Page 148 of Choosing Forever
“No, I’ll check your room and see if it’s there.”
“The fuck you will.” I place my hand on the door handle before she can and try to keep my temper under control—something I’ve always struggled with around Sasha. “Back off.”
She narrows her eyes. “Who’s in there?”
“Don’t act like you don’t already know. Is that the real reason you’re here? To try and piss her off?”
“Oh, please. I don’t care about Delaney. It should be you that starts caring a bit less, considering.”
My doors aren’t soundproof, and my patience grows thinner with every word Elle’s forced to her. This morning should have been light and happy. We should have spent all day in bed, eating and cuddling and exploring each other more than we had a chance to before we fell asleep last night. Dealing with Sasha was not on my fucking plan for today.
“Considering what?” I ask, dropping my voice.
“Well, her relationship with our daughter, for one. Are you not worried that anything negative between the two of you will have an impact on her? This is her teacher, Darren! What if other students find out and assume she’s getting special treatment or the other teachers don’t approve? Are you really willing to risk our daughter’s education over her?”
I grit my jaw, letting all of those excuses go in one ear and out the other. I’ve already thought about every single one.
“And second off, the entire town is watching now! They did this once, and look at what it did to Delaney! She became the poor recluse that everyone was oh so worried about. Nobody cared about you and me, only about the past with you and her. This is going to affect Abbie now. She’s not a baby anymore. One wrong move between the two of you and we’re all getting dragged into the embarrassment this time.”
“Things were different back then. You damn well know that.”
She lifts her chin, hands firmly on her hips. “If things go wrong with you two this time, one of you will be leaving this town, and if you want to stay in Abbie’s life, it will be Delaney.”
“Get out of my house, Sasha. Now,” I demand, my patience gone.
“Not without the iPad.”
My laugh is short and dark as I turn away and go into the bedroom, making sure to slam the door in her face. The room feels ten times bigger than it is when I see Delaney standing on the opposite side of it, dressed back in her clothes from dinner last night. Purse in her arms, she chews on her lip and avoids my eyes. The shutdown is obvious, and it saws through me.
“She’s leaving,” I say, softening my voice.
“Yeah, I heard. I’m going to go too.”
I take a stunted step forward and plead, “No, Elle. Please don’t. Not yet.”
She continues to avoid looking at me, keeping her emotions hidden. “I shouldn’t have even stayed. This is probably common for her to come. She’s—she has a key. Not leaving last night was careless on my part.”
“I don’t need permission to have a woman stay overnight in my house, Delaney. We weren’t careless. Don’t let this change anything.”
Fuck the iPad, and screw Sasha for doing this too. She’s beenwaiting for the chance to embarrass Delaney for years. Ever since she found that goddamn article.
Head shaking, Delaney moves to the side and eyes the door behind me. “I’m going to go, Darren.”
“Baby . . . stay.”
“I’ll call you later.”
I stumble to the side when she moves past me and opens the door. Like a bad smell, Sasha’s lingering on the other side of it, her expression less than friendly as she takes a long look at Delaney. The fact that she’s in last night’s clothes only makes her turn her nose up more.
“Hello, Delaney,” she mutters.
My chest constricts to the point of pain when Delaney just pushes past her without a word. Inhaling deeply, I scratch at my jaw. With a look at my ex-wife, I roll my thoughts around until I have something semi-decent to say.
“I’ve let you get away with a lot of shit, Sasha. Mostly because of how unfair I was to you. I made mistakes in our marriage and before it too, but that’s in the past now. If you’re searching for another apology, I’ll give you a thousand more than I already have, but you’ll never speak about or to Delaney like that again. Not to me, to Abbie, or anyone else you come across. You won’t approach her and spew your cruel ‘what-ifs.’ I’m sorry. I’m sorry for hurting you and treating you far worse than I should have. We were both struggling, and I handled myself in the wrong way.
“You deserved better, and so did I. I’ve never interfered in your engagement, so you need to keep your nose out of my relationship with Delaney. I won’t take anything else from you, and I know for a fucking fact nobody in this town will either. Now, feel free to look for the iPad, and then put your key on my kitchen counter and leave. I’m going to try and keep Delaney from leaving my ass again while you do that.”
She blinks in silence before I turn and leave her there. The front door closes again, softer this time, and I pick up my pace.Her car is out front, and I know if she gets in it, she’ll be gone, and I’ll have lost my chance to fix this today.
