“I’m tired,” I said.
“I know. It won’t take long.” I nodded, reluctantly and told her I’d follow her in my car. I didn’t want to be held captive by her crying. We drove a short distance to a quiet restaurant that didn’t have many people inside but they did have an imported beer menu.
“Abel, I want to give us a shot. A real one,” I looked at Lauren and clasped my hands together.
“Okay, then how are we going to rectify this Lucy situation? She’s not going anywhere and I’m not going to stop being around her. She’s a part of my life.” I lowered my brows on my forehead and waited for her answer.
“I can steer clear of her. It seems like that’s the only solution.”
“Can you try to be nice to her? She feels like you judge her around every corner and I’d have to agree.”
“I can’t be nice to someone who doesn’t like me. How does that work? She’s physically assaulted me twice, Abel. You act like that means nothing. She hit me in the face with a glass, she hit me in the face repeatedly, and she dragged me across the room by my hair! I had two clumps of hair come out after that,” she hissed.
Damn. Luce fucked her up.
“Then maybe that’s a sign that we shouldn’t be together, Lauren. I don’t know what else to do. I’m not going to cut my sister off.”
“All I hear you saying is that you won’t protect me. You won’t do anything to stop Lucy because you’re blind when it comes to her.”
“Maybe I am a little blind when it comes to her but I can’t control her. She’s a grown woman. So are you. I’m not going to police two grown women. If you two can’t get along then…”
“Then you’ll just throw your hands up and say fuck it, huh?” There were the tears again. I was tired of hearing and seeing them, honestly.
“You did that for me, Lauren. You said we were through so I’m agreeing. The only way through this is for you and Luce to magically be okay with each other. Besides that, it’s too sticky of a situation for me to lend my energy to at this point. Maybe I’ll find someone who gets along with Lucy.” I took a drink of beer and set the glass on the table with a thud.
“Do you hear yourself, Abel? You’re structuring your entire life around your sister. You don’t see how unhealthy that is?”
“Yes. I do. I’m trying to step away from it,” I gritted out.
“Well, start by giving our relationship a chance. If you’re making your own decisions then what Lucy thinks shouldn’t matter. All I want to know is…do you love me, Abel?” I had to think long and hard about her question. It wasn’t light. Finally, I looked at her and nodded.
“I love you, Lauren.” It wasn’t passionate but it was love. It wasn’t Lucy but it was love.
“Then we can make it work. See how simple things are when you take Lucy out of the equation? We’re two people that love each other. The end. We should be able to be together without a bunch of drama in the middle.” She was right but something about her words felt wrong. Lucy never acted viciously without reason but she also didn’t think straight when it came to me.
