Page 100 of Silver-Tongued Devil
It hit him, then. “Eric. I sent him to the house. What did he say? What did he tell you? What did he do?” He was going to kill him. He was going to flatmurderhim.
“You know what he said. He said what you said.” Dakota had her arms wrapped around herself now, like she was holding herself together. “If you forgot what that was, he can tell you. He remembers it all.”
Blake was in two spots at once. He was aching, because Dakota was hurting. And he was mad, and getting madder. “Really?Really?Everything I’ve said, everything we’ve done, and you’re going to believe one barely literate redneck left tackle who has to get extra tutoring to remember which one’s his locker, never mind the playbook? How about whatIdeserve? Don’t I deserve a little more faith than that? Come sit down andtell me.Right the hell now.”
He didn’t wait for her answer. He had her hand in his and was marching her across the sand, over the grass, up to the picnic table. He sat her down on the bench and said, “Now. Tell me.”
She did. When she spelled out Eric’s request, Blake’s mouth opened, then shut again. He had no words. And when she told him about the marriage plan, about the sharing… he lost it.
“No,” he said.“Hell,no. That isn’t what I said. Well, it is—the marriage plan—but not now. Not lately.”
Dakota put a hand up to her head and rubbed. “All right,” she said, sounding so tired. “You tell me. Tell me what I ought to have heard.”
“First—all right, I said you made sexy glass, because it’s true. I meant my shell and my flower. I told him tolookat it. Maybe I should’ve realized that Eric’s about as subtle as a garbage truck and twice as dumb, but go figure, I didn’t. He never said anything tomeabout sexual positions. What kind of moron would eventhinkof that? I can’t believe it. He’s a cretin. I’m going to…” He cut himself off, because that wasn’t what was important. “And the other stuff? I don’t mind sharing? I sure as helldomind sharing. I don’t share. I told you. We’re exclusive.”
“Except when you’re not.”
“No.And all right, maybe before, when I was younger, I wasn’t as… discriminating. But I never hurt anyone. I never humiliated anyone. Maybe I slept with some women who were looking to have sex with a quarterback, and maybe they were looking to have sex with somebody else, too. Maybe I did a whole lot of stupid things, in fact. But I’m not doing them now.”
This wasn’t working. He shook his head in frustration. “That isn’t what matters either. Damn. I’m trying… I can’t think how to say this. That isn’t what you mean to me. It’s not about sex. Notjustabout it. It’s that you got hurt, and I can’t stand it. Because I love you.”
The word was out there, and he took the blow straight to the gut. Dakota looked just as stunned, then seemed to shake herself and said, “Except that I’m not right for you. It doesn’t change that I’m not all those things you want.”
“No,” he said, and saw her flinch again. “You’re not. Because I was stupid. I thought I could make some kind of list, and I’d find the right woman that way. I thought I was being smart, and I wasn’t being smart at all. When my knee went out, though…” He couldn’t look at her, not for a minute. “I wanted it to be different. I kinda went down the rabbit hole for a while. And then I came out, and by the time I did, I didn’t have a girlfriend. I knew that everything had changed, that I needed to be a different guy, that I needed to have a new life, but I couldn’t think how. That was part of the new life. I don’t know how to explain it any better than that except to say that I was dumb, but maybe I’m not as dumb now.”
“Are you still looking?” Her eyes were steady on his, her face at its most regal, its most severe. Dakota, strong. Dakota looking reality in the face. “If you are, Blake—come on. Tell me. I can’t stand to be lied to. I can’t stand to be made a fool of. Respect me enough to tell me the truth.”
“The truth is that I don’t know anymore. I don’t know what ‘perfect’ looks like, except maybe I do, because it’s you. You’re nothing like what I thought I needed, and you’re everything I’ve wanted. And I don’t know what that means, except that I know I can’t let it go. And as soon as we finish here, I’m going to go kick Eric Halvorsen’s ugly ass, except maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe I should kick my own.”
“Oh.” She swallowed hard. “If you mean that, could you say it again? Because, Blake… it hurt so bad.”
“Oh, baby,” he said helplessly. He watched a single tear spill over and make its slow path down her cheek, and it sliced him to the heart. He couldn’t stand it anymore. He took her off the bench and into his arms. “I’ll say it again. I screwed up. I’m so sorry. And I love you.”
It took a long moment. And then her arms came around him, her head was resting on his shoulder, and he was holding her tight. Holding her hard. Holding her like he’d never let her go.
Dakota cried some, and Blake didn’t seem to care. He just held on.
Finally, she pulled back, tried her best to clean up her face, and said, “I don’t… let people see me cry. Inever…”
“Yeah,” he said. “I know. You don’t let down your guard. Do you know what it means to me that you’ll do it with me?”
“Well, no.”
“It means everything, that’s what. And what’ll mean even more is if you’ll hustle up and pick up Russell and come for dinner and meet my folks.”
“You’d take me like this to meet your parents? You’re crazy.”
“Sure I would.” He had his phone out and was texting. “If they’ve eaten already, they can sit with us. They won’t care, and neither will I. And if this is a test, I pass, because you’re beautiful.”
“Blake.” She had to laugh now. “I am not beautiful. I’ve been crying. I’m wearing my glasses and no makeup, and my hair’s still wet. Nothing about me is beautiful.”
He sighed. “Now, see, honey, this is where you need to defer to the master again.Everythingabout you is beautiful, and I guarantee my parents will think so too.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Yeah. Right. Because they know how to judge. Just like me.”
That was why, fifteen minutes later, she and Russell were climbing out of the pickup in Blake’s driveway. With Bella, because Blake had insisted on that, too. And Blake was standing in the driveway waiting for them.
