Page 40 of She is the Darke

Another text, and she glanced down again. This one was from Erin.

I keep thinking about our talk.

Another text came through from Danielle.I’m up at 707 when you’re ready. Client isn’t home.

And then an image, but she couldn’t see what it was.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, chewing. He leaned over and looked at his screen as it faded to black. “You look mad.”

“Why are you talking to Danielle?”

“Uuuh.” His frown deepened. “Because she’s wanting to hire me out to hang lights.”

“Are you fucking serious?” She set her sandwich down and slid off the tailgate. “How long have you been talking to her?”

“Just a week or so.” He sounded genuinely confused.

“Why is she telling you where she is, and that her client isn’t home?”

“I don’t know. What’s your problem?”

“What’s my problem? Besides two women, one of whom I hate, blowing up your phone right now?”

“Chh. How do I know who your enemies are, Darke? You don’t talk to me about that shit. Look,” he gritted out, lifting his phone so she could see the text message thread from Danielle.

The bottom picture dropped her heart right to the ground. It was an edited boudoir picture of Danielle in red lingerie. Feeling absolutely sick, she scrolled up to find another one. She’d sent him these after telling him her client wasn’t home.

“I am so stupid,” she uttered softly.

“What?” He turned the phone to himself and froze, eyes locked on the picture. Nice.

“She looks pretty,” she told him. “I think we’re good here. You haven’t changed at all.”

Sick, sick, sick.

“But I didn’t know she was sending me these,” he said. “I don’t know why she did that.”

“Because you encouraged it, Tyler! No woman is going to send you nudes if she doesn’t feel she has a chance. Is Erinsending you naked pictures too? No! You know what? Don’t even answer that. I don’t care. I don’t want to hear it. Oh my gosh, I’m so stupid,” she said in a shocked whisper as she yanked her truck door open.

Tyler caught the door, and wouldn’t let her shut it. “Okay, misunderstanding! We need to talk about this.”

“You need to lie about it, you mean?”

“No, no! Just…give me a second—”

“To get your story straight? Fuck, Tyler! I can’t trust you! I never could, but I did anyway, and now it feels awful. I let you in. I let you see me. I let you see my crow, and my nest, and my warehouse, and my whole life! I fucking let you in.” The sob racked her body before she’d even realized she was crying.

“Wait, wait, wait. I didn’t do this,” Tyler said. “Just let me have a minute to figure it out. Don’t leave like this.”

Tears streaking down her cheeks, she told him, “Do you know what you did to me when we were in high school? I liked you so much. So much! You had flirted with me for so long, and then you finally kissed me, and I was so happy, Tyler. I was having a hard time with my crow. All she could see was you, and you had kissed me. You liked me. I wasn’t alone in it! After all that time, I wasn’t alone in it! And then you were making out with someone else the next day. You have commitment issues, Tyler. You didn’t know what you wanted back then, and you don’t know what you want now. You work hard to get me, and then you immediately throw attention at other women. You sabotage. You will always hurt me. It’s what you do.” She shook her head. “Not anymore. Lose my number. I deserve better than this, and we both know it.”

“Please—”

“Fuck off,” she told him as she pulled her truck door closed.

He didn’t deserve to see how much he affected her.

Tyler didn’t deserve to witness any of her tears, or see how deeply he could cut her.

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