Blood Lust (10 page)

“Are you all right, Miss?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Have you ever been so mad or confused that you start arguing with yourself in your head?”

“No, Miss.”

“Oh. I guess I am neurotic then.”

“Yes, Miss, I’m thinking you might be!” the driver said so matter-of-factly in his Indian accent.

“Thanks. You’ve been very helpful.”

“Always try to help, Miss.”

“Yeah, great.”

“Here we are, Miss. That will be a gazillion dollars.”

“Ha! A comedian too. Great. Here’s my credit card.”

“I’m sorry, we do not take credit cards, Miss.”

“But I specifically asked for a cab that I could use a credit card with.”

“Gotcha again, Miss. Sign here.”

“You are a funny, funny guy.”

“Thank you, Miss, I am always trying to please the customers, Miss.”

She waved at the nutty cab driver and then realized she was waving at a nutty cab driver.
Nobody waves at their cabbie. You don’t see people waving to their cabbies in movies. I am going insane. Dear Lord, I need some sleep.

She walked into the United terminal and headed for the woman behind the counter.

“May I help you?” the woman asked.

“Are there any seats on your last flight to San Francisco?”

“California? The last flight leaves in fifteen minutes, ma’am. I don’t think you can get through security and get to the gate in time.”

“Are there any seats on the flight?”

“Yes.”

“Then can we try at least?”

“No.”

“But if you call the gate and tell them I’m on my way and will be, what, maybe four or five minutes late?”

“We don’t hold planes for passengers, ma’am.”

“You do in the movies for the rich people.”

“Are you rich?”

“No, but there could be a twenty in it for you.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that would do it.”

“Fifty?” She shook her head.

“Fine. What’s the closest hotel and the first flight out of this Godforsaken place?”

“That would be the Hyatt across the street and 10:20 with lots and lots of layovers. You should get there in about a week.”

“Ha! Are you related to the cabbie I just had? You both ought to have your own comedy hour.”

“We have a 10:20 flight getting you in at 3:04 with one stop,” the woman smiled.

“Is it a change of planes?”

“No.”

“Fine, book it, Dano.” The girl looked at her with an eyebrow raised. “Oh I see,” Darby said, “you can be funny, but I can’t?” The woman smiled and booked the flight for Darby, printing out her tickets and boarding passes. “Thanks,” Darby said as she turned away from the desk and headed for the door.

She set her bag down, put her ticket in her purse, and was trying to get her bearings when a red blur came screeching its tires to a halt in front of her. Devon got out and slid across the hood of the car, planting himself in front of her, looking very much like an action hero.

“Oh no, you don’t. You get right back in that flashy red car and go home. I’m not talking to you anymore today.”

“Sir, you need to move your car. You can’t park it there,” a security guard said to Devon.

“Just one minute,” Devon said to him. “Darby, I’m sorry. Please can we go and talk somewhere?”

“No. Go away!”

The security guard said, “The lady doesn’t want to talk to you, sir, you need to move your car.”

Darby was still walking. “Darby, please. I’m begging you, if I’ve ever meant anything to you at all, please stop and let me talk to you.”

Darby stopped and turned. “If you ever meant anything to me? How dare you? You’ve meant more to me than the sun and the air I breathe and I’ve told you so hundreds, maybe thousands of times.”

“Ma’am, you’re not helping, he needs to move his car. He can’t park there.”

“I’m sorry, you’re right. Please, can’t we just talk about this?” Devon pleaded.

“Oh, you’ve said plenty but nothing at all.” Knowing that really didn’t make sense, but it had sounded so right when she was thinking it, she stomped her foot and dropped her bag in frustration.

“Sir, you need to move your car.”

“Fine. Tow it. I don’t care. I need to talk to her.” Devon turned his attention back to Darby. “Darby, I’ve been an idiot and I’ve been pushing you away. I know that now. I’m sorry. Please let me explain.”

“Why?”

“Sir, it’s really expensive to get your car towed and you know the tow truck drivers that come here, they don’t care if you have a nice car and well, I’d hate to see you get your car all banged up for nothing, when you could just move your car.”

They both looked at the security guard and started laughing. “You are very persistent, Mr…” Devon looked at his name tag. “…Howard.”

“Well, it’s my job sir. Keep things moving along, you know. Can’t just have any ‘Joe’ parking where he wants to. Got to get the passengers to their planes and what not.”

Devon looked at Darby, pleading, “Please, Darby. Come back with me. I need to explain some things to you.”

“Duh! Which you should have done when this all started!”

“So are you guys going to move the car? I mean, lady, he seems pretty sincere. Look at those puppy dog eyes he’s giving you.”

She looked at Mr. Howard and said, “So you think I should trust him, just because he’s giving me puppy dog eyes? You didn’t hear what he said to me this evening. Or how he’s been treating me since we got here or how he didn’t even visit me in the hospital.”

“Well, that does put a different slant on the puppy dog eyes. Got anything to say about that, Mister?”

Surprised to find himself responding to this complete stranger, Devon said, “Well, I don’t have an excuse for my rudeness. That is true. But I have seen myself through my uncle’s eyes this evening and it was not something I’m proud of. I think if I’m given the chance to explain, it would give Darby some insight as to why I acted the way I did. I’d like to make it up to her if she would allow me.”

“Yeah, I gotta say that sounds pretty sincere, Miss. And did you see how he came skidding up to the curb, sliding across the hood of the car, trying to impress you all James Bond style? I gotta say, I was impressed. I mean, look at him. He’s a good looking guy and he’s begging.”

“Would you like to date him, Mr. Howard?”

“Oh,” he chuckled, “No. Mrs. Howard wouldn’t like that. No. I’m just saying. It’s not easy to make that look good. I tried once. Not pretty. He made it look easy, but it’s not. Really. Mrs. Howard had to take me to the hospital. Broke my toe. I had to wear one of those booties for a while. Yeah, not pretty at all.”

“So you think I should go back to him because he’s good looking and does the James bond thing pretty well.”

“Well that and the puppy dog eyes thing…I mean might as well hear him out, then decide, but after you move the car.”

“Thank you, Mr. Howard.” Darby squeezed his hand, making him blush. “You may have just saved this relationship.”

“Well, I do take my job seriously you know. Now move it along. You can’t be parking here.”

Devon shook Mr. Howard’s hand and said, “Thanks.” He grabbed Darby’s bag and put it into the trunk of the red car and then opened the door for Darby.

“Ohhh. More James Bond. I’ll have to try that with Mrs. Howard, Definitely safer than the hood slide,” Mr. Howard said. Devon walked around and got into the car. Darby waved as they drove off.

“So, do you think we could do this right? I’d like to join the family for dinner and then take you down to the guest house and tell you everything.”

“It’s kind of late for dinner. I’m sure Dominic has already eaten.”

“Trust me, after the talk we had, I think he’s standing by the phone waiting to hear I’m bringing you back.”

“Well, I guess, but only if they haven’t eaten.”

“Trust me. They are waiting for us.”

“But I’m not really dressed for dinner.”

“We could wait for you to put something else on.”

“I don’t really have anything to wear. The dress you bought me has been sliced open and I really didn’t bring anything very special.”

“Don’t worry about it. Nobody cares what you’re wearing.”

“Fine, but only because Mr. Howard was right about that slide across the hood. It was pretty hot.”

“I aim to please.”

“Yeah, well don’t be so stupid next time, besides, you’re not in the clear yet.”

“I know, I’ll try. Maybe you should text Blake and Rowan and tell them you won’t be coming home. Blake’s been buzzing my shirt all night.”

“Excuse me?”

“You know. Texting me, calling me names I deserve, but don’t really appreciate. Maybe he will quit sending nasty texts so we can have a quiet evening with the family.”

“All right. Fine.” She pulled her cell phone out and turned it back on. There were about fifty texts from Rowan and Blake, even a couple from Dean.

She wrote:

I’m not coming home just yet. Devon has some things he wants to say before I decide if I’m coming home or not. Keep you posted.

“There. You’re not completely off the hook yet, but you have a reprieve.”

“Thank you, you won’t regret it.”

They pulled up to the house and Devon opened the door for her and grabbed her bag.
Finally.
He was acting like the old Devon. Dominic was at the door with a pleased smile.

“If you will excuse me, I will go upstairs and put something else on for dinner, if the offer still stands, Mr. Larsen.”

“Please, Darby, call me Dominic. I feel so old when you call me Mr. Larsen.”

“Dominic, I’ll meet you in the dining room, I’m just going to take her bags upstairs.”

“Good. That’s the gentleman I helped raise.” At the top of the stairs, Darby turned and smiled.

“Give me five minutes? I’ll be down. If you don’t want to wait, I will understand.”

Dominic and Devon both said, “We’ll wait.” As they turned from the stairs, Dominic put his hand on Devon’s shoulder. “And I’m sure it will be worth the wait. A woman as lovely as that always is, just like your aunt and your mother.”

Before Devon followed Darby up with her bags he asked Dominic, “If you don’t mind, I would like to take Darby down to the cottage for the evening. We need to clear the air.”

“By all means. Shall I have Bernard prepare things for you?

“I took the liberty of making some arrangements with Bernard on the phone on the way to the airport in the hope that she would return with me.”

“Good. Enjoy. It is so seldom used anymore. I will see you in the dining room.”

“Yes, we will be down in a few minutes,” Devon said, already halfway up the stairs. He made his way to her room and deposited the bags on the little loveseat where they had been before. He looked around remembering the last time he had been in the room when his mother was alive.

Darby came out of the bathroom with her sweatshirt off and her hair put up with bobby pins. He could see her bloodied bandage on her ribs.

“Does it hurt?” he asked.

“No, not since Dr. Rowe put this salve on it this afternoon.” She peeled away the bandage to reveal four evenly spaced cuts about six inches in length diagonally across her lower ribs. She applied more salve and a clean patch, but it looked like it was well on its way to being healed. She hurried to her bag, looking for something in particular. She slipped on a black camisole over her black bra and then a black sheer blouse over it. “This will have to do, it’s the closest thing to dressy that I brought.”

“It’s perfect,” he said, smiling and watching her.

“Okay, let’s go,” she said.

He took her hand, set it in the crook of his arm, and led her out of the room, down the stairs, and to the dining room. As they entered, Dominic stood and so did Anton. Devon led her to a chair across from Anton and then seated himself as the other gentlemen sat.

Anton said, “It’s about time you treated her as if she were your date, Devon. I was about to make a move for her myself.”

Darby was flattered, Dominic was uncomfortable, and Devon was furious once again. Closing her mind to the room she thought,
Anton definitely is a button pusher. He’s gotten more reaction out of Devon than I have in weeks.
She chuckled to herself; Dominic caught her glance and smiled as if he had heard her comment.

Dinner was as before, cordial but strained. Devon and Anton were two forces to be reckoned with. She could see how they were similar and very different at the same time. The most notable commonalities they shared were their stubbornness and good looks.

Aside from the tension during their meal, Dominic was enjoying having family around him. He told stories of growing up with Abby. He talked a lot about Blake, obviously missing him. If one ignored the tension between the brooding young men, the evening would have been very nice indeed. Anton was the first to excuse himself from the dining room.