She moved her lips over mine and a soft moan escaped her mouth. Taking her back upstairs to the bedroom was sounding good. She started to pull back and I gazed down into her heavy lidded eyes. She was smiling contentedly. “Harlow said it was warm today. I thought I’d come get some sunshine. I’ve been inside too much,” she said.
She needed fresh air. “I think that’s a good idea. Why don’t you go lay down in one of the lounge chairs and I’ll rub your feet.”
Her eyes twinkled with excitement and I almost laughed. She loved having her feet rubbed lately. I knew it was because she was carrying more weight with the baby and she wasn’t used to it. “That sounds wonderful,” she agreed and hurried over to settle in the closest lounge chair.
My phone rang in my pocket and I started to ignore it. Blaire looked up at me as I stood over her. “Aren’t you gonna answer it?” she asked.
I slipped my hand into my pocket and saw Nan’s number flashing on the screen. I should ignore it. This couldn’t be good. I wanted time with Blaire. I wanted to rub her feet and watch the sexy little faces she made while I did it.
“Just answer it, Rush. If you don’t you’ll worry,” she said.
Muttering a curse, I clicked answer and held it to my ear. Before I could say hello Nan’s loud sobs greeted me.
“Don’t come after me. I told you last night I wanted to end it and I do. This is it. Everyone hates me and I’m done. Goodbye, Rush,” she cried into the phone before ending the call.
“Fuck,” I growled, stuffing my phone back into my pocket. I had to go after her. I wanted to believe Blaire was right and Nan wouldn’t hurt herself but I couldn’t just assume this.
“She’s threatening to kill herself again,” I said, looking down at Blaire and the disappointed look on her face. I was letting her down. I hated this. I wish we’d never come but then I also would never be able to forgive myself if something happened to Nan.
“Go on. It’s okay. She needs you so she’s acting out to get your attention,” Blaire replied. Her words made sense. She was probably right.
“We don’t know that she’s not really going to try something. I can’t just believe this is an empty threat.”
“I know that.”
“I’m all she has, Blaire,” I snapped, not meaning to. I wasn’t mad at Blaire. I was mad that she was so damn understanding and she didn’t have to be. I was mad that she kept being put on hold for my family. I hated that she just let me go every time without making me feel guilty. I hated all of this.
“I know,” she replied again. This time I could hear the hurt in her voice and I hated myself for putting it there.
“I’m sorry, I just—”
“You just need to go check on your sister. I understand,” Blaire finished for me. The hard tone in her voice worried me but we didn’t have time to deal with this right now. The longer I stood here the worse this was going to get. I’d make this up to her later today. I was also going to threaten to check Nan into a mental hospital until she stopped threatening to off herself. Then we were going back to Rosemary. I wanted my life back.
BLAIRE
Over the next few days things went from tense to bad to worse. Rush hardly stayed at the mansion. When he did it was short lived. Nan and Kiro always fought and she went off running. Rush was right behind her.
I knew this was the reason we had come here but I hadn’t expected this. Nan was really more of an immature child than I realized. Kiro was an ass. Harlow saw it and she dealt with it. She wasn’t storming around the house yelling about being unloved. She mostly stayed tucked away in her room and read. Every once in a while she would come outside with me when it was warm enough.
I missed Rush. I missed seeing him smile. He wasn’t doing much of that anymore. I had mentioned last night that maybe he needed to give Nan some room to pitch a fit and let her see that he wasn’t going to come running. See how she handled it. He’d gotten frustrated with me. “She’s threatening to kill herself, Blaire. I can’t ignore that. I don’t believe she’d do it either but I still can’t ignore it. Someone has to give a shit. That someone is me. No one else does.”
I hadn’t said anything more after that. He didn’t want to listen to me and I didn’t want him to snap at me. It was wearing on me. The whole situation was.
I was beginning to understand why Harlow hid away. Twice now I’d walked in on Kiro screwing some girl who looked my age. Not a mental picture I wanted. He just did it wherever he pleased. I’d learned to stay the heck away from the game room. That pool table was not used for pool.
A knock on my door broke into my thoughts and for once I was glad. I didn’t want to think about the distance between me and Rush right now. It made me tense. Harlow stuck her head in the room. “Want to go out to the pool with me? Dad isn’t home so no sexcapades are going on out there,” she said with a shy smile.
We had also walked out on Kiro naked in the pool with not one but two girls. That had been awkward. He’d laughed so loudly I was sure his neighbors could hear him. Instead of being embarrassed or ashamed of his behavior he thought it was hilarious.
“Sounds good. I’ll get on my swimsuit and meet you out there,” I told her. Harlow was the only good thing about this place. I was ready to go back to Rosemary and I was ready to have my Rush back instead of this angry uptight one that had taken his place. But I was going to miss Harlow.
I quickly changed into my swimsuit and pulled on my cover-up on before heading down to the pool. It was an elaborate piece of work. The waterfalls and water fountain in the middle were just the icing. The detail and thought that had been put into this pool made it truly look like something out of an exotic rainforest somewhere. It was soothing just to look at.
Harlow was sitting on a lounger reading from her ereader when I got down there. I took the seat beside her and stretched out my legs. Today was the warmest day we had had so far. It was eighty degrees. Crazy considering it was two days until December.
I started to ask Harlow about how they celebrated the holidays when something stopped me.
The cramping was back. I pulled my knees up and cradled my stomach trying real hard not to cry. I had wanted to tell Rush about this after the last time but before I’d had a chance he’d left with Nan again.
“Blaire? Are you okay?” Harlow asked from beside me.
“I’m not sure,” I replied honestly. A tear slipped through and I hated that she was about to see me like this. I wanted to go home.
Harlow moved over to sit on the edge of my lounger and studied me. “Are you hurting?” she asked.
I just nodded. Harlow frowned and glanced around. “Where is Rush?”
“Gone to check on Nan,” I replied as my stomach cramped up again and I winced.
Harlow stood up. “I don’t think pregnant women are supposed to wince and cry from pain. We need to go have you checked on. I can drive you to my doctor. He’s a real big fan of Daddy’s so he’ll see you without an appointment. I’ll call his office on our way.”
I didn’t want to be the one overreacting. So having Harlow do it for me made the decision easier. I nodded and let her take my hand and help me up. “I need to go change clothes first,” I said looking down at the swimsuit and cover up I had just put on.
“You go change and I will too. Then I’ll go pull my car around to the front entrance. I can call my doctor on our way.”