Hothouse Flower (21 page)

He dresses me, helping me step into them. And once the soft
cotton touches my hips, he puts the shirt on over my head and lets me step into
my shorts. He’s taking care of me to a new degree. It makes me feel more than
just loved. I feel like I’m truly his.

I hold onto the back of his neck while he zips my shorts,
his body so close to mine again. He fishes the button through the hole, tension
constricting his muscles. My breath is ragged. How is this possible? I
just
orgasmed
.

I look up at him as he finishes. “I guess that answers my
question.”

“What question?”

“Before, I was going to ask you if this was it for us.”

He frowns. “What are you fucking talking about?”
 

I don’t back down to the darkness in his features. I cling
to every dangerous quality he possesses. “I just thought you’d want to go back
to being just friends after what happened with my face.”

His confusion turns into a hard glare. “I’m not with you
because you’re a fucking model.”

“I know.”

“Clearly you didn’t.”

“I do now.”

He’s not happy with that answer. “I didn’t think I was going
to have to spell it out for you, Calloway.”

“Now I’m confused.”

He shakes his head. “I’ve never met a fucking girl that I
wanted to stick around for longer than a month, and then I became friends with
you—”

I cut him off, “And I thought that you could go back to
being my friend.”

“No, you thought that I’d
want
to. You think I’m with you just because you’re fucking
gorgeous? Daisy, I could have been with you the
moment
you turned eighteen. Having sex with a hot fucking girl that
gets me hard isn’t worth risking the relationship I have with my brother.”

I breathe heavily. “What’s worth the risk then?”

“What we fucking have,” he says. “I love you beyond physical
attraction.” He cups my smooth cheek, looking deep into my eyes. “I love you,
Dais, because you’re the wildest fucking girl with the biggest fucking heart.
And without you in my life”—he shakes his head like it’s an inconceivable
picture—“I’d be the unhappiest fucking guy.”

His words flood me with so much emotion. For however
ineloquent they are, they sound perfect off his lips—because they’re
one-hundred percent
Ryke
Meadows. I focus on the
three most important ones of the bunch.

“You love me,” I breathe.

He lets out a short laugh. “You’re such a fucking girl.”

“Say it again.”

He smiles, a full blown one that tingles my body all over.
“I fucking love you, sweetheart.”

I lean in to kiss him, forgetting I’m hurt, but he holds my
jaw, controlling the touch of our lips that desperately wants to be something
more. Before it turns wild, he kisses my forehead and murmurs, “I’m not going
anywhere.”

I never knew that a relationship could be so mental, so
emotional before all the physical. I wonder if we’re doing this backwards or if
this has been the right way all along.

Right.
I’ve found
the one person who makes me the happiest, but I just wonder how long I’ll be
able to keep him. I wonder if there are too many outside forces pulling us
apart for this to last.

I’ll take each day as they come.

Live in the moment
with
Ryke
Meadows.

If I ever die, I want that across my headstone.

< 29 >

DAISY CALLOWAY

Janet hands me a plastic bag with all my valuables
and the bloodied maroon turtleneck I was wearing that night. I slip the gold
ring on my thumb while
Ryke
heads down the hall,
talking on the phone and waiting for me to leave.

“You need to go over to that cashier’s window and they’ll
give you the hospital bill.”

I nod. “Will the ambulance fee be added with that?” I don’t
know how the French medical system works.

Janet frowns. “There is no ambulance fee. Didn’t you know
that?”

I shake my head. “No, but I…” I blink as I wrack my brain.
The pub isn’t even close to this hospital, so how…

“He carried you,” Janet says, a hand to her chest, like that
night was emotional, even for her. “You were in his arms when he reached the
hospital doors. He arrived about ten minutes before anyone else from the riot.”

Tears well, and I suppress them as best I can. My voice
trembles. “He ran here?”

She nods and reaches out to touch my wrist in comfort. I
glance down the hallway at
Ryke
who speaks with force
into the phone, like he wants the person on the other end to fully listen to
him. He’s the hero of my story, but he refuses to claim any of those moments,
as if they don’t matter.

They do matter. Everyone sees partial sides to
Ryke
, and he lets them think he’s just an athlete with no
brains, an aggressive asshole. It’s like he’s been alone for so long that he’s
lost any interest in showing off his worth.

I think I’ve hit the lottery—to have him in my life.

To me, he’s worth every loud moment, every peaceful silence,
the crazy and the sad, the restless and the quiet. I would trade it all to be
with him, but I have a feeling there will be no price for my mom. She’ll keep
us apart at any cost.

I feel it in my bones like a bad, bad omen.

< 30 >

RYKE MEADOWS

“What the fuck is Rose hiding?” I snap at Lily on
the phone. I decided to call her while I wait for Daisy to finish sorting
through her belongings.

Daisy looks up at me with a plastic baggy in her hand and
then points to a cashier’s window, standing in the line.

I nod to her and listen to Lily’s response. I’m not
expecting much.

“Like I told Lo, I’ve made this pact with Rose not to talk
about it, like a
Ya-Ya
Sisterhood thing, and I can’t
go back on my word. And just so you know, Rose is scary. She took out a knife
and was saying something about blood oaths, and before I knew it, she
slit
my palm.” Her voice lowers, almost
comically that it’s hard to take her serious. But she is. “And this comes from
a girl who
cannot
walk on the
hardwood without shoes. You don’t have to say anything, it surprised me too.”

I roll my eyes. “Lily,” I say forcefully. “If it’s something
serious, you need to tell my brother.”

“The pact,” Lily hisses. “What if Rose put a curse on me? I
can’t say anything.”

“You can’t be that fucking superstitious.”

“Rose might as well be a supernatural force when she’s
upset. You haven’t seen her truly angry, so you can’t say anything.”

“I’ve seen her so fucking pissed that she almost
tased
my brother, how’s that?”

“This is a different kind of upset,” Lily says. “We’re
handling this, okay? I think it’s good that Lo is with you, and I’m here with
Rose for a little bit.”

I frown, never thinking I’d hear Lily say that. She’s
usually glued to my brother’s side and vice versa. “You’re really okay without
him?”

Silence stretches before she says, “I mean, I miss him
a lot
more than I can articulate. It
hurts without him here. But I’m better than I was when he first left for rehab.
I’m at a better place.”

“I know you are,” I tell her. Back then, she was almost in
tears every time I called her. It was kind of fucking pathetic, but I didn’t
understand their relationship. I didn’t understand that kind of unconditional
love. And then Daisy left, and I felt out of my fucking mind for three days. I
yelled at Lily for bitching after only seven days without Lo, so who’s the
hypocrite now?

“We’re meeting you in two weeks right?” Lily asks. “It won’t
be too long.”

“You sure you want to keep it a fucking surprise from
Daisy?” I ask. Rose has been calling me non-fucking-stop, trying to find ways
to see Daisy
without
upsetting her. I
told them that they should just meet us on the road, but to wait until her face
heals a little. They agreed.

“She likes surprises,” Lily says. “Otherwise, we would have
told her.”

She’s right about that. “Just don’t come early. I can’t
spend thirty days in a car with all of you. Eighteen is already too fucking
much.”

“Weren’t you the one who wanted to start the road trip in
New York?”

I groan in agitation. “You’re annoying me, Calloway.”

“All I’m saying is that you could have picked a closer place
to California, and then we wouldn’t have to be in a car for so long.”

“That defeats the fucking point of a road trip. If it was up
to you and Rose, we would have started
in
California.”

She pauses and then says, “Now that sounds like a good
idea.”

I roll my eyes again. I let out a deep sigh. “Can you
promise me something?” I ask her.

“That depends. Does it involve breaking a promise to my
sister that will unleash her diabolical wrath?”

“Promise me that whatever it is, you’ll be fucking safe. And
be careful on your way out to us. My brother can’t live without you. I’m
expendable, you aren’t.”

“You can’t honestly think that about yourself,” she says
softly.

“Just promise me, Lily.”

“I promise, but
Ryke
—he needs you.
You’re
his brother.”

I shake my head. To Lo, I’m equal to Connor. We met Lo at
nearly the same fucking time. In fact, Connor has some months on me. For fuck’s
sake, Lo made us flip a coin to determine who would be his best man at his
wedding. I didn’t get it by fucking default because I’m related to him. In less
than a year, I’ll be standing by his side as he’s about to get married, all because
of
luck.

A flip of a coin.

He can so easily push me out of his life, and the only
reason I’m still here is because I refuse to go, no matter how hard he shoves.

But Daisy…I know in my heart she’s something that can drive
me away from him. I’m going to fight against the moment, but I also mentally
prepare for it. “Sure,” I tell her. “Listen, do whatever
Yada
Sisterhood thing—”

“
Ya-Ya
,”
she corrects me.

“Whatever,” I say. “Just don’t let Rose fucking cut you.
Stick up for yourself.”

“Is that what you’ve been telling my little sister?” she
asks, flipping the switch.

“I tell her a lot of fucking things,” I say. “And yeah,
that’s one of them.”

“Good,” Lily says. I can practically see her nod with
resoluteness, in this goofy fucking way.

“Are you wearing an animal on your fucking head?” I ask her.

“You know what it’s called.”

“No I don’t.”

“It’s a
Wampa
cap.”

“That Star Trek shit?” I say, knowing that it’s Star Wars. I
like to give her a hard time.

“
Star Wars
. Lo
would kick you for that.”

“Good thing he’s not fucking around.” My brother, a fucking
comic book geek with looks that could murder and simultaneously melt women.
It’s so fucking weird. Who would have thought? Nine years ago, not me.

There’s a long pause before she asks, “How is she doing?”

I glance at Daisy who rocks on her feet, antsy as she stands
in one place for so long. Her bandaged cheek is on the other side. The only
marks visible are the bruises beneath her eyes. I remember her smile as she
came, her laugh and the genuine happiness that blanketed over her. I wish this
bad fucking thing didn’t have to happen for her to make these hard decisions
about modeling, but I am glad she’s finally made them.
 

“She’s going to be okay,” I tell Lily. “She looks good.”
She looks fucking beautiful.

“Thank you, for what you did,” Lily says. “We all appreciate
it, you know.”

I don’t pick my words that carefully. I just fucking say
them. “I’d do anything for her.”

“Is it different this time?” she asks me.

“What do you mean?”

“In Cancun a couple years ago, you kind of saved Daisy back
then too. I just wondered if you feel differently now.”
What is she getting at?

“Say it fucking bluntly or don’t say it at all.”

She sighs. “Why do you have to be so mean?”

“I didn’t think I was,” I snap.

“Do you like her more now than you did then?” she says
straight out.

“She was only sixteen back then,” I tell her. “I didn’t hang
out with her that much.” The truth is way more complicated than that.

“Just say it bluntly or don’t say it at all,” Lily rebuts,
with ten times
less
force than me.

I almost smile. “She means a fucking lot to me, Calloway.”
It’s still not much better but it seems to appease Lily.

“Have you told this to Lo?” she asks.

“What would it fucking matter? He sees what he wants to
see.” I’m the intruder, the fucking guy he opened his arms to, the guy he let
in his life. If I stick my cock anywhere near Daisy, he will be affronted as
though I fucked with his family, his friends, his
world.

“He sees what you give him,” Lily says softly, “and you’re
not giving him a lot to work with,
Ryke
.”

I run my hand through my hair and sigh. I’m so fucking
scared to open up about my history with my own brother. That’s the fucking
truth. I did wrong by him for so long, and if I start talking about it, I feel
like I’ll just push him away more. I’ll give him no reason to be close to me. I
have
years
of hate underneath my
belt, no fucking love.

So why express that? What fucking good will that do?

I just want to forget it all and move on.

Daisy reaches the front of the line.

“I have to go,” I tell Lily.

“Was she happy that she’s able to go with you guys to
California?” she asks before we hang up.

“Yeah,” I say, my chest rising with the fucking fact. “I’ll
keep her safe.”

“
You
be safe,”
Lily emphasizes. “You’re the one climbing. I’m packing a first-aid kit, just in
case you fall, so you know.”

“Your fucking Band-Aid isn’t going to save me.”

“Wolverine is printed on the front. He can save
anyone
.”

I roll my eyes for the fifth time it feels like. “Let’s just
hope we all make it there in one piece.”

Daisy starts walking over to me.

“
Gotta
go.”

“Bye.” We hang up, and I slide my arm over Daisy’s shoulder
and carry her duffel.
Mikey
is going to stay in
France for another two weeks as vacation, hopefully distracting the paparazzi
and leading them off our trail. For the first time in a while, we should be
free of the media.

“You ready for a fucking adventure, sweetheart?” I ask her.

She hugs me close and says, “Does this adventure contain
cupcakes,
Ryke
Meadows and motorcycles?”

“Substitute the last one for a fucking rental car.”

She smiles. “I’m ready for this awfully big adventure then.”
She pauses and adds, “With you.”

I kiss her temple.

30 days until
Yosemite.

The fucking countdown begins.