Opposites Attract (The Locklaine Boys Book 2) (29 page)

“That’s it!” Griffin shouted. “I’m getting a new partner!”

I couldn’t help but giggle right along with Navie as the officers started separating the boys from the girls. Two big vans were pulled up next to each other and they started loading people in.

“I’m so glad you guys were able to come tonight.” Navie called as we were led to the van for the women. “I’ve had so much fun!” And honestly, I had, too. I mean, sure, I was getting arrested, but if you have to go down, do it with good friends, right? Plus, I was still drunk enough not to really care.

“Me too!” I called back. Just then Devon turned and looked back at both of us.

“Best. Night. Ever!”

“Right?!” Navie agreed. “And I’m happy you’re with Richard, Delilah! You’re so much cooler than his wife. She was just
the worst
!”

Wait… what?

“Wait, what?”

You know that part in movies, where the screeching sound of a record causes everyone in the screen to freeze and stare at the drama that was about to unfold. Yeah, I was living that exact moment just then.

Navie looked at me curiously as everyone in our general vicinity stopped to watch. “What? she asked everyone. “What’d I say?”

I didn’t bother answering her. I turned my head to scan the crowd of men who — until Navie’s little bomb — had been being loaded into the other van. I spotted Richard instantly. His face looked white as a sheet as he stared back at me.

“You’re married?” I asked in a harsh whisper.

“Delilah, just let me—”

Then, much louder, “You’re
married
!”

“Divorced,” he said quickly. “I was going to tell you, but I just didn’t think it mattered.”

If a person’s head could have exploded I’m pretty sure mine would have at that very moment. “You didn’t think it mattered that I know you used to be
married
? Are you for real, right now?”

“Delilah, look, we’ll talk about this, I swear. But—”

“How long have you been divorced,” I interrupted. When he didn’t answer I lost what little cool I had left. “
How long!
”

“Since right after I met you.” My mouth dropped open. “But if you’d let me explain—”

I looked over my shoulder at the cop who’d been leading me toward the van and told him, “I’m ready to be arrested now. Get a move on, will you?”

I didn’t turn back as he walked me to the open doors of the van. I didn’t look back when Richard kept calling my name. And somehow, miraculously, I managed to keep the tears at bay as all the women watched on, their faces laced with concern, as we made our way to jail.

SOMETIMES IT WAS REALLY
helpful having friends from all walks of life.

We were in what they referred to as the drunk tank when Candy, Cherry, and a few of the other girls from the club came in to say the whole scuffle had just been one big misunderstanding. They even managed to convince the bouncer — who swore he was most
definitely
moving back to Kentucky — not to press any charges. We were free to go within an hour.

The guys were being held in a separate area, so when they let us go, I grabbed Devon’s arm and hauled ass out of the building, all but jumping in front of the first cab that I saw. Since she’d witnessed the whole thing go down, she didn’t hesitate in helping me get
the fuck
out of there before having to lay eyes on Richard.

That was late last night.

Now, hours later, I lay on my bed, staring up at nothing as Halsey’s “Gasoline” blared in my ears and Shady curled up on my chest. My drunk had long since worn off, and since I was sad and hung over, Halsey was the perfect musical choice.

I closed my eyes and opened my mouth, prepared to belt out the angry lyrics just as one of the earbuds was pulled from my ears.

“Hey!” I shot a scowl up at Devon where she hovered over me. “You just interrupted my jam.”

“Delilah,” she said softly… sadly. The tone was just enough to bring tears back to my eyes.

“Damn it, Devon,” I cursed, sitting up and dislodging an unhappy Shady from his resting place. “I’m tired of crying today. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

“Honey, you have to talk to him. You can’t just leave it how it is with no explanation. Navie already told you it wasn’t what you thought, but you wouldn’t let her get a word in edgewise. You need to hear him out.”

If I were being honest, I didn’t have a valid argument. She was right, I
did
need to talk to him, but I was just too heartbroken at the moment, so instead of defending my actions, I went with, “No I don’t, and you can’t make me.”

Unfortunately, that back fired. “Too bad, I already let him in.”

I shot from the bed and snapped, “What? Why? You… you… traitor!”

She stood and moved for the doorway where Richard had suddenly appeared. “I did it because I love you and it’s for your own good.” With that, she stepped past Richard and pulled the door closed, leaving me alone with a man who was so beautiful it was almost painful to look at him… so I didn’t. I looked anywhere but at him.

“Del,” he whispered so softly I couldn’t handle it.

I batted the tears that had begun traveling down my cheeks away and scooped Shady back into my arms while sitting back on my bed. “Well, you want to talk, so talk.”

“Baby, will you at least look at me?”

Damn it
.

I summoned up all the strength I could, sucked in a fortifying breath, and finally looked up. Seeing that he looked just as shitty as I felt should have been a consolation, but I couldn’t bring myself to be happy at his misery. I didn’t
want
him to be miserable.

“If you’re thinking I used you to cheat on my wife, you’re wrong.”

“Wow. You’re just jumping right in, aren’t you,” I sputtered.

He continued on, his face a mask of earnestness as he spoke. “I filed a year before the divorce was finalized, but she dragged it out as long as she possibly could just to make my life even more miserable than she already had.” Lowering himself onto the mattress next to me, he reached over and took my hands in his. “I swear to God, Delilah, the marriage was already over long before I met you. It just hadn’t been finalized yet, that’s all.”

“Why…” I had to clear my throat against the lump of emotion that had formed. “Why didn’t you ever tell me that you’d been married before?”

I squeezed my eyes closed tightly when he reached up to brush another tear from my cheek, the touch of his fingers to my skin like a burn. “I don’t have a good answer for why I didn’t tell you. The only thing I can think is that it was during a time of my life when I didn’t have a whole lot of happiness. I didn’t want to bring it up and have that unhappiness bleed back into what we have.”

“And what
do
we have?” I spouted out, unable to hold the question back. “You say that like it means something to you, but then you go and tell your cousin we’re just having fun. I tried to go back to my own apartment and you drag me back to yours and tie me to the bed. You’re running so hot and cold, I don’t have a clue what’s going on with us. I’ve been trying to follow your lead this whole time, but I have to tell you, it’s getting really fucking exhausting. So please, tell me. What are we, Richard? Because I’d really like to know.”

“I—” He closed his mouth, then opened it again to speak only to close it once more. Finally, he said the three words that made my heart crack in two. “I don’t know.”

With a dry, humorless laugh, I stood from the bed and began pacing with my hands on my hips. Shady watched the exchange from the bed and whimpered like he knew it was going downhill fast… just like I did. “You don’t know. That’s just perfect, isn’t it?”

“Delilah, stop,” he demanded, standing in my path and grabbing hold of my arms. “Look. I know it’s not what you want to hear, but we’re still new. You said so yourself. It’s too early to try and guess what’s going to happen in the future. Can’t we just…” He released me and ran his hands through his hair in agitation. “Goddamn! Can’t we just keep things how they’ve been? What’s so wrong with that, huh? What we’ve been doing is fucking great!”

“It is,” I agreed softly. “And I know we’re still new. I’m not asking you for anything serious right now. I just want to know that what we’re doing could at least
lead
to something more. I tried not to do it, but I’m falling more and more for you every day, and I just need to know I’m not the only one. Am I the only one, Richard?”

“No,” he declared adamantly, pulling me against his strong body in a hug so tight it pushed the breath from my lungs. “You’re not the only one, baby. I care about you.”

It wasn’t quite the declaration I wanted, but I wasn’t an irrational girl. Expecting an
I love you
so early in the game wasn’t fair of me, even if I might have been feeling that way about him. I sucked in a deep breath, taking in the smell that was so very Richard, a smell I’d never get tired of. “See, that’s all I needed to know,” I whispered. “I just needed to know you hadn’t shut the door on the idea of a future.”

At that, his body grew stiff. When he remained silent, I pulled back and looked up at his face. “Richard?” I asked when he stayed quiet. “You are opened to the idea of a future… right?”

His response was to avoid answering my question by asking one of his own. “Why is this a conversation we’re even having right now? Why can’t we just enjoy each other and not worry about the future, huh? What’s the point in talking about all this serious shit?”

“We’ve never talk about anything serious!” I cried, throwing my hands up. “It’s all about having fun, living in the moment, and that’s fine, but I want to get to
know
you. Is it so bad to want to know the person you’re sleeping with every night? Good Lord, I don’t even know your favorite color! You’ve already been married, for God’s sake. I mean, is that even something you’d consider doing again?”

I regretted asking the question the moment his answer registered on his face.

“Oh, my God,” I whispered, taking a step back as more tears fell. “You don’t, do you?”

“Del—” He moved to grab me, but I took another step back.

“Richard, do you ever see yourself getting married again?”

The silence weighed so heavily on my chest I worried it would crush me. But then he answered, and I discovered there was something even worse than suffocating on the unknown.

His voice sounded positively ravaged as he said one word. “No.”

“N-never?” I sniffled, trying desperately not to cry any more than I already had.

“I’m sorry, Delilah. I just… after my first marriage, I just can’t see myself ever doing that again.”

“A-and kids?”

He was so quiet I almost didn’t hear him. “I don’t see anything like that for my future.”

I wiped at my face with the backs of my hands. My voice broke as I asked, “Do you… do you think you’d ever change your mind?”

“I tried the whole family thing once, and it blew up in my face.” He grabbed my hand before I could pull away, yanking me to him. “I’m sorry, Delilah. I can’t see myself getting married and having kids, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be with you. Please, can’t we just… can we go back to how it’s been?” He dropped his forehead to mine and squeezed his eyes closed as he held onto me tightly. “Let’s just go back.”

Despite the fact my chest ached as my heart broke into a million pieces, I cupped his cheeks in the palms of my hands and held him tenderly as I pulled away to look at him. “I’m not asking for a ring or a white picket fence and two-point-five kids when we’ve been together less than a month.”

He breathed out a sigh of relief and his whole face started to relax… until I continued.

“But I can’t be in a relationship with a man who won’t even consider the possibility of a future with me.”

“Delilah, no—”

“I want to get married one day,” I said through a watery smile, my thumb trailing along his bottom lip as I tried to memorize every single angle of his beautiful face. “I want to have kids and take them over to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner. I want a man that loves me so much he wants the entire world to know. I’m not saying I want that tomorrow, or next week, or, Hell, even next year. But I
do
want it… eventually. And I can’t be with someone who won’t even consider the possibility of one day having that with me.” A sob broke free from my chest. “I’m sorry, Richard. I just can’t do that. That’s not what I see for
my
future.”

His forehead came back to mine and his eyes closed once again as he held me like I was his lifeline. I don’t know how long we stood like that before his arms around my waist finally loosened and he took a step back. Those beautiful crystal blue eyes were red and glassy when he finally opened them and looked at me.

He sounded like he’s just swallowed gravel when he said, “You deserve that. I’m so sorry.”

“Me too,” I whispered.

He leaned in, placing one last kiss on my lips before turning and striding to the bedroom door. He graced me with one last look over his shoulder, one last gorgeous smile, before he pulled the door open and disappeared.

And I crumbled.