I sat in my seat absolutely dumbfounded. Was
she serious? I'd been pushing her for months and then when I
finally grow a few brain cells and back off, Lee decides she wants
to meet her…
Jesus, I would never understand the female mind.
"I'll set it up," I told her as I pulled out
my phone. "When do you want to do this?"
"As soon as she is able to meet me," she
replied. "If I don't do it soon, I'll chicken out and I don't want
this looming over us. I want to have a good life. One with no
regrets or sadness."
"I proud of you, baby." I leaned over and
kissed her lips. "Very proud of you."
"I have one tiny prerequisite," she said in
a teasing tone as she brushed her lips to mine.
"Whatever you want, princess," I mumbled as
I pulled her mouth back to mine.
"I want to drive," she smirked. "Both
ways."
****
I was nervous as hell on the drive to the
hotel, partially because we were meeting Tracy, but mostly because
Lee was driving. I conceded control of the car in exchange for a
dinner with her mom–including desert. That was the deal. "Which
turn off do I take?" Lee asked. Her brow creased in concentration
as she maneuvered my CL550 through Saturday night traffic. She was
doing pretty well. She hadn't stalled or fucked the handbrake like
last time.
I needed to get her a car of her own though,
something small and girl friendly, because the thought of her
denting my car fucking pained me. "Keep going," I told her. "Then
take the next left. There should be some parking available on the
street."
She nodded in response and took the turn
sharply, tossing me sideways. Her cheeks reddened as her eyes met
mine in apology.
I craned my neck to check Hope had survived
the turbulence. She grinned at me from her car seat. "Are you
nervous?" I asked, stretching a hand out to rub her knee. Lee
jerked and the car veered sharply. I snatched my hand back, and
counted back from ten.
"I'd have to feel something for her to be
nervous," she growled. "So, no. I'm not nervous."
"Okay." I made a mental note to keep my
mouth shut for the rest of the car ride.
Probably safer…
****
Lee
I was such a terrible liar and Kyle knew it.
Every inch of my body shook with anxiety as Kyle held the door of
the hotel for me. "Come on, Princess," he coaxed. "We made a deal.
Dinner with your mom for driving my car."
"Yeah, well I think you got the sweeter end
of that deal." Not really, since I was fairly certain I'd left a
modest sized dent on the trunk of his car. He'd been grabbing a
parking disc and I'd gotten a little too excited clutching and
accelerating in reverse. I thought I'd been doing a pretty good
job…until I reversed too quickly. I only hoped I could get the car
home before Kyle noticed I'd left half the body paint on a street
lamp.
"Walk your hot ass in there," Kyle grumbled
impatiently. "Or I'll fucking carry you."
I rolled my eyes at his threat. "And they
say romance is dead."
"It will be fine," he said in a kinder
voice. "I'll call you in an hour. If you need me just send me a
text and I'll come get you."
"Okay," I whispered when all I wanted to say
was 'don't leave me.' But I had to be a grown-up about this. I
needed to do this alone. I had decided that if Derek could move
forward then so could I. I just wished that it was easier done than
said…
****
Kyle
Derek was putting the trash out when I
pulled into the driveway. Climbing out of the driver's seat, I ran
around to the trunk and groaned.
I knew it.
I fucking knew she hit that street lamp.
"Hey, man," Derek said as he picked Hope out
of her car seat and gave her a kiss. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah," I growled. "If you consider a dent
the size the titanic on my baby."
Derek moved to stand beside me. "Damn." He
let out a whistle. "You drive like a bitch. What'd you reverse
into? Bambi?"
"It was Lee," I said through clenched teeth.
"She's gone to the hotel to meet her mom," I told him as we walked
inside to the lounge.
"Are you sure this is what she wants?" Derek
asked as he handed me Hope. "Did Lee agree to this or did you push
her until she cracked?"
I gave him a cold stare as I sat down on the
couch and propped my baby girl next to me. "What the hell kind of
question is that?" I hissed in disgust. "I might want her to clear
the air with her mother, but I'd never force her, Derek." He
flinched and I felt like a dick. I needed to work on being more
tactful. He was only getting back on his feet…
"Da...Da…Da."
"Holy shit," I shrieked as I turned Hope
around to look at her face. She was grinning at me with her little
gummy mouth. "What did you say, angel?" I crooned. "Did you say
da-da?"
"Say it again," I coaxed as I held her out
in front me to get the right view. "Say da-da. Come on, sweetheart,
talk for daddy…"
"Dada," she babbled. My heart melted.
I was ruined.
This girl would have me wrapped around her
little finger for the rest of her life.
Her first word. I was her first word.
Me...
"Dude, you look like that monkey from the
lion king," Derek chuckled from where he was perched on the coffee
table. "You wanna coconut? Maybe you can crack it open and spread
some of that gunk on her forehead."
"You better start running," I said through
clenched teeth as I grinned at my daughter. I couldn't take my eyes
off my daughter.
Damn, she was going to be a genius.
****
Lee
This was a mistake. I should have stuck with
my gut feeling. It had been screaming 'don't do this' all day.
'She'll let you down' it screamed. But I'd
pushed it aside and gone with the part of me that wanted to make
Kyle happy. There was also a small part of me that wanted to meet
her.
It was now six-thirty and she wasn't here. I
wasn't sure if I was annoyed with myself for agreeing to this when
I knew it was a bad idea, or with the part of me that had wished
she cared. Her absence only proved her intentions. Her interest in
getting to know me was to get closer to Kyle. I sent a text to let
Kyle know.
Two minutes later my phone started ringing
and I answered it immediately. "She's not here," I told him. "I
guess you were wrong about her wanting to talk."
"Who's not there, Delia?" The familiar angry
voice bellowed through the line and my blood ran cold. A tremor ran
through my body as I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the
table.
"Daddy," I whispered, breaking out in a cold
sweat. "I'm sorry…I thought you were Kyle. I'm waiting on his
call." I inhaled a shaky breath and tried to stay calm. I hadn't
spoken to him in months–nor did I want to.
Oh god…
"I should
probably hang up and wait for his call. He'll be worried if I don't
pick up..."
"Don't you dare hang up on me, girl," daddy
warned and even though there was hundreds of miles between us I
nearly peed my pants. "I aint done talking with you. Not by a long
shot."
My eyes searched around the bar as I tried
to keep my breathing calm. "What did you want to talk about?" I
asked quietly.
"I wanna know what the hell you aint been
telling me," he snarled. "Goddammit, Delia. What did I tell you
about that boy?"
"Are you drunk?" I whispered appalled.
"WHAT DID YOU TELL HIM?" he roared down the
phone. "You better answer me now, girl."
"I have no idea what you're talking about,"
I cried as I pressed my hand to my forehead. "What boy? What are
you talking about?"
"Perry," daddy spat. "People in town are
talking 'bout some incident last year. Damn boy's on the television
as we speak. What the hell did you tell that piece of shit you've
shacked up with? What lies have you been spreading?"
"What has Perry been saying?" I asked,
almost too terrified to know.
Last year when my father had his heart
attack, Kyle and Derek had followed Cam and I to Montgomery. I
wasn't sure of what had happened at the bar that night, but there
had been some type of altercation. Kyle and Derek had been black
and blue the following morning...
"Only that your pretty boy went and smashed
his face in, avenging your worthless ass," daddy growled. "He's
gone and sold his story to some gossip channel on TV. You've gone
and shamed me with your whoring antics, girl. Whole town knows what
kind of a tramp I raised. You're just like your momma. A dirty
little slut. Like mother like daughter."
"I told you the truth about that night," I
hissed. My knee was bouncing so hard the table started to shake.
This couldn't be happening. Oh please god stop this from
happening…"I wasn't lying about what he tried to do to me. Perry
Franklin nearly raped me, daddy. He tried to rape me. He nearly
did."
"Nearly never milked a cow," daddy said in a
sarcastic tone of voice. "You tell that son of a bitch lies 'bout
me, too, girl?" he demanded. I could hear banging noises in the
background. I guessed he was rearranging the furniture. If I was at
home it would be my face he would be rearranging.
"I haven't told lies to anyone." My voice
was shaking. I could barely hold my phone in my hands. "And I am
not a whore. You d-don't get to c-call me things like that anymore.
I'm not afraid of you."
Daddy laughed. "You think that boy's gonna
protect when I get my hands on you?" he snarled. "I'm gonna snap
that mouthy little shit in two, and then I'm gonna teach you a
lesson on behavior. You're gonna be sorry, you ungrateful little
whore. You forget who raised you, girl?" He laughed and it was
cruel. "I made you. I sure as hell can break you."
My phone was torn from my hand and I looked
up in shock as Mike stood over me, red faced and fuming. "Listen to
me, you piece of shit," he snarled. "Call this number again and
you'll be ordering your own fucking execution." He hung up and
handed me my phone. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I couldn't listen to
that."
"You heard?" I asked mortified.
His eyes were full of sympathy as he nodded
his head. "Yeah, me and half the bar." He gestured for me to look
around. I swung my face and locked eyes on several curious looking
customers. "You need to phone Kyle and tell him to take you home,"
he said in a worried tone. "There's a story running on channel
scoop. You should go upstairs and wait there until he comes to get
you. Trust me."
****
Kyle
My phone vibrated alerting me to an incoming
text message.
*Princess: She didn't come.*
Three words.
Three fucking words and I was ready to tear
this goddamn house apart. "She didn't fucking show. I gotta go,
dude," I told Derek. I could barely keep my temper under control.
Derek didn't say a word as he opened the door for me and followed
me down to the car. He was good like that. Knew when to keep his
mouth shut. One word and I was about the flip the fuck out.
Opening the car door, I slotted Hope into
her car seat and buckled her up. My head snapped up when I heard
another car door shut. "What are you doing?"
Derek, who was sitting in the driver's seat,
turned his head to look at me. "I'm coming with you," he said
simply.
I was too fucking agitated to argue.
In truth I was grateful. My hands were
shaking.
We drove in silence until we reached the
hotel and the anger vibrating inside of me needed an outlet. "Will
you take her inside for me?" I asked as I climbed out and got Hope.
"Tell Lee I'll be back in one hour."
"Yeah," Derek said as he plucked Hope out of
my arms. "But you're running to the wrong woman, Kyle. Just
saying..."
"I need to fix this," I snapped. Pressing a
kiss to Hope's forehead I walked around to the driver's side. "I've
been pressurizing her with months to meet her mom. She finally
agrees and gets screwed over. Fuck that. I want answers."
****
Derek
There was no point trying to talk Kyle down.
He wouldn't hear me and it was too cold to stand outside and argue
with him. Snuggling Hope against my chest, I walked into the
foyer.
"You looking for Lee?" some dude in a suit
asked me as I stood at the door of the restaurant. "She's
upstairs," he said before I had a chance to speak. "Top floor.
Their old room." With that he strolled off and left me there
confused as hell.
What the hell was she doing upstairs?
Christ, I hoped she wasn't crying.
I was not in the mood to deal with
tears.
Taking the lift up to the eighth floor, I
walked over to the double doors and knocked. "Who is it?" I heard
Lee call out.
Aw damn, she sounded all choked up.
"Mommy, it's me," I said in a squeaky voice,
hoping I could cheer her up before she soaked my shirt. "I puked on
Uncle Derek." That part was also true. Babies and moving floors did
not mix.
The door opened and Lee stood before me with
a red nose and puffy eyes. Shit…"What's wrong, Ice?"
Taking Hope out of my arms, she sniffled
loudly and pointed towards the television behind her. I wasn't sure
I wanted to see this, but I forced my feet into the suite. When I
saw the man on the TV my head started spinning. What the hell?
"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight on channel
scoop, we're talking to Perry Franklin from Montgomery,
Louisiana,"
the presenter said as she flashed the screen with a
fake smile. The camera zoomed in on the shithead Kyle had beat the
hell out of last year.
"Perry is a local of Montgomery, and last
year he was the victim of a vicious attack. Our sources have
discovered that the survivor of the thirteenth street shooting,
Delia Bennett, isn't quite as sweet and innocent as has been
previously reported. Perry, please tell us what happened to
you."