Chapter 17

17

M y day had started with Delaney cuddled close, progressed into an early morning conversation that was so normal, I didn't care it was about something as mundane as her driving me into work. An ordinary discussion an ordinary couple would have. Which meant it was about nothing, but that nothing meant everything.

We were starting over.

Sort of.

In her anger she'd slipped back into calling her place our house, which meant something, too.

We were mixing old with new and making it work.

I wished she hadn't brought up Lorraine and Allison from high school in front of her dad. I was skating on thin ice with him and he'd given me a clock to fix this shit with his daughter and make her happy. I didn't need him to be reminded I had indeed been around the block. All of them were before I'd taken Delaney's virginity. All of them before I'd given in to the knowledge that no matter how hard I'd tried, she was it.

It was a topic I wasn't proud of but would discuss with her in private if she felt like she needed to know. I never thought of it as cheating. She was right, we weren't together, even if I'd known I'd loved her. I wasn't proud of my actions because I'd used those girls. And that made me a dick. I had no intention of ever being someone's boyfriend, or being exclusive. I'd made it known, and even though the girls had claimed to understand and didn't want that either, being a man now I knew differently.

However, as a teenage boy, I was being led by my dick, and I'd given in to what my body had wanted.

Delaney hadn't.

She was true and steadfast.

The more I'd thought about it the more ashamed I'd become. I wasn't looking forward to having to answer for my stupidity. But I would. Delaney deserved nothing but complete honesty, even if the truth was going to be uncomfortable.

My workday was ending and I was surprised how fast the day had gotten away from me. After Brady briefed me on his site plan for Delaney's cameras the rest of the day was spent going over the day-to-day operations of Triple Canopy.

I was damn impressed with what my dad and uncles had created. The business was thriving. And if they wanted, we could expand and still have more contracts than we could handle.

"Everything good?" my dad asked from the open door to my office.

"Five by five," I returned.

"Brady get the cameras installed?"

"Yeah, he called around lunch before he went to his next job. They're done and functioning."

"He give you the app for your phone so you can check them?"

"Sure did."

I wondered how Delaney would feel about me being able to watch the security feed from my phone. I didn't have to think on it too long to know she'd hate it. And not just me, any of us with the code could, including her dad.

"Jasper said him and Em are going over to Delaney's tonight. She ready to talk about it?"

"Not even a little bit. Neither of us are. But we have to. I think once she talks to her mom about it she'll start to heal. She was pissed I sprang their visit on her in front of Jasper but she'll get over it."

"You say that but I remember she didn't talk to you or Jason for a week and all the two of you did was throw water balloons at her."

He was wrong. She hadn't talked to Jason for a week. We were camping and I'd snuck into the tent she and Quinn were sharing, laid down next to her and told her I was sorry. We stayed up the rest of the night talking. Though she did give me the silent treatment in front of everyone but that was to throw them off the scent of me sneaking into her tent every night. If Quinn knew I'd been in there after we thought she was asleep, she never told.

"Right. She didn't give you the silent treatment." My dad smiled.

"Nope. She didn't even make it twenty-four hours."

"I don't think I want to know."

"You're probably right."

My dad went quiet and a thoughtful look crossed his face.

"What's on your mind, old man?"

"Fucked up with you. I should've listened to your mom and talked to you about Delaney. Could've saved you years of pain."

"I've been hearing that a lot. And I catch myself saying it, too. What should've been done. But the truth is, even if you'd talked to me, it wouldn't've changed anything. I had to go through it. I had to learn on my own. Maybe I wouldn't appreciate what I have now because I would've always had it. I don't know, Dad, there's a lot of ‘should've' being tossed around and not enough, ‘we are where we're supposed to be'. Delaney and I had a journey we were meant to live. Some of it sucked. But again, we're all forgetting that most of it didn't. I know right now Laney's focusing on all the times I refused to promise her a future so she's not remembering all we have. But I promise you it was good. And soon, when I get my ring on her finger it's gonna be great."

"How'd you get to be so fuckin' smart?" Dad asked, his voice thick with emotion.

"Mom."

"Right." He chuckled. "Once you get Em and Jasper out of the way, I know your mom would appreciate a visit."

"Did you tell her about the baby?"

"No."

His answer shocked me. I've never known my dad to keep secrets from my mom. If she even got a whiff, he was trying to surprise her with something she'd badger the fuck out of him until he spilled. She should've been an interrogator, she was that good.

"Not mine to tell, son."

"Thanks. Let me get Laney through tonight and this weekend we're headed up to Virginia Beach so I can meet with Logan. He's coming around to pick up the rest of the crap he's taking."

"No shit. You're taking her up."

Damn, the shock in my dad's voice reminded me what an ass I'd been.

"She wants to see it and I promised no more pushing her away. So we're going up. Haven't told her yet, but we're gonna have dinner with my old team."

"You're doing good, kid. Proud of you."

"Thanks. Now if we're done, I have a two-hour workout I need to complete in an hour thirty."

My dad's smile was big, the green of his eyes danced, and he shook his head. "There's so much I could say about that comment, but all of them would be at Delaney's expense and I just can't think of my niece that way."

"Well, you better stop thinking about her as your niece, because she is not your blood and if you start telling people your daughter-in-law is your niece, they might think we're a little backwoods."

My dad chuckled and backed out of my office calling as he went, "See you tomorrow."

"Later, Dad."

When Delaney picked me up she was still irritated. Though her anger had been downgraded to mild instead of nuclear which was an improvement. The closer we got to home the more on edge she became.

"How was your day?" I asked after I finished telling her about mine.

The first thing she'd asked about when I got in the truck was how her dad was. It'd taken me a few minutes to convince her Jasper was fine, he was better than fine actually. He'd given me plenty of lighthearted shit about his daughter being stubborn and that it was amazing to watch her run me in circles.

I disagreed, she wasn't running me in circles, I was simply doing whatever I needed to do to hammer out all the waves I'd created.

"My day was fine. I went home and cleaned up then went to the grocery store since you invited my parents over and I had nothing to feed them. By the way, my car was gone when I got back this morning."

I'd known that. Todd had called to tell me they'd picked it up and it would be ready tomorrow. I told him to take his time, we were in no hurry. I liked that Delaney had to take me to work, and I liked knowing she was driving my truck. And we were leaving tomorrow for the weekend, and with her garage still packed full of shit and me not wanting to take on the herculean task of cleaning it out so she could park her car in there, I felt better knowing it would safely remain at Todd's shop until we returned.

"We can pick it up Monday," I told her.

"But I have stuff to do tomorrow."

"So?"

"So? I'll need a car. I guess I can ask my mom to borrow hers tonight."

"Laney, you have a car to drive. You can take my truck," I reminded her.

"What if you need it?"

"I'll be at work all day. I don't need it. We'll do the same thing we did today. You drive me to work and keep the truck."

"If you're sure."

"I'm sure."

She turned down her street and I gritted my teeth to stop myself from telling her to drive faster. She was babying my truck and I knew it wasn't for my benefit. She'd always driven slowly. Following her back from Myrtle Beach had been torture.

Why I allowed her to drive us home was beyond me. I could've shaved ten minutes off the drive. But when she'd pulled up looking sexy as all get out behind the wheel of my big ass truck with a light-up-my-life smile, I didn't hesitate. I got in the passenger seat and told her to drive. I was rewarded with an even bigger smile that made my cock twitch and if we'd been in a different place in our new relationship, I would've made her pull over so I could fuck her.

"Oh. You remember Natalie?" she asked.

"Who?"

"The woman from last night. The one who just moved here?"

Fuck. I was hoping that wasn't the Natalie she meant.

"Yeah."

"I ran into her at the grocery store."

Cold seeped into my bones.

"Come again?"

"She was at the grocery store. I stopped and chatted with her for a few minutes. She seems really nice, if not a little lost being in a new city with no friends or family. I gave her my number and—"

"You did what?"

"Jeeze, Carter, keep your pants on. What's the big deal? She's nice. And she doesn't know anyone."

I'd meant to run the license plate of the car Natalie had gotten into last night, but work had been busy and it slipped my mind. I'd remember to do that tomorrow.

"It's not safe giving out your number to people."

"Seriously? She's a lonely woman, not a serial killer."

"You don't know that."

"You're worse than my dad. I didn't think it was possible for anyone to outdo him on the crazy scale but you've done the impossible and just became the mayor of Crazy Town. Both of you see danger around every corner and neither of you understand what it does to us normal people who just want to live our lives."

Damn, she was funny. But this was serious so I wasn't going to tell her that her commentary was hilarious.

"What does trying to keep you safe do to you?"

"It scares me."

"That's good."

"No, it's not, Carter," she huffed. "Do you know how many times I turned down invitations to concerts because Dad had told me how dangerous it is to be in a crowd that size if there was a terrorist attack? Or how many times I didn't go to the water park because Uncle Levi told us there'd be no place to hide if there was an active shooter? And do not get me started on being scared shitless while in college after your dad gave me sex trafficking statistics. You all think you're protecting me, and I think you believe you are. But what you're doing is paralyzing me with fear. I don't do things I want to do because, like you all, now all I see is danger. I can't live life like that.

"Natalie is harmless. And if she turns out to be nutty, what's the worst she can do? Call me to death? It's a phone number. I didn't invite her to move in with us."

It was the last part of her sentence that calmed me.

Move in with us .

So I gave in. Though I was still running this Natalie person and if she turned out to be nutty Delaney wouldn't have to worry about the woman. I'd set her ass on the first plane back to wherever she'd come from. And I'd bet it wasn't Chicago.

"You're right, Laney. Sorry. There's a huge difference between being smart and aware and scared and not leaving your house. I'll have a mind to that, but I need you to promise me, you'll be watchful and listen to your instincts. There are people—"

"I know what kind of people are lurking, Carter," she snapped and I closed my mouth.

Laney pulled into her driveway and I decided to change the subject.

"Do I have time to take a quick shower before I help you with dinner?"

"It's made. All I have to do is put the lasagna in the oven. Everything else is done."

I tried to hide my smile but failed.

"What?" she asked, her tone still biting.

"Nothing."

"I didn't make the lasagna for you. I made it because it's easy."

"Right."

Delaney's homemade lasagna was my favorite and it was not easy. It took her an hour to put it together, so I only asked her to make it for me on occasion instead of every time I came home.

Whether she knew it or not, she had softened to the idea of us starting over and moving forward. I may've been a complete dumbass in a lot of ways, but this was one time I knew to keep my mouth shut and not push it.

The tight rope I was walking was precarious at best but at least now I felt like I had on a safety harness. If she shook the line, I wouldn't fall to my death.