Chapter Fourteen
The last two days have been horribly stressful. When Riker got home the same day Greg questioned all of us we got into a massive fight. And when I say massive I mean throwing things, screaming at each other, and threatening to break things off. He confessed to knowing more than I thought he did. Greg has been keeping him updated sometime three to four times a day. He claims that me knowing every little detail about my case will only upset me. He just doesn’t get that keeping me in the dark, and me finding out he’s lied to me upsets me even more.
I begged him to try and look at it from my point of view. I tried to stay as calm as I could but he pulled a caveman attitude on me and said he knew what was best and that I should just trust him to take care of me. It was the straw that broke the camels back. I didn’t need someone to take care of me. I was fine on my own before him and if needed I would be fine without him. I didn’t want to lose him but having a man tell you he basically wants to rule your life doesn’t work for me.
The fight got so bad that while Riker was in the shower I called Demon to come get me and take me to my parent’s house. Riker was pissed when he found me gone but I stood my ground and stayed at my parents that night. The next day he was there before the sun came up. My mother had no problem letting him not only into the house but into my room. She has been on team Riker since the day she found out about him.
Riker promised me, repeatedly, that he would no longer keep things from me. I want to believe him, but I think his need to keep me safe and happy will always trump his need to be honest with me. I know he is not doing it to truly hurt me but at the same time it does hurt. We’ve been walking on eggshells around each other ever since I came back. It’s awkward, and I don’t like it.
Erik called last night to tell me that we could go back into my office today. The girls and I decided to come in around nine, do a quick walk through, clean up what needed cleaning, then get back on track with our orders. But when I woke up at five this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep I decided to go in early.
Riker tried to talk me out of it, even tried to take me out to breakfast but I just wanted to get back to my office, back to my work. All this shit going on has taken me away from what I love. I love making jewelry. I love coming up with new designs. But lately I’ve been too busy to get anything new done.
Not anymore, today that changes. I’m going to talk to Gigi about taking over both the books and the payroll. I’m going to show Missy how to do the ordering, so she can help me with it, and I’m going to turn all the website work over to her. I’ll still be checking on what they’re doing but I need to get back to what I’ve always loved about my business, the jewelry.
Riker insisted on coming with Demon and me to the office. Really, I think he just wants to see for himself that everything is ok and that nothing new has been left for me.
When I finally open the door to my office I’m surprised to see everything is spotless. Even when we do our Saturday cleaning days this office has never been this clean. I slow start walking around like I’m in a foreign land.
“Who cleaned this place?” Demon asks from behind me, making me jump.
“Greg sent over a crew after Erik’s people left.” Riker answers him.
“Why?” I ask, still walking around my super clean office.
“Because he wanted you to be able to come back to work with one less worry. And before you say anything about me keeping this from you, Greg asked me too because he wanted it to be a surprise.” Riker says, I don’t even have to look I know he’s smirking.
“Demon, remind me to call and thank Greg later today. You know once his annoying brother leaves.” Demon laughs at me teasing Riker but Riker didn’t find it so funny. I hear a loud growl right before I’m picked up and spun around.
We are both out of breath when he finally stops. He steadies me with his hands on my hips once he sets my feet back on the ground. I wrap my arms around his neck and smile up at him. He leans down, resting his forehead on mine. We are grinning like silly kids at each other.
Right then I feel a sense of peace wash over me. This wonderful feeling of everything is right, right at this moment. Right here with Riker, everything just feels perfect. Then it fully hits me, I’m in love this man. I’m in love with Riker Deeks.
“Riker Deeks is in love with you too.” He whispers softly.
“I really need to work on not saying what I’m thinking.” I mumble to myself. Wait did he just say he loves me too? “You love me?”
“Yes, I love you Darcy.” Riker starts to kiss me but I pull back.
“Are you sure? I mean this could just be the honeymoon stage or just the excitement of the moment.” I’m sure he can hear the worry in my voice.
“I’ve known for a while now that I loved you. I just didn’t want to scare you by saying it too soon. We haven’t really had a normal start to our relationship but I knew that night at Cali’s that you were it for me.” He brushes the tips of his fingers down the side of cheek. “The ‘honeymoon’ stage will come after the ‘I do’ stage, which comes after the ‘you saying yes’ stage.” My heart stops. He can tell I’m about to freak out because he says. “Don’t worry we aren’t ready for those stages yet. But one day we will be.”
“That’s a lot to take in.” I tell him honestly. “I mean I do love you, I wasn’t lying when I said that, even though I didn’t know I was saying that out loud. And you’re right, we didn’t have a normal start to our relationship. That’s what I’m worried about. What if after all this is over, after Bradley is caught or killed, and everything settles back down, what if you see that I’m not really what you want? You’ve taken on the roll of protector, but what happens when I don’t need protected anymore?” I lay my head on his chest, not wanting to look in his eyes as I ask the questions that have haunted me.
“When Bradley is dealt with, whether caught or killed, we will start our own normal. We will have days where we fight, we will have days where we play hooky and call in sick because we don’t want to be apart from each other. Then rest of the days we’ll be like any other couple. We’ll go to work, come home, I’ll cook, and we’ll just be us. You won’t always need protecting, but I’ll always be your protector. I’ll protect your heart, body, mind, and spirit.” His words bring me to tears. I can’t stop them, so I just let them fall.
When I hear sniffles, I turn to see all my friends standing behind me crying. At least I’m not the only one Riker made cry. I can’t help but laugh through my tears as I watch all of them wipe their eyes.
“If you don’t marry him soon I’m gonna fight you for him.” Gigi says causing us all of them to bust out laughing.
“I don’t think Greg would like that.” Porsha says to her. Wait what?
Gigi punches her sister and before I can ask what that was about Riker pulls me back to him and kisses me silly.
“I hate that I have to go to work.” He complains after he releases my now bruised lips. “I’ll pick up something special for dinner. See you at home, love.” With one last kiss he makes his way through my crazy friends who are both awing and hooting at us.
Trying to get the spot light off of me I tell them that Greg had the office clean for us so we didn’t need to do anything but jump right back into our projects. I asked to speak to Gigi and Missy for a few minutes in that back. They both followed me to the back office.
“I need help.” I tell them. “Gigi, I know you are good at making jewelry but you’re better at the books. I also need you to take over the payroll. I want to get back to doing what I love, designing and making the jewelry. I’ll put you on as full time but you would be our office manager, and would no longer be working on the jewelry. Is that ok?”
“Hell, yeah.” She cheers. “Those pliers were causing blisters on my hands.” She shows me her ruffed-up hands. My hands have a thick layer of hard skin from using my tools so much over the years that I don’t get those blisters anymore. But oh, I remember them well. They can be very painful.
“Sis, you already do the promotions, but I need you to take over the website work too. Also, I’ll be showing you how to do some of the ordering, so you can help me out there too. I’ll continue doing the order sheets each morning, but I need you two to take the rest off my plate, so I can relax a little more. Is that ok?”
“I’m so proud of you Darcy.” Missy walks over and hugs me. “I’ve been begging you for a year now I let us help you. So of course, I’m happy to do whatever you need me too.”
“Me too,” Gigi says. “moving back here was a hard decision for Porsha and I. But getting to be here for mom, and getting to work with y’all again, it shows we made the right choice coming home.”
None of us knew the real reason Gigi and Porsha moved back home until last week. Heather’s aunt, Gigi and Porsha’s mom, was diagnosed with breast cancer. The doctors are doing all they can, but nothing is helping.
Missy and Gigi worked with me for the next few hours. I showed them everything I needed them to do. When they kicked me out of the back office claiming it to be their space now I couldn’t help but laugh at them. They even made me move my laptop to my jewelry desk.
Before I start on my work I pulled Porsha aside and offered her the choice of staying part time or working full time for us. Gigi taking over the office work meant we were losing a worker out here. But if Porsha would move to full time we shouldn’t have to hire anyone else just yet. She would still be making multiples of our current designs, but I could have some of the others help her out when they were between projects. Porsha gladly agreed to switch to full time and was thrilled Gigi was going be the new office manager.
During lunch both Heather and Kristy showed me two new sets of earrings they had made while we were all out of the office. Most of us had our own supplies at home and would play around when we felt like it. Both sets were really beautiful, and I had Missy photograph them and upload them to the website, making sure to put Heather and Kristy’s name as designer on each piece. I’ll never take credit for work that isn’t mine. All of the girls have designer credits on our site.
The day passed quickly and before I knew it I had six new necklaces sketched out and one bracelet already put together. When I saw that it was just after six I knew Riker would be home, probably cooking dinner. He has never once complained about my long hours at work. He’s told me many times that he loves how passionate I am about my work.
Everyone is a little shocked when I told Demon I was ready to go. Most of us don’t even start packing up until around seven but I’m ready to go home and see Riker. Missy was the first to tease me about this. Saying I was rushing home to get some loving. Yeah, that’s not in the cards anytime soon but I can’t lie and say I’m not looking forward to one day being with him that way. But that day is still along way out.
As soon as I walk in the door a mouth watering aroma hits me. Whatever he is cooking smells heavenly.
“Riker, I’m home.” I call out to him.
“I’m in the kitchen. Paul’s here too.” I’m a little crushed that his brother is here. I was hoping it would just be us tonight. I try not to show my disappointment as I walk into the kitchen.
Riker is at the stove stirring something that looks like a stew. Paul is slicing what looks to be homemade bread. But there’s another man with them. One I’ve never met before.
He looks like one of those badass bikers you see on TV. Tight black t-shirt, black jeans, black boots, his hair is clean on the side but long and flopped over on the top. His eyes are steel grey. His whole persona screams ‘I’m a badass’ but yet I don’t get a scary vibe from him.
“Darcy?” I hear Riker from beside me. “You ok?” I nod but can’t take my eyes off of this mystery guy. “That’s Easton. He’s going to be one of your new bodyguards.” Riker tells me.
“What about Demon?” I ask, still not looking away from Easton.
“He’ll still be your main guard, but I’ll take over when he needs a break.” Easton explains. His voice is so low and deep is almost chilling. He pushes away from the counter top and walks over to me. “It’s nice to meet you Darcy. Riker and Greg have caught me up on everything that has been going on. You have my word I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe when you’re with me.”
“Thank you.” I mutter. “Hope they were more for coming with you then they have been with me.” I send Riker and playful glare.
“Don’t start.” Riker growls. “Paul made one of your favorites. Venison stew with homemade sourdough bread.”
“Paul you are my hero. That sounds amazing.” I thank him as I go over to the stove to taste the stew. It’s as good as I remember. Paul brought this to us at the cabin and I fell in love with it. Venison, or deer meat, is a staple around here. All wild game is.
“It’s no big deal. The boss lady is having one of her bitch fits and we can no longer serve it at the restaurant unless the meat is from a distributor. Locals have been bringing us meat for years and all of a sudden she wants to put a stop to it. We pay half of what we would to any distributor, but something crawled up her ass and now half our menu has to be redone.” I’m shocked not only by his words but by his tone. Granted I’ve only been around Paul a handful of times, but he has always been so laid back. Right now, he is fuming mad. His boss has really pissed him off.
“It will come back to bite her in the ass bro, don’t worry about it. After a few weeks of low sales and high ordering costs she’ll see the light.” Riker reassures his brother.
“Well, if she doesn’t get off my back soon she’ll be looking for a new head chef.” Paul sighs has he cuts the last piece of bread. “Greg’s been trying to talk me into opening my own place. Problem is I prefer to be in the kitchen. I don’t want to deal with the paperwork and all the headaches that come along with it.”
“I told you to call Luke. You two would be perfect partners.” Riker says.
“Luke? But he’s a UPS driver.” I ask as Riker smirks at me.
“Yeah, he is, but the guy has a master’s in business management, and a BA in public relations. He started working for UPS in college and after graduating he just never looked for another job. His degrees are going to waste.”
“Wow, that’s awful.” I look over at Paul. “If your boss is such a pain then maybe you should call Luke.”
Paul mumbles that he’d think about it but I’m not sure he actually will. I hate that he’s unhappy at his job right now. He’s such a sweet guy. I wish there was something I could do to help him.
We asked Easton to stay and eat with us, but he said he had some things he needed to get done tonight. Paul didn’t stay for dinner either, he claimed he had plans, but I could tell he was just leaving so Riker and I could be alone.
All through dinner we kept the conversation light. It wasn’t until after we were curled up on the couch getting ready to watch some TV that Riker brought up what happened this morning.
“I hope you know I was serious about what I said today.” He tells me.
I don’t even pretend to act like I don’t know what he is talking about. “I know you were, I was too.” I look him in the eyes. “I do love you Riker, but there are going to be things between us that we are going to have to take very slowly.” Taking a deep breath, I decide not to hold back my fears from him. “After what Bradley did to me, even though I don’t remember it, I stopped wanting to be with a man sexually. Before that I had been with a few guys, one-night stands, but I always hated myself the next day. If you want the full truth, I’ve only gone out with three guys, and they got one date each. I just didn’t connect with any of them. Then Bradley happened, and I shoved all men aside. I focused on my business and didn’t waste time looking for a guy who wouldn’t understand that having sex would be hard for me. Just the shear thought of being that intimate with a man scares me to death. Please know that with you its different.” I try to assure him. “The want is there, the feelings are there, but the fear is there also. Whether that will go away or not I don’t know. But please know that it has nothing to do with how I feel for you because I know I do love you, but sex may take some time.”
I don’t know how I expected him to react, but smile was not at the top of the list. But that’s what he does, he gives me a breathtakingly beautiful smile. Without words he tells me how he feels. As he deeply kisses me his hands roam all over me. From my hair to my arms to my hips. Touching me in areas that shouldn’t be arousing but his gentle touch is setting me on fire.
Minutes, hours, or even days could have gone by and his kiss wouldn’t have been long enough. When he pulls back I don’t even try to hide my pout.
“When I told you, I loved you it had nothing to do with sex.” I give him a questioning look. “Oh, trust me I would love nothing more than to have you under me. For me to show you in the most primal way how much you’re mine and I’m yours. But I knew as soon as I found out what that asshole did to you that sex wasn’t in the cards for us, just yet. One day, we’ll get there. But for now, us being us is all I need.”
For the second time today, I melt at his words. I was wrong about him in everyway. He’s proven to me bullies can change and people can grow up. No more words are needed tonight. I cuddle closer to him and lay my head on his chest. He turned on the Game Show Network and we watched reruns of Family Feud. I lasted only three episodes before I fell asleep on top of Riker.