Chapter Thirteen

Richard

I was on my way to see Rachael. We spent the weekend together again, but it wasn’t enough, by the time she stepped onto the train Monday morning, I was desperate to see her again. The last five days had been torturous.

I was off for the holiday and not returning until after the new year. It wasn’t the wisest thing to do, but I already had more clients than I could handle. And since I had plans for Rachael and I that didn’t include me working eighty hours a week, I needed to get a small staff.

Cindy was pushing my limits as it was. She didn’t push the envelope, but she was testing my patience. Since she was a stellar employee, I couldn’t just fire her, but if she pushed it any more, I would.

I told Rachael’s father that come the new year, he’d better be ready to give her away. I wasn’t in the least bit playing and Mrs. Carrigan and Claire were with me. They had been perfect little spies and planners. Everything depended on the answer to the question I had to ask. I wasn’t waiting for Christmas morning. Christmas Eve would be good enough. I couldn’t wait a day longer.

When I pulled up to the house, the lights were bright, and a group of carolers was singing for the family. I stood behind them and listened, while making suggestive looks at my Rachael. I knew it was wrong. Her father caught one of them and scowled at me. The carolers had missed the exchange, thankfully. As soon as they were done, I stepped around them and into the house, taking Rachael by the hand and pulling her out of sight of her parents and the carolers.

“I missed you,” I said, kissing her breathless.

“Same here, Mr. Kane,” she murmured. I couldn’t wait a moment longer than it took to take off my gloves. I stuck my hand in my pocket and pulled out the little box. Dropping to one knee, I looked up at the love of my life and said, “Rachael Elizabeth Carrigan, I love you. I’ve loved you from the first moment we met. These two weeks have been amazing and, I promise, only a forecast to what the future will bring. Please marry me.”

Her head nodded vigorously, tears falling from her green eyes. “Yes, totally yes.”

“You couldn’t even wait until tomorrow,” Claire said, snapping a picture.

“And you couldn’t wait until we were done,” I muttered, giving her the stink eye. She was a big pain in the ass who needed to get her own man soon.

“Hey, big bro, I was just trying to keep it clean in here,” she joked with me.

I ignored her and focused on my future wife, then I slipped the ring on her finger, knowing it was a perfect fit. “Holy shit, you can’t be serious. This thing weighs more than my hand.”

“You don’t like it? I can exchange it and give you a different one.” I felt like a dick, throwing my money around. I knew she wouldn’t be impressed by it, but I was proud of being able to do so.

“Absolutely not. I love it. It’s just expensive.”

“Don’t worry about the cost. You deserve the best of everything, Rachael,” I reminded her.

“I love you, Richard.” She threw herself into my arms, kissing me in front of her family as if they weren’t there.

We separated long enough for the women to hug her while Mr. Carrigan gave me a strong handshake and pulled me in for a hug.

That was when Teddy walked in. “What the hell is going on here?”

“Richard and I are getting married,” Rachael answered cheerfully.

“I told you being a hoe would get you a rich man. You went after him within hours. You’re a lucky bi…” He didn’t get to say another word because my hand was around his throat. I lifted his scrawny ass off the ground.

“What the fuck did you just say?” I asked, ready to bury him. He was lucky the carolers were gone. I had a perfect idea to deal with his ass. I let him go, making him hit the ground. Then I dragged his ass to the front door, opened it, and marched his ass to a large pile of snow. “Listen, you little prick. You’ve been given the best life possible and this is how you repay your family. You’re high on coke right now, but I warn you, don’t try and be a superhero because I’ve dealt with people like you all my life. Now sober up.” I pushed him down, pressing his face into the white snow. I smashed it in, then let him up.

“Are you sober yet?”

“Fuck you, you’re going to pay for this.”

“I guess not,” I said, pressing his face back in. I could hear him mutter something through the snow.

“I’m sorry. Shit, stop already,” he breathed out. I let him up and brought him back toward his family. Claire brought down some towels.

“This is how you deal with a user,” I told Mr. Carrigan. “I won’t have Rachael’s life miserable because her brother refuses to listen to you.”

“Dad, aren’t you going to do anything?”

“No, he’s not,” Mrs. Carrigan piped up. “You’ve had too many chances, Teddy. We love you, but Richard’s right. You have been spoiled and you have two options. Get help or get out.” Everyone around was staring at the woman who had loved her son too much to see him hurt, but she saw the pain in Rachael’s eyes and that was enough.

“I’m sorry. I need help. I know that.”

“Take off your coat and stuff. Where’s the stash?”

“In my coat pocket.” I carefully removed them.

“We’ll be down shortly.” I took him up to his room. He and I needed to have some private words.

“Teddy, I don’t know who got you into this bad habit, but it’s not worth it.”

“I don’t remember when I started using. I want to stop. It’s just hard.”

“Look, I’m serious when I say this. You’d be sitting in jail right now for smashing my car and falsifying your information. You’re not because of your sister. She didn’t tell me to keep you out of jail, but I knew she wouldn’t like it. She’s going to be my wife and anything that makes her unhappy makes me unhappy. I’m going to send you to a treatment place starting the 26th. I already called yesterday. I’m planning to marry your sister in a month. I’ll stall it long enough to prove that you can come back and be my best man.”

“Best man?”

“I don’t have any close friends, Teddy. Prove me right about you. I know you want to please your father, but the drugs have your head locked up in perpetual oblivion.”

“I do. I’m just not strong enough.”

“Let me ask you this. How did you feel when your mother said that?”

“It hurt more than anything you did to me.”

“Well, you’ve been hurting her like this for a long time. She loves you, but she let you get away with it for so long, she didn’t know how to fix you. Do what you got to do and you can go far in life. So, where’s the rest of it in here.”

“In the closet, top shelf.” I went in there and took out a box of drugs. Damn, this guy was into heroin, too. He needed to get help fast as hell. Not everyone was fixable, but I hoped he could be.

I held the box in my arms as I reached his door to leave, I gave him a warning that dinner was supposed to be done in fifteen minutes. He should get dressed and be down there. Regardless, his family loved him. I stepped out of the room to a crowd of Carrigans.

“Destroy this.”

“Mrs. Carrigan,” I said, taking her to the side and continued, “I’m sorry. I know that was hard for you, for you all. But it had to be done. As a future member of this family, I couldn’t let it continue.” She hugged me hard, crying in my arms. Mr. Carrigan reached for his wife and pulled her into his arms while holding the box. He gave me a nod and walked them down.

“Um, I’ll just leave you two alone,” Claire said, following her parents down the stairs. Rachael took my hand and led me to a room down the hall. Opening it up, she pushed me in and then slammed it shut, locking it. Her eyes were wild, and I wasn’t sure how she was going to react, but she threw herself into my arms.

“I love you, Richard. More than I can say. I hoped you didn’t believe what he said,” she asked. I could see that she was worried. Like I would take the word of a junkie over this amazingly sweet woman.

“Baby, I remember the first time I spoke to you and you were pissed on the phone. Did you have that conversation with him then?”

“Yes, he pissed me off and I was totally rude on the phone.”

“Now it makes sense, but now that I’ve got you alone for a few minutes in your room. I don’t want to talk.” I pulled her to the bed, trapping her with my body, firmly grinding my cock into her pussy. She moaned into my mouth, kissing me feverishly. We were getting heated when someone knocked.

“You’re going to be late to dinner.” It was Teddy. I had hope for him, even if I was going to kill him for interrupting me with his sister.