Caught by Emma Louise
Chapter Thirteen
The silence in the car is stifling. Taking my eyes off the road for a split-second, I glance over at Darcey. She’s curled up tightly in the seat next to me. Her eyes are closed, the bruises on her face standing out in stark relief against her paler than usual skin. The urge to reach out and touch her, make sure she’s really there is so strong that I have a hard time fighting it.
But fight it I do. Because as much as I’m torturing myself by bringing her home with me, it means nothing. I’ll never be the guy who gets to touch her like that. I’ll never be the guy who looks after her the way she needs to be looked after.
I owe it to her to keep her safe because it’s my fault that she’s hurt. If I hadn’t forced her to run from the office today, she wouldn’t be in this situation. She wouldn’t have been in danger. So I’ll keep her safe. I’ll protect her and her daughter for now. We’ll put everything we have into finding whoever is doing this to her, and we’ll put him down.
After that’s done and she isn't at risk anymore, she’ll be out of my life. I’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen. Darcey Walker is not a distraction I can afford in my life.
Not now.
Not ever.
“How are you feeling?” I ask while we idle at a stop light.
“Fine,” she answers without opening her eyes.
“I’m sorry about this morning, about what you heard.”
“You’re sorry about what I heard?” she asks softly, those deep eyes of hers finally opening. “You’re not sorry for what you said about me; you’re just sorry I heard it?” There’s no venom in her voice; the tone is flat.
Well, shit. I wasn’t expecting her to call me out like that. But she’s right. I’m apologizing for the fallout of that conversation, nothing more. I shift uncomfortably in my seat, willing the light to hurry and fucking change so we can get back to my place. It was a bullshit apology; one I might as well have saved myself the effort of saying.
“That isn't what I meant.” I lie, but even I can hear how insincere that sounds.
“I’m not doing this with you, Max.” She sighs tiredly.
“I just think—”
“I said I’m not doing this.” She sits straighter in her seat, leaning across the console to get in my face as much as she can while she’s being held back by a seatbelt. “I’ve had the day from hell. I’m exhausted. I’m sore, and did I mention that I’m having the day from hell?” I don’t miss the way her voice wobbles at the end of her speech. “Right now, all I want is a hot bath and somewhere to sleep, so...” She sighs deeply, the last few words coming out strained. “Can we please not do this today?”
The light changing from red to green gives me an excuse to look away from her and the lost look on her face that is twisting up my gut.
“Sure. Whatever you want,” I finally answer, not looking her way again for the rest of the short drive to my place.
By the time we get there, Darcey has fallen asleep. She’s turned away from me, legs tucked up close to her body, her head tipped back against the seat. Getting out of the truck, I slam the door, hoping it will wake her, so I don’t have to. I guess the docs gave her the good drugs because she doesn’t so much as flinch. I grab the bag that Liam brought to the hospital for her and take it into the house before returning to the truck to get her. Opening the passenger side door, I let myself look at her for a minute.
Fuck, she’s so pretty. The thought bounces around my head once again. The bruises that are forming on her face do nothing to hide how attractive she is. Thick, dark lashes rest against the creamy skin of her cheeks, and my fingers burn to touch her, just once. She saves me the embarrassment of being caught doing just that by finally waking up.
“Sorry, it was rude of me to fall asleep,” she says softly, rubbing her eyes as she stifles a yawn.
“Don’t worry about it,” I say, moving back to give her room to climb out. “Do you need help getting down?”
“I’m good. Thanks.” Nodding, I wait for her to move toward the house before I close the door and lock it.
Once we’re in the house, I drop the keys in the bowl on the side table and swing my arm out for Darcey to go on in. “Let me show you where you will be sleeping.” I lead her up the stairs to the second floor. She doesn’t stop to look around, just follows quietly behind me. The guest room is pretty bare, but the bed is made, and there’s a space for her to store a few of her things.
“Can I get you anything?”
“No. Thanks, though. I’m going to call Cass and probably just go straight to bed.” She doesn’t look at me, just takes the bag from my hand and turns away. I’m effectively dismissed.
“There’s a shower in there.” I point to the en-suite bathroom, but she doesn’t even respond. “No bath, sorry, but you can use the one in—”
“I’m good. Thank you.” She cuts me off yet again without looking my way.
“Good night, then,” I say to her back before turning and leaving the room.
I don’t see her for the rest of the night, not even when I stop by her room to leave her a warm drink and a sandwich. I can tell she’s awake in there, but she chooses to ignore me, and I can’t say I blame her at all.
* * *
After a full night of staring at the ceiling, I give up chasing sleep and decide to get up and go for a run instead. I bought this house to flip it and make some money a few years ago, but then Elite took off, and it got put on the back burner. The house sat empty for a year until I decided to move in, so I could work on it in my down time. It’s too big for me, being a four thousand square foot, two-story family home, but it sits on a huge-ass lake, so it’s no hardship to live here. Mornings like this, when the sun is just starting to press over the top of the tall trees that line the edge of the water, make me think I might not ever want to get rid of this place. Taking off, I start my long run around the lake. There isn't another person in sight, exactly how I like. It’s peaceful. With a job like mine, I don’t get a lot of quiet time. I’m constantly on the move, doing something. My morning runs are pretty much the only time I get to block out the rest of the shit that’s always swirling around me.
By the time I’ve done a full lap, the sun is all the way up, and the cold edge is starting to seep out of the air. Looking at my watch, I see it's just past seven am. I've been out here for almost two hours. Will Darcey be awake? I don't know how the fuck to act right around her. I'm not keen to spend more time in that fucked up atmosphere. Instead of going inside, I detour down to the wooden dock that overlooks the lake. I'm not one for being out on the water, but my brother bought himself a small boat to keep here. The guys and I have fished out here a few times. It's probably the only downtime we've had together over the last few years. The urge to untie it and spend the day out there and away from Darcey is strong.
Kicking off my sneakers, I drop down and sit on the edge of the dock. The cold water hitting my bare skin feels like a million needles pinching me, but I don't move. It doesn't take long to get used to it.
I feel Darcey approach before I hear her bare feet hit the wooden planks. "It's beautiful out here." She doesn't sit down, but she does pass a coffee cup my way.
"Yep," is my only reply. I've decided I'm going to let her lead this from now on. She doesn't want to say a word to me? Fine. She wants to straight up ignore me? That's fine too.
"I'm sorry I was a bitch yesterday," she says after a beat of silence.
"No need to apologize. I think I've earned it from you." That gets a soft chuckle from her, and I want nothing more than to turn around and watch her laugh. I've seen it once or twice. Usually when Felix is doing or saying something to make her smile. But I want to be the one to put that look on her face.
Just once.
"Well, I'd usually agree, but you're doing me a huge favor by letting me stay here, so how about we start over?"
Risking a look at her, I'm caught off guard at what I see. She's wearing tiny shorts, leaving miles of golden skin on show. She’s leaned against the railing, legs crossed and one bare foot on top of the other. But it's what she's wearing on top that has my breath choking me. She must have picked up a hoodie of mine from the hook near the back door.
The old LA Shark's football hoodie, my favorite even though it's practically threadbare, is easily five sizes too big for her. The hem hangs down as far as the obscene shorts, and the sleeves cover her hands that are clutching the plain white coffee mug.
She isn't looking at me, her gaze turned out over the water, and I have no problem taking full advantage of that. I'm sure if the circumstances were different and this was a date or the beginning of something, she wouldn't let me see her this stripped back. Her hair is a crazy mess that whips around her face with the early morning breeze. She hasn’t bothered to try to hide the bruises that have developed dark purple and yellow against her pale face. Each one I see has rage simmering low in my gut. She's all of five foot nothing, probably weighs a little more than a buck soaking wet, but some asshole thought she was fair game?
"Is that okay?" Darcey's sweet voice cuts into the dark thoughts that were just starting to form in my mind.
"Is what okay?" I look up to find her staring right at me for the first time since yesterday.
"Can we start over? I don't expect us to be the best of friends, or even any kind of friends really. I just don't want to fight anymore. Do you think we can stop the bitching and at least pretend to get along?" Can I do that? The hopeful look on her face tells me that I have to. As much as I want to push her away, I can't bring myself to do it; not right now at least.
"Good," she finally says, not pushing it anymore. We stay there, enjoying the silence for a while, and I don't let myself think about how good this feels. To have someone here who doesn't suck every ounce of joy out of the moment.
I sip the now tepid coffee, not ready to finish it just in case it breaks the peace of the moment. I shouldn’t have worried, the vibration of Darcey's phone does it anyway. She turns away as she answers, but I still hear her soft voice.
"Morning, love bug." She's quiet then, but I hear the indistinct chatter from the other end of the call I assume is from her daughter.
"I'm not sure yet, Cass. Maybe later today? Mommy needs time to make some arrangements."
Shit. It didn't occur to me to even ask where the kid would stay. "She can stay here with you," I say before I can stop myself. Her jaw drops as she stares at me, wide-eyed in shock.
"That's just Mommy's friend, love bug."
Are you sure? She mouths at me. I can see the longing written all over her face. She wants her kid with her. I nod briefly before climbing to my feet and walking toward the house. I give her time to talk without me hanging around eavesdropping.
Heading straight into my bedroom, I turn the shower on to heat up the water while I check my phone. There's nothing urgent happening at Elite, but I still check the emails. By the looks of it, Crew was up and working early today. I don't usually take days off, even over the weekend, but with nothing to be done, it looks like I'm at a loose end. I send my brother a text, hoping he's awake. Being the president of a motorcycle club, it's more likely that he hasn’t even gone to bed yet.
By the time I'm showered, there's still no reply. I decide that I'll get some breakfast and head out anyway. There's plenty of things I can find to keep me busy that don't involve being anywhere near Darcey.
* * *
"Who's dis?" I'm at the coffee maker when the small voice asks from the doorway. Turning around I see a tiny slip of a child glaring up at me. No introductions are needed because she's an exact replica of her mother. Right down to the scowl that scrunches up her face and the arms crossed resolutely over her chest. The sound of muffled laughter has me turning fully to see Liam and Natalie are here. Delaney has a smirk on his face while Natalie, his wife whom I've only met once or twice before, smiles broadly at me.
"This is Max, the friend I was telling you about, love bug." Darcey says, dropping a lurid pink backpack onto the kitchen table. I've faced down some serious people in my life, but most of them could learn a thing or two from the tiny girl shooting daggers out of her eyes at me. "He's letting us stay here for a few days, remember?"
"I don't wanna." She huffs.
Me either, kid. Me either. I think but don't say aloud.
"Cassidy." Darcey's voice is low, a warning to her daughter not to be rude.
"But..."
"But nothing. What do you say to Max?" The two of them enter into a stare down, and I start to think that neither are going to back down. I'm guessing this is something they've done more than once before because Darcey doesn’t flinch. It's Cassidy who cracks first, her face going slack, and fuck me, she looks like she's going to cry. Her bottom lip trembles, and I brace for what's about to come.
"Cassidy," Darcey repeats firmly, and I watch, amazed as the kid wipes all of the previous emotion clean off of her face, the glare suddenly back in place. What the fuck was that? She can't be more than five-years-old, and she just tried to play the fuck out of her mom?
This shouldn't amuse me, but fuck, that was funny. Funny, but also a little terrifying. What the fuck have I gotten myself into by letting these two into my house?