Page 36 of All In Good Time

When Marty asked about the second meeting, that was harder to work around. She ended up telling him a full-fledged lie that skipped over the second meeting entirely and pretended it had never happened, leaving only the time she met Mal and broke her board.

“And I’ve never heard about any of this?” Marty wasn’t even pretending to watch anymore. He took over the entire couch, draping himself over the cushions dramatically and rubbing his face in exasperation with each new revelation she shared with him.

Becca sat on the ground, shaking her head and throwing a kernel of popcorn into her mouth. “I knew it would be weird, okay? And to be fair, you reacted exactly how I thought you would, so I think my reservations were reasonable.” She threw a piece of popcorn at his face. He tried to catch it in his mouth and failed. “Now watch the movie, or else I’m shutting it off.”

More questions might have come anyway, if he hadn’t been interrupted by a knock on the front door. He sat up, and both of them looked at the hallway that led out of the living room.

“It’s probably Winston.” she got up, brushing off crumbs from her lap. “I’ll be right back.”

The blue glow of the television was the only light leading her through the dark of the room and hallway. They preferred their movie nights to be as dark as possible. Another knock sounded on the door, and she reached it right as the last one slammed against the wood.

She blinked, swallowing her surprise at the uninvited guest.

No. Hewasinvited.

Derek stood there. Even in the dark, she could see the red mark on his cheek, and the red rings around his eyes.

“It happened again?” Her voice was quiet and conscious of Marty’s presence in the other room.

Derek nodded, carefully waiting for a reaction, not saying anything.

Becca pursed her lips and leaned in to get a better look at the damage. It wasn’t as bad as what she had seen earlier, but from the look on his face, it went deeper than what she could see.

“Hurry up! You’re going to miss the best part.” Marty’s voice rang down the hallway.

Derek’s shoulders tensed, and he took a step away from her as he looked toward the source of both the only light in the hallway and Marty’s voice.

“I didn’t know he was going to be here.” His voice was rough, but he didn’t sound mad. Regret dripped from the phrase like he had interrupted, uninvited to an intimate moment.

“One second,” Becca yelled over her shoulder, hoping to buy herself time to consider her options. She couldn’t turn Derek away, not in this condition. But how would she explain his sudden arrival to Marty?

Derek shook his head, backing away. “Don’t worry about it.”

Her hand shot out, fingers closing gently around his arm to stop him. She stepped out the door, getting close to his face to survey the damage again. Her fingers rose and touched lightly at the reddened skin. He flinched, but his eyes studied her as intently as she studied him. She couldn’t leave him alone. “Come in, let’s get you cleaned up.”

An internal debate ran through his eyes, weighing his options much as she had.

“What’s going on?”

Becca jumped at the sound of Marty approaching from behind, his words cautious. She turned to him, not letting go of Derek in case he slipped away while she was distracted. Now Marty saw the whole scene, his gaze catching onto Derek and focusing immediately onto the marks on his face. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Marty, I’ll be back in a minute.” She shooed him away with her hand, well aware that Derek was shrinking away from them and tilting his face to hide even further into the shadows.

Marty’s brows knit together.

“Don’t worry about me. Go finish your movie,” Derek cut in, pulling his arm out of her grasp and stepping far enough away that she couldn’t reach him. His shadowed blue eyes, which, to her had, been gentle, were now hard set. His lips twisted into a sour expression as he met Marty’s confused stare.

After a moment, he turned back to her and dropped his voice until it was soft and husky. His lips even rose slightly at the corners, a false reassurance, while keeping himself at a distance. “It’s not that bad. I’ll see you later.”

She couldn’t stop him even if she tried. Derek turned and walked from the porch, not looking back at the two who watched him walk to his car.

“What the hell was that?” Marty stood directly behind her shoulder.

She turned and pushed him back inside, closing the door behind them to prevent Marty from staring any longer.

“Did he justsmileat you? What’s up with his face? Why did he come here?”

The questions kept coming, even as she walked back to the movie and sat down, pretending to be interested in some lost storyline and her bowl of kernels. Just when she had gotten him off her back, his outraged curiosity was back.

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