Page 63 of Battling the Enemy
“I’m here, baby,” I muttered into her hair.
She was quiet for a bit before saying, “I bought a house in Manotile, and-”
“We’ll sell it this week after moving you into my place,” I said, interrupting her. No fucking way was she going to live in Manotile.
I thought she might argue because, let’s face it, that video wasn’t shit enough to going towards earning her forgiveness, but she didn’t. Instead, she said, “You can never hurt me again like that, Deke. I’ll walk and never look back.”
I bit the inside of my cheek enough to taste blood, and I knew I was going to have to talk to Ramsey some more about how he deals with what he did to Emerson.
I positioned Delaney so she was straddling my lap and she had to look at me. Her face was a puffy mess, but she still looked breathtaking. “Delaney, I meant what I said in that video,” I replied. “I am going to spend the rest of my life making sure you never doubt what you mean to me.”
“Forgiving you makes me feel stupid,” she admitted, and I understood. No one wanted to be the fool who forgave someone, only to be proven wrong later on.
“I get that, Lamb,” I whispered. “I do. I understand your pride is taking a beating, I do. But, Delaney, I will do whatever you need me to do to make that feeling go away. If you need me to beg you during lunch in front of everyone at school, I’ll do it. If you need all my money, my car, whatever…it’syours. If you need me to never even look at another girl again for the rest of my life, I’ll do it.”
The tears came back, but they were quiet and tender, not violent and heartbreaking. “I don’t know what I need,” she confessed. “I don’t know how to make this feeling go away.”
I brushed her hair back from her face. “Maybe talking with Emerson might help,” I suggested.
Her eyes lit up a little as she agreed, “Maybe.” Delaney’s eyes searched mine before saying, “I need you to need me above everything and everyone else, Deke.”
I smirked. “I already do, Delaney.”
She fell against me, and I held her some more as I let her come to terms with her new future. I knew it was going to be a hard fight until Delaney believed what I was telling her, but I was up for it. Delaney Martin was everything I never knew would consume me.
I spent a lot of time teasing Ramsey and Liam about how they worshipped the girls but having Delaney in my life made me see that love truly is a maddening sickness.
Here’s the only person in the entire world who holds your heart, mind, and soul in the palm of their hands, and the idea that something could happen to them, or they could leave you?
Yeah, Delaney wasn’t ever leaving my sight again.
Epilogue
Deke – Ten Years Later~
Vacation has finally started, and I couldn’t wait.
It’s been about two years since I’ve taken an actual vacation, and it was showing if Ramsey and Liam telling me to go suck a dick this morning was any indication.
Ten years, and a shit ton of hard work later, we were equal partners in our own company, and life couldn’t be more perfect.
Actually, that’s a lie. It got infinitely a lot better as I snuck up on Delaney in the kitchen and wrapped my arms around her.
“Deke!” she screeched.
“Expecting someone else?” I teased.
Delaney turned around in my arms and smirked up at me. “You scared the crap out of me,” she grumbled.
I looked down at my lovely wife and asked, “Where are your hellacious offspring?”
She laughed and just shook her head and then narrowed her eyes at me. “Emerson came and got them. Roselyn and Liam are having some sort of Deke’s-Gone-Let-Celebrate party or something and everyone’s at their place.”
I laughed. “Uh, the guys might have mentioned this morning they’ll be happy to be free of me for two weeks when I accused Lee of hiding my coffee creamer…uh, that was sitting on the kitchenette in broad daylight for the entire world to see.”
She smiled. “An innocent mistake,” she said, defending me like the loyal wife she was.
“Uh…we were throwing punches at the time of this ‘innocent’ mistake,” I mumbled.
