Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
But tonight wasn’t about sex. It was about talk and comfort, which she’d sensed Remy needed ever since getting the phone call about his father this morning.
She lifted the covers and crawled beneath. “Are you okay?” He’d been quiet since he’d gone in to visit his dad.
“Yeah. I’m just beat.”
She nodded. “Did you talk to your father or did you just sit with him?” she asked, turning to face him.
“Dad was worn out. I just sat by the bed and let him know I was there.”
Of course, she thought. Because after Fallon and Lizzie returned from their brief check, Aiden and Brooklyn had gone in to see Alex. There were many times today when Raven had gotten the sense there was something more than friendship going on between the two. Next was Dex and Jared, leaving Remy to go last, just as she’d predicted, and Alex, exhausted.
“You’re a good brother, letting everyone else go first to see your father.”
“I’m the oldest. I try and hold things together when shit goes bad,” he said, surprising her.
She tipped her head to the side. “Does shit go bad often? Or are you talking about after your mom died?” She knew she was pushing him but she sensed he needed to release the hurt, pain, and guilt resulting from his choices that night.
“She didn’t die, she was murdered,” he muttered.
Oh, he was in a mood and she was right. He blamed himself for deciding to go out with a girl instead of having dinner with his mother. And now he felt like his siblings should take precedence in visiting with their dad because guilt was a bitch, as she knew from Emily’s attack and her own resulting remorse.
She repositioned herself, curling her legs beneath her. “Remy.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Your rational self knows it’s not your fault. In the course of all your cases, how many people have you told the same thing?”
“Too many. And why are you psychoanalyzing me?” He pushed himself further back against the pillows and headboard.
“Because I think you’ll feel better after you get this poison out of your system. I also think nobody in the family realizes how deeply you still blame yourself. Let me ask you something. Do you think your father blames you?”
He gritted his teeth. “I don’t want to talk about this.”
She leaned up on her knees. “But we’re going to. Because you’re the best man I’ve ever met and I hate to see you punish yourself.”
He threw the covers off his waist and rose to his feet, grabbing for a pair of track pants that lay over the recliner.
“You can’t run from your problems, Remy.”
“Why the fuck not? You plan to,” he said as he put his second leg into the pants and settled them on his hips before walking out the door.
She blinked, her eyes filling with tears. He’d turned his anger and frustration on her and it hurt.
* * *
An hour after he’d stormed out of the bedroom after having a tantrum like a child, Remy stared at the screen on the computer in his office. He was unable to focus on anything and hadn’t accomplished one damn thing.
All he’d done was try to avoid the truth that Raven had hit on with accuracy. His guilt impacted his choices today. Oh, even without the remorse he felt for the night his mother died, he might have stepped back and allowed his siblings to go see his father first anyway. But he wouldn’t have had the pain in his chest and the fear that he was to blame.
Why had this come up now, though? Today should have been about his father’s health. When he let himself think about it, the answer was clear. If his dad died, they would have lost both parents and Remy felt he was to blame. He shook his head and groaned. No wonder he’d understood Lizzie’s feelings so well. But if she wasn’t at fault for her actions after his father’s heart attack, if she’d done the best she could, was he at fault for being a kid?
Damn. Maybe he should have listened to the therapist his father had forced all the kids to see during their grieving period for their mom. Instead, he’d sat mulishly silent, until the man had told Alex he was paying for nothing and he didn’t think he’d reach Remy at all. When his father asked Remy if he wanted to try another psychologist, he’d shaken his head. And that had been that.
Raven was smarter than he was, figuring him out in no time. And he’d treated her like shit.
“Dammit.” Knowing he needed to apologize, he pushed his chair back and rose to his feet. He started to walk out of his office only to run into Raven. She still wore his T-shirt, which he had to admit he found fucking hot. But he didn’t feel the same way about her red-rimmed eyes or the tear tracks on her pale skin.