Chapter 46
PRESENT
DARREN
“Darren? Are you still sleeping? Darren?”
I crack my eyes open and glance down at the woman sleeping in my arms. Her hair’s a mess, but her features are even, at peace. I’m close enough that I could start counting each of her freckles before she woke up.
“Darren!”
Delaney shifts beside me, moaning sleepily. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” I croak.
There’s a loud slam that jerks through my sleepy haze. It sounds like the door, but that wouldn’t make sense. Nobody has a key to my place but my mom, Poppy, and Bryce, and not a single one of them are early risers. Alarm slaps me right across the face.
There’s another key out there.
“I need to get up for a minute, baby,” I rumble, trying to keep my voice steady.
Delaney frowns, her lip jutting out in a pout before she reluctantly rolls off me. The comforter is at our hips, and fuck, we didn’t put clothes on last night. Not after getting out of the for the third time and growing too tired to slip them on again.
Her chest is bare, breasts exposed and nipples hard from the morning chill in the room. She rolls her head to look at me and smiles softly, the happy daze on her face gnawing at my stomach.
I sit and pull the blankets up to her shoulders. Then, I slip out of bed and throw my discarded clothes on. Every second I’m not beside her feels wrong.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, concern eating at that daze.
“There’s—”
“Darren, I told you how much I hate when you don’t triple-check that she has all of her things in her bag before she comes to my house! How hard is it to remember to pack an iPad? You better be awake by the time I get to your room.”
Sasha’s booming voice travels through the room, freezing everything in its path. My stomach falls.
“I’ll be right back,” I say, stealing one more look at Delaney.
In a blink, she’s staring down at herself and pulling the comforter up to her chin. I can’t wait any longer to leave, even if every bone in my body fights me on moving.
I’m pissed off by the time I make it to the closed door and pull it open.
This is my house, and she’s storming through it as if she has any right to be here instead of sending a text asking me to bring her whatever she needs.
Delaney doesn’t need to worry about my ex-wife appearing out of the blue. Especially not after everything.
Slipping out of the room, I catch Sasha only a few feet away. She stares at me, unimpressed.
“Where is Abbie’s iPad? This is the third time you’ve forgotten to pack her with it.”
I shut the door behind me. “It’s in her room. And you could have texted me and asked for it. You don’t get to just show up here and let yourself in whenever you feel like it.”
“Oh? Does this new rule have anything to do with the woman’s shoes I nearly tripped over when I got here? Is this woman why you’re forgetting to pack our daughter with her things?”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now, Sasha? She hardly even uses that iPad, and you know that as well as I do.”
Her brows rise. “Well? You’re also still sleeping, and it’s past eight. Do you even still have a job?”
“It’s Sunday.”
“I checked her room already. It wasn’t there,” she snaps, not enjoying losing a fight.
“Alright, then I’ll bring it by later today. You can leave your key on the counter on your way out.”
“No, I’ll check your room and see if it’s there.”
“The fuck you will.” I place my hand on the door handle before she can and try to keep my temper under control—something I’ve always struggled with around Sasha. “Back off.”
She narrows her eyes. “Who’s in there?”
“Don’t act like you don’t already know. Is that the real reason you’re here? To try and piss her off?”
“Oh, please. I don’t care about Delaney. It should be you that starts caring a bit less, considering.”
My doors aren’t soundproof, and my patience grows thinner with every word Elle’s forced to her.
This morning should have been light and happy.
We should have spent all day in bed, eating and cuddling and exploring each other more than we had a chance to before we fell asleep last night.
Dealing with Sasha was not on my fucking plan for today.
“Considering what?” I ask, dropping my voice.
“Well, her relationship with our daughter, for one. Are you not worried that anything negative between the two of you will have an impact on her? This is her teacher, Darren! What if other students find out and assume she’s getting special treatment or the other teachers don’t approve?
Are you really willing to risk our daughter’s education over her? ”
I grit my jaw, letting all of those excuses go in one ear and out the other. I’ve already thought about every single one.
“And second off, the entire town is watching now! They did this once, and look at what it did to Delaney! She became the poor recluse that everyone was oh so worried about. Nobody cared about you and me, only about the past with you and her. This is going to affect Abbie now. She’s not a baby anymore.
One wrong move between the two of you and we’re all getting dragged into the embarrassment this time. ”
“Things were different back then. You damn well know that.”
She lifts her chin, hands firmly on her hips. “If things go wrong with you two this time, one of you will be leaving this town, and if you want to stay in Abbie’s life, it will be Delaney.”
“Get out of my house, Sasha. Now,” I demand, my patience gone.
“Not without the iPad.”
My laugh is short and dark as I turn away and go into the bedroom, making sure to slam the door in her face.
The room feels ten times bigger than it is when I see Delaney standing on the opposite side of it, dressed back in her clothes from dinner last night.
Purse in her arms, she chews on her lip and avoids my eyes.
The shutdown is obvious, and it saws through me.
“She’s leaving,” I say, softening my voice.
“Yeah, I heard. I’m going to go too.”
I take a stunted step forward and plead, “No, Elle. Please don’t. Not yet.”
She continues to avoid looking at me, keeping her emotions hidden. “I shouldn’t have even stayed. This is probably common for her to come. She’s—she has a key. Not leaving last night was careless on my part.”
“I don’t need permission to have a woman stay overnight in my house, Delaney. We weren’t careless. Don’t let this change anything.”
Fuck the iPad, and screw Sasha for doing this too. She’s been waiting for the chance to embarrass Delaney for years. Ever since she found that goddamn article.
Head shaking, Delaney moves to the side and eyes the door behind me. “I’m going to go, Darren.”
“Baby . . . stay.”
“I’ll call you later.”
I stumble to the side when she moves past me and opens the door. Like a bad smell, Sasha’s lingering on the other side of it, her expression less than friendly as she takes a long look at Delaney. The fact that she’s in last night’s clothes only makes her turn her nose up more.
“Hello, Delaney,” she mutters.
My chest constricts to the point of pain when Delaney just pushes past her without a word. Inhaling deeply, I scratch at my jaw. With a look at my ex-wife, I roll my thoughts around until I have something semi-decent to say.
“I’ve let you get away with a lot of shit, Sasha.
Mostly because of how unfair I was to you.
I made mistakes in our marriage and before it too, but that’s in the past now.
If you’re searching for another apology, I’ll give you a thousand more than I already have, but you’ll never speak about or to Delaney like that again.
Not to me, to Abbie, or anyone else you come across.
You won’t approach her and spew your cruel ‘what-ifs.’ I’m sorry.
I’m sorry for hurting you and treating you far worse than I should have.
We were both struggling, and I handled myself in the wrong way.
“You deserved better, and so did I. I’ve never interfered in your engagement, so you need to keep your nose out of my relationship with Delaney.
I won’t take anything else from you, and I know for a fucking fact nobody in this town will either.
Now, feel free to look for the iPad, and then put your key on my kitchen counter and leave.
I’m going to try and keep Delaney from leaving my ass again while you do that. ”
She blinks in silence before I turn and leave her there. The front door closes again, softer this time, and I pick up my pace. Her car is out front, and I know if she gets in it, she’ll be gone, and I’ll have lost my chance to fix this today.
I don’t bother with shoes. Barefoot, I open the door and step onto the porch. Delaney’s already on the street, getting into her car.
I’ve always known this was fragile. Last night changed a lot between us and put what I want us to be into motion, but she didn’t take her ring.
Hearing her ask for it back is how I’ll know she’s completely in it with me, her fear a thing of the past. From the moment she took it off and handed it back to me, I’ve needed her to have it again.
It belongs on her finger, but it’s not there yet.
It’s still around my fucking neck.
She looks over at me once I step onto the street, crossing to her. The tears in her stop me dead in my tracks. I stare at her, this all-consuming parasite inside of me feasting on every chunk of happiness I’ve collected.
No , she mouths.
I listen to the silent word this time, forcing myself not to move when she starts her car and drives right past me.
The sight of her leaving settles like poison in my stomach.
It’s wrong. The distance that grows with every house she passes rips at me until I’m sure she’s taking all the important parts with her.
Dropping my head back, I stand on the street in nothing but my pyjamas and stare at the sky, hoping that I’ll be able to fix this. There’s no other option for me. Not this time.
***DELANEY** *