Three of Diamonds (Hamden Series) (36 page)

Wanting to continue to take out all his fury on Trey’s huddled form, Wes knew this wasn’t the answer. The only thing he needed to do was find Lola.

He left Olympus, not caring if it was the last time, the only thing that mattered was Lola.

It was close to one am when Wes pounded on Lola’s door. “Open the door Lola! I’m not going anywhere until you talk to me.”

When the door deadbolt finally rang to life, it wasn’t Lola’s sweet face that peaked out from the still chained door, it was Boyd.

“Boyd, I need to see your sister.”

“No!” Boyd said with enough authority to catch Wes off guard.

“Boyd, not now.”

“No Wes! You are mean, you made Lola cry and now she’s hurt, it’s all your fault. I hate you!”

No more than I hate myself, wait, did he say, hurt?
“What do you mean Lola’s hurt? Boyd open the door.” Wes shouted.

Lola was there now, with her hand on Boyd’s shoulder, holding an ice pack to her right cheek. “It’s okay Boyd, I got this, go back to bed.”

With reluctance, Boyd left his sister, but was proud that she kept the door chained.

Her beautiful face was the best sight he had ever seen, yet the fact that it was marked made him want to vomit.

“Open the door, Sunshine,” he said quietly yet still demanding.

“No, Wes. It’s over.”

“Lola! Whether you like it or not, I am more than willing to have this discussion in the hallway where all your neighbors can hear. The only thing that is going to get me to budge is a cop and a set of handcuffs, your choice.” He spoke in a deep loud tone.

She could tell by his facial expression, he meant what he said, she rolled her eyes, and closed the door to undo the chain, before opening it again for him to enter.

He passed by her on his way in, then quickly turned. He reached his hand out to check her wound, but she moved away from his touch. That hurt him to the core.

“Please.” He asked knowing she would deny him.

“Just say what you want to say Wes and leave.” feeling her body shake from nerves. This was too much for one person to handle, she was sure she was nearing the end of her tightly held emotions.

“I’m not leaving. Ever.”

“Oh really.”

And then he did what he should have done the first time he laid eyes on her, he dropped to his knees and looked up at her.

“I’ve never known such a thing existed that would make me change how I’m wired. But there is. It’s you. Every moment I’m with you, I want it to multiply times infinity. These past days have felt like I’ve been nothing but a shell, hollowed and cold. I know what you saw, but you have to believe me, I didn’t. I couldn’t! There was no draw to her, it wasn’t you. It will never be anyone else, but you. Whether I’m lucky enough to ever have you in my bed again, there will never be another.”

Lola tried to process this, but she couldn’t. He was here in the flesh, kneeling before her, asking what she hoped and dreamed he would. But she felt it was too surreal, which meant it probably was.

“I can’t, Wes, I’m sorry.” She walked past him and stood with her back to him, letting the tears fall.

He would not lose her like this. He was stupid enough to open the door for her the first time, he would sell his soul ten times over and give up everything to just get one last chance.

Knowing he was going for broke, he remained still, knowing he wasn’t worthy to look at her, and he whispered fiercely, “I’m done. Olympus is done.”

Lola whirled around at his words. Thinking for sure she heard him wrong.

His back was no longer straight, he was slouched over as if he no longer could handle the weight on his shoulders. “Do you hear me? Olympus is no more. The real estate agent comes tomorrow to list it. I’ve given it up.”

His words were right, but the time was wrong. She knew she would never be able to have this moment again, but she knew in her heart, Lycus was correct; she would never be enough for him. She will never be his equal.

Digging deep to say the words she would probably always regret, “Is that all you had to say to me?”

He was defeated. The game was over. He rose to his feet, keeping his back toward her, because he not only couldn’t bear to see her tears, he didn’t want her to see his.

He opened the door, and before walking through it, he said, “I love you, Lola. Always.” Then walked out.

Wes was living on caffeine, it was all that was keeping him going. He couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t be at home, he couldn’t be idle, or he would begin to go into the dark and if he did, he would allow it to swallow him. After many insistent calls, he finally gave into his friends, and showed up at the Finn house. But to his surprise, where the usually rambunctious house was overflowing with kids and their paraphernalia, it was now quiet and the woman of the house was alone.

Mae opened the door, and ushered Wes in. He leaned down and greeted her with his usual kiss, more out of habit than want.

“I’m glad you came, Wes. The next plan was for Seth to go over and carry you back.”

“What can I do for you, Mae?”

“I want to know what you are going to do about fixing this.” The happily married woman asked matter-of-factly.

What? Fixing what?
“I don’t know what you mean.”

Crossing her arms over her large chest, Mae cocked out her hip, tilted her head and said, “Fixing what is wrong with you and Lola. Our family needs to be whole.”

Didn’t she think he has tried? “Mae, I love you more than the moon, but you don’t know what the hell you are talking about.”

He turned to make his way out the door, before she spoke again, “You know, women aren’t as stupid as men.”

And this was supposed to help, how?

“A tiger can say he is going to change his stripes, but unless he shows he can, the promise means nothing.”

That had him stop in his tracks. He turned to the woman he considered his sister and arched his brow, asking without words.

This made her smile. “I don’t know specifics, but I’m not a country bumpkin, I’m from Boston, where certain things are much more known.”

Oh God, if she knew, that meant…

“But no worries, I would never tell anyone, even Seth. It isn’t anyone’s business, except yours. Besides, I don’t even know anything, I just may have a crazy, wild, kinky,” she emphasized her word choice with a wink, “kind of mind.”

She lifted on tiptoes, kissed his still shocked cheek, and whispered, “Show her whatever she needs to see.”

Kissing her in return, Wes headed down to his car, to find Lola. But this thought was halted when his phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Uh, Wes, it’s Aimee.”

Wes was silent.

“Lola is going to kill me, but I don’t know what else to do. Boyd is gone.”

“What?”

“I wasn’t sure what else to do.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Wes arrived at the park where the outing for Aaron’s Place was. Finding the group easily, he bee lined it for Lola’s crying form on the bench. Aimee was there comforting her.

“Sunshine.” He said as he pried her hands from her face.

Lola jumped into his arms, and let all her worry come out. She didn’t know how he got here, or why he was here, all that matter was he was here.

Wes allowed her to cry, willingly accepting all her tears, when she began to settle down, he asked her, “Baby, where was the last place you saw him.”

When Lola couldn’t answer, Aimee did. “We were all over at the bridge, watching the remote control boat race, when Jerry noticed Boyd was missing. We’ve taken turns looking for him, but with no luck.”

Lola was whimpering into his shoulder. Pushing her back, so he could look at her, he said, “I promise Sunshine, I’ll find him.” Kissing her forehead, he left her in Aimee’s care and headed off to look for Boyd.

Wes ran as fast as he could. Down paths, across lawns and through trees, but no Boyd. He called for him, with no answer. It was then Wes realized he had gone to the far side of the park, where he, Boyd and Lola had come. There playing with a puppy on a leash, was Boyd.

“Boyd!” Wes said, running toward his smaller friend. His loud voice, startled the puppy, causing the pup to run to his owner for protection. Boyd saw who called him, and pulled himself to his feet, trying to escape Wes’ pursuit.

“Boyd! Wait! Where are you going?” Wes easily caught up with him. When the boy was in his grasp, he avoided the flailing arms. “Boyd! Stop! What has gotten into you? Running away! You know better than that.”

“Get away from me, Wes! I don’t want you near me! I hate you!”

Unable to stop the words that sliced like a knife, Wes tried to ignore them.

“That’s okay, you can hate me, but what the hell were you thinking, taking off on your sister?”

“Don’t talk to me about Lola. You are the one that left her first. She was happy with you, but then you left and she was sad. She’s sad all the time. She cries all the time. You did that to her. I asked her to bring me here, so I could play with the dogs, but she said she would never come here, because of you.” Now it was Boyd’s turn to cry.

Wes hugged the boy and willingly accepted the tears.

“Cry for me too, Boyd.” Wes pleaded quietly.

When Boyd’s tears dried, he looked at the man that was once his hero and asked “Why don’t you like us anymore?”

“I do like you, Boyd. I love you, but I’ve done something that your sister could never forgive me for, something that she shouldn’t forgive me for. I love her so much, that I won’t bother her again, unless she wants me to.” Wes swallowed the lump in his throat, and continued, “but don’t ever think that I don’t love and think about you both, every second of every day.”

“Really?”

“Really, my man.” Wes said, kissing Boyd’s dark head.

“I better go back, huh?”

“Yeah, I think you should.”

“Will you come with me?” Boyd asked, unable to look Wes in the eye for fear of his answer.

“Of course. Come on.”

When they made their way back to Lola, Aimee was the first to spot them. Rousing Lola, she ran toward them and engulfed Boyd in a tight hug. Wes stepped off to the side to give them some privacy. Boyd apologized and Lola sprung new tears of joy.