Love Me Or Lose Me (6 page)

“I’m supposed to be staying here, so you can go back to Cale’s,” she declared.

“No way. Besides I thought you were staying with Scarlett?” He wasn’t about to give up that easily.

“I’ll explain everything over dinner. Then you can head back to Cale’s. What are you cooking?”  He could tell that she wasn’t going to give up easily either—not that he’d expected her to— but at least she wasn’t leaving.

“I’m going to grill a couple of steaks to go with the garden salad I made.” They walked into the kitchen and Darcy started to tell him her version of why she was now staying at Rhett’s.

The more she talked, the more relaxed she seemed to get. She poured them each a glass of the red wine he’d left breathing on the table. He felt the un
comfortable distance between them
start to seep away as their familiar harmony took its place.

Chapter Six

Thomas carried their empty plates to the sink while Darcy finished telling him about the incident at Scarlett’s. He wondered just how much of it her brothers had fabricated, or if her brothers had merely used a coincidence to their advantage so they could get the results they wanted. Oddly though they’d just talked for about an hour, Thomas got the feeling she was leaving something out.

“Seems like you had an interesting day. Did something happen when you were shopping?” That was the part of the day she seemed to glaze over.

“Not really. Well there was this guy she talked to for a little while. I think he’s totally interested in her, but she wasn’t giving off the totally into him vibe.” She waved her hands around as she talked.

“Are the stores over in Butterwick bigger than here?” he asked wondering why they’d driven four towns away just to go shopping.

“Nope. There’s just a different variety. Why?”

“I was just curious.” He paused for a second then decided to be honest with her even if it rocked the boat he was trying so hard to keep level. “Actually, I kind of get the feeling there’s something you aren’t telling me.”

“You might be right, but if there is, then it’s something that’s not mine to tell. I don’t hide things from you.” She refilled her wine glass, then walked over to the sliding glass door and stared out into the yard.

“I don’t keep things from you either, at least not intentionally.”

She shrugged her shoulders as she turned back to him. “This has been really nice and I don’t want to ruin it by arguing, so can we talk about something else?”

“I have a better idea. How about a nice game of Scrabble?” It was their favorite game and once they started playing, they often got slightly depraved.

A slow smile curved her lips and a wicked gleam appeared in her eyes. “I don’t know? I have no idea what time my brother is coming home?”

“He told me he not to expect him home. Something about staying at your mom’s tonight and watching paint dry.” He hadn’t understood it when Rhett said it to him, and he didn’t understand it as he relayed the message to her.

She didn’t bother to explain, she just said, “My brother isn’t a big board game player so he probably doesn’t even have it.”

“Cale had it and I kind of borrowed it.” Truthfully, he spotted it sitting on the shelf as he was leaving the guest room and tossed it into his bag without thinking.

“I’m sure he won’t mind,” she said as they headed for the living room.

“Good. Just to give you fair warning, you should know I left my phone and computer at Cale’s so we won’t be interrupted.” Darcy stopped and spun around to face him, but he couldn’t stop in time.

He walked into her almost sending her to the floor. Instinct made him grab her and pull her close instead. Unfortunately, her wine splashed onto his shirt. The glass fell to the floor and shattered at their feet.

“Shit.” She tried to pull free, but Thomas scooped her into his arms and set her on the kitchen counter.

He peeled her wine splattered socks off carefully in case any tiny shards of glass had landed on them and tossed them into the sink. He didn’t want her hurt due to his carelessness. Using the towel he’d left by the sink, he wiped her feet off. Then he cleaned the broken glass and wine off the floor.

“I’ll run out and get your bag so you can change.” He left her sitting there while he ran to the car.

~* * *~

“Sons of bitches.” She hopped of the counter and looked toward the living room.

Her mother would take great offense to her calling her brothers that, so would Thomas. She racked her mind for something better.

“Dumb asses would work just as well.” Darcy paced back and forth across the kitchen.

She wasn’t sure what to do now. She’d caught on to the fact that this was a set up the second her head stopped throbbing. Obviously her brothers and Thomas had gone behind her back and worked out some kind of plan. All through dinner she rattled on about her day pretending she was none the wiser. It hadn’t been easy, but she needed the time to devise a plan of her own. The fact he’d come after her went a long way to keeping her from getting angry, but that didn’t mean she was going to let him think for even a minute that he had pulled something over on her.

She wasn’t one for playing games, but since they started this she figured they deserved whatever she gave them. Thomas should have known better then to try and pull something over on her. And as for her brothers, they’d never managed to get away with it before so what the hell made them think they would now? She had plenty of time to wait and plan a stunning revenge on her brothers. Something that would remind them she wasn’t to be trifled with. Darcy wanted Thomas to learn his lesson before the night was over.

The simplest thing to do would be the harshest. She could just leave and go back to Scarlett’s. That would teach them all a lesson. There was the dog to contend with, but with a name like Lulu Darcy figured it was probably one of those little yappy dogs. She could deal with that. It was the bigger dogs with bigger teeth that made her nervous. She’d decided long ago that dogs could sense when you were scared and that gave them too much authority over her. So going back to Scarlett’s wouldn’t be her top choice, but it was there.

She could stay and let things play out. Thomas was smart enough to know that when she found him out there would be hell to pay. So if she watched for an opening, Thomas would most likely set up his punishment himself without her having to do much. She heard him come in and hopped back up on the counter.

He carried her two bags over and put them on the counter with her. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” She opened the smaller bag and rifled through until she found a pair of socks.

“I’ll put these in the guest room.” He disappeared before she could ask if his bags were already in there.

She rinsed and dried her feet before putting the socks on. When he didn’t come right back out, she slid off the counter and crept to the door. A quick peek into the room only made her curiosity worse. His suitcase was lying on the bed open, and the shirt he’d been wearing was tossed beside it. There was water running in the bathroom that was between the two bedrooms.

Darcy didn’t have to imagine what he looked like with his shirt off. She knew. Hell she knew every inch of his body. She knew he had a scar on the back of his right shoulder and that was the only flaw on his body. How many times had she run her fingers over it? More than she could count. She heard the water stop and thought about leaving, but then a better idea popped into her head. Oblivious to her presence, he came out of the bathroom pulling a T-shirt over his head.

“Are you ready to play?” She asked and he froze.

He didn’t say anything.

She shook the game box and the pieces rattled. “Are we going to play?”

“Yeah.” He tugged his shirt down and she almost asked him to take it back off.

“So it looks like you plan on staying awhile.” She tapped the game against his bag.

She knew that would be a really bad idea. They stared at each other, and she was reminded of the game her and Scarlett had played as children. Whoever blinked first was the loser. In this case she figured that whichever of them held the other’s gaze longer would have the most power.

Finally, he looked at his bag and said, “Well, I didn’t know how long you were planning on being here so I didn’t know what to pack.”

“So you really plan on staying here until I’m ready to go home?” In the back of her mind she still figured he would try to talk her into going home so he could bury his head right back in his work.

“I’m here for the duration. I’d like to drive home with you, if you’ll let me?”

She liked that he asked instead of told her, but she wasn’t ready to agree just yet. “I guess we’ll have to see how things go.”

Before either of them could say anything else, her cell phone rang. Then Rhett’s land line started ringing. Darcy tugged her phone from her pocket, while Thomas headed for the kitchen to answer the other phone. The coincidence of both phones ringing at practically the same time had her following him.

She glanced as Scarlett’s number as she hit the little green connect button. “Hey Scarlett, what’s up?”

“I need you to come back.” She heard something in her sister’s voice that she didn’t like.

“What’s wrong? Never mind you can tell me when I get there.” Darcy wasn’t going to waste time talking.

Scarlett’s sigh of relief came through louder than any words could have. “See you soon.”

Thomas was still talking, and she didn’t have time to wait for him to finish. She hurried into the living room and stuffed her feet into her sneakers. He was at her side when she reached the door.

“That was your brother. I’m going with you.” He opened the door and motioned for her to go through.

Arguing with him wouldn’t get them anywhere so she nodded and ran for her car. “Did he tell you what’s going on?”

“I guess one of them said something that really pissed your sister off. She’s refusing to talk to anyone, but you.” He slid into the passenger seat and glance longingly at the steering wheel.

Darcy smiled knowing how much not being the one driving was probably killing him. “It’s hard to make Scarlett mad. She’s the most even tempered person I know. So whatever they said, it had to be really bad.”

“Does this mean we won’t get to play tonight?”

She nodded as she pulled onto the road leading to Scarlett’s. “I’d say that’s a pretty good bet.”

“Well that sucks.” His pitiful tone and puppy dog eyes made her laugh.

Chapter Seven

Darcy wasn’t surprised to find her brothers sitting on the porch when she pulled into the driveway. None of them looked very happy. Of course having a five foot seven inch woman throw them out and bar them from going back inside had to sting their male pride. Especially when they all had a good three or four inch height advantage and outweighed her by about forty pounds each.

“So want to give me your side before I go in and get the truth,” she teased and earned a couple of crooked grins in return.

“It started off as an innocent joke, but it got out of hand.” Jarrett’s cheeks were red either from embarrassment at her being called, or guilt for upsetting Scarlett.

Hell, Darcy figured, it was probably a combination of both. “What did you say?”

“She was cuddling up on the couch with Lulu making kissy noises and stroking her behind the ear, and Jarrett said if she’d treat a man the way she did the dog she’d have a husband by now.” Cale avoided looking her in the eye as he explained.

“I’m sure she didn’t let that comment slide by.” Darcy knew if it had been directed at her she would’ve given them a piece of her mind.

“She said if we’d back off, more men would come around.” Rhett didn’t sound happy about that idea.

“Well, I have to say she’s right there.” The three of them glared at her. “Don’t look at me like that. You’re the ones claiming you want her married.”

“We do.” She knew Jarrett was telling the truth, but he was leaving out something important out.

“Yeah, but to someone you guys choose.” Darcy’s accusation was spot on, and she knew it.

“We didn’t choose Thomas, and we’ve accepted him.” Cale was right, but she hadn’t left them with many options.

“I didn’t give you guys much of a choice.” She’d already moved in with Thomas before she brought him home to meet her family.

“Get real. If we didn’t think he was good enough for you, we would have found a way to get rid of him.” Rhett’s cocky attitude was part of the reason her brothers were in trouble right now, but she kept that to herself.

“Thanks,” Thomas said from behind her.

Darcy had enough of these men and their control conniving ways. She turned to Thomas and said, “Stop whining. They’ve accepted you into the fold. Hell, the four of you plotted for us to be together at Rhett’s tonight.”

Thomas kept his gaze locked with hers. She cocked her head to the side inviting him to tell her she was wrong. She expected at least one of them to try and defend them, but no one did. And Darcy wasn’t going to stand around and wait. She turned around and walked up the porch steps. Her brothers all stepped aside and let her brush past. She grabbed the door knob and tried to turn it, but it wouldn’t go.

“She locked us out,” Cale sounded as surprised as Darcy felt.

Before Darcy could knock on the door it swung open. Her sister reached out grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her into the house. Scarlett slammed the door and turned the deadbolt. Darcy couldn’t stop laughing. She was laughing so hard she practically fell onto the couch. The next thing she knew a huge head stuffed itself into her lap. A scream bubbled up in her throat, but one look in those big eyes and droopy cheeks and it turned into a sigh.

“Oh my gosh. Is this Lulu?” Without really thinking, she reached out and stroked the dog.

“Yeah. Isn’t she a sweetie,” Scarlett said in a cutesy voice, stopping to rub the dog’s back as she walked by.

If she was standing the dog’s back would almost reach her hip. Its short brown fur was more of a golden color. She should have been ugly, but Darcy thought she was cute in an oddball kind of way. She couldn’t believe she was actually petting this huge beastly dog. Not only that, but the dog was crawling up on the couch beside her, and she wasn’t running away.

“Yes she is.” Darcy mimicked Scarlett’s tone since Lulu seemed to like it.

“I can’t believe you haven’t run out of here screaming yet.” Scarlett settled into the chair next to the couch.

“Me either.” Darcy recognized Scarlett’s comment for the distraction it was meant to be, but she wasn’t going to let her get away with it. “I heard the guy’s version of what happened. Want to tell me yours?”

~* * *~

“Dude, tell me you didn’t cave and confess,” Cale said as he walked down the step.

“Fuck no. I had no idea she’d even caught on yet.” Thomas had been watching for any signs, but he must have missed them.

“Whatever. What’s important now is that we are all in trouble, not just Thomas.” Rhett started for his truck, and though he didn’t want to leave until he talked to Darcy, Thomas followed him.

“Should we call mom?” Jarrett asked catching up to them.

“No!” Thomas, Cale, and Rhett said in perfect harmony.

Jarrett held up his hands in defeat. “It was just an idea.”

“A bad one.” Cale bit out. “Mom would just side with them and we’d be in deeper than we are now.”

“We need to give them a little time to cool off, then we’ll all apologize.” Rhett was probably right about that working with Scarlett, but Thomas knew Darcy wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily.

Hell the two women were most likely inside working up a scheme to make them pay. Darcy’s punishments were usually subtle and straightforward enough that Thomas usually got the message right away. Though they rarely fought about anything serious, so he didn’t have a lot to go on.

Up until now their biggest disagreement had been about his leaving wet towels on the bathroom floor. She’d complained about a dozen times. When he hadn’t changed his ways, she’d decided to take matters into her own hands. She’d waited until he was in the shower, then she’d snuck in and stolen all the towels leaving behind a few face cloths. Buy the time he’d finished his shower, she’d hidden every towel they owned. After a merry chase around their apartment that had ended up with them in bed, he’d promised not to leave wet towels on the floor anymore.

He wished this could have been fixed with one of her quirky lessons. For all he knew she may have tried, and when it didn’t work she saw leaving as a last resort. Instead of coming here and winning her back on his own merits, he’d used his connection with her brothers. It seemed he was just making one mistake after another, but he wasn’t giving up until he got it right.

What he had with Darcy was worth fighting for, even if he had to fight with himself. No more shortcuts or excuses. The next time he got her alone he was going to come right out and apologize and ask her to forgive him. He figured being sorry had to count for something.

“So did you make any headway before I called?” Rhett asked breaking him out of the bubble he’d been lost in.

“Barely, but I thought I might be getting close.” Thomas knew that for the second time since he’d gotten there, any ground he’d gained he’d just lost.

“She let you ride here with her, so she might not be as mad as we think.” Cale’s reasoning made sense in a weird way.

“The girls should be all right in there with Lulu. Why don’t we head into town for a while?” Jarrett reminded him about what Darcy had told him earlier.

“So someone really was lurking around here?” If so, he wasn’t sure he felt comfortable leaving them alone if that was the case.

“It was probably just an animal on the porch.” Rhett sounded willing to let it go at that, but the way his gaze zeroed in on the house told Thomas otherwise.