Chapter 29 Ethan
Ethan
Guilt lies heavy in the pit of my stomach as I drive us back to Beckford.
My heart is in my throat for the woman curled up in the passenger seat beside me, her head resting on the glass as she stares out the window.
How could Dylan have violated her privacy in such a disgusting way?
Where did I go wrong as a father? Most importantly, how do Leni and I get past this?
Because despite the trauma my son put her through, I can’t bring myself to walk away. I’m too invested.
My phone has been vibrating with notifications since we got on the highway an hour ago, but I haven’t bothered to check them.
Everything pales in comparison to finding out that Dylan was the ex-boyfriend who took Leni’s virginity, waited until she passed out to take photos of her, and then passed them around to his mates, who then shared them with others.
The silence in the car is suffocating, but I don’t know what to say to make this right. I may not have been the one sharing the photos, but I raised him. I can’t believe I failed so badly.
Leni’s not the only one falling. I knew even before taking her away this weekend that if she wanted me to come with her after graduation, I would. When she said the words, my life felt whole again.
But when she read those words aloud this morning, and I read into the subtext of what she was telling me, it was like everything crumbled.
I admit, I always thought it was strange that she didn’t ask questions about Dylan or Vanessa, especially when I’d caught her staring at their photos more than once.
Now I know why. I can’t imagine what was going through her mind when she saw traces of him around the house, and even worse, when she passed his bedroom, where the photos had been taken.
Thirty minutes out of Beckford, I can’t take the distance between us anymore. I reach over to link my fingers through hers. To my immense relief, she doesn’t flinch or pull away, instead turning to give me a sad smile that causes my chest to tighten.
“I’m sorry,” I say, my voice raw and gravelly from not using it.
She shakes her head, but I clear my throat and continue, my eyes fixed on the road.
“I feel like I didn’t handle this well, and I completely understand if you want nothing to do with me after we get home, but I need you to know none of this changes how I feel about you.
I’m not falling in love.” I glance at her, taking no satisfaction in the way her throat bobs or how her gaze drops to our entwined hands.
“I’m not falling, because I’ve already hit the ground. Hard.”
Her eyes snap up to mine, and I smile before returning my attention to the road.
“You took this awkward, depressed divorced man and showed him it was okay to move on. Failing my first marriage didn’t have to mean I was destined to be alone.
Not only did you get me to step out of my comfort zone in the bedroom, but you engaged me on an intellectual level, and I looked forward to our discussions of literature, and history, and life.
I looked forward to spending time with you, getting to know the real you. ”
“Ethan?” she whispers, hope sparking in her eyes.
“I don’t know how we get past what happened with Dylan, because I can’t just forget what he did to you.
I… we will sit down and talk to him about what he did.
It won’t be pleasant or easy for any of us, but we can’t move on without addressing it, and I wouldn’t be a good father if I didn’t try to help him. ”
Leni squeezes my hand gently. “I don’t want to come between you and Dylan.”
“You won’t,” I assure her. “I won’t let that happen, but does that mean you still want to do this? Be with me, I mean? I don’t want you reminded of him every time you look at me.”
The words of her poem are etched into my memory, and I don’t want to cause her any more trauma than what she’s already been through.
“I don’t see him when I look at you,” she says, and I hear the truth in her voice. “You’re the man who healed all my insecurities and made me feel safe. I went into this with my eyes wide, even after finding out who you were, and my only regret is not telling you sooner. I should have trusted you.”
Bringing our entwined hands to my lips, I press a kiss to her knuckles. “Trust is earned, Leni. I understand why you didn’t tell me until now, but I’m glad you did. I love you, and I’ll do everything I can to protect you in all of this.”
“Thank you,” she whispers.
“You don’t need to thank me, little devil.”
The tension seeps from her shoulders at the use of her nickname, and I vow to make sure she never feels unsure of where she stands with me again.
My phone vibrates with another notification that I ignore.
“Someone really wants to get a hold of you,” Leni notes.
I shrug. “They can wait. My only priority is getting my girlfriend home and finishing this weekend off by worshipping every inch of her sexy body.”
“Girlfriend?” she squeaks.
My lips tug up into a grin. “That’s what you took from that?”
“Ethan,” she says, swatting me. “Are you serious?”
“Deadly. We might not be able to shout it from the rooftops just yet, but you’re not my dirty little secret, Leni.”
She shifts in her seat, and I glance over to see a cheeky smirk playing on her lips as her free hand plays with the hem of her hoodie. “Tell me, boyfriend, how exactly do you plan on worshipping me?”
My grip around her fingers tightens as I force my eyes back to the highway with a groan. “What are you doing, little devil?”
Her hand slips up her top. I know she’s paying with her piercings when her soft moans fill the car, and I fist the steering wheel tightly, my heart rate accelerating.
“Please,” she whimpers, the sound going straight to my cock. “Tell me what filthy things you’d do to me, sir.”
Leni’s cheeks are flushed from her orgasm when I pull into my driveway fifteen minutes later with no idea how I didn’t crash as she fingered herself to my dirty words. I don’t even bother pulling into the garage, ripping my door open the second the ignition is off.
I round the car, my cock aching to be inside her, and she laughs when I throw open her door and drag her towards my front door without locking the car.
I fumble with my house keys, and the moment I have her inside, I push her up against the door, my tongue duelling with hers as I grind against her, showing her just what her performance did to me.
“So, this is why you weren’t answering your phone.” My ex-wife’s cold voice says from behind me.
I wrench away from Leni with a startled curse and turn to see an unimpressed Vanessa standing in the entrance to the living room, her arms crossed over her chest.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, unable to hide the frustration in my voice. Leni presses into my back, and I reach a hand back to give a reassuring squeeze to her waist. “I didn’t see your car.”
“We parked in the garage.” She makes a derisive sound. “But we wouldn’t have had to drive three hours if you’d answered your damn phone, Ethan.”
My stomach drops as I grip Leni’s hand and follow Vanessa into the living room, half hoping I’ll find Henrique but knowing I’m about to come face-to-face with my son.
Sure enough, Dylan’s sitting on the couch sporting a serious shiner. A scowl etches onto his face when his eyes land on Leni.
She shrinks into me, and I wrap a protective arm around her.
“Are you going to tell me what all this is about?” I ask Vanessa, unable to look at my son. I hadn’t expected to confront him yet, and I’m not sure how to deal with the situation.
Vanessa narrows her eyes at Leni. “This is a private family matter,” she bites out. “Maybe your friend could make herself scarce?”
“Yeah, of course,” Leni stammers out, trying to pull away from me. “I’m just going to le—”
“Elena?”
She flinches at her name coming from Dylan’s mouth. When I look at him, he’s leaning forward with his brows creased, staring at her.
“You look different. What are you doing here?” His eyes drift to my arm, then narrow as they snap up to meet my gaze. “What the fuck is going on?”
“Don’t speak like that in this house, Dylan,” I snap, unable to contain my anger over what he did to her. She’s still trying to squirm out of my grasp, but I dip my lips to ear and murmur, “Trust me, Leni. We may as well get this over now so it’s not hanging over our heads.”
Her eyes dart from me to Dylan, to my ex-wife, then back to me. She licks her lips, then nods, straightening her spine. I press my lips to her temple.
“What the fuck? Dad—” Dylan splutters, but to my surprise, it’s Vanessa who cuts him off.
“Quiet, Dylan.” She eyes Leni again before meeting my gaze. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but we need to discuss our son’s behaviour, and I don’t think it’s appropriate to do so in front of company.”
“Actually, if we’re discussing our son’s behaviour, then Leni has every right to be here. Don’t you think, Dylan?”
His face pales, and he shoots a nervous glance at his mother.
When no one else says anything, I lead Leni to the couch across from Dylan and pull her down to sit next to me. Tension vibrates through her body, but I squeeze her hand to let her know I’m on her side.
“So, son,” I say, placing emphasis on the endearment. “Where should we start?”
Dylan swallows but doesn’t say anything.
“Alright,” Vanessa snaps when no one speaks.
“If you insist on having an audience for this… Your son decided it would be a good idea to have a threesome with a married woman and her eighteen-year-old daughter,” she hisses at me as if this is my fault.
“He thought it would be funny to film it and show it to his teammates, only to discover one of his teammates was the son and brother of these two women.”
Leni tenses beside me.
My stomach sinks. So, his behaviour wasn’t a one-off then.