Dirty, filthy sex wasn’t what they did.
Hell, they didn’t do any kind of sex these days.
Except they had.
He shook his head and opened the driver’s door so Ollie could jump into the truck. She didn’t quite make it, and he was forced to leap forward to catch her before she flopped onto the ground. “Damn, girl.” At least between the pup and work, he’d had more than enough going on to keep him from having too much time to wonder what Hope was doing. If she was revisiting their old haunts. If she was spending any amount of time down at the diner.
If she’d visited her brother’s grave.
He should just leave it alone. If she wanted to see him, it was child’s play to figure out where he was. He hadn’t asked her to come back. Damn it, he’d been doing just fucking fine before she showed up. And yet there he was, starting his truck and heading away from his house. The entire time he sat there and told himself this was a mistake. He didn’t have any right to make demands on Hope’s time—not after what happened thirteen years ago, and not after what happened a week ago.
But he wanted to.
He drove into town and then ended up parking outside Cups and Kittens because cruising Main Street was for idiot teenagers and stalkers, neither of which he wanted to be. Yep. Just visiting my meddling cousin. Right. He pushed through the front door—and immediately regretted his decision to come here.
Ollie took one look at the pair of cats sunning themselves in the afternoon beam of light, yipped, and took off running. Daniel dived for her, but she evaded him like a pro, barking up a storm. The cats fled, jumping up onto one of those cat jungle things and out of reach, hissing and swiping, their hair standing on end while Ollie ran circles around the base.
“What’s going on out here?” Jules came sprinting out of the back and skidded to a stop in front of the scene. “Oh, good lord.”
Daniel scooped up the pup—who was still barking shrilly enough to burst his eardrums—and backed up. “Didn’t stop to think this was a bad idea. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. Here, bring her into the back.” She led the way back into the kitchen and shut the door behind them. Once he was sure there were no cats in the room, Daniel set Ollie down. She set to sniffing everything she came across, apparently having forgotten the drama she’d just started. Jules laughed softly. “Maybe we should have gotten you a cat.”
“Nah, I’m more of a dog person.” He hadn’t planned on having a dog, but Ollie had grown on him in a big way. She was just so damn goofy. He crouched down and ran a hand over her back.
“So, what brings you into town?” Jules asked the question far too casually.
He thought about lying or making some lame-ass excuse, but they both knew why he was here. “You seen Hope around?”
“She left.”
The bottom of his stomach dropped out, and he shot to his feet. “What?”
“Yeah.” Jules shuffled her feet. “I guess she wrapped up stuff faster than she thought she was going to and headed back to Dallas yesterday.”
I missed my chance. He knew he was half a second from weaving on his feet and brought his shit under control fast. He should have known that she wouldn’t want to see him again before she left down. Why the fuck would she? She was missing her goddamn knee and her brother because of him, and the first thing he’d done after not seeing her for thirteen years was let things get out of control and use a condom that was far too old. They hadn’t even had a chance to have the conversation where he explained that he was clean…
“I need her number.” He didn’t realize he was going to say it until the words were out of his mouth. He’d let things stand before, and he’d put enough distance between them that she’d eventually moved on with her life because that was what was best for her at the time. The thought of her being hurt and retreating because of what he’d done for a second time was too much to bear. He had to at least talk to her or let her yell at him. Something.
“I don’t actually have it.”
Of course she didn’t. Why would she? He’d have realized that if he’d stopped long enough to think instead of just reacting. Daniel scrubbed a hand over his face. “It’s probably for the best.”
Jules bounced on her toes a little, practically wringing her hands. “I guess I should apologize. I didn’t think things would go so sideways or I wouldn’t have invited her to your surprise birthday party.” She hesitated. “I know Adam got kind of pissy with you that night.”
“It’s fine.” The thing was, he understood why Adam had acted the way he had. Daniel would have done the same thing if he’d found one of his little cousins in the same position he and Hope had been in, and both Adam and Quinn viewed Hope as a little sister.
He scooped up Ollie and headed for the back door. “I’ll see you around.”
“Daniel.”
He stopped and glanced over his shoulder at her. “Yeah?”
She was actually still, her expression painfully serious. “I really do miss you. We all do.”
What could he say to that? He knew he was a miserable bastard, just like he knew that even being in the room with his friends was enough to bring them down. They tried to hide it, but it was the damn truth. For the longest time, he’d tried to fake being happy, but it hadn’t worked. Nothing worked.
So he’d done them all a favor and started withdrawing more and more. Being alone kind of sucked sometimes, but he was getting used to it. Since he didn’t see either himself or the circumstances changing anytime soon, he gave Jules a small smile and lied through his teeth. “I’ll try to come around more often.”
“No, you won’t.” She shook her head and waved him away. “Just don’t get pissed when I’m showing up on your doorstep and intruding in your life.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything else.” He walked through the door and out into the August heat. He tilted his head back, letting the sun beat down on him, wishing it could burn away the sick feeling in his gut. Hope was gone. Again. He didn’t believe in second chances—not really—but if he’d been allotted one, it had slipped past him while he’d been stewing. He’d never see her again.
It’s for the best. She can do better than a man like me, and we both know it.
The truth didn’t make him feel a damn bit better, though.
Chapter Five
Hope pounded on the door for the third time, not caring that it was almost midnight or that all the lights were off or that no one knew she was back in Devil’s Falls. After her initial panic attack earlier today, she’d been eerily calm while she finished her work, cleared her schedule for the weekend, got in her car, and started driving west. But now that panic was back—with interest. Six weeks. It’s been six freaking weeks. Too long. Six weeks since her snafu with Daniel and the broken condom.
Six weeks and no period to show for it.
The dog started barking, and she pounded on the door harder, thankful that he lived out in the middle of nowhere, because she knew she was making a scene and she couldn’t stop. “Open the damn door, Daniel!” She shouldn’t have come back. She was an adult. She should have just put on her big-girl panties and taken every single pregnancy test in the three boxes she’d purchased earlier that day.
But the thought of facing the results alone in her Dallas apartment had nearly been enough to send her curling into a ball she might never crawl out of. It wasn’t right. She was the strong one, the woman who didn’t meet an obstacle that she wouldn’t find her way over, under, or around. She’d stopped leaning on anyone when she was eighteen and realized that the temptation to let the people around her carry the heavy weight was just another crutch that she refused to give in to.
All that didn’t change the fact that she couldn’t face this without him.
What if it’s positive? Hope paused in her knocking and shuddered. That wasn’t news that should be delivered over a phone call. Not to mention she didn’t even have his number anymore. It wasn’t like he’d been all that eager to give it to he
r after the way things had gone last time she was in town.
The door flew open to reveal Daniel, and she couldn’t even stop to appreciate the sight of him wearing a pair of low-slung sweats or the fact that he’d seriously filled out since he was twenty-one. Appreciating her ex’s hot body was what got her into this mess to begin with. Hope shouldered her way past him into the house, her heart beating too fast, her breath harsh in her throat.
“Hope?” He blinked and closed the door behind her. “What are you doing here? What’s wrong?”
She laughed, high and hysterical. “I’m in trouble. I think. Or, rather, we’re in trouble.” That truth had been solidifying all day in the back of her mind. She wasn’t late. Ever. There was only one reason she would be now.
Oh, God.
He stepped in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders. “You’re not making any sense. Slow down.”
There was no slowing down. Not until she knew for sure. Hope ducked out of his hold, knowing she was acting crazy and unable to stop. She grabbed her purse and went to her knees to dig through it, coming up with all three boxes. She looked up in time to see Daniel register what they were, and the shock on his face would have been comical under any other circumstances.