Chapter 49
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Dylan
I shoot off a text to Barrett to let him know that Eden is on the mend.
He offered to make the trip here to lend a hand, but I assured him that I had everything covered.
I do.
Early this morning, while Eden was still fast asleep in her hospital bed and Noelle was by her side, I came to her condo.
I bought groceries, fresh coffee beans, and a bouquet of roses for the woman I love.
I wanted her to have everything she could ever possibly need.
I needed the same for myself, so I called Tony Girano and put him to work.
He was already digging into Eden’s ex-husband’s life for me. He unearthed a treasure trove of unsealed court records.
Aron Steiner stalked Eden when she broke free of him. He was arrested for that, but his evil had no bounds.
He threatened his second wife. He terrorized her with harassing phone calls and in-person visits despite a restraining order.
Her constant refusal to engage in a discussion with him sent him over the edge.
He assaulted a colleague of his.
Eden made the trip to Buffalo to speak at his parole hearing. It’s the second time she’s done that.
I glance down at the screen of my phone when another email from Tony comes through.
I click to open the attachment.
Disbelief clouds my vision. I blink a few times to focus.
It’s a death certificate.
Clark Dodson died seven years ago in Virginia. Cardiac arrest is listed as the manner of death.
He didn’t make it out of his twenties.
“Dylan?” Eden calls from the bedroom. “Are you here?”
“I’m here,” I say, pushing to my feet from the chair I settled in near her living room window. “I’ll always be here.”
I clear the plates after we both finish eating our dinner.
“Those pancakes were better than the place in New York.” Eden leans back on the soft leather couch. “You’re a great cook.”
I walk back into the living room. “Anyone can make pancakes.”
I take a seat beside her again.
Confessions cleanse the soul, but they can unleash destruction.
I can move forward with this woman with my secret intact. The only other person who knows what I did on the night of our graduation is dead.
Eden would never know, but I will always know that I’ve kept something from her.
“You know I was married, don’t you?” She tugs on the shoulder of the sweater she’s wearing. “I want to explain that.”
She doesn’t need to.
I understand. The pull toward him must have been strong for her to take that step.
I won’t let her share her secrets until I share mine.
“You’re away from him and safe. That’s what matters.” I rest a hand on her knee. “I need to tell you something.”
“Have you been married?” Her voice cracks. “You’ve been married, haven’t you?”
I chuckle. “Fuck no.”
She lets out a breathy sigh. “Why am I so happy about that?”
I want that smile on her face to last. I want her to wake up every day for the rest of her life and look at me with that much joy.
I owe her this. I owe us this.
If we start with a clean slate, the world is no match for us.
“Something happened on graduation night.”
Her eyes skim my face. “I know. You left. I was in an accident. It’s history.”
I take a deep, steadying breath. “Something else happened.”
Anger took hold of Clark when I walked out of that bedroom and faced him. I did something that a jealous, petty eighteen-year-old kid would do when the girl he liked picked another guy to love.
I wanted him to dump her.
I needed him to send her packing so she’d give up on Ohio State and make a life in New York City without her dad watching over her.
“What else happened?”
I move to sit on the coffee table so that I can face her directly. I want her to look into my eyes when I tell her this. I need her to understand the depth of my regret.
What is it, Dylan?” Her hand reaches for mine.
I take it and squeeze it, needing the comfort only her touch can provide. “I said something to Clark before I left that party.”
Her eyes widen. “What did you say?”
Something that set him off to the point that he pushed me. I slammed him back against the wall with a veiled threat that I’d end his football career with a snap of his tattooed arm.
I was taller than him. I weighed a good twenty pounds more.
He backed down. Brushing past me he went into the bedroom I had just exited.
The same bedroom that I’d left Eden in.
I take a deep breath. “I made him believe that something had happened between us in that bedroom.”
Her gaze drops to her lap.
“You told me you were going to Ohio State. I stormed out of the room.”
“I remember,” she says quietly.
“I had a pair of panties in my pocket,” I go on, “a girl had shoved them at me when I got to the party. I tugged them out so Clark would think…”
“That we made love in that bedroom?” Her eyes meet mine.
That was my intention. I wanted him to think that I had taken what he wanted most in the world. I needed him to believe that I’d claimed her virginity.
He did believe it. He shot words at me about his property and my filthy dick being near her.
I left her in a room with his anger and then she got in a car with him.
Sorry is inadequate, so I fumble for the right words. “I was wrong. It was a stupid thing to do.”
Tears wash over her eyes.
I bring her hand to my mouth. “I’m so sorry.”
“We didn’t crash because of what you said to him, Dylan.” She looks into my eyes. “You had nothing to do with what happened to us that night.”