“Fine, but I want to talk to him when you’re done,” she conceded.
“Of course. See you in a bit.” I was already walking over to Thane’s. I didn’t want Julian to have the chance to escape without meeting with my wrath.
When Julian saw me coming, he put on a bright smile. “Darcy, so wonderful to see you again.”
Anger brewed dangerously close to the surface, and my fists clenched in anticipation of the blow I delivered to the side of his handsome face. As my knuckles struck the side of his face, he let out a strangled sound that pleased my ears.
“That was for Addison. Once you get up, I’ll give you four more for Lila, Shellene, Remi, and me. How dare you use my sister like that. She is off-limits to you,” I yelled at Julian.
He wiped his bloody lip with the back of his hand and looked up at me. I could see the laughter in his eyes, and it made me crazy.
I didn’t even let him recover enough to respond before I started on him again. “You’d better crawl back home, little boy, before this woman puts you in the hospital.”
He managed to get up, though I could see he was unsteady. I ought to put one right between his eyes but didn’t feel like going to jail.
“You might want to rethink how you talk to me.” He walked over to me so that we were only about a foot from one another, likely wanting me to know he wasn’t afraid of me.
“You might want to rethink living the rest of your life in Miami, always having to sleep with one eye open,” I threatened. “And why are you always at Thane’s now? What’s going on?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips.
“Oh, didn’t lover boy tell you? We’re evicting everyone out of the Windemere Apartments so we can build an ultra-modern condo building. All Thane’s idea.” He looked at me and smiled. He laughed. “Oh, and Darcy? I’m finished with your little sister now. Clearly, I got what I wanted, looking at your face. And as for your neighbor, Thane, he’s known all along and did nothing.”
My jaw dropped, and I lost all ability to see straight as anger filled my body right up to the top of my head.
“Now, who’s going to rethink what she thought she knew about her neighbor?” Julian said as he walked to his car. “Tell Addison goodbye for me, won’t you?” He grinned and drove off, squealing the tires.
I was left standing there in dazed anguish. Finally, my feet moved forward, carrying me straight to Thane’s backyard. I knew he was in the pool because I’d heard him splashing around in the background. I intended to drown him.
I let him finish his lap, then threw the beach ball at his head to get his attention. He stopped and looked over at me, smiling. “Hey! What was that for?”
He has no idea what’s about to crash into his world!
“You might want to stay right where you are, far out of my reach. I don’t want to spill your blood on your lovely concrete pool deck.”And that’s just the beginning.
A look of confusion came over his face like thunderclouds moving in before a heavy rain, and I was about to be the hail, hurling ice pellets at him.I’ll give him the Ice Queen!
“Darcy, what the fuck is wrong with you? Get a grip on yourself. What’s wrong?” Thane asked, resting his arms on the pool’s edge.
“You fucking knew!” I paused, looking up at the sky. I took several deep breaths to try and steady my nerves, but nothing would satiate my desire to wring his neck with my bare hands.
The confusion on his face deepened, and his eyes changed. He really had no idea what I was referring to.Let me enlighten you!
“You knew Addison was dating Julian, and you said NOTHING. How could you? I know you’re a real shady businessperson, but I was starting to trust you as a friend, and this is how you repay me?” I swear steam was coming out the top of my head.
“Darcy. How did you… never mind… you spoke to Julian, didn’t you?”
“What, you trusted that jerk with sensitive information? Are you really that surprised that he spilled the beans?” I began to pace.
“Darcy, come in here and let’s talk,” Thane suggested.
“No. I’ll never be that close to you again. He told me about what you’re doing with the Windemere Apartments. How could you? After what I told you about how hard it will be for a lot of those people.” I had to pause while tears burned my eyes.
“We’re offering them a lot of money,” Thane said in defense.
“And that justifies uprooting families from their homes? Are you seriously telling yourself that’s okay? And you also told Julian that we’re sleeping together. Slept together. Past tense. We’ll never be sleeping together again. Fuck you and your apartments. I hope you rot in hell,” I told him.
I didn’t storm away. I walked away with controlled dignity and put a little extraswingin my step so that Thane could watch my ass walk away from himfor the last time.
THANE & DARCY