Page 29 of Resisting the Lawyer (Dirty Hot Resistance 3)

I turn my head to look at her with a slow grin. “I know. It keeps me up at night. So, breakfast tomorrow then?”

“No!” Elise gives me a stern look. “You’ll make fun of me the whole time. I know it.”

“I won’t!” I cajole. “I promise not to bring up the fact that you admitted to being very attracted to me when you were drunk.”

“Lucas!” Elise lets out a small wail of embarrassment.

I laugh loudly.

“Fine, fine! I’ll be a perfect gentleman. You have my word.”

She gives me a disbelieving look and finally shakes her head. “Fine.”

After I drop her home, I make my way to my house and I’m surprised to see Debra sitting on the front porch.

My twin looks miserable and as I step out of the car, I ask, “Deb, is something wrong?”

When she sniffles, I realize something is seriously wrong.

I usher her into the house and as I take her coat, I press, “Tell me what happened.”

“Dad got a hold of Riley’s work address and he cornered him at work. And I never told Riley the whole thing with Dad so he wrangled an invitation to the family dinner tonight at Riley’s parents’ place. I found out at the last minute and I couldn’t do anything.” She looks tearful and miserable and then my strong willed sister who very rarely cries, crumples to the ground.

I’m alarmed as I reach for her.

“He said so many things, Lucas. So many hateful things! About you and Mom and how Mom took us away from him and how he’s been trying to patch things up but Mom won’t do it and you won’t let him. I could have refuted it but the way he said those things, I couldn’t find any way to call him a liar.”

I try to calm her down. “You know he has a silver tongue. He has always had a way with words. I’m sure Riley’s parents are sensible people; they wouldn’t have bought into his stories.”

She shakes her head and her shoulders tremble with devastation. “By the time I left, his mother couldn’t even look at me and Riley wouldn’t say two words to me. I asked about some of the wedding plans and he refused to discuss it. And then...And then Dad asked me for a ride back and I wanted to refuse but they were all looking at me in a way that I couldn’t even say no.” She’s full out crying now and I’ve never seen her like this, so broken, “Dad was all smug throughout the ride, trying to convince me of his own bullshit stories and I just didn’t know what to say! I dropped him off at the first bus station. He wanted some money and I just gave it to him.” She looks at me, her eyes wet with tears. “Lucas, what if Riley decides to call off the engagement? What should I do?”

Raw anger shoots through me at what our father has done to her. Debra is usually quick tempered with a sharp tongue and doesn’t take shit from anyone. But ever since Leon walked back into our lives, he had torn at her defenses over and over again until she had none left. Out of the both of us, Debra had always wanted a father and when Leon had shown up, she had hoped for a proper relationship. That was only until he had shown his true colors and now even though she knows what he is and what he’s after, she can’t seem to shake him off.

As I hold her to me, trying to swallow down my rage, I also feel helpless. I can’t tell her the same thing over and over again. I curse Riley for being so gullible as to letting Leon talk him into an invitation to the family dinner. And I curse myself for not going. I should have skipped the engagement party and attended this with Debra.

“Come on. Let’s get you some ice cream.” I tell her.

She lets me, looking dazed and lost with grief.

As I leave her in the sitting room, I go to the kitchen and take out my phone ready to give Riley a piece of my mind. However, his name flashes on my screen before I can do anything and I pick up. My voice is frigid, “Riley.”

He sounds frantic, “Lucas, is Debra with you?!”

“Yes.”

He doesn’t seem to pay attention to the coldness in my voice and he sighs in relief. “Oh, thank God! I’ve been looking for her everywhere. I’ll come to pick her up.”

“I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” I tell him, shortly. “I think you’ve done enough for tonight. I’ll take care of my sister.”

“Look, man. I messed up.” At this point, he realizes that he’s messed up and that I’m pissed. His tone is heavy and full of regrets, “I don’t know what’s going on with your dad—?”

“He’s not our ‘dad, Riley. If you paid any attention to what Debra says, you would know what that bastard has put our family through and how much control he has over your fiancée.” I’m snarling now. “Instead of protecting her from that manipulative asshole, you went and threw her into his arms. And then you bought all the bullshit he tossed your way. If you don’t even know how to treat your fiancée properly, then call off the goddamn wedding. Debra doesn’t need someone who’ll believe lies about her from a stranger, rather than trusting her!”

Riley is silent for a few minutes and then he says in a subdued tone, “I’m coming over. I’ll fix this. I promise.”

The call cuts and I toss the new phone that I had Roger send me this morning, onto the counter, furiously.

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