Chapter 21
A loud rapping echoed.
Riley, still sleeping, heard it through the fog of slumber that surrounded her but dismissed it.
Knock-knock, it relentlessly sounded again.
She curled closer to Gray, unable to process what the noise was or what it meant. Still, it grew louder and more insistent, finally jolting Riley and Gray both out of sleep.
Riley lifted an eyelid and asked, in a groggy voice, “Is that… Is that someone at our door?”
Gray, barely able to open his eyes, nodded and rolled off the bed, calling out, “Hold on a minute, damn it!”
Riley managed to get to her feet on the floor and grabbed shorts and a t-shirt. She shrugged them on while Gray slid into shorts. “Who is it?” she whispered.
“I don’t know.” Gray walked toward the door with Riley right behind him, and peeked through the peephole. “Who the fuck is that?” he asked with a frown as he held his eye against the tiny lens on the door.
Riley nudged him away and peered out through the miniature fish bowl. As soon as she caught sight of their uninvited visitors, her heart stopped. She backed away from the door slowly, dread coiling up so heavily that she felt her knees buckle. “It’s th-them,” she stuttered, pale as a ghost.
“Them, who?”
“My parents, my mom and dad.”
Gray’s eyes widened to the diameter of saucers. “What?”
Riley fought for breath, and her head spun. What the hell are they doing there? “Oh crap! Those damn reporters,” she said in a whispered shriek. “My folks must’ve seen the news; someone probably realized who I was. Shit! What do we do?”
“Open the door,” Gray said, his jaw set at a grim angle.
She shook her head frantically.
The knocking started again.
Gray stared at her, his face honest and confused. “They aren’t gonna just go away, and it’s the middle of the night, Riley. We have to answer it.”
When he reached for the knob, she caught his hand then pressed herself against his body, her mouth meeting his in a fierce kiss. “I love you,” she whispered. “I do.”
“I love you, too,” he said, his eyes holding hers. “It’ll be okay, baby. I promise,” he assured her, then swung the door open.
Riley gaped at Clare and Richard Teeter, dressed as impeccably as always in their hand-tailored garb, with not a single hair out of place. It was barely three in the morning yet they both looked wide awake and ready for the day, fresh off their private jet at that insane hour.
“Dad, Mom… What a… uh…surprise. Please come in,” she stuttered. The stiffness in her voice gave away her fear as Gray stepped back, holding the door open.
Clare and Richard slowly walked into the dim room, their eyes taking in every detail. At that moment, Riley was quite relieved and grateful that she’d agreed to take a room at the resort. Of course it was not as posh as her parents would have liked, but it was a far cry better from the hotel room she’d argued for, the lodging Gray had refused to subject her to.
Her parents made their way to the living room area but refused to sit down.
“Can I make you some coffee?” Gray asked, switching on some lights.
That jolted Riley, as she was such a mess she’d not even considered being gracious. Her eyes went from one parent to the other, and she again wondered why they were there. She wasn’t sure she was ready to know, but she knew she was soon going to find out.
“No coffee,” Richard said sternly, “but I would appreciate it if we could be alone with our daughter.”
“He stays.” Her voice was faint, so Riley cleared her throat and tried again. “Whatever you have to say, Dad, you can say it with Gray here.”
Clare’s face darkened. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put us through?”
“No, Mom. I’m so sorry that, in the middle of everything, I didn’t take time to make sure you were okay. That you were managing alright. I’m fine, by the way, and thanks for asking.” That snarky retort came out on a rush of bitterness she could not stall or halt. “That’s why you’re here, right? To let me know that I made a media mess for you and your PR people to clean up?”
“No, young lady, we’re here to take you home,” Richard snapped. “It’s very clear you cannot or will not behave in a responsible manner without supervision. You were nearly killed and, furthermore, you’ve been irresponsibly ignoring some very pressing engagements and obligations.”
Her temper flared, and this time she didn’t bother to try to smother it in their presence. “I’ve not been ignoring any pressing engagements, Dad, unless you mean the one you want me to accept. That idiot will never be my husband, Dad. I despise him. I’ve never even agreed to go on a date with him, and I won’t.” She caught that Gray’s eyebrows rose and figured she’d have to explain it later. “And if you’re talking about press ops and photo shoots or just more opportunities to trot me around like a prize poodle in a dog show, just to prove what awesome parents you are, you’re just going to have to forget about that, too. I’m tired of the dog-and-pony show, Dad, and I won’t be part of it anymore. I’m done pretending we’re one great big happy family. As for responsibilities and obligations, if you’re referring to work, let me inform you that running my own trust is not a real job at all, and I’ve already got a firm grip on that whole situation, thank you very much.”
Her mother, stunned, actually took a step back. Disapproval radiated from both of them, a chill Riley could actually feel.
Gray stepped up behind Riley and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Mr. and Mrs. Teeter, what happened on the boat was my fault. I didn’t check the weather reports. It was an idiotic thing to do, and it could’ve gotten us both killed. I know, as her parents, that it frightened and upset you and I’m sorry for that, but you need to know that if anyone was irresponsible here, it was me, not Riley.”
Her father snarled and looked very disapprovingly at Gray’s hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “It’s obvious, young man, that you’re to blame for this whole mess. However, what I meant was—”
“The hell he is!” Riley interrupted, her ire higher than it had ever been in her life. “Nobody is to blame for what I did, not even me. I’m 22, an adult, legally and otherwise, and I’ve not done anything terrible. I’m just living my life, the way I want. Why is that such an awful thing? Why do you take such issue with me making my own decisions about what I want to do and who I want to be with and where I want to be? You two may not like it, but I have the right to live my own life.”
“What has gotten into you, Riley?” her mother asked, looking as if someone had just shot her in the chest.
“Reality, Mom. Maybe I knew all this before and just didn’t know how to tell you, or maybe I was scared to say so, but I won’t apologize for realizing I have the right to my own life, to live it the way I want. That’s not Gray’s fault or anyone else’s because there’s nothing wrong with it. I won’t say I’m sorry, because there’s nothing to be sorry for…except that I put up with your pushy, manipulative bullshit for far too long!”
Her mother paled at the sound of a curse word leaving her daughter’s lips. One hand went to her perfectly-coiffed blonde hair. “Do you hear yourself? I knew we should have kept you away from that Lorna and Megan, those foul-mouthed party girls. You’re starting to sound just like them: insubordinate and disrespectful and—”
“Insubordinate? Gee, Mom, what are you, a drill sergeant? All along you’ve been afraid I might someday recognize that I’m my own person, that I might take off and choose something different from all the things you have planned for me.”
Her father snorted. “Don’t talk to your mother that way! What we’ve chosen for you is the best possible way, Riley!”
Riley shook her head. Her hair, mussed and rumpled, swung around her face. “Maybe in your eyes, but that’s the problem. It has to be best for me, Dad. You only made those decisions based on what you want for me and from me. You never took the time to ask me what I want for my life. Do you even care at all? I am not just your hired help!”
Her mother’s hand dropped from her hair to her mouth. “Of course we care! You have a perfect life. How can you be so ungrateful, so spiteful, after all we’ve given you?”
“Perfect for whom? You?” Riley barked, but she was fighting a losing battle and she knew it. They had never and would never see things her way, and she was beating the proverbial dead horse. They were trying to raise her the same way they were brought up, and as far as they were concerned she was supposed to be as happy about that as they were. Then again, maybe they were more content than happy. Still, until she met Grayson on that beach and began to take control of her life, she’d never known what either of those things meant. Now she did and she had no intention of ever going back to living the way she had before, whether her parents liked it or not.
“Riley, you’re being foolish, just showing off, and it’s time for you to stop this now.” Her father’s voice held dire consequences in its tone, and she knew it, but there was little they could really do to her other than anger and humiliate her, which they’d already accomplished jut by showing up at the resort. They’d spent years withholding their love and affection from her, and now she was an adult whether they liked it or not.
“No, I’m not stopping anything, Dad. From now on I’m gonna do exactly what I want to do.”
“Who do you think you are?” Her father shook his head, his eyes wide.
Riley continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “I’m going to live my life, away from you. I’m taking control of my trust, not just as a job, helping a board to run it. I never appointed or asked for that board, and you had no legal right to appoint them over my money, not that you seem to care about legal rights—which is funny, considering you’re supposed to be an upstanding politician. Disband the board immediately, because they’re pointless. I’m a legal adult, over 18, with my own ideas. I know what I want, and if you don’t back off and leave me to live my life, a real life of my own choosing…If you get your overpaid, slimy attorneys to try to find some legal loophole to try to keep me from my trust, rest assured it will be fodder for the public you’re always trying to impress. I will drag you through every court in this country in a brutal legal battle if I have to, and I’ll make sure the whole thing is nicely slanted everywhere from Facebook to the damn penny savers at the supermarkets. You’re running for public office, Dad, and I know John Q. Public’s opinion has always been far more important to you than my happiness. Don’t make me use that against you.”
Holy shit, Riley thought as she realized she was actually threatening her very powerful, influential, wealthy parents. It sucked, and she hated it, because deep down she still loved them as her mommy and daddy, despicable as they were sometimes. It made her feel queasy and slightly dirty, but it was a necessary evil. She had to beat them at their own stupid game, even though she had never wanted to play it. Riley was sorely aware that if she didn’t show a little backbone now, she would be doomed to live a miserable life under their unforgiving thumbs, and she’d already wasted 22 years doing that already.
“How dare you speak to us like that? We’re your parents!” Her mother stared at her and shook her head. “What happened to you down here?” She glared at Grayson. “You did this, didn’t you?”
Riley moved in front of him before Gray could answer. “I’m not a child anymore, Mother. I stopped being a child a long time ago, something else you took from me when you started using me as an ad campaign. You might like to think I never grew up, but the truth is you forced me to grow up a long damn time ago.”
“This is all his doing,” Clare said in a shaky voice, darting her eyes accusingly at Gray.
“With all due respect, ma’am, I promise you that it was not me who turned Riley into an adult. It was just…time and physiology.”
There was an undercurrent of laughter in his voice that made Riley want to laugh, too, but she knew better. The confrontation was not over, not by a long shot, and she would have to be a fool to think it was. She held her hands up, a gesture intended to calm the situation. “Mom, Dad, I really am sorry if you saw that news report and were worried about me. I want to believe that’s why you’re really here, because you thought your daughter was in danger. I’m sure it has far more to do with public image, but I’m going to tell myself you were actually scared for me and that my mommy and daddy rushed down here to make sure I’m okay. I have to tell myself that, as untrue as it may be. I do love you, and you’re welcome to stay for a few days, but you need to know that I’m not ready to go back to New York now, and I don’t know if I ever will be.”
Clare blinked. “How can you even say that?”
“There are things I want to do here.”
“You mean him?” Clare said, glaring at her daughter with a look on her face that resembled that of someone who was about to vomit. “You’re wasting your time on this…garbage,” she spat. “His father’s business is tanked. Did he tell you that? The fool hired a money manager who robbed them blind, and now they’re up to their eyeballs in debt, stupidly trying to build another one of these roach motels they call a resort.” She glanced around the room and wrinkled her brow in disgust, her nose scrunching up as if she smelled something horrible. “This place is obviously sliding into serious decline because all the money is tied up on the other one. The man is dead broke, and this little gigolo of yours is just using you, trying to save his father’s sinking ship.”
Gray, obviously pissed, interrupted, “She knew to some degree, and I was going to tell her everything, but thanks for filling her in for me. In fact, I was gonna talk to her about all that later today but you just saved me the trouble.”
Equally angry, Riley cleared her throat and asked, “Do we need to get you two a room, or perhaps this place is not luxurious enough for you?”
Richard held up a hand, and his eyes searched her face. “I don’t agree with any of the decisions you’re clinging to, Riley. I won’t fight you over your trust, as we have no legal recourse, nor is there any reason for it, but I highly—and I do mean highly—advise you to keep the board. They are very skilled and knowledgeable about these things, and they have a system of checks and balances in place to make sure you don’t get shafted like this boy’s father did.”
Gray clearly didn’t like being referred to as a mere boy, nor did he appreciate their insulting and condescending remarks about his father and their family business. He sighed as he fought to control his emotions. “He’s right, Riley. Nothing sucks worse than finding out that someone you trusted with everything just took it and ran for the hills.”
Richard glared at him. “This is family business, son. With all due respect, considering how yours has been handled, I’d rather tend to this ourselves without your input.”
Gray shot back, “Then don’t talk about it in front of me.”
“You know what they say about opinions,” Clare interjected.
“Yes, they’re like assholes, and you two are obviously a couple of big ones!” Gray shouted, no longer able to contain himself.
The testosterone was so thick Riley could smell it on the air. “Whoa! Calm down, everybody,” she said, though she had to stifle another laugh at Gray’s remark. “Look, Dad, I’ll be happy to sit down and discuss all that with you, but I’m telling you now that I will no longer just be pulled by you two. You have to see that I can’t live like this. I just can’t.”
“We’re not leaving here without you, young lady,” her mother declared.
Riley stared her down. “Then you’d better be prepared to wait this out…and miss many of your precious engagements and obligations back home while you do.”
Her father sighed. “Listen, dear,” he said, glancing over at his disgruntled wife, “as long as she’s here, relatively out of the spotlight, and pending no more at-sea near-disasters, not causing any trouble or making the papers again, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Riley wanted to believe her father really cared, but she could see the wheels already turning in his head. She knew he would shamelessly milk her near-death experience on the Maggie for all it was worth. He was already trying to work out the angles, hoping for pity votes. It was written all over his face.
Her mother glowered at her husband. “Are you insane, Richard? We already know she can’t be trusted to act as we’ve taught her to behave!”
“I swear, Mom, if you try to haul me off I’ll show my ass, good and proper. You want to talk about making the paper? Rest assured you’ll be in the damn headlines from here to Timbuktu! Just a few tweets and posts from me, maybe a call to a local reporter who’s looking for his big scoop, and I can easily make sure you get the worst press of your entire life. Then you’ll wish I was simply doing what I’m doing right now, which is simply telling you I’m a grown woman, with her own life that she intends to live the way she wants…and with whom she wants.”
Her father’s eyes narrowed. “You’re going too far, Riley.”
“Maybe, or maybe I should’ve gone much farther much sooner,” she retorted. Deep down, she knew there was no maybe about it. It would have made her life so much simpler if she’d have stood up to her parents long ago, if she had been brave enough to call a halt to so many things. Damn, why’d it take me so long to grow a pair? she questioned herself. She had always been too fearful to be on her own, but something about Gray being right beside her had freed her from all that. She was no longer alone, and she was ready to claim her life as her own.
“This is getting out of hand.” Her father stepped forward and turned to his wife. “We’ve flown out here, worried sick about our daughter when she was just busy with… him.” He shook his head. “We should go. We can discuss this properly in the morning, or later, after we’ve had some time to clear our heads,” Richard said, putting one hand on his wife’s arm, a subtle warning not to defy him in that moment.
Clare kept her head high and spouted, “Riley, this will not end well for you. You must know that. This…riffraff is little more than a two-bit hustler, and you’re letting him play you like a fiddle.”
There was plenty Riley wanted to say to that, in defense of the young man she’d come to love, but she didn’t say a word. In fact, no one said anything more. The only noise in the room was the door slamming behind her folks.
For a long moment after they took their leave, Riley stood there shaken and a little scared, but elated at the same time.
“Riley, you okay?” Gray asked, trepidation in his voice.
She turned to face him and buried her face into his chest. “Never better…and thanks for asking. My mom and dad should take a lesson or two from the riffraff, I guess,” she said with a smirk.
He chuckled and stroked her hair. “I’m glad to hear you’ve still got your sense of humor.” He yawned. “Maybe we should just go back to bed and get some rest. We can talk about all this tomorrow, after you’ve gotten some sleep and can think more clearly.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, looking up at him in disbelief, as it sounded like he thought she’d just royally fucked up.
His breath lifted his chest and her head, and his sexy voice was low and thick with weariness. “Obviously not what you think it means,” he defended. “It’s just that I know you’re exhausted. Shit, I’m exhausted. We both need sleep.” He sighed. “You now know how broke I am. Your father’s right about that, and about my family. There’s a lot of stuff. But I don’t have money. You run from your family and I have nothing. There’s that, and it doesn’t look like that’s gonna change anytime soon.”
Don’t count on it, my sexy little hustler, Riley mused as the two of them crawled under the covers, but she knew it wasn’t the right time to say so. In spite of her allegedly foggy head she had a brilliant idea, one her parents would despise but also one that might just change everything for both of them.