“Yes. Until we find out what the hell is going on. You’re staying with me,” I argued.
The fire in Vann’s eyes lit. She stood and moved in front of me. “I don’t need your macho caveman bullshit. I’ve been dealing with this for years … without you,” she growled at me.
Standing, I tried to reel in my temper, but it won. “Damn it, Vann! It’s just a couple of days. What’s the big fucking deal?”
“The big fucking deal is … I refuse to stay at your house and be your little plaything! I’m a big girl, and I can take care of myself!”
“We already covered that plaything bullshit. Get over it!”
“Get over it! You want me to get over it? And we haven’t ‘covered’ anything!”
“Would you stop repeating yourself? And yes, we did!”
“Over it! I’ve been stuck in this nightmare for five years, come home, and you tell me you want to fuck me out of your system. No fucking way!”
“Vann, we already talked about this.”
“I don’t give a shit.”
“I know you’re hurt and pissed, but calm down.”
“Calm down, huh? I have some asshole try to kidnap me, writes me letters threatening to do so, there’s even pictures of me masturbating for everyone to see.” She waved her arm to our friends standing in quiet awe of this not-so-little conversation. “And you want me to be calm? Add to that … I saw my dad today for the first time in five years, met my little sister, and you fucked me again!”
“You wanted that just as much as I did.”
“Whatever,” she grumbled.
“You didn’t?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Don’t go throwing shit in my face.” Stomping out of the room, I needed to get some air.
Vann
“You saw your dad today?” Kinsley’s voice was loud enough for me to hear, yet quiet enough to have concern laced in her words.
Turning, I stared at her. “Yep, and I’m having dinner with his new family tomorrow. The woman he cheated on my mother with and their child … my sister. That should be fun.” My words dripped with sarcasm.
“Why did you say yes?”
“I had to, Kins.” My anger began to wane. “He’s my dad, and no matter what he did to mom, I gotta at least hear him out.”
“Was it weird meeting her?”
Blowing out a breath, I grabbed Kinsley’s arm and pulled her into the kitchen. I needed some space.
Climbing up on the bar stool, I patted the one next to me. “It was weird. She knows all about me, and I know nothing of her. I want to be mad at my dad for that … but I know that was entirely my mom’s doing.”
“Wow. How will it go with the wife? What’s her name again?”
“Julie. And I don’t know. When I first saw him I couldn’t move. I had it all planned out to yell and scream, but nothing. It will probably be the same with her.”
“You’ve had a busy day.”
“Yeah.” My body slumped.
“What was that with Deke?”
“He thinks he can just tell me what to do and I’ll do it. Not. Gonna. Happen.” My spine stiffened at my words.
“You know I’m not a fan of his, by any means, but he might be right.”
I gaped my mouth at her. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No. I’m not. Vann, he obviously cares about you. He has a messed up way of showing it sometimes, but you have history. You’ve trusted him with Gabriella, and when he came here today, you obviously didn’t push him away.”
“I know,” I said, hanging my head as shame washed over me.
“Then whatever that was in there … you need to reel it in. We all know you’ve been through a lot, but a guy like Deke can’t be pushed too much.”
“What, so I’m just supposed to let him take care of me? Where was he when I needed him five years ago?”
“Where were you?”
“Shut up,” I said, burying my head in my hands.
“You see my point. You’ve got some seriously fucked up shit going on here, and you’ve gotta get it worked out. Look, I know you love him. Figure it out.” The silence after those words were spoken was deafening. I jumped out of my seat and rushed to Deke. He didn’t say a word as I walked to him, but I could feel the anger rolling off him in waves.
Instead of some big speech, I walked up to him and tightly wrapped my arms around him. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
When Deke didn’t reciprocate, I felt the tears begin to fall. Suddenly my bed sounded like a much better place to be. As I started to pull away from him, he wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me tight.
My legs gave out, forcing all my weight onto Deke, who scooped me up into his arms, weightlessly, kissing me on the forehead repeatedly. Burrowing my head in his neck, I could feel him walking, but at this point I just didn’t care where we were going … as long as I was with him. As he gripped my body tighter in his arms, I could feel my tension easing away.
“I’m gonna lay you down.”
The soft bed caressed my body, but the coldness swept through from the loss of Deke so close. Moments later, I felt the bed dip next to me. I didn’t ask, but just moved into his arms, resting my head on his now bare chest.
My vision was blurry from the tears, but I wanted so badly to explore him. It would sadly need to wait.
Time escaped me as I lay curled in his arms, but the tears finally dried up as my body molded against his, completely relaxed. Deke never said a word and continued to slowly stroke my shoulder. It was exactly what I needed, and damn if my heart didn’t swell in that moment.
Raising my head from his chest, my cheek stuck a bit. I quickly wiped it with my hands, trying not to let the embarrassment show.
“You okay?” he drawled smoothly.
Staring in his eyes, I knew I was lost … again. “Yeah. I’m sorry.”
“You’ve been through a lot.”
“I shouldn’t have said those things.”
“They were true … at least at the time.”
“Why didn’t you ever call me after I left?” I whispered, resting my hands on his chest with my chin on top, staring at him. My hand instantly found the key that was dangling from the rope on his neck.
“You wanna talk about this now?”
“Yes.”
Blowing out a deep breath, Deke looked up at the ceiling. “I was pissed. I couldn’t believe you left me.”
“I’m sorry.” My voice was so quiet, but I couldn’t speak louder.
“Why did you go? Why didn’t you stay with your grandma?” The pain in his eyes tore me up. I wanted to erase all those years of hurt for him.
“I couldn’t. Mom was flipping her lid, saying that I was just like my father leaving her. I had to go.” I tried hard to hold the tears back as they were lurking in the back of my eyes.
“That’s why I didn’t call. I was pissed at just about everything in life already, then when you left, it got worse.”
“I wanted to stay, ya know?”
“No, not really,” he grumbled. “How was California?”
