Hothouse Flower (Calloway Sisters #2)

by Krista Ritchie

My voice chokes at the word, and I pinch the bridge of my nose to stop from breaking down and crying. I rarely ever fucking cry. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve shed a fucking tear.

I glance at my brother again, his chest falling in a heavy sleep, induced by alcohol. This may be the worst night of my life. I failed the two people that matter most to me.

“We do need to talk, Ryke.” “Why? Are you going to fucking accuse me of taking Lo away from you again?” When Lo went to rehab for the first time, our dad acted like I brainwashed him. Like rehab was the bad fucking choice. Like Lo wasn’t even an alcoholic.

“Then go,” I tell him. “No one is keeping you here.” “Lo just drank alcohol,” Connor says flatly. “Daisy is in the hospital. You’re a mess. I’m not leaving the three of you.”

If Daisy liked to burden people with her pain, she would have told her sisters about her insomnia, about her horrible fucking prep school friends. About what happened during the ten months that she was living with her parents—when I was at my apartment. She doesn’t think her problems measure up to Lily’s addiction, but they do. They’re just as important.

This is a new side of Connor. Protective of Daisy. I do appreciate it, more than I’m going to let on.

I miscalculated how pissed Connor is tonight. He was right. He’s truly fucking angry, and he’s on the offensive.

Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I chose to never meet my brother. If I chose to keep my head buried in the sand. My mom would have never known about Lily’s sex addiction. She would have never shouted it to the fucking world. No media. Daisy would sleep peacefully. Lily wouldn’t feel so fucking ashamed. Connor and Rose wouldn’t have their sex life distributed online. And my brother—I think he’d still be drinking.

“I haven’t always done the right thing, Connor,” I say. “I’m not perfect. But I’m trying so hard to look after my brother and her. But if I’m hurting them, then you need to tell me right now.” I meet his gaze—no pretenses. No jokes. The severity in our postures makes it hard to breathe.

“I don’t want to ruin anyone’s life by being in it. That was never my intention.”

Connor lets out an exhausted laugh, and tears actually brim his eyes. “Ryke…” He shakes his head and rub...

“You ran with her in your arms for over three miles. Your brother’s existence caused your parent’s divorce, and yet, you gave up most of your time and energy to help him through his sobriety. How can you possibly think you’re a pain in their life? What you’ve done for them, it’s nothin...

A hot tear rolls down my cheek. I’m so fucking tired of being alone. I was scared that he’d tell me to fucking leave. Because that means going back to a life I can’t see for myself anymore. Daisy has changed that for me. She made me comfortable to share my life with someone else, to live for happiness in the company of others. My solitary future looks b...

“Daisy, don’t cry,” he says. “We’re going to get through this.”

Whatever wild thing I do, Ryke Meadows does too. Down a ski slope. In an ocean, caged with sharks. Off a cliff. Off a cliff. I was fifteen. I dove into the water. He jumped in after me.

In that moment, I had fallen for Ryke. Literally, figuratively—I knew, if we couldn’t be together, he would be my friend.

“I saw you,” I whisper. “You were right there.” I remember meeting his eyes. And they were full of anger, full of desperation, full of gut-wrenching pain. He screamed my name. I heard it only once before something hard met my face. My face.

“Can I have a mirror?” I ask her. Beepbeepbeepbeep. I can’t articulate my feelings beyond panic. I just need to see my face first to understand these emotions that blow through me.

Because I’ll have this scar forever. Because I’ll never be the pretty Daisy Calloway in magazine spreads or down runways. I am no longer a model. I am no longer the person my mom aspired me to be. But I am more me now than I was before.

“I’m not upset.” My chin quivers. I wipe the tears and I say, “I’m relieved.” My gaze meets Ryke’s. “How sick is that?” And then I burst into tears because I know I shouldn’t feel this way.

My career has ended because of my face, but it should have ended so much sooner because of my health, my emotions, my happiness. It has taken a near-death experience and the end-all of modeling for me to realize this.

His lips tickle my ear. “You’re so fucking beautiful.” I smile wide. Those words mean so much more now than they ever did before. “Say that again.” “How about I just fucking show you?”

My arms slip underneath his, holding his back like he belongs to me. I can’t believe I’m turned on after being cooped up in a hospital. But my sore limbs loosen like jelly at his possessive touch.

I am climbing a gorgeous mountain that I have never even neared before. And he’s the one taking me there.

“Don’t stop,” I cry. “Ryke.” I grab his bicep for support. I meet his wanting gaze once before my toes curl, my spine arches, and my eyes roll back. Every part of me explodes like a thousand fireworks inside my head and body. I go off. And I come for the very first time. Finally.

I laugh because that was one of the best things I’ve ever felt. Period. And he hasn’t even pushed his cock inside of me yet.

“Before, I was going to ask you if this was it for us.” He frowns. “What are you fucking talking about?” I don’t back down to the darkness in his features. I cling to every dangerous quality he possesses. “I just thought you’d want to go back to being just friends after what happened with my face.” His confusion turns into a hard glare. “I’m not with you because you’re a fucking model.” “I know.” “Clearly you didn’t.” “I do now.”

You think I’m with you just because you’re fucking gorgeous? Daisy, I could have been with you the moment you turned eighteen. Having sex with a hot fucking girl that gets me hard isn’t worth risking the relationship I have with my brother.” I breathe heavily. “What’s worth the risk then?” “What we fucking have,” he says.

“I love you beyond physical attraction.” He cups my smooth cheek, looking deep into my eyes. “I love you, Dais, because you’re the wildest fucking girl with the biggest fucking heart. And without you in my life”—he shakes his head like it’s an inconceivable picture—“I’d be the unhappiest fucking guy.”

“You love me,” I breathe. He lets out a short laugh. “You’re such a fucking girl.” “Say it again.” He smiles, a full blown one that tingles my body all over. “I fucking love you, sweetheart.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Right. I’ve found the one person who makes me the happiest, but I just wonder how long I’ll be able to keep him. I wonder if there are too many outside forces pulling us apart for this to last. I’ll take each day as they come.

Everyone sees partial sides to Ryke, and he lets them think he’s just an athlete with no brains, an aggressive asshole. It’s like he’s been alone for so long that he’s lost any interest in showing off his worth.

My brother can’t live without you. I’m expendable, you aren’t.” “You can’t honestly think that about yourself,” she says softly. “Just promise me, Lily.” “I promise, but Ryke—he needs you. You’re his brother.” I shake my head.

To Lo, I’m equal to Connor. We met Lo at nearly the same fucking time. In fact, Connor has some months on me. For fuck’s sake, Lo made us flip a coin to determine who would be his best man at his wedding. I didn’t get it by fucking default because I’m related to him. In less than a year, I’ll be standing by his side as he’s about to get married, all because of luck.

He can so easily push me out of his life, and the only reason I’m still here is because I refuse to go,...

But Daisy…I know in my heart she’s something that can drive me away from him. I’m going to fight against the moment, b...

“I’d do anything for her.” “Is it different this time?” she asks me.

“Say it fucking bluntly or don’t say it at all.” She sighs. “Why do you have to be so mean?” “I didn’t think I was,” I snap.

“Just say it bluntly or don’t say it at all,” Lily rebuts, with ten times less force than me. I almost smile. “She means a fucking lot to me, Calloway.” It’s still not much better but it seems to appease Lily. “Have you told this to Lo?” she asks. “What would it fucking matter? He sees what he wants to see.”

I’m the intruder, the fucking guy he opened his arms to, the guy he let in his life. If I stick my cock anywhere near Daisy, he will be affronted as though I fucked with his family, his friends, his world.

“He sees what you give him,” Lily says softly, “and you’re not giving him a l...

I’m so fucking scared to open up about my history with my own brother. That’s the fucking truth. I did wrong by him for so long, and if I start talking about it, I feel like I’ll just push him away more. I’ll give him no reason to be close ...

Connor’s eyes flicker to me in the rearview mirror, his hands tight on the steering wheel. Whether he sides with Lo or me, he doesn’t let on.

Lily and I talk often,

Lily started to open up a little bit. It wasn’t my fucking intention to share our sexual exploits with each other, but I just wanted to make her feel less ashamed about her sex life. So fuck me. She told me she had sex with Lo in a movie theatre once. And how she did it at an amusement park when she was eighteen, on the fucking Ferris wheel.

“I appreciate you trying to make her comfortable,” Lo says in a way that sounds like he really doesn’t appreciate it.

Connor tries really hard not to make a sound (at least I think he does) but he ends up bursting into laughter. “I know,” Lo says. “It’s insane. It’s like reading a text from someone trying to convince you that cocaine isn’t a drug.”

“Do you think it’s gross that Lily has had public sex?” Lo’s face contorts and he starts shaking his head. “Of course not. She’s not gross.” “But it’d be gross for me,” Daisy says, touching her chest. Confusion wrinkles her forehead. I glower at Lo. He did just say that.

“It’s okay, guys,” Daisy says quickly, “I’m sorry I brought it up.” She slides over to the window, her face sinking in guilt at stirring more confrontation between my brother and me. But honestly, anything she fucking says is going to rile Lo. It’s just the way he is.