Page 62 of Battling the Enemy
Deke~
It was done, but I knew it still wouldn’t be enough to undo everything I did to Delaney Saturday night, but I knew I had to do something. I also deleted that fucking picture of Melissa and me off her phone and cloud backup.
We had showered together because we both needed to get clean, but I wouldn’t have cared either way. It wasn’t until I re-dressed, and she went in search for clothing, that I noticed the two boxes on the floor of her bedroom, and that most of her personal effects were missing.
I had felt paralyzed with the realization that Delaney had been packing to move when I showed up earlier. She was moving, and had I not shown up when I did, she would have been lost to me. There’s no way Ava would ever tell me where she lived.
After Delaney had dressed, she sat next to me on her bed to talk, but as I stroked her back, she fell asleep. Now she was laying across her bed, her head in my lap, as I had done my best not to wake her while I made the video.
I was sitting up on her bed with my back against the headboard, but I had done my best to make sure it was visible that we were in her bedroom. I had done a pan of the empty room, making sure to include Delaney’s sleeping form resting on my lap.
Her phone started ringing, but it wasn’t until the second call that she sprang up from my lap, trying to wake up. “What…”
“Your phone’s ringing,” I said helpfully.
She stretched her arm across the bed to grab it from the center of the bed, blinking, still trying to awaken. “Holy crap,” she breathed as she looked at her phone. “How long have I been asleep?”
“Not long,” I assured her.
The phone rang in her hand again and, this time, she answered it. “Ava?” Delaney sat up straighter as she said, “Whoa, wait...” Her eyes flew to mine, and she lowered her phone below her chin. Eyes narrowed, she said, “What did you do?” I shrugged a shoulder, but before she could rip me a new one, Ava called her attention back to the phone. “No…I just woke up. I…no…you’re kidding me, Ava…What!?” Delaney shot me an incredulous look before saying, “Let me call you back, okay? Yeah. No. Yeah, I’ll pull it up now. Yeah, let me call you back.”
I stayed seated watching Delaney shaking her head at me. “Tell me she’s lying, Deke,” she implored. “Please, please, please tell me Ava wasn’t…that this is a joke…”
“I can’t,” I stated simply. “Pull it up, Delaney.”
Her hands were trembling as her fingers flew across the screen until she came upon my social media real-time video. I didn’t say anything, but you could hear my voice loud and clear in the quiet stillness of the room. Because, here’s the thing…I humiliated Delaney in public, and so, she deserved an apology in public, and this was the only way I could think of to do it.
The video begins by panning Delaney’s room, showcasing the emptiness of it, and then her sleeping on my lap on her bed, and finally me. “So, by now, most everyone probably knows about the showdown at the cove Saturday night. You’ve all probably heard about how I was hanging out with my friends, while a girl I was seeing walked upon us, and I kept on with my business. You probably heard about how I ripped her to shreds by sharing her utmost secrets. You probably heard how Deke Marlow used up Delaney Martin and tossed her aside.” In the video, I’m shaking my head. “But that’s not,at all, what happened…
What happened was that I saw a picture of my girlfriend with someone else, and instead of letting her explain, I let my insecurities get the best of me, because, trust me when I tell you this girl makes me feel insecure like a motherfucker. See, she’s better than me. She’s better than me in every way. So, when I assumed the worst, I let a girl who means nothing to me sit on my lap to make Delaney jealous. I did it to hide just how torn in half I was by her supposed betrayal. But because Delaney is stronger than I had given her credit for, she walked away with her dignity still intact. So, because I was too weak to face that she might not love me, I chased after her and spewed the most vicious things about her, all of which were untrue. Nothing I said that night was true. It was all hateful shit spewed by a guy who couldn’t handle losing the best thing that’s ever happened to him…
When I found out the truth, I chased her down, begged for forgiveness, and gave her no choice but to forgive me or suffer for it. I ignored her protests and ignored how she told me she didn’t love me anymore. More importantly, I ignored how I don’t deserve her and refused to back down…
Delaney Martin is the fucking air I breathe; I can’t afford to back down…
She hasn’t forgiven me, and she probably never will…and, well, I don’t blame her if she doesn’t, because what I did to her was not love. It was selfish insecurity, and she has every right to walk away from me. As you can see from the beginning of this video, her room is empty because she’s moving. She was secretly moving away so I couldn’t find her…
But I won’t let her…
I love Delaney, and I will spend every day of the rest of my life living on my knees for her. I will live for her, kill for her, and die for her if she asks…
Delaney, baby…I’m so fucking sorry. I’m sorrier than you will ever know, but I’ll never let you go…
Ever.”
Delaney was sobbing by the time the video cut off. Her phone in her lap, her face was in her hands, sobbing, and it was the most heartbreaking thing I have ever witnessed. She was crying as if her soul was being torn to pieces.
I crawled to her on the bed and gathered her up in my arms, letting her cry it all out. “I’m sorry, baby,” I whispered over, and over into her hair. “I’m so goddamn sorry, Lamb.”
My heart started beating again, and my relief was palpable when Delaney turned in my arms and tried to bury herself inside my chest. She was crawling and moving like she couldn’t get close enough to me, and the more she burrowed herself to me, the tighter I held onto her.
When she finally looked up at me, she sobbed out the most painful and beautiful words I will ever hear in my life, “I love you, Deke.”
“Thank Christ,”I swore right before she tucked her face into my neck and continued to cry.
It was hours later when she finally woke up again from crying herself to sleep, and my body was feeling it. I hadn’t moved a muscle because I had refused to let her go, even in her sleep.
“Deke?” she mumbled sleepily.
