“We’re Davenports. That means something. It meant something back then and it means even more today. And Rose, whether she likes it or not, is still a Davenport, and she can’t just do whatever she fucking wants. She can’t just get a divorce. Shit doesn’t work that way around here!”
“I don’t give a shit what your last name is, Derek. Rose doesn’t want you here, so you best leave.”
“This is my house!”
“Not anymore!” I shouted. “Go away, Derek!”
“You heard the lady,” Blade said.
“You’re fucking him, aren’t you, Rose? You called him to come back to you, after all these years you spent pining over this piece of shit, you decided you needed more, huh?” Derek tried to move around Blade but Blade didn’t budge. “You know what that makes you, right, Rose? A fucking whore! You’re a piece of shit, too!”
All I saw was a slight move of Blade’s shoulder from behind, and then a large crack echoed through the air as Derek went flying down the porch stairs behind him. I gasped and Derek looked up at us like he’d been shot.
He growled in anger, and then scrambled to his feet, rushing towards us. I jumped back a few steps, even though Blade was still between us. Derek’s fist flew through the air, making contact with Blade’s jaw, but bouncing right off it. Blade shook his head quickly, then laughed, and punched Derek again, sending him right back down the stairs again.
“You fucker!” Derek spat the words in anger.
Blade took a few steps down the stairs, towering over him.
“Rose wants you gone.”
Derek shook his head, looking back and forth between the two of us.
“You can have her,” he said, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. He stood up, wobbling on the bottom stair, sneering. “She’s a fucking lousy lay anyway.”
Blade’s fist cracked against his jaw a third time and this time he went flailing in the dirt, his white linen pants stained with dirt and drops of blood.
“Say another word, mother fucker,” Blade growled. “This is getting fun.”
Derek stood up again and with a look of utter disdain flung my way, he walked back to his car. When he was safely inside, he yelled out the window.
“I’m going to fucking sue the fuck out of you!”
Blade laughed, waving at him.
“Have your lawyer call my lawyer!”
Derek drove off, his tires squealing, as Blade turned back to me, his eyes full of laughter.
Chapter 35
BLADE
I hated the look I saw on her face when I turned back to her.
Fear. Uncertainty. Hesitation.
“I am so sorry,” I said, ceasing my laughter. It might have been funny to me, even deeply satisfying, to draw a little bit of Derek’s blood, but that didn’t mean it would be funny to her.
She shook her head, then a faint smile spread across her face. “I’ve wanted to punch him since the first day I met him.”
I chuckled, the tension broken. “Yeah, me too,” I said. “It felt pretty fucking good, I’m not gonna lie.”
She grew serious again, gazing at me.
“He was really angry. Thank you for protecting me.”
“Does he do that often?” I asked, anger rising in my chest. “Does he hit you?” I demanded, closing the distance between us. I was just waiting for the word and I would have gotten on my bike and found him again and finished what I’d started.
“No, but he likes to threaten that he’s going to,” she said. “Honestly, I don’t think he has the balls.”
“Weak men are the ones who hit women. They certainly don’t have any fucking balls to speak of.”
“You’ve got a point,” she said, shaking her head. She sighed, smiling up at me and putting her hand on my arm. “Can we start over? Please? Or, at least do that last part over?”
I smiled down at her, my heart swelling in my chest. She was the most beautiful fucking thing I’d ever seen and all I wanted to do was wrap her up in my arms and never let go.
“Yeah, we can do that,” I said. She grabbed my hand and led me inside, and the sound of the screen door slamming was like a symbolic end to a long, dark chapter.
Chapter 36
ROSE
I’d waited a lifetime to see Blade look at me like that again and I wasn’t going to screw it up this time.
I didn’t care about Derek, in fact, if I’m being brutally honest, I liked watching Blade put him in his place. I would never say that out loud, and I knew I hadn’t heard the last of it, but I just didn’t care anymore.
I knew the rumors would fly and Derek would put his own spin on it, making him into the victim. I also knew our girls would most likely hear about it, and that part I cared about, but there was nothing I could do about it now. I’d be honest with them and we’d deal with it.
In the meantime, all I could do was try to repair things between Blade and I.
We stood staring at each other in the living room and both began to speak at once.
“Rose, I never meant —.”
“I owe you an apology —.”
We stopped, laughing. He shook his head, and walked towards me, pulling me into his arms quietly.
“Shh,” he said. “Let’s not talk for a minute.”
I leaned into his embrace, the heat of his body rolling over mine, his heart beat pounding in my ear as I pressed my head against his chest. His hands ran up and down my back, slowly sliding over my skin, sending waves of comfort through my tense muscles, relaxing me until I felt like I was melting into him.
He sighed, a deep long sigh that seemed to release something deep inside of him. I pulled away, searching his eyes. I had a whole new set of questions now, but instead of finding the words to ask them, my lips found his as they crashed into mine in a
