Chapter Twenty-Four
Daniel
I texted Jackson before I went to bed. I would help him get anything he needed to take Sara out of the picture forever. I tossed and turned on top of the covers, too angry and worried that my anxiety-ridden love would bolt this time to sleep. Sleep must have won the fight eventually, but in the morning, I felt like I’d been run over by stampeding mustangs.
My brothers and I went for a ride together, and Jackson explained how to get Sara to talk on his video. To me, it seemed like science fiction from comic books, to get her talking about her double life and have him record it from a distance, but he promised he could make it work without me having to wear a wire like a cop movie cliché.
I texted Sara, using what Rachel had told me as an excuse to talk in person. She immediately agreed, and her reply was so instantaneous and positive that I wondered if she’d already figured me out. I made up a reason for all of us brothers and Caleb to go into Austin, and even Rachel seemed happy that we were including Caleb as family and take him with us on our outings. Caleb didn’t say a word, just shrugged and climbed into the truck before anyone could see the worried look on his face. I thought to the day before; the kid obviously took after his honest and guileless mother.
I noticed Tracy and Freddie acting suspicious as they stood by their car, but I chalked it up to my own paranoia that the family was going to figure out the stupid and childish thing we were about to do and ignored the itch between my shoulder blades that warned me of trouble.
I had suggested to Sara that we meet at a café down the street from her condo where we used to get breakfast after I’d spent the night with her. She readily agreed, and I made certain that we dropped off the younger guys around the corner so they had time to set up shop. The cloak and dagger made me feel like an idiot, but I reminded myself that Rachel was worth the embarrassment and the bad taste the encounter would leave with me.
Sara was either over or underdressed, depending on your point of view. She looked like she’d been to a party and not gone home yet, her dress cut low in the front and high on the thigh, leaving little to the imagination. She sat at a table not ten feet from Jackson and failed to recognize him in his daily uniform of the nerd: a graphic tee under a button down shirt with a newsboy cap and cargo shorts. Geek chic, Rachel had teased him. The only thing he was missing, according to her, was a pair of Vans to round out his look.
Caleb sat with him and even to me, it looked like they were playing an engrossing video game on the café internet connection. I strode toward Sara, rubbing my damp palms on my jeans again. She posed for me when she realized I was watching her, tossing her hair back over her shoulder with practiced nonchalance, arching an eyebrow and refusing to look up until my shadow blocked the sunlight that was shining in the window across her side of the table.
“Well, hello, stranger,” she drawled, looking up at me over the menu she’d been perusing. “I wonder why you suddenly had the urge to get a hold of me.” She smirked. I pulled out a chair and sat, choosing my words before I spoke.
“You need to leave Rachel alone,” I spat out, angrier than I thought I was, once I was looking her in the eye. “I don’t know what is wrong with you, but you take it elsewhere because enough people, have enough dirt on you to ruin you.” She blinked long and slow, then took a deep breath.
“This is not the conversation I thought we’d be having,” she purred. Her menu fell to the table and she leaned forward, giving me an even better view of what she thought were her best assets. “I don’t know what you think I would want with that skinny little—” I cut her off before she could finish.
“No. Enough, Sara. I already have enough information from enough people that I could expose every dirty little secret you think you keep so well.” I sighed. “Speaking of which, does Daddy know you’re sleeping with his married best friend? Would he think that’s good for business?” She turned scarlet and hissed at me. “I won’t stoop to your level unless you make me. I have enough respect for myself not to engage in the games you play. But, if that is what it will take for you to leave my family alone, then I will burn you.” I spread my hands on the table. “So, what’s it going to be?”
“You think you know me? Well, you don’t. You have no idea what it takes to survive in my world,” she snapped, then glanced around to make sure no one heard her.
“You chose your world. I’m sure he wasn’t the first, but you had a man who loved you in Tuck. What you did to him is unconscionable. Now you’re following Rachel into wedding shops? Are you insane, or just that desperate for attention? Everyone sees you for what you are: a selfish opportunist who is always looking for the next income tax bracket to move up.” I scowled at her. A moment later, the dying embers of my rage turned to shame as her face crumpled and she began to cry.
“I don’t care what you think of me. I have my own problems, and I don’t care about you or your family.” She sniffed, as I waved the waitress away. “I don’t want to be with anyone but Jason, but Carl is threatening to tell Jason everything if I try to stop seeing him.” I huffed out a breath and rubbed my eyes.
“Good God, girl. What were you thinking? You need to suck it up and take the hit, get rid of him once and for all. While you’re still young, and people will be looking at him for taking advantage of you.” She sniffed again and sipped at her espresso drink.
“I just can’t lose Jason,” she admitted. “I know he’s, as you put it, the perfect income tax bracket, but that’s not it. I am myself around him, and he still wants me. How is someone like me going to find that again?”
“Yeah, that brings me to point two of this little visit. You need to know that whatever Jason told you about Rachel, there’s another side to it.” I tried to be careful enough that she didn’t get up and walk away before she heard what I had to say.
“Like what, exactly? That she’s a prude who can’t stand to have fun isn’t the whole story?” She snorted. “I had deduced that for myself, thanks.”
“Seriously, Sara. Has he ever been…” I cleared my throat. “Has he ever been rough with you?” She flinched, which told me more than her sniff and head shake to the negative.
“Every man becomes less of a gentleman when he drinks, Daniel, even you.”
“I’ve never left a bruise on any woman. No matter how ‘rough’ it gets,” I admonished. “You know what I’m talking about. He scarred her pretty badly, and it wasn’t just the car accident. I just want you to watch your back. We may not be friends, but I don’t want to see anyone turned into a punching bag. Trust me, it’s not worth the money.”
“Spoken like a man who has never gone without. This conversation bores me, and for an engaged man, you certainly seem concerned with keeping me single.”
I sighed and shook my head. “Whatever, Sara. Just leave us alone. No more rumors, no more ‘concerned letters’ to faculty.” Her face showed genuine surprise. “Yes, I know all about your attempt to have Rachel expelled. You’re lucky I don’t hit women, because you deserve it for that.” I pushed my hat onto my head and stood.
“You’re damn lucky Edith Green is too intelligent for your childish pranks. Rachel is lucky to have an administrator who took the time to actually know what kind of person she is. Never again,” I growled leaning on the table. “Am I understood?” She swallowed and nodded and I pivoted on one boot toward the door. I looked back over my shoulder and she was still watching me, her eyes sad and shining wetly in the sunlight.
“I guess this is goodbye, Daniel,” she said, blinking away the tears.
“Just take care of yourself,” I replied, and tipped my hat in a goodbye. Jackson gave me a thumbs up from the table behind her and both boys escaped out the door behind them. When I met them at the truck, Caleb offered me his hand.
“I wanted to protect my sister, but I’m real glad you took the high ground. It wouldn’t have been right to do to her what she was doing.”
I nodded and let them in the truck. As far as I was concerned, the matter was closed. Now I just had to figure out what to do about Rachel’s ex, who was still in the hospital and out of reach of my fists.
Rachel wasn’t answering texts, which I assumed meant she was getting to go and enjoy a ride with the girls or my mother had cornered her about the wedding. I felt a stab of guilt that we hadn’t just eloped and avoided all the mess that had been dumped in our laps. But, she had agreed to marry my stupid ass, and I was going to see it through, no matter who tried to stop us.
Rachel was with my mother on the veranda when I pulled up, watching us as the gravel dust settled. The other two took off and left me to explain where we’d been and what we’d been up to, but before I could even begin to form an excuse, my mother stood, hugged me, and walked into the house, her face still blotchy from crying. I looked at the scared expression on Rachel’s face and feared the worst. She patted the empty cushion of the swing next to her and I sat sideways, my eyes never leaving her face.
“I have to tell you something that is not going to make you happy.” She was fidgeting with a manila folder in her lap and couldn’t look me in the face. I cleared my throat and leaned back out of her space as far as I could, waiting for the ax to fall.
“Okay, I’m listening, what do you have for me?” I hated the way she flinched at the tightness in my voice, but I kept still and waited for her to respond without reaching for her. She set the folder in my lap, but kept a hand over it so I couldn’t open it.
“I’m not going to lie or hide things from you. I need to tell you that when you went into town with the boys, I went to see Jason at the hospital.” I stiffened and blew out a hard breath.
“Okay. Is there a specific reason why you needed to?” I asked without adding the “without me” that rang out in my head.
“I needed to do this. For us.” She removed her hand from the folder and I opened it up. I felt dizzy and nauseated as I looked at the photos inside. I knew where each of the bruises photographed would have been on her body, just by the freckles and shades of her skin. They were all unique, as different as if they’d been paint strokes of yellow and purple, green and black, carelessly flung at a canvas. But the canvas was her flesh, and the fingerprints and knuckle-shaped bruises ruined the beauty of the canvas, they did not improve it.
“I took these to remind him that he hadn’t answered for some things he had done that were well within the statute of limitations, and at your father’s behest, made him aware that I could now match him in representation, since you would hire me the best lawyers and your brother works for the best firm in the state.”
She shut the folder with my hand still in it. I glanced over at her and the color had drained from her face and sweat beaded along her forehead.
“I’m sorry, Rachel. What can I do?” I asked, slipping my hand out of the pictures and taking hers instead. She sniffed back tears and smiled at me.
“I wasn’t going to let him try to sue you when he knew it was frivolous, just to waste your time and money, and maybe make it look like his driving drunk was your fault.” She traced on the back of my hand, following the veins and tendons.
“We’re family now, Rachel,” I reminded her. “We’ve been family since the day you kicked Cal Preston’s sorry ass.” She giggled and rubbed her knuckle at the memory.
“I think part of me hit him because I never hit Jason,” she admitted.
“No doubt, and no harm in it. You are much better at protecting others than you are at protecting yourself. Maybe we should work on that,” I teased her, bumping her shoulder with mine the way she did when she was feeling mischievous.
“No, I think I’ll just marry you, and let you protect me, while I protect you,” she replied, laying her head on my shoulder. “By the way, Edith called me today. She said that she had taken care of everything and I could finish school online. She gave me credits for all my remaining labs for being here this summer, with exception of my surgical hours, which I need to coordinate with Dr. Pallace.” She lifted her head and met my eyes. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me; I just couldn’t stand the thought of you leaving. I don’t suppose she mentioned the hefty donation she gouged the ranch for to make it happen?” Rachel shrugged and shook her head.
“Was it bad?” she whispered.
“It would’ve been highway robbery for anyone other than you.”
She laughed, and the sound broke the stillness of the afternoon like bells in a church steeple, ringing out and making my heart soar on the sound. I put my arms around her and kissed her forehead. This was how it was meant to be. No threats or lawsuits or undercover cameras. Just the two of us, protecting what was ours.
I whispered in her ear, and she gasped and her cheeks went pink as new apples. She let me take her hand and lead her back toward the cabin I planned on moving her into from then on, and I quietly closed the door to avoid the attention of the men coming in from all quarters for their supper.
She ran her hands under my shirt and I mirrored her movements, my fingers sliding from smooth skin to scarred and back again without her flinching or pulling away. Her breathing grew shallower as I squeezed her breast in my hand as I kissed her, tasting the moans on her tongue like honey. She let me undress her and I covered every inch of her body with kisses, leaving my own marks on her thighs and breasts until she was begging for all of me.
As I took her to the floor and wrapped her legs around me, she whispered in my ear, not talk of sex, but love, and every time she said it, I was pulled nearer to the edge of ecstasy. With her last “I love you,” her voice changed and I felt her squeeze tight around me as she screamed my name, her fingernails tearing into my back. The pain with the pleasure was enough to push me over the edge and I came with her as she clung to me, pulsing and throbbing inside her until I was spent.
She trembled in my arms, and I turned us over so that she rested on my body and I lay under her, still sheathed inside her. As she lay on me, I thanked the powers that be for the one woman in the world that could’ve completed my world showing up on my doorstep, broken and brave, to prove her worth.
“It’s impossible, you know,” I whispered to her. She tilted her head to question me with her eyes. “It’s impossible to prove your worth – every time someone tries to make the test more difficult, you make them look like fools.” She smiled and lay her head back down on my chest. I hummed, then sang a favorite country song to myself, feeling her body rise and fall with each breath I took.
“I'd very much like to get married, maybe have kids and move away, 'cause there ain't nothing like your smile, your legs, and those eyes. I will beg and steal and borrow
to keep you safe your whole life,” she began to sing softly as I trailed off, her breath warm on my skin.
“And I don’t mind, if we take our time, cause I’m all yours, if you’re all mine.”
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 Alexa Davis