Page 332 of Under Her Skin
“Holy shit!” he says. “I have to get off here. I have to call mydaughter.”
And just like that, he hangs up. I’m not sure what to do, so I call right back and find I get a busy signal. Then I call Delaney to give her the heads up, but she forwards my call, and I know she’s on the line with herfather.
Shit!I think I’ve just ruined herChristmas!
DELANEY
Taking the vibrating phone out of my pocket, I see it’s my parents calling and want to kick myself for not calling them sooner today. “Hi, I’m sorry. I had to get to work early this morning. I was going to call you two, Ipromise.”
“Delaney Richards, your mother and I have just received a very disturbing phone call,” dadsays.
“Oh no! About what,Dad?”
“About you living with our mortal enemy! That’s what! Now tell me that bastard was lying tome.”
“He called you?” I ask as I try to figure out how to tell them everything. But it sounds like Blaine might have already done that, thefool!
“Yes, and he said you two were living together. Now, I know that can’t be true. So, you tell me the truth, young lady,” he says in his dad tone that he uses only whenneeded.
“Okay, I knew you guys would be upset if you knew that I was fraternizing with the enemy. But he’s changing, Dad. He’s very nice to me. He always has been. He’s changing his business waystoo.”
“I am so ashamed right now,” he says, sounding a bitdevastated.
“Dad, don’t be. It’s all right,” I tell him. “There’s nothing to feel ashamedabout.”
“I’m ashamed I have a daughter who would sell her family out like you’re doing. Stop seeing that man, this instant! Do you hearme?”
“Um, Dad, I’m not going to do that. Now tell me what he said to you. He must’ve had a reason to be callingyou.”
“I don’t know what the hell he called for. To upset us, I guess,” he says, and I know Blaine better than to think that’s why he decided to call my parents without talking to me, at all,first.
“Let me call him, then I’ll call you back. Maybe he was going to invite you to Christmas at ourplace.”
“Our place? Delaney, you cannot be serious about this man. He’s evil! The devil and him have an agreement. I’m sure of that. No one gets rich off of selling complete shit! Noone!”
“Dad, he’s not a bad man. I promise you that. Not anymore. I’ll call you back.” I end the call without another word, as there are no words to make my father understand what I’m doing with BlaineVanderbilt.
What was Blainethinking?
Chapter4
BLAINE
When my phone rings again, I know who it is, and I know I’m in trouble. “Delaney, I’msorry.”
“Why would you call them, Blaine?” Her voice is weak, defeatedsounding.
I feel awful. “Baby, I thought you had to have told them something about us. I’m sorry. I was going to invite them to join us tomorrow. I was going to send a private jet for them in the morning. That’s a nice thing to do,right?”
“It would be,” she says. “If they’d have known about us. Dad sounds like he might have a stroke, he’s so mad. He told me he was ashamed of me, Blaine. He’s never told me thatbefore.”
“Damn, baby! Ashamed is a pretty strong word about you being with me. I’m not amonster.”
“In his eyes, you are. He actually thinks you made a deal with the devil. He really thinks that, Blaine. So, in his mind, I’m in bed with the devil. I don’t know what I should do aboutthis.”
“Well, what does that mean?” I ask, as it sounds like she’s kind of thinking she needs to do something different.Like leaveme!
“It means I need to fix things with my parents. I need to make things rightagain.”
