LUCAS
“At least this room finally got used for something.” I fumble in the darkness before finding Delilah’s underwear on the floor. I use it to wipe the rest of my cum off her thigh, then ball them up and tuck them into my back pocket. She finishes getting dressed while I do my best to straighten myself out.
That was exactly what I needed. It’s almost enough to make me wonder how different my life might have been if I’d had someone like her in it from the beginning. A way of venting what always raged inside me.
Then again, that was how I used Charlotte, which didn’t do any good. I was different then, somehow. Maybe it was always meant to be Delilah. It was just a matter of waiting for her to show up.
“Are you sure nobody could hear us in here?” I shouldn’t laugh at the apprehension in her voice, but I can’t help finding it funny. As if it matters. As if any of it matters.
“You might be surprised at what goes on under this roof sometimes. What we just did isn’t the half of it.”
“You sound like you know what you’re talking about,” she points out, and I hear the disapproval in her voice loud and clear.
“No comment.” I know it drives her crazy, which only makes me laugh again.
There’s no choice but to leave now, as much as I wish we could stay. That’s all I ever want to do, it seems. To be alone with her.
No such luck. The last thing I need is Xander sending out a search party if he can’t find me. I take a deep breath and open the door, the light from the hall jarring compared to the darkness we’re leaving.
And now that we’re in the light, I run my hands through my hair and look down at my clothes, which are still rumpled. There’s no question what we just finished doing—she’s got sex hair if I ever saw it, which I gesture for her to try to smooth down with her hands as we walk down the hall side by side. Her cheeks flush, and she giggles, and I can’t help but grin.
Until we round the corner, and I find myself face-to-face with Xander, Quinton standing beside him.
Shit. I manage to maintain a blank expression, but Delilah isn’t as practiced as I am. She gasps, reaching for my hand and gripping it tight.
I hold Xander’s gaze, lifting an eyebrow. “Yes?”
His lip curls in disgust, his gaze bouncing back and forth between us. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Are there no depths you won’t sink to? This is absolutely unacceptable. Are you even thinking anymore? Or have you completely lost your senses?”
He points a finger, jabbing it in my direction. “I gave you this goddamn job, and it was one of the worst mistakes I’ve ever made. You haven’t changed a bit. You’re just as unreliable and out of control as you ever were.”
Mindful of Delilah’s tight grip on my hand and Quinton's presence, I modulate my response. “Everything is just fine, and I’m completely under control,” I tell him with a smile that only makes his already flushed face turn a deeper shade of red. He wants me to react and lose my shit so he can prove to himself what a mess I’ve turned into. I refuse to give him the satisfaction.
“Is it?” he hisses, teeth clenched. “Of course, you would think that. Because you don’t have the first clue what was happening around here while you were off in Takotna.” He eyes Delilah in disgust. “Keeping yourself busy.”
“What are you talking about? What happened?”
He looks toward his son, who lifts his chin in silent affirmation. When Xander turns to me again, his eyes are blazing. “Someone attacked your daughter.”
My stomach drops sickeningly like I was just launched off the tallest hill of a roller coaster. Now I’m plunging straight down, unsure of what’s below. Completely out of control, unable to stop it.
“She didn’t want you to know about it until after she spoke with you,” Quinton mutters. “So it wasn’t a distraction.”
“What happened? She didn’t seem injured earlier.”
“It could have been much worse,” Xander informs me in his imperious tone. “They pushed her down the stairs, whoever they were, but she was able to catch herself in time. Nothing more than a few bruises, according to the doctor.”
And here I am, sneaking in a quick fuck while my daughter suffers, knowing someone wants to hurt her—again. “But we’re sure she’s all right? Did Lauren—”
“It’s a little late for that,” Xander informs me. “It may surprise you to know it, but it’s still possible for people to do their jobs even when you aren’t here—a good thing, considering.”
“She was thorough,” Q assures me. “It’s a good thing you were gone,” Q tells Delilah, who flinches at the attention. “I would have blamed you for it.”
She rolls her eyes. “Right, because I’m sure it couldn’t be the same person who already attacked me. Rather than think that, you would have rather blamed me for it when you know very well somebody’s after me, too.”
Xander’s thoughtful nod surprises me. “Yes, you’re right. It might be the same person, though I can’t imagine how the two of you are in any way connected.” He can’t help but let disdain leak into his voice. Why would he? He has no problem making sure she knows what he thinks of her.
“Any idea who it might have been? Did she see anyone? Was there anyone around?”