Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
DELLA
Brothers calls Angus to carry Jensen out in a fireman’s lift to his SUV parked on the curb. Guilt is a sharp knife in my ribs. I can’t stop crying. Brothers offers me a tissue, which I take, but I shoot daggers at him when he touches my arm.
“You’re so fucking evil,” I snap, wiping my nose.
“You are the umpteenth woman to tell me that,” he says, pointing to the door. I go, stepping onto the porch. He locks up and starts striding across the street.
“I’m riding with Jensen in the SUV,” I say.
He stops in the middle of the road. It seems like he wants to argue, but then he shakes his head, walking back over.
I scramble down the curb as he pulls open the side door.
Jensen is draped in the back seat, face slack.
I slide into the opposite bench, and Brothers gets in beside me.
The ceiling is short, and he’s a little hunched.
He taps the roof. The engine purrs, and we’re heading up the road.
“I don’t want to leave him until I have to,” I whisper.
He stretches his legs out, releasing a sigh.
“You know, when I met you, I knew you two would hit it off,” he says. “I just didn’t realize how hard you’d fall.”
I glare. “Don’t try to take credit for this.”
He shrugs. “You wouldn’t have met him otherwise.”
Silence while I wipe my nose with the damp, crumpled tissue. “Why did you think that?” I whisper.
“You’re two sides of the same coin,” he says. “Never met two people more alike.”
“Maybe that’s a bad thing.”
“I don’t believe in the notion of opposites attracting.”
“What about you and Kayleigh?” I point out. “You’re nothing like her. Honestly, I have no idea why she’s going out with you in the first place. What do you even talk about?”
He clears his throat. “We’re not going out.”
“You break up?”
“No,” he says firmly. “We don’t talk about anything because we’re just fucking. It’s not serious. Don’t need to have anything in common.”
“How old are you?” I glare sideways. “Aren’t you, like, fifty?”
“You’re full of invasive questions tonight.”
I sniff, getting some satisfaction out of making him uncomfortable after everything he put me through. “Well, Kayleigh’s too young for you.”
He turns his eyes to the window, street lamps flickering in them.
“You hurt, Della,” he says softly. “I’m sorry about that.”
Neither of us speak. He’s right—I hurt, and I’m lashing out because he’s right there to take it.
I don’t know how to respond. My words are all worn out tonight.
Everything aches, but my heart most of all.
Sliding back against the seat, I close my eyes and count the twists and turns until he shakes my elbow.
“We’re home,” he says.
I peel open my lids. The Boyd mansion is a blur in my tired eyes.
“How much time do I have to get ready?” I whisper.
“Not much.”
He gets out of the car and goes straight like an arrow to the porch. His driver gets out to unbuckle Jensen. I tear my eyes away from his slack face, riddled with guilt. I can’t help but notice this is the most relaxed I’ve seen him since Montana.
“Della,” Brothers calls.
I touch Jensen’s limp hand on the way out and hurry to where Brothers stands on the porch. There’s something bothering him, that’s obvious. Maybe he feels guilty too, but I keep my mouth shut as he leads the way inside.
“Go upstairs, three doors on the right,” he says. “When you’re done, come down. I’m going to get Jensen into bed to sleep off the drugs.”
He doesn’t wait for a response. I stare after him as he disappears back outside.
Then, I’m alone, heart pounding. It reminds me of the first night Kayleigh brought me to see him.
That was in a hotel, at the bar in the private lounge.
I’d felt so guilty, so evil, meeting with a man to discuss my husband’s downfall.
I’d have felt better about it if we were having an affair.
My feet ache as I climb the stairs. The third bedroom on the right is open. I slip inside and stop short.
There’s a dress laid over the bed, along with an open case of jewelry.
I move close, my heart pumping faster than a moment ago.
It’s starting to really sink in that I have to see Leland tonight.
I’ll sit down opposite the man who did that to me, who robbed me of my future, who fucked me up so badly, I can’t think of the word for what he did that night.
I can’t crack, or I don’t get to see my son again.
It’s so unfair.
Yet, it is.
But I am strong enough to carry this.
Blinking back tears, I shut the door and go to the adjoining bathroom to shower. There’s makeup, soap, and perfume on the sink. He must have let his staff know I was coming tonight, because everything I need is laid out, waiting for me, like they’re preparing to sacrifice me on the Caudills’ altar.
Ignoring the shiver running down my spine, I try not to think about that as I clean up.
The dress is sparkling beige, so tight, I have to wriggle to get into it, with matching shoes.
Everything was selected with Leland’s eye in mind, from the cloth that clings to my curves to the diamonds that match my former engagement ring.
Nothing gets by Brothers Boyd.
I clip downstairs in my towering heels. After being on the road, in Montana, and in the gorge, it’s surreal being dressed up. It’s like none of it happened, like Jensen and his backwoods pretty face was nothing but wishful thinking.
Brothers is standing in the hall, on his phone. His eyes glint as he hears my step, and his face softens the closer I get.
“Is this alright?” I ask stiffly.
He puts his hands on my shoulders as that achingly familiar paternal expression crosses his face.
“You’re a brave woman, Della,” he says quietly.
My throat tightens. I clear it. “I want my son back.”
“You might have to fight very hard.”
I lift my chin.
“I know,” I say. “And I will.”
He puts me in a car waiting in the driveway. The driver is to take me into the city, to the speakeasy where Leland always goes for business on Friday nights. We pull out onto the road and head into the city in the dark.
There’s a partition between me and the driver, so I’m all alone with my thoughts. They get away from me, going to the one thing I’ve never let them entertain. What happens if I get everything I want? Could I really get Landis and Jensen? Could we be the family I’m too scared to even dream of?
I close my eyes, jostling with every turn.
He’s guarded, a little bitter, but beneath his rough exterior, he’s got so much heart. I think I’d be proud if Landis grew up to be like Jensen. Of course, I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ve never even spoken of what our lives would look like after all this is done.
But I still close my eyes and dream of it all the way there.