Return to the Darkness - Ripley Proserpina Page 0,45

one look at us and crossed his arms. “Reading her the riot act?”

Thorn nodded. They were ganging up on me.

Aaron strode toward the bed, lifting me away up until we were toe to toe. Then he kissed me. He kissed me desperately, like he thought he’d never kiss me again. A tremor ran through his body and his hands shook as he pushed my hair out of my face. “I can never explain how frightened I was. How frightened all of us were. There was literally no way to get to you.”

I felt about two inches tall. “I’m sorry.”

“She’s sorry.” He looked over my shoulder at Thorn. “She’s fucking sorry.”

“Hey!” I was willing to apologize, but geez. If this had been Colton or Oliver yelling at me, I’d have given it right back to them. But Aaron and Thorn were my steady guys. I cupped his face in my hands. “I am so, so sorry, Aaron. I never should have made a unilateral decision. But did it work? Is your dad back?”

Oliver came inside, took one look around the room and smiled. “I don’t even need to say a word, do I?”

“Nope.” I popped the p-“p”sound. It was unnecessary for anyone to make me feel more like an asshole. I stood on my tiptoes to kiss Aaron. “So? Did he? Did he come back?”

“My dad?” Oliver clarified. “Yeah. He’s back. Not as apologetic as you. Still feeling pretty certain of himself.”

Huffing a breath, I shook my head. “Get him over here. I’m going to enlighten him.”

Colton drove to pick up Mr. Chee, and he must have been speeding, because he was back within the hour. We gathered in the living room. I was barely awake, struggling against what had to be the worst case of jet lag in the history of time. My stomach was queasy, and my head pounded. Aaron brought me some tea and biscuits, and I sipped and ate. After their blow-up, the guys had settled right down. Whatever worry and anxiety they’d been holding on to had exploded just like their tempers.

I really was nauseated.

I swallowed.

“You okay?” Oliver side-eyed me, and I nodded. I had enough dignity—I hoped—to not puke in front of Ray. I wasn’t a big fan these days of either version of him, and the last thing I wanted was for him to see that I was vulnerable. If he was fine, I was fine.

“Ray.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “You screwed things up in a huge way.”

He shook his head. “Couldn’t have been too bad if you’re here. You found your way back.”

I poked him right in the shoulder. “Only because your own sons had to bully you into it. Oliver was a mess. Addicted to drugs, he went to jail for killing my cousin.”

Next to me, Oliver jerked. “What?”

I couldn’t stop to explain, although I would later. I pointed at Aaron. “He’s a wreck, taking care of Oliver, taking care of you and your wife—who is half drugged up all the time on prescription meds—smoking cigarettes. And no one is taking care of your grandson, who is somehow surviving despite the neglect.” By now I was full on shouting. If Aaron had a reaction, he didn’t indicate it, or I didn’t notice. “Thorn and Colton were miserable. Well, Colton was. I’m not really sure if Thorn is happy with his life or not. We hardly got to talk. But no one is happy or nearly as successful as they have been in this life. Or as healthy.” I really might never get over seeing Oliver that way. “So I’m sorry if you don’t like your relationship right now with your children. Get to fixing it here and stay the fuck out of destiny.”

Ray visibly swallowed. “He was on drugs. And…”

“Yes, all of it was true. He was so sick from it he had to take a hit just to function. I swear if you do one more thing to screw this up for all of us I will… I will think of something terrible to do to you and feed your body to pigs.”

Colton snorted, and then covered his mouth and nose with his hand. His eyes danced with amusement. That was good and fine, but I wasn’t joking. I really would arrange it so they never found Ray’s remains. Pigs were good for that kind of thing. My years as a PI had taught me quite a lot. I could actually dispose of a body and never get caught.