Fragile (19 page)

I jumped up and went to him, “Tray!”

“How...What...How...” We hugged and I laughed at his lack of coherent sentences. Pulling back, I saw Ireland and Luke standing behind him. Ignoring them, Tray and I continued to talk. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“She lives here, with Rick,” Mark said.

“What?” Luke said from behind us.

“Don’t you dare?” Tray turned around, keeping me behind him as Mark stood and came over to where we were standing.

“You’re living with him already?” Luke asked.

“I told you all. She’s just doing this to get back at us for what we did. She doesn’t want us to be happy, Luke.”

Luke looked over to where Ireland was. “You should just leave now, Lucy, before Rick opens his eyes and sees you for the vindictive bitch you really are. Your time is almost up.”

“That’s enough, Ireland!” Mark yelled at her. Her eyes widened and she grabbed Luke’s hand but he didn’t acknowledge her.

“Dad...” she started.

“Lucy.” Tray looked over his shoulder at me. “Let’s go see Dad.” He tugged on my hand and pulled me down the hallway.

“You better go before Rick discovers you were here,” I told Luke as we passed him, ignoring Ireland as we walked past her and out the front door.

“Lucy!” Mather called out from behind us. It didn’t take long for her to catch up to us. “I don’t want to put you in the middle, but could you ask Ray to call me? I’ve tried, but he doesn’t return any of my texts or calls. I really need to speak to him. Please?” I could see how much she missed my father and wanted to talk to him.

“I’ll talk to him, but no promises.”

She pulled me into a hug and held me tight, “I love you Lucy.”

Tray must have gotten a ride over with Luke and Ireland because we walked over to the road and hailed a cab.

Once we got there, Dad and Tray sat in the lounge room with a beer each chatting away like no time had passed at all. They talked about everything and anything. When the topic of Mather came up, Dad went silent.

“She wants you to call her, Dad.”

He leaned forward in his chair, “I filed for divorce yesterday. I guess she got the papers already.”

“Dad!” I yelled shocked at him.

“Don’t, Lucy. There’s no looking past what she did.”

“But she didn’t do anything. She isn’t Ireland, and she isn’t Luke. It wasn’t Mather who did this, so don’t punish her for it. Don’t punish yourself.”

“I might be a little biased on the situation,” Tray started. “But Dad, seriously? Don’t do this. Mum got so angry at Ireland. They’re not the way they use to be before. Don’t you still love her?”

“It’s not that simple, Tray.”

“Yes, it is.”

Dad sat there looking between us. “Mum’s miserable without you. Why do you think she came all the way up here?” Tray sounded far older than his eighteen years.

“Call her.” I got up and walked into the kitchen. Picking up his phone, I brought it back to him. He took the phone reluctantly and got up, walked to his room and closed the door behind him.

“Best children ever,” Tray exclaimed as he sat back in the couch, his hands clasped over his head and looked very satisfied with himself.

RICK

I marched through Dad’s front door and spotted Ireland and Luke sitting together on the couch with Mum nowhere to be found. Ireland spotted me and sat up and moved away from Luke. He, on the other hand, just watched me from where he sat.

“You are not welcome in my home, especially when Lu is there. That is her home and I doubt very much that she would welcome you two. She works hard and long, and I don’t appreciate you two coming through and wrecking her time off. Am I making myself clear?”

“Yes,” Ireland whispered. With that, I turned and left. When I walked into her apartment, I found four drunken people laughing in the lounge room, all playing a game on the TV.

“She killed me! I’m on your team!” Tray yelled

“If you were doing your job, I wouldn’t have had to kill you.” Lu shot back, not taking her eyes off the game.

“Dad,” Tray whined.

“Lucy, don’t kill your brother,” both men said at the same time. Lu and Tray erupted into laughter and then they caught sight of me.

“Rick!” Tray sung out.

He was smashed. He stumbled, standing up from the couch and came at me with open arms, wrapped them around me and patted my back. “How are you, man?” He pulled back and started to walk to the couch. “Come, sit, but don’t play. Lulu is killing everyone.”

“Just the people who aren’t doing their job.”

I picked Lu up from the couch and sat down in the chair, placing her on my lap. “Hey,” I whispered into her ear, kissing her shoulder.

“Hey.” They were really into this game. I watched them all interact and play. It wasn’t long before Tray passed out on the couch. That was my cue to take Lu home.

“Should we just leave him on the couch?” Ray asked, looking over at Tray spread out along the chair.

“I’m not picking him up and moving him, he’s too damn big.” Dad said.

“You’re telling me. He grows like a weed. I’m just waiting for him to stop.” It was strange watching these two men interact over Tray. They’re both his father, but there was no hostility between them what so ever.

“I’m going to take Lu home.” I picked her up and she wrapped her body around mine.

“Put a blanket on Tray.” Lu placed her head on my shoulder. We said our goodbyes, and by the time we walked out of the apartment and got to the car she had fallen asleep.

LUCY

I found myself naked and in bed when I woke up. Rick was nowhere to be seen so I got out of bed, put on one of Rick’s shirts and ventured downstairs to see if he was down there. “Aiden! Rick!” I called into the seemingly empty apartment and getting no response. Heading back upstairs, I found my phone and dialled Rick’s number.

“Hey, baby,” he answered quickly and happily.

“Hey, I woke up, and there’s no Aiden and no you. What gives?”

“I’ll be back soon and Dad has Aiden. He probably won’t be back until later.”

“Where are you?”

“Do you want me to bring you anything back?”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I’ll be home soon, baby.” Perplexed and confused, I put the phone down and stared at the bed. Shaking my head to rid my thoughts, I grabbed my Kindle and headed downstairs, making myself comfy on the couch.

I was getting into my book when there was a knock at the door. “It’s not like you to...” I started to say, thinking that it was Rick, but instead found Luke standing on the other side of the door.

“Answer the door for everyone like that?” He whistled and ran his eyes over me, lingering on my bare legs. Feeling uncomfortable at his perusal of my body, I pulled the hem of the shirt down and kept my hands tightly there. “Now, now, don’t do that.”

“What do you want?”

His eyes eventually made it to mine. “I want to talk to you.”

“I have nothing to say to you.” I took a step back to close the door.

“Lucinda.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“I have something to say.” Luke put his hands on either side of the door frame.

“Spill it and make it quick. Rick will be home soon.” I wanted him gone.

“Oh, he’s not home?” His voice dropped. His eyes starting to roam over my body again.

“I swear to God, Luke. You need to leave.”

“You gonna come out here and make me, Lu-cin-da?” I hated the tone in his voice and the way he was looking at me. It made my skin crawl. I backed up again and started to close the door. “Come on, Lucinda. Can you blame me?”

“Go away, Lucas.” I was getting agitated and scared.

“Come on, baby. Open the door and let me in. Let’s talk. We need to talk.” He started to scratch at the screen door like a stray cat. “I made a mistake with Ireland, baby. It meant nothing to me. Come home with me. We’ll get married as soon as you like. I miss you, baby. I love you.”

“I don’t care, Lucas. We’re over. Now leave.” He banged a fist on the door, making me flinch.

“I love you, Lucinda. We can work this out!”

“Go away!”

“No!” He yelled and banged on the door again causing me to let out a startled scream. “The thing with Ireland was a mistake, Lucinda. She turned up to our place. I answered the door, and the front of her jacket was open. She was standing there naked. How could I say no to that?”

“Easy! You say, ‘Go home, Ireland. I’m with Lucy!’” I yelled through my tears.

“Because you were so giving in the bedroom? I’m a man, Lucinda! Sex is like breathing to us, and you wouldn’t give it up, so I got it somewhere else!”

“Ireland wasn’t the first, was she?” I harshly whisper. The reality of what our relationship was hit me hard

“Like I said, I’m a guy.” He shrugged like it was no big issue.

“You need to leave. Now.” I said calmly and softly.

“Go pack your things. We’ll get the next flight home,” Luke instructed.

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“You are either leaving with me willingly, or I will drag you home.” His tone was dark, and the look in his eyes told me that he wouldn’t hesitate to do it. I shook my head from side to side, unable to stop the tears from running.

“No,” I spoke clearly, standing my ground and made sure the door was locked.

“Yes!” He banged on the screen again, pulling at the door handle. He kicked the door, denting it badly when he couldn’t get it open.

“Fuck off, Luke!” I yelled through my drying tears, backing away from the door.

“Do not talk to me that way! Get your ass out here so we can leave!” He broke through the screen door before I could get the wooden door completely closed. He marched toward me, grabbed my wrist and yanked me toward the busted door. He froze when he saw Rick coming toward us and I could tell he was mad. I freed my wrist from Luke’s hold and took a few steps back, nursing it with my other hand. Rick grabbed Luke and slammed him into the wall, making it shake.

“Get upstairs, Lu.” Without another word I ran through the apartment, up the stairs and into the bedroom, wrapping my arms around my knees as I sunk to the floor and cried.

RICK

“Lu asked you to leave, so what are you still doing here?” I was beyond pissed to find Luke in our home when I pulled up. After I saw that he had his hands on her, he was lucky to still be breathing.

“She didn’t mean it,” he said, sounding sure of himself.

“The hell she didn’t. You have three seconds to leave. And you better never come back.” I removed my hands from his collar and stepped back, breathing deeply, trying to calm myself down. I was losing my patience, and the urge to put my fist through his head was getting stronger with every second I was here with him.

“Lucinda and I have an understanding.” The cocky bastard just stood there, arms crossed like he had every right to be there.

“And what is that?”

“We’ve been together for a long time, forever really. Every couple goes through rough patches. Ireland was there and willing, and Lucinda works long hours and is too tired for anything when she gets home. You should know that by know. All those hours at the hospital wrecked our sex life. And now she’s with you to get back at me. An eye for an eye. She’ll come around soon. I’m not worried.”

I stood there listening to him talk about Lu like he actually knew her. “You should be worried.”

He smiled, the cocky bastard. “Why is that?” The urge to punch him was getting stronger.

“Because Lu isn’t with me out of spite for anyone. We have a great sex life. Even after her long hours, she can’t get enough. She’s not going back to you. She’s staying with me, so I suggest you go back to Ireland and we’ll act as if you weren’t over here demanding that my girl leave with you. After all, she’s not the one you got pregnant.”

“Lucinda’s a stickler for contraception. She takes it religiously. If I could have, I would have. Saying that, we would have had to actually be having sex, which brings us back to the Ireland issue.”

“The only issue Ireland has is you. What Ireland did was bad. What you did was worse. My patience is wearing off. I suggest you leave if you don’t want your pretty face all messed up.”

“I can see that you and Lucinda have some stuff to work out. Tell Lucinda that we leave at eight.”

“Who leaves at eight?” Dad asked as he walked up to us.

“Luke here is under the impression that Lu and he are leaving tonight.”

Dad looked over at Luke, mildly surprised, “What about Ireland? We’re all under the impression that you were going to try things out with her for the sake of the baby.”

Luke threw his hands up in the air. “Why is this baby thing coming back to me? It was all Ireland, so why do I have to be around for that?”