Erik (Arizona Vengeance 2)

“About me?”

“Yeah. He knew we were dating. Knew about Billy.”

“But how?” I ask in surprise. Not that it’s a bad thing, I’m just surprised a man of his standing would even care to know something about one of his employees so low on the totem pole.

“He’s a smart man. Did his homework once he got the email. Christian Rutherford told him you and I were dating, and well…I think he likes helping out couples or something.”

I laugh at that. It’s ridiculous, but Erik just gives me a patient smile before he says, “He loaned his jet to Bishop to go after Brooke.”

“Oh,” I whisper, my insides going a little gooey. That’s really, really romantic. I grin at Erik. “Is he married?”

He gives me a stern look with one eyebrow raised before continuing. “At any rate, we talked. I told him about the life insurance issue and he’s going to have his attorneys take over from mine. He didn’t make any guarantees, but Blue…my gut says you’re going to be getting that insurance money sooner rather than later.”

I blink at him, trying to process what he just said. He stares back at me, eyes alight with happiness.

For me.

“You think that I’ll get the insurance money?” I ask him, needing him to repeat that which would be my greatest dream come true right now. I could afford to put Billy in a different home where the care is more devoted. Where the medical personnel are better trained.

“I think whatever Dominik Carlson wants, he pretty much makes happen,” Erik tells me, pulling me into his arms. I embrace him hard in return, pushing my face into his chest for a moment.

I let the weight of what just happened settle into me.

A lot of my financial woes—which aren’t really mine but Billy’s—just got alleviated. And yes, Dominik Carlson is a wonderful man to do what he did and what he’s doing, but none of that would have come about without Erik bringing it to his attention.

Thinking about me…caring enough about me, to approach the general manager of the Vengeance and ask for help.

My tears come fast and hot, so I push my face harder into Erik’s chest. He wraps his arms tighter around me, and I concentrate on the beat of his heart against my cheekbone.

I have no idea why this is happening to me. Why Erik was brought back into my life.

But if I didn’t believe it before, I sort of believe there’s something to the notion of destiny now. It’s the only explanation that makes sense to me.Chapter 20Erik“I can’t believe how nervous I am,” Blue says from beside me. We’re taking an Uber to a restaurant my dad chose to have lunch at.

Reaching over, I lay my hand atop hers and give a slight squeeze. “Don’t be. My dad is super laid-back and fun.”

“Yeah…but he’s your dad. What if he doesn’t like me?”

There’s no chance of that. In fact, I’m afraid he might like her a little too much since she’s in the age range my father prefers to date and is gorgeous beyond measure.

“He’ll like you,” I assure her. “And even if he doesn’t, wouldn’t change how I feel about you.”

Blue’s expression remains worried, and I know why. She’s reversing the situation in her mind, understanding the outcome would be different. If Billy didn’t like me, Blue would dump me in a heartbeat, and I’d totally understand. It’s apples and oranges. Billy is totally dependent upon Blue just to survive.

But my relationship with my dad isn’t like that. We’re more like buddies. When I went to live with him, he had very little rules by which I had to abide. He tended to treat me like an adult, even though I wasn’t. For example, if I were to go out with friends and get drunk, my stepdad would have grounded me for a month. By contrast, my father was the one that got me drunk for the first time in my life. Granted, it was in the controlled environment of our home and we were watching football one Sunday, but the rules and mores were completely different between the two homes. Whereas I didn’t like my stepdad at all because he curtailed my desires, my father indulged my teenage desires to break rules and push boundaries.

What really makes my father more like a buddy than a father who is a role model is that I’m not sure his advice to me is all that sound. Over the years, I’d become smart enough to figure out he doesn’t follow society’s norms. Even to this day, he’s never wanted to settle down again. So I essentially have a fifty-two-year-old father who won’t date a woman over twenty-five and I use the term “date” very loosely.

As such, I could introduce my father to Blue and he could hate her guts, and it wouldn’t sway me one centimeter away from her. It’s because the biggest way in which I’ve changed is in recognizing that Blue gives me something that I very much want and need right now. Sure…I’ve matured and realized the way I lived my romantic life was not very fulfilling, but more than anything, I have enough self-confidence in myself to be different from my dad if that’s the path I so choose.