“You know why,” she said, sounding sad and confirming his earlier opinion that she’d been put on this earth to drive him out of his fucking mind.
“You’re turning this whole thing into one of those seriously fucked up Lifetime movies that you’ve got my brother addicted to, you know that, don’t you?”
“I am not!” she said, gasping in outrage as they walked around a turn and headed down a long slope.
“Oh, but you really are,” he said, not really caring at this point if he was pissing her off, because she was certainly doing a hell of a job of pissing him off.
“I am not!”
“Really?” he asked, arching a mocking brow. “Then what would you call this bullshit that you’ve been putting me through?”
“Trying to make sure that you didn’t throw your life away,” she grumbled with a scowl as she quickened her step and tried to
He rolled his eyes, not bothering to quicken his pace since there was nowhere for her go. “Yes, because marrying the woman that I’m madly in love with and want to spend the rest of my life with is throwing my life away,” he said dryly as he followed after her, noting the way that her shoulders went tense as she rounded another corner. “That bullshit line is getting old, Marybeth, so why don’t we get to the real reason why you’re willing to do something so fucked that you’re willing to risk your life, hmmm?”
“I’m not risking my life,” she bit out, shooting him a murderous glare that said it all.
Once again, he was right and she fucking hated it.
“Really? Then what would you call putting off a surgery that you need so that you could take a bunch of drugs that have dangerous side effects and get off medication you need to slow down the tissue wrapping around your lungs on the off chance that you could find a doctor willing to do a procedure that doesn’t have a chance in hell of working?”
“You don’t know that,” she snapped, but the way that she couldn’t quite meet his eyes when she turned to glare at him told him that she knew that he was right.
Since he was on a roll and all, he decided to keep going.
“Don’t I? I thought that we’d already covered this. How exactly are going to do this without my help?”
“Look,” she said, “I get it. I can’t have children. I managed to accept it before and with some space, a little time and a lot of chocolate, I’ll be able to do it again,” she explained tightly just as she was forced to come to stop when they reached the loading line.
“How many?” a college kid with a big smile asked.
“One,” Marybeth snapped just as Darrin said, “Two.”
Ignoring Marybeth, probably because the kid sensed that Darrin would have beat the shit out of him if he separated Darrin from Marybeth, he gestured for them to go to the last loading line.
“You’ll never be able to accept it,” he pointed out as he got in line behind her.
“I did it before,” she snapped back, clearly getting pissed.
“No, you didn’t,” he said, never more sure of anything in his life.
“And you know this how?”
“Because I know you.”
“Clearly that’s not the case,” she said dryly as they waited for the boat full of passengers to unload so that they could get in.
“Really? Because I bet it is.”
“And I bet that you don’t know what you’re talking about,” she snapped back, keeping her back to him as she tapped her foot impatiently.
“Really? And how much are you willing to bet that I know the real reason behind this bullshit plan or yours and the one that you used to try and push me away.”
“I never tried to push you away!”
“What would you call the last six years, then?” he demanded in a whisper while they watched the boat finally come towards them and lock in place.
“Keeping my options open in case something better came along?”
Knowing that she was just trying to piss him off, he ignored her and decided to keep going. “You’ve never accepted it, because for some fucked up reason you think that not being able to have children somehow makes you less of a woman.”
He’d expected her to glare at him, to argue and deny it, but what he hadn’t expected was for her to suddenly climb out of the boat just as the boat started to enter the ride, leaving him sitting there with no other choice but to suffer through “It’s a Small World.”
Chapter 36
“I think it’s time that we got you tested for drugs, Goose,” Jake said, sounding completely serious, which was understandable given the circumstances.
“Uh huh, I’ll get right on that,” she promised as she skimmed her fingers across the top of the stone enclosure that stopped the baby alligators from attacking her and tearing her apart.
“Have you told Darrin what you’re doing?”
“It’s none of his business,” she said, darting her gaze from the baby alligator determined to climb the wall and make a snack of her hand to the man that she’d been avoiding since yesterday when she’d ditched his ass at the Small World ride.
“He’s your husband,” Jake pointed out.
“I want to get this over with,” she said, feeling her chest tighten as she took in the sight of Darrin sitting on the park bench, watching her with an expression that tore at her.
“Don’t fucking do this, Goose.”
“I don’t want him to be there when they do this, Jake,” she said, forcing herself to look away from Darrin before she did something stupid.
“That’s not true and you know it.”
Sighing, she returned to running her hand absently along the top of the stone wall as she walked away, needing to put a little space between her and Darrin’s knowing gaze. “Are you going to help me or what, Jake?”
There was a slight pause before Jake said, “I’m your brother and I love you, Goose, but I’m not going to help you do this. Whatever it is that you’re running from, Goose, stop before it’s too late. Tell Darrin that they moved your surgery date up and let him come home with you.”
“I’m not running away from anything,” she bit out as she roughly wiped at her eyes when they began to tear up.
“Yes, you are,” the all-too familiar voice that always managed to make her feel safe and loved said as her phone was gently taken away from her.
“Go away, Darrin,” she said weakly, fighting the urge to turn around and wrap her arms around him.
“Not until you answer my question,” he said as he reached around her and handed her the phone.
“Which is?”
“Do you love me enough to stop pushing me away?”
“I’m not-” she began to argue the same bullshit that she’d been feeding him for years, but he apparently had enough.
“Stop playing this fucking game with me, Marybeth.”
She shook her head, refusing to say another word.
“Then I’m done, Marybeth. I am so fucking done it’s not even funny. I love you too much to stand around any longer while you play the martyr. You let the simple fact that you can’t have children dictate our lives. You can’t have children. Get the fuck over it, because I have. Children are a blessing, not a guarantee and as much as I would have loved to have them, I’ve always wanted you more, but you’re so fucking blinded by your own self-pity that you refuse to see that. I’m done playing these hot and cold games with you. I’m done begging you to stay in my life, Marybeth. I’m just fucking done.”
*-*-*-*
He’d wasted six years waiting for her.
Six. Fucking. Years!
No matter what he said or what he did, she was never going to let this bullshit go and he was tired of trying to convince her to stay with him. He shouldn’t have to beg a woman to be with him and the fact that he had to do it with the woman that he loved made him feel like pure shit.
“Don’t walk away from me!” Marybeth yelled, chasing after him as he stormed out of the reptile farm and headed towards the line of taxis that woul
d take him away from her and the bullshit that she put him through. “We’re going to finish this once and for all!”
“We’re done!” he snapped, not even bothering to look back when he said it, which he paid for seconds later when the little brat slammed into him, taking him down to the ground, hard.
“No, we’re not,” she snapped, trying to get him in a headlock, but unfortunately for her, she grew up with only one brother, a brother that was absolutely terrified of what Darrin would do to him if he ever laid a fucking finger on her so she had absolutely no idea what she was doing. He easily escaped her hold, rolled onto her back, grabbed her by her hips and moved to set her aside when she did the unthinkable.
“Mother fucker!” Darrin shouted in surprise and agony when she reached down and twisted his poor defenseless nipples through his shirt.
“We’re going to finish this, right here, right now, Darrin, because as much as you hate the bullshit that I’ve been putting you through, I hate it more. I hate the fact that I can’t give you what you need and what you deserve. I hate the fact that no matter how many pills and shots that I take or no matter how many surgeries that I’ve had, I’m still broken. I hate it. I hate that I will never hold your baby,” she bit out bitterly angrily.
“Baby, I-” he started to say, but she wasn’t done yet.
“I hate that I can’t see a baby without feeling like my heart is about to break. I hate this. I hate this whole fucking situation, but I hate even more that I’m not good enough for you and I never will be!” she snapped, releasing her hold on his nipples so that she could get to her feet as she glared down at him. “You were right. Is that what you wanted to hear? That as long as I didn’t have to face the truth a small part of me could go on pretending that there was still hope? That once I allowed myself something real with you that reality would come crashing down on me and there would be nowhere for me to run? In a matter of days I’ll never be able to delude myself into thinking that I’m whole again. Is that what you wanted to hear? Congratulations, Darrin,” she said tightly as she stepped away from him, “it must be wonderful knowing that you were right.”
With that she stormed off, leaving him realizing just how badly he’d fucked up by pushing her into this. He’d been patient with her for six long years, because he’d known that rushing her was a mistake.
So then why had he fucked this up so badly?
Because once he’d found out the real reason why she didn’t want to be with him, he’d been scared out of his fucking mind that she was going to leave him.
Now…
Now he had absolutely no fucking idea what he should do.
*-*-*-*
Later that night…
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he said as he stared down at the phone in his hand.
“I can’t believe you won’t shut up and let me get some sleep,” Arik bitched as he rolled over onto his stomach and pulled a pillow over his head.
“How is this supportive?” he demanded as he tried to come up with a reason not to make this call, but after spending the last eighteen hours wracking his brain, trying to figure out how to fix this, he was finally ready to accept the fact that he was in way over his head with this one.
“You’ve kept me up all night with your bitching and whining! So make the fucking call so I can get some sleep!” Arik snarled, blindly throwing the pillow at him as he climbed off the bed and stormed off towards the bathroom where he slammed the door behind him.
Knowing that it was only a matter of minutes before his brother had enough of his bullshit and tossed him out, Darrin scrolled through his contact list and did the unthinkable.
“What do you want?” Trevor snapped as soon as he answered the phone.
“I need some advice,” he admitted.
There was a slight pause before Trevor said, “Go on.”
“I’ve really fucked this whole thing up with Marybeth.”
“You’re a Bradford. It’s what we do,” Trevor explained with a chuckle.
“Then tell me how to fix this,” he said, close to begging.
“Well, that depends….”
“On what?” he asked, biting back a groan when he realized that he was going to have to deal with typical Bradford bullshit to fix this.
“On what you did.”
Sighing, he reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming on. “It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time.”
Chapter 37
“Oh my God, what the hell are you doing?” she may have yelled, gasped, moaned and cried out in pleasure as she felt the tip of Darrin’s tongue trace her slit. Desperate to hold onto something as an intense wave of pleasure tore through her, forcing her back to arch and her toes to curl, she reached out and-
“You son of a bitch!” she shouted, her eyes snapped open all while she prayed that she was imagining all of this, but a tilt of her head told her that she wasn’t.
“I’m sorry, did I wake you?” he asked innocently as he tilted his head slightly to the side so that he could drag the tip of his tongue through her slit at a different angle while she tugged at the handcuffs keeping her arms secured to the headboard above her head.
She opened her mouth to answer him, but could only manage a moan as he dragged his tongue over her clit, effectively robbing her of the ability to yell at the bastard for handcuffing her to the bed.
“I figured that we should have a talk. Is now a good time for you?” he calmly asked as he raised his head from between her legs, but before she could sigh with relief, his thumb took over.
“Umm,” she said, forced to close her eyes as she tried to think about why she was mad at him and she definitely knew that she was mad at him.
“Okay if I start?” he asked, not giving her a chance to respond before he was murmuring, “Good, good,” and leaning back down to give her slit another leisurely lick to keep her knocked off balance.
“Why don’t we start with a few questions?” he suggested, pulling back so that his thumb could take over again.
“Oh, that’s great, because I have a really good one! Why exactly am I handcuffed to the bed?”
She wasn’t really surprised when he ignored her question and asked one of own. “What were you talking to Jake about this morning and does it have anything to do with why all of your bags are packed?”
“Are you going to answer my question?” she asked, refusing to give him anything until she knew what he hoped to gain by pissing her off like this.
“Sure,” he said, dipping his head back down for another lick that left her gasping. “After speaking with my cousins and careful consideration, I felt that we could benefit from some uninterrupted quality time.”
Sighing, because she wasn’t sure that she really wanted to know, she asked, “Which cousins?”
“Trevor and Jason,” he said, confirming her fears.
“And what exactly did they suggest?”
“That the sooner we both accepted the fact that I was going to constantly fuck this up, the better off we’d both be,” he said with a shrug like it was no big deal, and to a Bradford it probably wasn’t, but she wasn’t a Bradford. At least, not by blood and the time that she’d spent growing up alongside them in no way prepared her for this kind of Bradford logic.
“And they suggested doing this?” she really couldn’t help but ask, because as seriously disturbed as their advice could be, which was saying a lot since they were Bradfords, she really just couldn’t see them suggesting that he use sex to fix this.
He chuckled as dropped his head for another lick. “They suggested that I grovel and beg for forgiveness,” he said with a careless shrug as she sat there, helplessly watching as he leaned down and dragged his tongue up between her slit, hitting all the right spots and momentarily making her forget that they were supposed to be talking this out.
“And you were against that plan…why?” she asked, panting and shifting around a bit, desperate for more.<
br />
“They don’t know you as well as I do,” he pointed out, rewarding her with another lick that had her sighing with pleasure. That is until he added, “Because if they did, they wouldn’t suggest trying to reason with you.”
“You son of a-Oh God, yes!” she ended on a shout when he decided that this was the best time to slide his tongue inside her.
“You were saying?” he asked, seconds or maybe minutes later, when he shifted his attention back to her clit, which was more than happy to welcome him back.
She licked her lips hungrily as she answered him, but she refused to tell him everything. “I’ve decided to grab an earlier flight home,” she answered, deciding that it wouldn’t matter if he knew that she was leaving early.
“Why?” he asked, not missing a beat.
“I have a few things that I need to do at home,” she said, not technically lying since she did have quite a few things to do before her surgery on Friday. She needed to talk to Uncle Jared about finding someone to run her crew for the next couple of months, get pre-surgery labs done, clean out her fridge, pack everything that she was going to need for the next few weeks and prepare herself for all the beef broth and green Jell-o that her mother was going to shove down her throat.
“Like what?” he asked, leaning down to leisurely lick her, paying special attention to her clit.
“Things?” she repeated, wondering why that came out like a question and really wishing that he’d stop teasing her like this and slide that very talented tongue back inside her.
“Would any of those things have to do with your surgery being moved up to the end of the week?” he asked casually, letting her know that there was no reason to lie to him.
“Yes,” she said, closing her eyes in defeat.
“And you weren’t going to tell me. Were you?”
“No,” she said with a simple shake of her head.
“Why’s that?” he asked as he slowly slid a finger deep inside her, apparently still determined to continue with this line of interrogation.
“Because I didn’t want you there,” she admitted on a soft moan as he slowly withdrew his finger and slid it back inside her.
Double Dare (A Neighbor from Hell Book 6) Page 22
