The Power: Building the Circle - Book 2 Read online

  "Aunt Lucy, you look bad," Henry said.

  Lucy started laughing. "Thanks, Ree, thanks a lot."

  "Henry, up until this point, your life has lacked a strong male influence. I can tell. I will now guide you in the ways of smart men everywhere. Rule number 1: Women always, and I mean always, look beautiful. They never ever look bad, understand?"

  Henry was giggling along with Adrian and Lucy.

  "But, Adrian, she looks bad. Not as bad as the bar fight, but bad. I'm not supposed to lie," Henry said.

  Adrian's smile turned brittle at the mention of a bar fight, but he didn't want to scare Henry. "No, no. Henry, this is not a lie. It is a partial truth. Because, as we all know, under all the bruising, Aunt Lucy is very beautiful. So, we ignore the short term bad, in favor of the long-term beauty. That's how we justify it. Understand?"

  "Aunt Lucy is always beautiful?" Henry asked.

  "Yes, that is correct. Aunt Lucy is always beautiful," Adrian said while stirring a pot of something saucy. "Except if there's something stuck in her teeth. You gotta tell her about that. She'd want to know," Adrian said as Lucy laughed.

  "Thanks, Adrian, thanks for the coaching," Lucy chuckled. "What's the second rule of smart men everywhere?"

  "Ensure proper coverage before zipping," he said without missing a beat. "We'll talk about that later, Ree."

  "Ow ow ow," Lucy said through laughter.

  "Sorry! Sorry," he exclaimed.

  "What's for dinner?" Lucy asked. "Smells Italian."

  "Spaghetti and meata-balls!" Adrian said in a bad fake Italian accent.

  "You sound like Super Mario Brothers," she teased.

  "Eh, nobody's perfect," he said.

  After dinner, Adrian put on a kid's movie for Ree. Lucy was asleep in the chair again before the opening credits were done. She wasn't even sure what the movie was.

  ✽✽✽

  The following day, she woke up to Adrian and Ree eating apples and peanut butter.

  "Hi," she said, walking into the kitchen. "What time is it?"

  "11:30," Adrian said. "Hungry?"

  "We have to go for bloodwork. We were supposed to be there an hour ago! I'll get dressed, give me-"

  "Lucy, today is Thursday. Not Friday. I brought consent forms home yesterday for you to sign. Ree will go to work with me tomorrow. I'll take him down to the lab. My calendar is already blocked. We'll be home in the early afternoon," Adrian said.

  "Oh. I lost track of the days with all the sleeping," she said lamely.

  "I know. It's OK. I didn't," he said with a smile. "How do you feel?"

  "Uh, better, I think. Hungry. I want a shower," she said.

  "Go upstairs to shower, it's nicer," Adrian said. "By the time you're done, lunch will be ready."

  "What's for lunch?"

  "Chicken strips and tater tots."

  "Your mom made hot ham and cheese sandwiches and soup yesterday. It was like an idealized childhood lunch," she said.

  "Why is that idealized? I ate that all the time as a kid," Adrian said.

  "Of course, you did," she said with a laugh.

  "No grilled cheese and tomato soup for you?" Adrian asked.

  "Not really."

  ✽✽✽

  Lucy grabbed stretch pants and a t-shirt for the day. She didn't even try to pretend the previous day. She had showered and put on fresh pajamas. Today, she'd do real clothes. But, not too real in case she ended up sleeping in them again.

  She chuckled at Adrian's weird house. It looked like a grandma's house outside, right down to the rose vines in the side yard. But, it was completely remodeled inside. The kitchen was not big but wasn't lacking in anything. The downstairs bathroom was a good size with a walk-in shower and excellent water pressure.

  The upstairs dormer was one large bedroom area with a master bath attached. The master bath included a giant shower with five shower heads that each had different programmable temperature and pressure settings. There was also a bathtub meant for two people, complete with skylights.

  For a hot minute, Lucy wondered what kind of woman shared Adrian's showers and baths. Then she backed away from the thought. It was none of her business.

  But I hate that bitch, Lucy thought, then laughed at herself.

  She stood in the fancy hot shower for at least thirty minutes without running out of hot water. Then she felt bad about wasting water. As she reached to turn the water off, there was an unexpected romantic encounter with one of the water jets. She felt less bad about wasting water.

  She stepped out of the shower feeling better. Relaxed. She smelled like Adrian's sandalwood products because she didn't have any shampoo or soap of her own.

  Whatever. His stuff is much nicer than my White Rain Shampoo and off-brand Dove.

  As she toweled off with the fluffy soft bath sheet and combed out her hair, she reflected on the last week.

  What a weird couple of days. Saturday, I thought Adrian was a stalker. Now, I'm staying in his house, using his shampoo. Ree is seeing a new doctor. I'm unemployed and homeless, but somehow, better off.

  Lucy glanced in the mirror and regretted it. Her entire face was covered with a mottled blotch of purple and blue bruising.

  Mostly. Mostly, I'm better off.

  ✽✽✽

  Adrian looked up as Lucy entered the kitchen. "Hey, you look better!"

  "You're lying. I looked in the mirror," Lucy said with a small smile.

  "I'm not lying. That has to make you wonder what you looked like yesterday," he said, completely serious.

  "How are you feeling, Henry? Is your tummy OK?" She asked.

  "Just tired, really tired," Ree said. "I'm not hungry."

  "Ah, nope. What's the deal, Ree?" Adrian said.

  "One book per meal," Ree said with a happy little wiggle.

  "Do you want another book?"

  "We already ordered it!"

  "We did, but I might not give it to you," Adrian said. "I might keep it for myself," he followed up with a teasing smile.

  "What's this?" Lucy asked.

  "Adrian said he'd get me a book every time I ate with him," Ree said, excited. "We ordered like 30 books yesterday!"

  Lucy looked like she didn't know what expression to put on her face. After a few heartbeats, she turned around and walked out of the room.

  Adrian didn't expect the negotiation to bother her. Now he wasn't sure what to do. Maybe she was mad that he was bribing Henry?

  "Five minutes to lunch, Ree. Go wash your hands, OK?" Adrian said as he followed Lucy's path out of the room. The door to the room she had been using was closed.

  He knocked. "You OK?"

  "Ah, yeah. Just needed a minute," she said with a muffled voice.

  "Can I open the door?" Is she crying?

  She didn't respond, so he opened the door a smidge and peeked in. She was standing in the far corner, looking out the window with her back to the door.

  She took a deep breath. "Thank you for taking care of him. Taking care of both of us. I know there are a million other things that you need to be doing. We… we will get out of your way as soon as we can, OK?"

  Definitely crying. Sobbing. Over kid's books?

  "OK," he said. "You're not in my way. Can I ask why you're upset, or are we pretending like you're not upset?"

  "I don't know why, so maybe we're pretending like I'm not upset," she said with a sob-laugh.

  Another deep breath. "He loves reading. It's a good bribe." She nodded her head. "Thank you for buying him books."

  "You're welcome," Adrian said softly. "I'm going to go pull the food out of the oven. Come eat when you're ready."

  When she made it back into the kitchen, the guys were eating quietly. She made a plate and sat down.

  "Everything OK?" She asked them.

  "Yeah," Ree nodded, looking tired.

  Adrian nodded but didn't look at her.

  He must think I'm nuts. Sobbing over books. What the fuck's wrong with me?

  After lunc
h, Ree laid down for a nap. Adrian went upstairs.

  Lucy didn't know what to do with herself, so she cleaned the kitchen and washed the floors. Then she cleaned the bathroom and dusted the living room.

  "There's a service that comes in and cleans," Adrian said from the living room doorway, startling her.

  "I figured. There's no dust or dirt anywhere," she said.

  "Then, what are you doing?" He asked, sounding annoyed.

  "I don't have anything else to do right now," she mumbled, feeling completely useless.

  He nodded as he ran his hand through his hair. "I was coming down to suggest that you start researching cars and order whatever you need online. Maybe start making a list of the stuff you're missing if you don't want to shop or research right now. We can go shopping if that's eas-"

  She was shaking her head. "I'd rather not go out like this if that's OK?"

  "It's fine. My laptop is on the kitchen table whenever you're ready," he said, before heading downstairs to the basement.

  When he came upstairs a few hours later, Lucy and Ree were coloring at the kitchen table.

  Around 5:30, Adrian came downstairs and started making hamburger patties, still quiet. Withdrawn. Like the car ride from the hospital to the first house, Lucy wasn't sure where she'd gone wrong. Again. Didn't know how to make it better.

  ✽✽✽

  Adrian was annoyed. Between Tuesday night and Thursday afternoon, Lucy had slept for a day and a half. What would Ree have done during that time if they were on their own? She was battered beyond recognition right now. How would she have taken care of herself over the last couple of days if they were on their own? Why the sudden rush to get out?

  "Do you want to leave?" Adrian asked over dinner. "Or, do you want me to leave?"

  Lucy looked confused.

  "You said earlier that you'd leave as soon as possible. I've been thinking about that. This was not what I offered on Tuesday. It's probably not terribly comfortable here for you."

  "Leave? Why would we leave? Where would we go? It's safe here. No bad people. We have to stay here. Aunt Lucy, we're not leaving, right? Adrian is helping, we need help! We have to stay," Henry was fighting back tears.

  Surprised by the reaction, Lucy gave him a hug. "Ree, it's OK. We're OK. We are kinda taking over Adrian's house and life-"

  "Adrian, you don't want us to go, do you? I'll be good. I promise. I'll eat and eat and eat. I'm sorry, I don't need the books. Please don't make us go," Henry said, tears welling in his eyes.

  Yeah, I deserve this. I shouldn't have put Lucy on the spot in front of Ree, Adrian thought. 100% my fault.

  "I want you to be comfortable and happy, buddy. Both of you. Plus, I told you on Tuesday that you could stay in a hotel with a pool," Adrian said.

  "Honey, we can't stay here forever. This is Adrian's house. He let us stay because we needed help-"

  "We still need help! We can't go yet. Not yet."

  Lucy met Adrian's eyes as she hugged Ree. "I'm sorry," she mouthed.

  He shook his head. "My fault," he mouthed back.

  ✽✽✽

  That night, Ree woke up screaming shortly after 2 AM. Lucy crashed into Adrian while running out of her bedroom at the same time he came running around the corner from the stairway. He caught her before she could slam back into the wall.

  "Jesus, I'm sorry, Adrian!"

  "Are you OK?"

  "Fine," she confirmed as they entered the room Henry was using. "Ree, everything is OK. It's OK, honey. You're OK."

  Adrian turned on the bedside lamp while Lucy scooped Ree into a hug. Sweating and crying, he was twisted in the bedding.

  "The bad people are coming, Aunt Lucy. The bad people. We have to hide. They're gonna hurt you again. The bad people! We have to hide," Ree sobbed, eyes still closed.

  "Shhh. I'm OK, Henry. I'm OK. Everything's OK. No one's going to hurt us," she soothed.

  Stop talking, Ree. Please stop talking. Stop talking. Please stop talking, Lucy thought.

  "Henry, wake up, buddy," Adrian said. "It was a dream, Henry. Just a bad dream."

  "Adrian! The bad people. They're gonna hurt Aunt Lucy," Henry yelled as he tackled Adrian in a hug.

  Wrapping his arms around Ree, Adrian began rocking back and forth, soothing him. "No one's going to hurt her, Henry. No one, it's OK."

  As she watched him soothe Henry, Lucy realized Adrian was shirtless.

  Holy hell. He's not as bulky as Will, but definitely more built than I'd imagined, she thought. Pecs and a six-pack, holy shit. So buff...

  She gave herself a mental head shake. This is so not the time. She avoided staring. Mostly.

  ✽✽✽

  Twenty minutes later, Ree was back asleep. Lucy and Adrian were headed back to their respective beds.

  "Lucy?" He whispered as she was walking into her room.

  She turned toward him.

  "Do you want to go?" He asked.

  She sighed. "It seems unfair to take over your home like this."

  "That wasn't an answer." He ran his hand through his hair. "Please don't go. At least until you're healed. Please stay. I don't want you to go."

  She walked back to him and hugged him. "Thank you, Adrian," she whispered.

  Then, to both their surprise, she kissed him.

  She meant to kiss his cheek. The next thing she knew, she was kissing him. Really kissing him, ripped lip and all.

  His right hand came up to gently touch her cheek and nudge her away.

  "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that," she said with a hand covering her mouth.

  Adrian seemed to be looking at her feet. "Did it hurt your lip?"

  "Not really," she said, putting her hand down.

  "Oh." Then he was kissing her.

  A minute later, he pulled away.

  "I meant to do that. Keeps things from getting awkward. G'night, Lucy," Adrian said as she laughed.

  "Good night."

  Chapter 6

  Adrian woke at 5:30 AM on Friday. Up with the sun, as usual. Ree was resting comfortably. There wasn't another peep out of him all night. He cracked Lucy's door open to check on her. She was sleeping on her back, covers pushed down and tangled with her legs, shorts and tank twisted around her. Either it wasn't a restful night, or she moved a lot in her sleep.

  He debated untangling her and covering her up properly, but that seemed like an invasion of her privacy. If she woke up, he wasn't sure how he'd explain it. Then shit would be really awkward. He quietly closed the door and continued on to the basement.

  He had worked out for a few hours yesterday, after Lucy's mention of leaving took him by surprise. The angry energy was still sitting there. Ree's nightmare made it worse. He considered options and possibilities as he stretched and then wrapped his hands.

  Ree mentioned the bad people on Saturday. Adrian assumed he was talking about the loud people in the apartment hall. Or the neighbors dealing drugs. Maybe that was a wrong assumption.

  That apartment door was new. It was the only new thing in that building. And it was steel reinforced. Inconsistent with the other doors.

  Had someone hurt them? Hurt Lucy? Beyond collateral damage in the bar fight that Ree mentioned on Wednesday?

  Adrian groaned as the energy surged forward, and the anger rose to the surface. He thought of Lucy's broken face and the feel of her ripped lip, Henry crying, sobbing, begging to stay. The energy grew, stoked toward rage.

  Lucy, bleeding and broken. Cancer. Cancer taking over Ree's tiny body. Lucy begging for help. Lucy hopeless and cynical in the cafeteria on Tuesday.

  Adrian saw red as he pulled the boxing gloves on. The heavy bag swung hard on his first strike.

  Oh yeah, this one's gonna be good.

  After bag time, six-minute miles on the treadmill. Then push-ups, chin-ups, sit-ups. All the -ups. Then weights.

  ✽✽✽

  Lucy heard a door creak around 7:30 and then heard the stairway door. She climbed out of bed and pulled some clothes o
n over her pajamas. She wanted to apologize before Ree was up.

  She made her way out of the room quietly and headed toward the kitchen. She expected to find Adrian there, but it was empty. The sound of the water turning on upstairs was evident in the quiet house.

  OK. I'll just wait for him. I can make breakfast. He's done all the cooking. I can make some eggs. If there are eggs. I really hope there are eggs. Otherwise, I'm just going to be useless again.

  There were eggs. Three dozen eggs.

  What the fuck? He must eat a ton of eggs.

  She cracked six eggs in a bowl and began whisking them with some milk.

  Does he like scrambled eggs? Who doesn't like scrambled eggs? People that like eggs eat scrambled eggs, right? Now I just need a pan, she thought, rifling through the cabinets.

  "Frying pans are in the cabinet on the bottom right," Adrian said as Lucy yelped. "Sorry, I thought you heard me coming down the stairs."

  "I was too distracted with an internal dialogue around whether or not you liked scrambled eggs," she admitted.

  "I do," he said. "Eggs in all forms are good. They're an easy meal for one."

  "Ah, that makes sense, I guess," Lucy said as she turned to look at him. Pale yellow dress shirt, blue tie, dark slacks. He was Dr. Adrian again. Yesterday's jeans and plain t-shirt were gone. She thought of his washboard stomach and was suddenly glad her face was bruised. It hid the blush.

  "How'd you sleep? How are you feeling?" He asked. "The bruising is magnificently colorful."

  "I slept OK. Weird dreams after Ree's nightmare. The stitches are starting to itch. So, I'm healing, I guess. Adrian, before he's up, I just wanted to apologize for last night. I shouldn't have gone there. You've been so incredibly kind to us, and it was wholly inappropriate. And I'm sorry. I won't do it again. And we'll leave when you're ready for us to leave. Or I'm healed. Whichever comes first. Or whichever you want. And, yeah. That's it. I think," Lucy babbled, not entirely sure what words were coming out of her mouth.

  ✽✽✽

  "OK. Did you start looking at cars yesterday? Want to test drive this weekend?" Adrian asked, looking at his phone.