Rush Too Far (Rosemary Beach #4)(40)

I would make sure my sister left Blaire alone. Then I was going to get Blaire a phone. She needed a damn cell phone. I wanted to make sure she was OK when I didn’t know where she was.

And I was going to cook for her. I wanted to watch her eat. I wanted to feed her. Make up for how badly I’d f**ked things up before.

I also didn’t want her sleeping in that bedroom tonight. I wanted her in mine.

CHAPTER TWENTY

I was standing on the balcony when I heard Nan’s voice from inside. “Where are you?” she called out. She wasn’t happy about being here. Good. She really wasn’t going to be happy about it when I was done with her.

I walked inside as she came into the living room wearing her tennis skirt and looking pissed off. I was expecting her to be angry, but it pissed me off that she thought she had the right to be. After the way she had treated Blaire, did she think I wouldn’t call her out on it?

“You ruined my plans. This better be good,” she snapped.

I set my coffee cup down on the nearest table and turned to look at my sister. “Let me get something straight, because you must need reminding. Unless you want to get a job and pay for all your shit, then I have a say in how you act. I’ve let you act like a brat most of your life because I love you. I know that life with Mom was unfair for you. But I will not . . .” I paused and took a step toward her and leveled my gaze on her so she could see just how serious I was. “I will not allow you to hurt Blaire. Ever. She has done nothing to you. You blame her for the sorry excuse for a father you have. Blaire is a victim of that man just as much as you are. So do not speak to her like you did today ever again. I swear, Nan, I love you, but I won’t let you hurt her. Do not test me.”

Nan’s eyes went wide with surprise, and the fake tears I was used to her springing on me immediately glistened in her eyes. “You’re choosing her over me. Are you . . . are you f**king her? That’s it, isn’t it? That little slut!”

I was in her face so fast that she stumbled backward. I reached out and grabbed her arm to keep her from falling and jerked her back up. “Don’t you say it. I swear to God, Nan, you are going to push me too far. Think before you speak.”

She sniffled and let the tears she could turn on like a damn faucet roll down her face. I hated making her cry. The sick knot I got in my stomach when someone hurt Nan was forming. “I’m . . . I’m your sister. How could you do this to me? I was . . . You know what she did? Who she is? She kept him from me! My father, Rush. I’ve lived this life because I didn’t have him.” She was sobbing now and shaking her head, as if she couldn’t believe I could forget all this.

She would never see the truth. She was determined to blame and hate someone, but she refused to hate the person who deserved it the most. “Blaire was a child. She did nothing to you. She couldn’t help that she was born. She had no clue you even existed. Why can’t you see that? Why can’t you see the kind, honest, giving, hardworking person your sister is? No one can hate her! She’s f**king perfect!”

“Don’t you . . .” She pointed her finger at me, with horror on her face. “Do not call her my sister!” she screamed hysterically.

Sighing, I sat down on the sofa and held my head in my hands. Nan was so stubborn. “Nan, you share a father. That makes her your sister,” I reminded her.

“No. I don’t care. I do not care. I hate her. She’s manipulative, and she’s fake. She’s using sex to control you.”

I shot back up out of my seat. “I haven’t f**ked her, so don’t say that! Stop accusing her of shit you know nothing about. Blaire isn’t a whore. She’s a virgin, Nan. A virgin. You want to know why she’s a virgin? Because she spent her teen years taking care of her sick mother while running the household and going to school. She had no time to be a kid. She had no time to sow any wild oats. She was abandoned by her father for you. So if anyone should hate someone, she should hate you.”

Nan straightened her spine, her tears now dry. Which made this easier on me. I was all Nan had in the world, and I knew that. I didn’t want her thinking I had abandoned her. She was always going to be my little sister. But she was an adult now, and it was time she started acting like one. “And you. She should hate you, too,” Nan said, then turned and headed for the door. I didn’t call her back. I was too exhausted to deal with her any more today. I trusted she would leave Blaire alone for now.

I spent the rest of the day pushing Nan’s words from my head. I focused on getting Blaire a phone and then buying the things that I needed to make her a meal. A good one. Something to impress her and get her to talk to me. To forgive me for completely shutting down on her last night.

I knew she wouldn’t accept the phone from me, so I left a note in her truck telling her it was from her dad. I hated giving that stupid f**ker any credit, but I wanted Blaire to take the phone. I needed her to have a phone for my sanity. If I was going to keep her safe, then she needed it.

Glancing at the time, I realized she was more than likely in her truck by now. I picked up my phone and pressed her number, which I had saved in my phone.

“Hello,” she said softly. I could hear the confusion in her voice. Had she not read the note?

“I see you got the phone. Do you like it?” I asked.

“Yes, it’s really nice. But why did Dad want me to have it?” she asked. That was why she was confused. She didn’t expect the selfish bastard to do anything for her like this. She wasn’t an idiot.