Chapter 15
Dylan
Everyone wassilent as we finished dinner. Penelope sat across from my father and Aurora sat across from me. I looked up to see her drag her fork around her plate, shoving at the remains of her dinner. She lifted her eyes and met mine, giving me a soft smile.
The silence in the room was unbearable, and the tension could be cut with a knife. My father cleared his throat and immediately Aurora looked back down at her plate.
“Aurora, why don’t you help your mother clean up? I want to talk with Dylan alone,” he said, placing his empty wineglass down on the table with a little more force than I expected.
“Joe, she doesn’t need to help, it’s fine,” Penelope said, grabbing my plate and placing it on top of hers.
“She does,” Joe barked before getting up from his chair and looking over at me. “She’ll do as she is told to do in this house.”
Aurora met my eyes and winced, then, with shaking hands, she reached over for my father’s plate, while the tension in the room continued to grow.
“Let’s go,” my father barked at me and headed down the hall toward his office.
I was expecting this mood from my father. What I wasn’t expecting was to find Aurora here for dinner. My father had called me just after I’d called Aurora last night. I’d just finished explaining everything to her about what she’d seen on the news and was relieved to find out that she was going to stand by my side. We’d said good night, and I’d just pulled out of the parking lot, when my phone rang again. My father wasn’t so understanding. He barked at me the entire drive home and then demanded I show up today. He’d put me in an unbelievably bad mood, not to mention confrontational, which had carried over into today.
“What?” I barked as I walked into his office and slammed the door shut.
“Sit the fuck down and don’t slam doors in this house.”
I leaned against the back of the chair on the opposite side of my father’s desk. I wasn’t putting up with this shit today. My father turned around and looked at me.
“I told you to sit down,” he barked again.
“No,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and squaring off to him. “Oh, and as for the door slamming, I learned from the best.”
“Alright then, big man, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“About?”
“The shit that is all over the news?”
“I’ve got my lawyers on it, as well as the team’s lawyers.”
“Is it true? Did you knock her up?” he questioned, crossing his arms in front of his chest as well.
“No.”
My father sort of chuckled at my answer and shook his head.
“What?”
“Have your lawyers gotten back to you with the answers about the paternity test that they were talking about on the news?”
“No. Not yet.”
“You are absolutely certain you didn’t knock her up?”
I rolled my eyes and met my father’s eyes. He’d been this way when we’d broken up. Giving me shit about ending a relationship that he was certain was the best thing in my life.
“Yes.”
“Then what the fuck were you thinking during the game?”
“What?”
“The fight, Dylan. What the fuck were you thinking, throwing the game by getting into a fight?”
“First, I didn’t throw the game. In fact, I didn’t throw the game at all. We fucking lost.”
“Because your mind was elsewhere. I can always tell when your mind is elsewhere because you play like shit.”
“Give it a rest, Dad. I don’t need to hear this right now.”
“It’s true.”
“Yeah, sure, and I’ve already heard it from the coach. You think I need to hear it from you, too?”
“Damn right you do. Fuck, Dylan, I sunk thousands of dollars into you, fucking thousands. I didn’t do it so you could fuck up your career.”
“How did I fuck up my career?”
“You don’t get it, do you? Until we have a fucking answer from this test, people are going to consider it to be true, and so am I.”
“Believe what you want. You always have, but know this, I haven’t been with Carlie since last year. I’ve had restraining orders on her. I’ve sent her cease and desist notices after she dragged me through the mud after our breakup that she caused. She cost me thousands of dollars. Why do you think I’d ever get involved with that again?”
“Because I know how men are. I am one. We do stupid things, which brings me to the next matter I want to discuss with you.”
I turned away from my father for a moment. I didn’t want to hear any more. He never believed a word I said. I didn’t know why I’d thought this time would be any different.
“Did you hear me?”
I closed my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. He was pushing my buttons, every single one of them, and I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. It was like the other night on the ice with Novak. He pushed me until I blew, and my father was going to do the same.
“Sit down,” he barked.
“I’m fine. I’ll stand.”
My father walked over to the window and looked out onto the backyard. He was silent for a moment, then he pulled out a cigar from his humidor, cut the end, and lit it. He stood there puffing away on it, then cleared his throat.
“Penelope told me something disturbing the other day.”
I straightened up to my full six-foot height and crossed my arms, towering over my father by a few inches. “Okay.”
“She said you and Aurora have been fooling around together.”
“We aren’t…I mean…we are, but it’s not what you think.”
“Not what I think? Dylan, I wasn’t born yesterday. This is beyond disturbing.”
“First, we aren’t fooling around.”
My father shook his head and smirked. “Really? What would you call it?”
“Dad, I like her a lot. We aren’t just fooling around.”
“Dylan, do you have any idea how disturbing this is? You guys are basically brother and sister.”
“I take it Penelope didn’t tell you how we met?” I said, glaring at my father.
“No, and frankly, I don’t give a damn how you met.”
I clenched my fists and locked my jaw. He always thought he had power over people, and that was one thing I hated about him more than anything.
“Dad, we met way before…”
“What part of I don’t want to hear it don’t you get? I want you to end things with her immediately.”
“Would you listen to me?” I said through clenched teeth.
“Dylan, I’m done listening. You’re nothing but an immense disappointment. I’m giving you until the weekend to end things with Aurora, otherwise I’ll end it for you.”
I clenched my hands into fists and glared at my father. I wasn’t putting up with this. He never listened to anyone but himself. He squared off with me, waiting to see what I’d do. I wanted to hit him, but then remembered Aurora and her mother were in the kitchen. Instead of taking out my anger, I turned and walked out. He followed right behind me, shouting at me the entire way. Instead of saying anything to anyone else, I stormed right out the front door, slamming it behind me. I was just about to my car when I heard Aurora call after me. I couldn’t talk to her right now. I was too fucking angry, so, pretending not to hear her, I climbed into my car and slammed the door shut and raced out of the driveway.
* * *
I’d stoppedby Knox’s place and we’d completed our workout for today. That had enabled me to work off my anger and frustration in a better way than heading home and getting drunk would have.
I pulled my shirt off over my head and dropped it on the table, then adjusted the pillow behind my head and went back to reading when I heard a light knock on the door. I glanced at my watch. It was well after eleven. I placed my book down, wondering who it could be. If it was my father, I was almost certain there’d be a fight. Another soft knock had me heading to the door. Pulling it open, it surprised me to see Aurora standing there, her eyes red from crying. She said nothing; she stepped inside and crashed into me, wrapping her arms around me.
I pulled her inside, shut the door, and wrapped my arms around her.
“What’s going on?” I questioned when she finally stopped crying.
“Your dad kicked me out of the house.”
“What?” Anger coursed through my veins. I hated the man more now than ever.
“He came storming into the kitchen and told Penelope I had to leave. They started fighting…and he whispered something to my mom about me, which made her burst into tears. I didn’t stay around to wait and find out what he said, but by the time I got to the door, they were fighting. I grabbed my stuff and left. My mom chased after me, but he grabbed her and pulled her back into the house and wouldn’t let her go.”
“He told me that your mom told him about us. He demanded I break it off with you. When I refused, he gave me an ultimatum. He said either I ended things or he would. That’s why I left.”
“Why would he say that?”
“He’s pissed with me over the news and the game, and he’s always thought he can control everything. Just ignore it. It will blow over,” I said, pulled her against me. “Now, why aren’t you at home? It’s late.” I pulled her inside and over to the couch where we sat down.
“I didn’t want to go home. I wanted to see you. You left in such a hurry and said nothing to anyone. When I left, I drove all the way to the ferry and pulled over on the side of the road. I sat there crying for a while, debating whether to go home to study or come here. Then Lorelai called, panicking about the exam and worried about our job applications. She wouldn’t let me get a word in edgewise, and that was when I knew I couldn’t go home and face her. I was too upset, so I came here.”
She lifted her eyes and met mine, her bottom lip trembling. I wanted to make everything go away for both of us. I leaned down and took her mouth with mine in a slow and gentle kiss. As we parted, she opened her eyes.
“I’m glad you came here,” I whispered. “I needed you.”
I flipped the light switch to the off position, took her hand, and pulled her down the hall to the bedroom.
* * *
We lay wrappedin one another’s arms the next morning. I pressed a kiss to the side of her neck and she let out a soft moan.
“Morning beautiful,” I whispered.
“Morning,” she whispered, giggling as I playfully gripped her side, tickling her.
She shifted positions and wrapped her arm around me, kissing me.
When our lips parted, I looked down into her face. Those gorgeous green eyes of hers stared back at me in question.
“What’s on your mind?” I questioned.
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s something, I can tell,” I said, rubbing the tip of her nose with mine.
“Are you going to let your father have his way regarding us?”
I looked into her eyes and brought my hand to her cheek, then brought my lips to hers. “Not a fucking chance.”
“What if he forces it?”
“Let him try. There isn’t much one can do to force two people apart when it comes to love.”
Her eyes flew to mine, shock lining them. The word had slipped from my mouth. Not that I doubted what it was I was feeling, it was more that I wasn’t sure she was ready to hear it.
“Are you saying that you’re…um…in love…”
I brought my forefinger to her lips and looked into her eyes.
“I think I’m falling for you,” I whispered. “Actually, I’m pretty damn sure I have.”
The look in her eyes was nothing but shock. I was afraid that I may have blown this entire thing with her with that admission.
“You don’t need to say anything back. It slipped,” I said quietly.
She looked up at me, then put her hand behind my head and brought her lips to mine. When we parted, she said nothing. She just snuggled up closer to me and closed her eyes while I held her in my arms.
“I think I’m falling too,” she whispered.