Page 63 of Twisted Bonds
"I’m sorry. I didn’t think there would be a problem like that."
Her face softens. "What are you doing, Beau? Why didn’t you go home last night?"
"I can’t be there without you. It’s too empty, and my mind won’t let me wander too far from you. I need to know you’re safe."
"Beau," she says my name with a sigh. "I’m on Huntley property. Nobody is going to get to me."
"I know that, but it doesn’t matter. My mind won’t rest if I know you aren’t near me. At the house, I had to sleep on the couch; that way, if someone came through the door for you, they would have to go through me first," I finally confess to her.
"That’s why you kept sleeping on the couch?" she asks, dropping her arms and straightening.
I nod, and then look at my hands as I pick at my cuticle nervously. "I can’t sleep otherwise."
"Oh, Beau…" She takes a step toward me, but I shake my head.
"No, I’m not telling you this for sympathy. You wanted to stay here to have time to think, so go, do whatever you need to."
"What are you going to do today?" she asks.
"I’m heading up to the Manor and talking with my mother. I also have to make arrangements to have my grandfather transferred here."
Ryan gasps, "You’re bringing him here? Does your father know?"
"I’m not sure, but it doesn’t matter. My grandfather is family, and he needs 24-hour care. He needs to be somewhere with other people that will help care for him. Even though he’s got his own private nurse, Cal still needsto sleep at some point. Besides, I think it will do my father good to talk to his own father."
"Well, for your sake, I hope you’re right." She presses her lips to mine, but only briefly. "Go. Make sure you eat breakfast, and maybe we can go out for lunch later."
"I’d like that, Ry."
She tucks some hair behind her ear and nods. "Okay. I’ll see you later then." She turns to head back, and I watch her walk away, disappearing into the shelter house again.
She leaves me with mixed emotions, but at least we ended on a good note. Smiling, I start my truck and drive up to the Manor. As I pull my truck around to the front, I frown. A guy a few years older than me is just getting out of his vehicle. I know that guy, but what is he doing here? Jumping out of my truck, I approach the guy now waiting for me with a smile on his face.
"Well, if it isn't the infamous Beau Huntley! How the hell have you been, man?" The guy asks and reaches his hand out to shake mine.
I realize right away why he's here, and I put on my character expression, "Erik. Fancy seeing you here. My father should be with you momentarily," I say as we enter the house. I show him to the sitting room and head for my father's office.
"Beau? What brings you to my office so early in the morning?" My father looks at his watch and then at me.
"I think we may have a slight problem."
Thirty-Six
Beau
I send my father out to talk to Erik while I call Ryan. Her phone rings and rings, but she doesn't pick up.Idon't havethe number to Liv, the other two women, or even the shelter house.I'm just about to walk down there when my phone buzzes in my hand, and Ryan's beautiful face appears.
"Hey, you need to keep Liv hidden. Erik just showed up here," I tell her in a low voice. I don't want to take the chance that Harrison finds a way to come by the office.
I grin when I hear her cursing and repeating what I just told her. "Okay," she says. "I'll head up while Laney and Heathertake care ofLiv."
"You don't have to come up here.I'm pretty sureDad and I have it.I just wanted to give you a heads-up."
"No, it's fine. I want to come up. I don't want Erik to think that I'm scared of him in any way and that I'm hiding. Worse yet, I don't want him thinking that I'm hiding with his soon-to-be ex-wife."
"Okay, it's up to you, but know you don't have to."
"Duly noted,"she says, sounding slightly amused, before hanging up on me.
