“Sounds good, I can’t wait for him to move in.”
He abruptly stops eating and says “Sorry, I can’t eat another bite, Olivia. I’ve had an emotional day. I’m going to head up for a bit and read, then take a nap. Thanks for keeping an old man company at lunch.”
“You don’t have to thank me. It’s my pleasure.”
Isaac’s a hottie. I bet he doesn’t have problems attracting beautiful women in Houston. I look forward to spending some time with him.
“Expect nothing, and you’ll never get hurt,” Mom used to say to me. I’ll take her words to heart when it comes to Neil. I’ll try to keep him distracted if that’s what Neil wants and besides it’s the least I can do for him. He’s given me a home and a job. Besides I could do with some company, even if it just happens to be a hottie like Isaac.
Chapter 3
Isaac
I wake up with a killer hangover. I must have got up at least three times during the night to pee. Every time I kept thinking about the old man and what he wanted me to do. Fucking, marry some girl that I don’t even know. What?
So, that she’ll either kill herself or even worse just end up dying of some disease. That’s the trait in our family, which is why it’s only granddad and I left. The rest are all gone and buried, which is why I drowned myself in work. That was the only way to get rid of the pain. Not thinking or feeling anything, just working until that day. The time that nothing could take away that pain, that’s when I found my relief. The one thing that helped me make it through the day and that was to get drunk.
There’s a knock on my bedroom door. I’m in my room in darkness. Just the way I like it, because I just need to be alone.
“What?”
I blurt out thinking that it can’t be my cleaner or my maid. I told both of them to take the week off. I thought that somehow the old man would see things my way and I’ll be at the office all week. The last thing I expected him to do was move me in for three months with some girl that he has working on the ranch.
“It’s Trevor. I’ve been sent to pick you up.”
Shit, if he sent you to wipe my butt, would you do that too?
“Go away, Trevor.”
He doesn’t shout back, but he opens the door. “I can’t do that. I’ve been with this family before you were born. I’ve never seen you behave this way and I’ve never seen Neil so worried. You may not give a shit about it.”
Then he enters and starts drawing the curtains. Something that my mom would do if she was alive. Then again, if she was then maybe I wouldn’t be in this state.
“Now, get showered. Dressed and then we’re heading up to the ranch.”
I’m about to tell him that I don’t appreciate a driver telling me what to do. But I know that Trevor’s more than just any driver. He’s the one that saved me from finding my dad hanging himself from school. Why else would he tell me to wait outside that day? Every single day from school had been the same, apart from that one.
Granddad practically raised me, but when he had to go and work for the company again. He waited until I could take over. Trevor was the one that was picking me from college with granddad at times, most of the time with grandma. She died of cancer too. Just like the rest of them, one at a time, just dying of one thing or another.
“I’m fucking not going, not yet.”
Trevor shakes his head, “You misunderstood Isaac. I wasn’t asking you. I was fucking telling you. Now get up, go and shower. Then get in the car.”
“Who do you think you are?”
He blurts out as he practically carries me from my bed with just one hand, “I’m someone who cares. Don’t even try and start any shit with me. Get up. Shower. Get dressed and let’s go.”
“You seem to forget one thing. I have a company to run. I can’t do that if I’m on the ranch for three months.”
He nods, “So you can do that if you’re stuck in bed for days?”
I don’t know how to reply to that; he has a point. It’s not as if I’ve even called into the office to find out how things are going or anything. Shit, I don’t even know if one day has passed or two? At times, I forget to care.
“Besides Neil has someone to step in temporarily while you’re at the ranch.”
Fuck, the old man’s got it all planned, and I feel even more resentment towards him.
“Isaac, you need help. That’s all Neil wants to do. Just let us help you,” Trevor sighs, and he no longer looks frightening or as if he’s trying to overpower me. He’s trying to act as a friend.