"I'm okay." Real, real okay. "Is everything fine with the Reapers?"

His expression didn't flicker or cloud over with worry, which was a good thing. He settled for a confident nod that was only distracted by what seemed like an intense thought. "Got it all sorted out, babe. Don't need to worry about 'em anymore."

My eyes narrowed on their own, suspiciously. "What did you do?"

"You don't need to worry about 'em anymore. We dealt with 'em," he answered with complete seriousness.

"Please tell me you didn't do anything to get in trouble, Dex." I wrapped my hand around his wrist. "Please, please, please tell me that you didn't do anything stupid." A certain amount of dread settled on my shoulders. If he'd done something that would land him back in jail, I couldn't forgive myself. I definitely wouldn't be able to ever forgive my dad for it either.

That little smile stayed on his lips. "Nothin' like that, Ritz. I promise."

I wanted to doubt him but when had he ever given me a reason to? Never. But the dread stayed in place. "Dex," I pleaded with him.

He squeezed my shoulder. "Promise. Nothin' like that."

My expression must have said that I wasn't completely convinced because he snickered again, squeezing my shoulder.

"Ritz, trust me. Nobody's gettin' into trouble except your pa. You and Son are off the hook, but we still gotta find him and get him so he can deal with the fucks he's gotten wrapped up with."

"Okay." I couldn't say I was relieved exactly but as long as Sonny would be fine, then that's all that mattered. "Thank you for taking care of it for us. You didn't need to but it means a lot to me." And the words just poured out of my mouth, leaving me vulnerable. "You're kind of a blessing."

His smile turned weary and gentle, those bright blue eyes searching, searching, searching. Dex disentangled his fingers from their fist and pinched my chin. "Sure, babe."

I grinned at him again and pulled on his two middle fingers. "You have an appointment coming in soon."

He flipped his grip, rubbing my fingers between his fingertips. "I didn't forget." He looked around. "Blake here?"

"In the back." He'd gotten to Pins an hour late but that was our secret.

The poor guy had left his sunglasses on when he came in, only bothering to wave a greeting. There was something wrong but I didn't want to push him when he seemed like he needed space. And his sunglasses said exactly that.

Dex ran his fingers through my ponytail before disappearing down the hallway a minute later.

I worked the rest of the day setting up new accounts on a couple of social media websites that I thought would be a good idea to branch into. When I had the chance, I called one or two more places that had come up in the motel search. Regardless of whether Luther knew people who could help or not, I didn't want to rely on that. Anything was better than sitting around waiting for things to fix themselves.

It wasn't until a few hours later that Dex came and sat on the edge of my desk that he confirmed the offer of help. "Lu knows a couple of guys in a riding club close to Dade county. He says he'll call 'em tonight."

I held up my hand for a high-five. Dex looked from my outstretched hand to my face and back again. I wiggled my fingers. "Don't leave me hanging."

He shook his head, and friggin' finally slapped his palm against mine weakly.

Jerk. "I owe him big time," I said.

He gave me a small, amused smile. "Don't worry about it."

"I do. That's nice of him. He doesn't have to help us."

Dex raised both of his eyebrows. "He's sweet on you, and everybody knows he wishes Son was his kid instead of Trip."

It felt like half the ceiling came crashing down. "Uh, what?" Trip was his son? Trip was Luther's son?

No, no, no, no, no, no. Hadn't I been making faces and saying mean things about Luther at the bar when I'd been sitting with Trip? I had. Oh god, I had. Remorse flooded my stomach, making it bottom out. I rarely spoke badly about people and the one time I did, I did it in front of his son. Why?

"What? You didn't know that was his pa?"

"No!" Oh boy, I couldn't face Trip again. Ever. "I talked shit about how gross it was that Luther messed around with younger girls with Trip, Dex. I feel terrible."

What did he do? Assure me that it was fine? No, he laughed. Dex tossed his head back and laughed.

"And he even said that Luther messed around with girls younger than his son. Ugh." I moaned. "I'm such an idiot."

He laughed even harder, reaching out to pull on my hair. "It's fine, Ritz. Trip wouldn't say shit. It's not like he's crazy about his pa doin' that anyway, but that is funny as hell."

"They don't even look alike." They didn't. Trip was blonde and tall, and Luther wasn't as tall and he definitely wasn't blonde. And, and, Trip had these really strong, handsome features that his dad just... didn't.

"Nah. He looks more like his ma," Dex explained slowly. "Why do you think that Lu's lettin' them both be gone so long?"

It all made complete sense now, and I felt like a major jackass. Never again would I say anything mean about another person out loud, damn it.

Well, unless it was my dad.

I groaned at the realization. "I wish I would've figured that out before opening my big mouth."

Dex smiled, both of his eyes widening as he nodded. "Sometimes it takes everybody a long time to figure out what's in front of 'em, babe."

Ain't that the truth.

~ * ~ *

"Did you find out what your dad was calling for?" I asked Dex from over a bowl of veggie pad-thai.

He was digging a cut of chicken from his own bowl, a small crease lining his forehead at the question. "Yeah." He chewed thoughtfully until finally looking at me. We'd originally started sitting on opposite ends of the couch but over time, he'd scooted over to end up on the cushion next to mine. "Ma finally served him with divorce papers."

I almost spit out the noodles in my mouth. "Hasn't it been a really long time?"

Dex nodded, the look on his face as incredulous as the one on mine I could only assume. "Fourteen years. I've been tellin' her for fourteen years to lay his ass out but she kept blowin' it off."

"Why?" It took all of a split second to realize how much of a hypocrite I sounded asking that. Hadn't my own mom stayed married to a man that left her? Yeah, she had.

He shrugged but it wasn't casual. By the lines of his shoulders, it seemed like there was something about what Debra was doing that genuinely bothered him. "I've been tellin' her since I was a kid to divorce his worthless ass. And all this time she kept spewin' this ridiculous shit about marryin' under the eyes of God and promisin' to stick by him forever." He snorted at his bowl. "Bull fuckin' shit."

Oh lord. That sounded exactly like my own mom.

It felt so personal to admit that to him but then again, wasn't he telling me this out of trust? Didn't I owe him the same and more? "My mom used to say the same thing.  It drove me crazy. I mean, anybody would've been lucky to be with her, but she was so hung up on my dad. I didn't see a problem with it at first but after a while...after I saw how much it pained her...I didn't get why she wouldn't let go of him. Maybe I’ve blown it out of proportion but I don’t think you leave someone you love because you don’t like having responsibilities."