“Hush, Chloe,” His chest rumbled against my back, and as I shifted just slightly, feeling his skin against my arm, I was reminded that he was barely dressed, and that, only moments ago, I’d gotten an eyeful of all the wonder that was his body. And I didn’t even feel good enough to appreciate it.
“Derrick?” I asked, starting to feel sleep pull me under. I could say with all honesty that, what came out of my mouth next was strictly due to the fever, but I’d only be telling the partial truth.
“Yeah, baby?”
I shivered again, loving the way he called me that. It was the second time I’d heard that word fall from his lips in regards to me, and I felt it all the way down to my bones.
“When I’m better and can fully appreciate it, will you walk around without a shirt on?”
His laughter shook both of our bodies. “Whatever will help you get better faster, sunshine.” And just as sleep tugged me under, blacking out everything around me, I could have sworn I felt something like lips press against the back of my neck.
“And then Sarah was like, ‘You can’t come to my birthday party ’cause you’re friends with Lilly Mathewson!’ And I was all, ‘well, I don’t want to come to your stupid party anyway. And Lilly’s way cooler than you!’”
I stifled my smile as Eliza rattled on at an alarming speed, her gaze focused down on my toes that she was working diligently to paint a bright, sparkly pink that she just knew would help to make me feel better as she told me all the latest elementary school drama.
I’d been sequestered to Derrick’s bedroom for the past thirty hours, and even though I was starting to feel more like myself, the damned man gave me a look that promised punishment, then pointed in the direction of the bed every time he caught me out of it. After waking up wrapped in his arms earlier that morning, I’d been doing everything possible to convince him to let me go home. Unfortunately, nothing worked.
Last night and this morning proved to be too much for my normal frame of mind. Having him hold me — basically snuggling with me all night long — made the friendship boundary we’d put in place all the more blurry, and my poor, confused heart skip several uncomfortable beats.
Staying there wasn’t healthy for my sanity.
Luckily I’d had Eliza to keep me company for the past few hours, helping to keep my mind off the horde of butterflies taking up residence in my stomach. We’d watched Disney movies, I’d let her brush my hair, and now I was getting my own personal pedicure from the world’s most adorable nine-year-old.
“So Lilly’s your best friend then?” I asked. “Is she nice?”
“Yeah, she’s super nice,” Eliza answered sincerely, just before her shoulders slumped. “But Mom says I have to be friends with Sarah too.”
“Why’s that?” I asked, unhappy with the way the light seemed to fizzle out of Eliza so quickly.
“Because,” she shrugged, “she said Sarah’s mom and dad got money and Sarah’s one of the popular girls in my class, so if I wanna be popular too, I gotta stay friends with her.” Her hazel eyes, identical to her father’s, came up and met mine, her gaze sad as she said, “And she won’t let Lilly come to our house for sleepovers ‘cause she said I don’t need to hang out with a kid whose dad is the school janitor. I can only be friends with Lilly at school, which sucks, ’cause she’s my best friend.”
I really hated that woman. But it wasn’t like I could show that in front of a little girl. I worked to school my features even though my heart was breaking at the sight of her sadness. It might not have been my place to offer up my advice, but I couldn’t just sit there while her own mother filled her head with things that could turn her from the bright, caring girl she was into something tarnished and ugly.
“Honey,” I said in a soft voice, “I’m going to tell you something my mom told me when I was little. We’re all born with empty places inside of us that are meant to be filled up by people who make us happy and who make us feel good about ourselves. Those places are special, because if you pick the right person to fill it, they help you to be whole. If Lilly makes you happy and you feel whole around her, then you hold on to that as tight as you can because those are the types of relationships that last forever.”
“Is that what Ms. Harlow did for you? Fill up one of your empty places?”
“Absolutely,” I smiled widely. “And we’ll still be friends until we’re old and gray and lose all our teeth.”
Her happy giggle warmed something in my chest that had gone cold at the sight of her sorrow. “Then you’ll look like Granddad when he doesn’t have his teeth in!”
“Your granddad doesn’t put his teeth in?” I asked, finding myself laughing as well.
“He only pops them out for special occasions,” Derrick’s rumbling voice announced, and my and Eliza’s gazes shot to where he was standing, one shoulder propped against the door frame. “Isn’t that right, baby girl?” He winked at his daughter and my belly quivered.
“Yep. Like Christmas and my birthday.” She giggled again before turning back to me. “Granddad is Daddy’s father. He lives on a ranch in Montana with goats! We go there every year for Christmas and Spring Break.”
“That sounds like fun, sweetheart. I’ve always wanted to visit a ranch.”
“You should come with us next time!” she clapped gleefully. “Can she Daddy? Can she?” She spun back around to face me before allowing Derrick a chance to answer. “You’d love it so much. It’s so pretty there! You have to come!”
“Oh, uh…” I shot a look at Derrick to see one corner of his mouth hitched up in a smirk.
“Pleeeeeeeeease,” she begged.
“How about we discuss it when it’s closer to our next trip?” Derrick finally said, offering up a solution that fortunately placated and excited Eliza, at least for the time being.
“Okay!” she agreed.
“Time to go pack, baby girl. Your mom will be here soon.”
She stood on her knees and moved toward me, wrapping me in a hug and muttering, “Bye Miss Chloe. Hope you feel better.”
I returned the hug, holding tight. “Thank you, baby. I’ll see you soon.”
She made her way across the bed, but I didn’t miss the way her head drooped, or the sigh she released as she followed orders. I wanted to scoop her up and keep here there with me forever, but I knew it wasn’t logical.
After Eliza disappeared through the door, Derrick moved closer to the bed. “How you feeling, sunshine?”
“Stir crazy,” I answered, trying to ignore the way my skin tingled at his closeness. “But at least I have pretty toenails,” I added, wiggling my toes on top of the comforter for him to see.
The lines around his eyes crinkled as he smiled at my feet before turning his face back to me. “That you do, sweetheart. Prettiest toenails I’ve ever seen.”
“Eliza has a gift. If college doesn’t work out, you should offer to pay for her to train to be a nail tech.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he chuckled, and my stomach flipped at the sound.
I needed to get out of there. Especially if Eliza wasn’t going to be in place as a buffer any longer. “Derrick, I haven’t had a fever again all day, and the Tamiflu seems to be working. I really think I’m fine to go home.” It was an argument we’d already had earlier in the day.
His face grew firm as he leaned in close. “Told you this morning, sunshine. You’re staying here until you finish your full five days of meds. I’m not willing to risk you relapsing.”
“You’re being unreasonable!” I cried, pounding the mattress with my fist.
“If being concerned about you and wanting you to get better is unreasonable, I can live with that,” he shrugged casually and stood to his full height.
“Derrick,” I growled in a warning, but his attention turned toward the French doors.
“Bitch is here,” he muttered under his breath and I turned to watch a sleek black Mercedes come to a stop at the edge of his driveway. The door opened and Layla step
ped out, dressed as though she’d just stepped off the runway, complete with killer heels, painted on jeans, and a tight top that showed way too much cleavage for a woman picking her daughter up from her ex-husband. The outfit was more suited for trolling the bars for a one-night stand.
I let out a sigh as I watched her strut up the walkway. “I really hate that woman,” I muttered under my breath.
I hadn’t realized Derrick heard me until his deep laugh resonated through the air, and I turned back to see he’d leaned close once again. “Be right back, sweetheart. Don’t even think of getting out of this bed.”
Then he did something that shocked me completely speechless while rendering me immobile at the same time. Cupping the back of my neck, he pulled me up just enough to press a kiss to my forehead, then he turned and sauntered out of the room like he didn’t have a care in the world.
Yep. I needed to get the hell out of there.
16
Derrick
I could see the confusion written on Chloe’s face as I walked from the bedroom. I wanted to offer up something to help her understand what was going on between us, but the truth was, I didn’t have a fucking clue myself. I just knew the pull to her was impossible to ignore. What’s more, I didn’t want to ignore it.
That was a conversation we needed to have in the very near future, but at that very moment, I had more pressing matters to deal with. Such as my bitch of an ex-wife filling my daughter’s head with bullshit that could potentially damage her down the road. As I made my way down the hall, my fists clenched, my jaw ticked, I struggled to rein in the fury I wanted to unleash on the woman. The conversation I’d just overheard Eliza and Chloe having had my body locked up tight.
A knock sounded on the front door, but I took my time, refusing to rush to let the she-devil in. Was it childish to make her wait, knowing it would piss her off? Yes. Was I above such childish behavior? Fuck no. Not when it took everything I had to keep from raining hell down on Layla. There was another knock, this one louder, more aggressive. I hit the front door, waited a few more beats until she started pounding again before finally opening it.
“Took you long enough,” she huffed impatiently, her eyes narrowed in an ugly glare.
“Eliza!” I called over my shoulder. “Your mom’s here, baby girl. Time to go.”
Layla moved to step across the threshold, only coming to a halt when I didn’t move out of her way. “What? You’re not even going to let me in?”
“Got no reason to,” I answered blandly as Eliza’s footsteps sounded through the house. It was a totally different sound than what I heard every time I went to pick her up. Those steps were always rushed as she hurried through Layla’s massive house in Jackson Hole. My girl was always excited to spend the weekend with her dad. Now, well, they were much slower, as though she was doing everything she could to stretch out the few remaining minutes she had with me.
“I need to talk to you,” Layla huffed.
“Coincidence,” I informed her. “I need to talk to you, too. But we can do it out on the front porch.”
She snapped, “Are you serious right now?”
“As a fucking heart attack.” I kept my voice low as Eliza rounded the corner into the living room and headed our way. “Give me a hug sweetheart.” I leaned down to her level as she placed a kiss on my cheek and wrapped her arms around my neck tightly.
“Love you, Daddy.”
I returned the hug. “Love you too, baby girl. See you in a few weeks, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Eliza, go wait in the car,” Layla told her. No hug, no warm greeting after not seeing her own flesh and blood for nearly three whole days. It made my blood boil.
“Yes ma’am,” Eliza mumbled. “See you later, Daddy.”
“Okay, honey.”
She leaned back through the door. “Bye, Miss Chloe!” she yelled back into the house. “See you soon!”
I heard Chloe’s sweet voice call back, “Bye, baby!” but I didn’t take my eyes off the woman standing in front of me, suddenly fuming at the sound of Chloe’s voice coming from inside my house.
Eliza barely made it down the front walk, out of earshot, when she seethed, “Are you fucking kidding me with this shit, Derrick?”
I took a step forward, effectively backing her up so I could close the front door, both of us standing on the flagstone landing right outside of it.
“None of your business who I’ve got in my house, Layla.”
“I told you—” she began to rant, but I cut her off.
“You don’t want to push me right now,” I warned. “I don’t give a flying rat’s ass what you told me. I said it’s not your business, so let it go. Now, what’s this I hear about you trying to dictate who Eliza’s friends with?”
The woman actually had the nerve to roll her eyes. “Oh my God, that’s what you want to talk to me about? Christ, Derrick, it’s not even that big of a deal.”
“It’s a huge deal! You’re filling our daughter’s head with shit that’s going to screw her up in the future. I don’t give a damn if that Sarah girl’s popular or if her parents are so fucking rich they wipe their asses with hundred dollar bills! You will not tell our daughter who she can and can’t hang out with. That shit stops now.”
For the first time in all the years I’d known her, Layla didn’t fight back, and that instantly set me on edge. But it was her following words that sent up red flags and warning sirens.
“Fine. You’re right.”
“Say what now?” I asked, shell-shocked by her immediate acquiescence.
“I said you’re right.” The earlier anger was wiped from her face, replaced by a look that had my blood running cold. “I hate fighting with you over every little thing when it comes to Eliza’s upbringing,” she said softly, looking up at me through her fake eyelashes, appearing almost reticent. “It would be so much easier if we were on the same page, don’t you think?”
My voice was laced with skepticism as I answered, “Whatever you say, Layla.” I took a step back, my hand reaching behind me for the doorknob, ready to cut whatever this bullshit was that she was pulling off at the quick. “Have a good day. I’ll see you when I come to pick Eliza up in two weeks.”
“Wait!” Layla called as I started to turn my back on her. “Harold and I broke up!” she said on a rush.
And there it was. I turned back to her, arms crossed over my chest. “And you think I care about this because…?”
“He broke up with me because he said he couldn’t play second best to you anymore.” A sound like screeching tires echoed in my ears, nearly drowning out the rest of what she was saying. “He knew I wanted my family back, that I wasn’t really happy with him, and he couldn’t take it anymore. I hate that I broke his heart, but I can’t deny that he was right, Derrick.” She stepped into me, placing her hands on my chest as she gave me a doe-eyed expression. “I screwed up. I messed up our family. But I’m still in love with you. I want you back, baby.”
I don’t know how long I stood there, at a total loss for words before my brain finally began to function once again. “Let me get this straight,” I said, reaching up and wrapping my fingers around her wrists so I could pry her talons off me. “Your gravy train left the station, probably kicking your ass to the curb, and you actually think I’m stupid enough to believe some bullshit about you wanting your family back?”
She snatched her hands back, working to make her face appear wounded. “It’s not bullshit, it’s the truth!”
“Woman, you’ve lost your damn mind!”
“It’s because of her, isn’t it?” she shot a snarled look at my front door. “That’s why you won’t even consider it! We’re your family, not some slut you’ve been banging for a couple of weeks! You never would’ve been so cruel to me if you hadn’t have met Chloe.”
My head fell back on a loud laugh, and it was my turn to ask, “Are you fucking kidding me with this shit?! This has nothing to do with Chloe, other than she’s ten tim
es the woman you could ever be! You forget, Layla, I was married to you. I know exactly how you think. You don’t want your family back. You’re scrambling for a Plan B because you lost your free ride. You’ve got no job, no skills, and no one else to do any of the heavy lifting. If you think you’re going to use our daughter as a pawn in whatever fucked-up game you’re playing, you’ve got another thing coming.”
Her chest heaved as she sucked in air. “This is all her fault!” she shouted, jabbing her finger at the house.
My voice dropped to a menacing tone as I said, “You don’t talk about Chloe. You don’t even think about her. This isn’t about her. This is about you being a manipulative bitch. And so help me, if you step over the line where Eliza’s concerned one more time, I swear to God, woman, I’ll drag your ass to court so goddamned fast it’ll make your head spin. You don’t have your sugar daddy’s money to hide behind anymore, I’m done letting you manipulate her. This shit ends today, do you understand me?” When she didn’t respond I snapped, “Nod your head if you’re hearing me, Layla.”
She gave me one jerky nod in acknowledgment.
“Good, now get the hell off my porch and get our daughter home.” She turned on her heels and began stomping off, but I wasn’t done. “Oh, and Layla?” She snapped her head over her shoulder, eyes full of fire and hatred. “I find out you took your shit out on her,” I pointed to her car, “and I’ll bury you. That’s the only warning you get. Your drama doesn’t touch her.”
She didn’t utter another word as she finished the walk to her car, got in, slammed the door, and backed out of my driveway, but I knew she got me. The fear was written all over her face. Karma was finally paying the bitch back and she had nothing to fall back on.
I let out an exhausted sigh as I reached up and rubbed the back of my neck, waiting until her taillights disappeared before going inside. Just like all the other times I’d been forced to deal with Layla, I was left bone tired and weary.
Welcome to Pembrooke: The Complete Pembrooke Series Page 12
