“Dad shouldn’t be relapsing this much. Each time he does, I’m afraid he won’t be coming home with me,” she choked out.
Seth couldn’t help her father, but he could give Heavenly something priceless: comfort.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pressed her face against his chest and sobbed in huge, heaving, chest-buckling gasps, like she hadn’t had anyone to cry on in forever. It ripped his goddamn heart to listen to her. Seth wished he could protect her from the world and the pain and whatever happened next with her father. But he couldn’t, so he let her cling, held her tight, and murmured soft assurances as he stroked her hair.
It was well after two in the morning when they pulled to the curb in the slum surrounding the dump Heavenly and her father called home. To say he was shocked was the understatement of a lifetime.
As Heavenly guided her father up the walk, Seth shared a look of disbelief with Beck.
“If you have a couple of assault rifles, pass ’em out,” the doctor mumbled. “We might need them to make it inside her place.”
“No shit,” Seth whispered. “I can’t believe she lives here.”
Obviously, his angel was surviving off the nickels and dimes she made waiting tables. He’d had no idea—and he wanted to howl in regret.
“Not for much longer.”
“You got that right,” Seth vowed.
As he and Beck helped the old man across an uneven courtyard and up to the front door, Heavenly ripped away a bright orange overdue rent notice. Her embarrassment spoke volumes. Fuck, this night kept getting worse. Seth was kicking himself for not looking into Heavenly from the beginning, for ignoring his instincts, and for not pushing her for information. If he’d learned about her dad’s health and her substandard living conditions months ago, would he be hovering over her protectively now? Would he be wondering if tonight would bring her closer or just give her another excuse to pull away?
The whole night had been an epic WTF.
When Heavenly opened the door to her tiny studio apartment and flipped on the light, Beck’s stomach pitched as cockroaches scurried to find darkness. Yes, it was clean, but by the looks of the peeling paint, matted carpet, and water-stained ceiling, the place should have been condemned decades ago.
Well, he understood now why Heavenly refused to let him pick her up for any of their dates. She’d been embarrassed. He’d give her a pass for pride since he had plenty of his own, but he wouldn’t absolve her for lying to him about everything else, especially her father and his deteriorating medical condition. For fuck’s sake, he was a doctor. One phone call, and he’d have set Abel up with the best physicians in LA months ago. All she’d had to do was open her goddamn mouth.
Instead, tonight had felt like a game of Whac-A-Mole. Each time some new problem popped up and he thought he’d clobbered it, another took its place. She had a father. Fine. He was dying. Not so fine, but he’d spoken to Abel, who had already guessed the inevitable. Thankfully, the older man had seemed relieved when Beck had vowed to care for Heavenly after he was gone. Then they’d pulled up to this hovel. He’d been livid and heartbroken that she and Abel called this shithole in the middle of gang turf home. But her living situation could—and would—be changed. He had an empty condo complete with security, a fluffy king-size bed, thick carpet, and pristine walls. He’d get Heavenly moved in there pronto, even if he had to toss her over his shoulder and haul her out kicking and screaming. But before he could whack the mole of her living situation on the fucking head, he’d seen that rent overdue notice.
He was almost afraid to ask what would pop up next.
As he and Seth led Abel to the rented hospital bed, Beck skimmed a glance over the sparse room. A pillow and blanket lay poised on the end of a saggy, threadbare couch. The realization that he was staring at Heavenly’s bed hit him like a punch to the gut. His anger and blood pressure spiked.
“Can you settle Dad on the bed? Then I’ll adjust him until he’s comfortable,” Heavenly murmured.
“I know how to maneuver a hospital bed,” Beck said as he and Seth helped Abel onto the mattress. “Relax, little girl.”
“Actually, if you two don’t mind staying with Dad for a few minutes, I’ll pop across the courtyard and deal with last month’s rent.”
Beck didn’t miss the quiver in her voice. Was she nervous because she knew that he and Seth would sit her down and interrogate the shit out of her the moment they could? Or exhausted because the whole damn night had been a shit show?
Granted, he and Seth were there to keep an eye on Abel, but why decide to pay the rent at two in the morning? A niggling voice in the back of his brain said something wasn’t right. But he’d be goddamned if he could imagine what else could possibly be wrong.
After he and Seth helped Abel into bed, Beck bent and removed the man’s shoes. “Would you like something to drink?”
“Water, thank you,” he replied. “Clean glasses are in the cabinet to the left of the sink. Help yourselves.”
Beck stepped across the room and opened the cabinet, grabbing three clean glasses from a shelf that otherwise held half a dozen mismatched plates, a pair of chipped bowls, and a coffee mug about nursing students always studying. Nothing else. He frowned against his mounting concern as he opened the freezer for some ice but found only a thick layer of frost.
