Adonis in Athens - Page 67

Mick laughed, deep and rumbling, shaking his head. “Naw, man, I meant it—I was just using it to my advantage.”

“Dude, we’re moving Raegan out of here. There’s no time for breakfast.”

“Yeah, there is.” Mick winked. “Come on.” He headed back towards her room.

Apollo followed in confusion, but was glad that the situation had been diffused and that he really hadn’t wound up in jail. That could get him kicked out of the country, which was not in the plan.

Raegan was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, her hair pulled back in a ponytail as she sat up in bed. The woman in tears beside her had to be her mother, Nora, and Apollo caught Paige’s impatient stance as she stood between them.

“I just don’t understand what’s happening,” Nora was sniffling. “Raegan, you’re my light and my love, but I don’t understand these things you keep saying about your father! You know they’re not true and—”

“Mom.” Raegan gripped her hands tightly. “I love you. You were the best mom you could possibly be with your issues but—”

“I don’t have issues!” Nora was crying harder now.

“Mom!” Raegan squeezed her hands and forced her to look at her. “Please, Mom, listen to me. You have bipolar disorder. You know this. I don’t know why you stopped taking your meds but…”

“I had to! I feel like I’m underwater all the time. The only time I feel okay is when I wake up in the morning, but the minute I start taking them, I just float around in a cloud, like I don’t feel anything. It’s terrible, Raegan.”

“Mom—those are the meds that keep you from having suicidal thoughts. Remember? Remember when you tried to kill yourself?”

Nora’s tears dripped down her face. “But that stuff about your father—”

“Is true. I don’t blame you. You weren’t medicated, you could barely take care of yourself, much less me, but I can’t ever be alone with him. I won’t visit you in Phoenix ever again. Please trust me. Please let me handle this.”

“I just don’t… How could he?!” Her eyes filled with tears and she sank into the nearest chair.

“That’s why he keeps talking you out of taking your medication,” Paige added gently. “He knows when you’re lucid, even if you don’t feel right, the memories can come drifting back.”

“But I can’t leave him,” Nora looked up sadly. “I can’t work, I can’t…do anything.”

“Let me get better,” Raegan said quietly. “Then we’ll figure out what you can do. Promise me you’ll go back on the meds, Mom?”

“Okay.” Nora was sniffling so Paige handed her a tissue.

“So, what’s the plan?” Apollo asked softly.

“I’m taking Raegan to my mom’s until we can find an apartment with an elevator or something else…” She glanced at Apollo. “Can we get her settled and meet my parents and then take care of our stuff?”

“Of course.” He looked around. “What do we need to do?”

“Please, someone mention food,” Mick murmured.

Raegan smiled. “I like him.”

The next 24 hours were a whirlwind. Bringing Apollo to her parents’ house and introducing him as her husband had been almost surreal, with what felt like a million questions and endless doubts. Apollo was a rock, though, answering patiently and reassuring her parents that he would take care of her. It seemed to take forever, and while she understood her parents’ concerns, she had so many other things on her mind. She still hadn’t gone back to work, she was going to pick up Raegan and get her settled in the guest room in a few hours, and she and Apollo still didn’t have a plan for the immediate future.

“Holy hot as hell!” her sister, Nicky, murmured as Paige got the sofa bed in the guest room ready while Apollo talked with her father. “I can’t believe you’re married to him!”

Paige managed to smile. “Get drunk during spring break and you, too, can accidentally marry a Greek god.”

“Seems to me he’s a lot more than an accidental husband.”

“He’s pretty amazing,” Paige admitted, hugging the pillow to her chest as she paused from putting the pillowcase on. “I just don’t know what we’re going to do. He doesn’t want to live here, but he’d do it for me and…”

“Why don’t you want to move to Greece? Are you afraid he would do something to you?”

“Not something terrible,” Paige said quickly. “I just think I would be lonely. No friends, with a whole new lifestyle and culture—and I don’t know the language. What would I do all day while he worked?”