100 Proof Stud (The Darcy Walker Series) (41 page)

A split second of silence. “Well, yeah, why wouldn’t we be?”

Spit it out, Darcy
. “I feel something is different between us, starting with Brynn Hathaway.”

“…what?”

I repeated, “I want to know what’s going on with you and Brynn. I’ve heard it from multiple sources, D, and before you get all high-and-mighty, the people were Justice and Collin himself.”

Dylan rustled in the sheets, shifting positions. “Hold on, Darc. Let me wake up.” A few seconds later, he murmured, “Exactly what is it I’m being accused of?”

“Here’s how I feel, Dylan. You know what went down between us at Red’s house. And we both know what would’ve happened if Farrah (dang her) wouldn’t have interrupted. Imagine how I feel when I don’t see you all weekend, only to find out you’ve spent it with Brynn two nights in a row. Then I’ve got that little voice in the back of my mind of Collin giving me a play-by-play of what regularly goes on between the two of you in class. A play-by-play corroborated by Brynn who Justice overheard bragging to her skank squad.”

“And what exactly was
that
?” he predictably asked.

“The two of you were all over one another.”

Dylan laughed sarcastically. “Sounds like something Collin would say, but to answer your question, Brynn and I were
not
all over one another.”

If my current condition didn’t seem bad enough, hearing him say Brynn’s name just shaved five years off my life. “I’m not sure I believe it,” I said truthfully. “Remember, Brynn said it too. So you’re asking me to believe both people are liars.”

“And the flipside is that
I’m
a liar.”

“The math doesn’t add up,” I kept saying.

“Nothing is going on,” he repeated adamantly.

I heard it in his voice. He’d left chill and shot straight to PO’d.

“That’s what I thought you’d say,” I muttered. “So I’ll be more specific. Did you hug her when she was upset?”

A sigh. “Yes.”

Ouch. “Well, at least tell me what she got all teary-eyed over. I want to know the exact thing that caused you to put your arms around her and freaking squeeze.”

Oh, boy, Darcy had gone straight to fifth gear. He let out a slow, sleepy, thoughtful sigh. “I wondered how long it would take before a version of this incident got back to you. And that’s what it is, Darcy, a version. But other than being a story that’s not
true
,” he emphasized, “I find it extremely alarming you’re talking to other people about our relationship other than me.”

I snorted, deciding to do a full-court press. “Nice pump shot, Dylan. You still never answered. That must mean you don’t trust me.”

An even deeper sigh tumbled out this time. “I trust you more than anyone, and you know that.” The little angel on my shoulder whispered in my ear I was a two-faced lying ’ho. “But to be clear,” he answered, “Brynn said someone scared her with his advances.”

“Collin?”

“No, although I hear he has problems of his own.”

“Then who?” Another sigh. Only one person I knew could be relentless in the pursuit. “Jagger?”

“The one and only.”

Heck, I didn’t know where to go with the conversation, but my guess was she should’ve told her parents and let them handle it. Brynn wasn’t stupid, and her ulterior motive was bigger than the Cincinnati Bengals’ desire to win a postseason game. But let me give you my two cents’ worth. Jagger was a fastard, but he’d never force himself on anyone. At one time I thought so, but I’d since changed my position.

“I call BS,” I snorted.

He didn’t give his opinion one way or the other. “And that statement right there makes me wonder where my best friend went,” he muttered.

“What’s that mean?”

“It means we never had to wake one another in the middle of the night because we didn’t trust the other. It means you used to know who Jagger Cane was and that you should be leery—”

“I judged him wrongly,” I interrupted.

“Jagger,” he snorted.

“Yes. I know he’s a fastard, and I’d never listen to him treat you badly, but there’s good in there. I’ve felt it.”

“Maybe you’re judging Brynn wrongly too. Brynn and I’ve been friends for years, Darcy. It’s almost inevitable that our relationship will be misunderstood.”

Pretty weak argument. We’ll see how that pans out. “So her modus operandi was completely innocent?” I asked, knowing the answer.

He answered too quickly for my liking. “Yes.”

Excuse me while I pull on my waders. The bull crap had piled all the way up to my butt. Laughing overly loud, I heard Murphy snort and roll to his side in the other room. “You seriously don’t believe that, do you?”

He didn’t answer.

The ambiguity between us dripped like water on a rock, slowly chipping away until a crevice formed that couldn’t be repaired.

Dang you, Brynn Hathaway, dang you.

“This was a mistake,” I whispered.

He paused and muttered, “I guess this is what it feels like for the best friend to suddenly become irrelevant.”

Tears of anger choked me, closing my throat to the point of what felt like suffocation. “Irrelevant?” I sniveled. “How?”

“A conversation with your best friend should never feel like a mistake.”

Dylan and I talked…about everything. Futures, the unexplainable, why bad things happened to good people. We had deep, meaningful conversations that remained between the two of us. And as teenagers, we talked about the good and bad we saw amongst our friends. Why some treated others badly and why some thought so little of themselves they allowed it—heck, why many even appeared to enjoy the abuse. Dylan had always been my voice of reason. Who in the heck was I supposed to turn to now? Especially since I feared he might be one of those guys.

I couldn’t help it, but the tears came harder.

“You’re that guy, D. The guy…you told me…to always…stay away from.”

My tears came so fast, he must not have understood. “Darcy, I didn’t hear you. Please, don’t cry, honey. I can’t stand to be the cause of your pain.” I blew my nose and took a deep breath, wondering how in the world I could back gracefully out of the conversation. Unfortunately, Dylan wasn’t through and the argument went into OT. “Tell me why I couldn’t get in touch with you tonight,” he murmured.

You know what, right or wrong, I just said it. “I had a date with Ben Ryan.”

Pause.

Longer pause.

Then Dylan commenced with a few, choice words, his temper rising to the danger zone. “You go out with Ben Ryan and then call
me
to ask what went down with Brynn Hathaway?”

True. I didn’t have a right to call with this conversation, but sorry, folks, I’m not always so noble.

When I didn’t respond, he grunted, “Well, well, well…that might be the most sanctimonious—”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” I interrupted. “You’re going to make me hate you.”

His voice lowered. “I’m going to finish it, dammit, because I love you. And when you love someone, you step in when they’re taking a wrong path. It frightens me you’re even interested in him, Darcy. The guy hit you with his car and yet you can’t stay away. You talk to him. I hear it in your voice. That scares
me
way more than Brynn should scare
you
.”

“He didn’t actually hit me, D. I stepped into traffic while I talked to you if I remember correctly.”

“And already you’re defending him. This is typical Darcy behavior. You want to talk, but you hold back on things you think someone doesn’t want to hear or might incriminate you. You called
me
, so give it to me straight. How much does he mean to you?”

Heck, I barely knew him, and Brynn had psycho-stalked Dylan for years. “I don’t know him that well, but Brynn likes you. You’ve even dated her. And that revelation only came after I backed you in a corner and you caved. So pardon me for being a little insecure with how you claim you feel about me.”

Dylan’s voice broke the sound barrier. “Well, let me reiterate what I told you regarding Brynn months ago. I care for her, but I care for you
more
. She was a stand-in, Darcy, and I’m not embarrassed to admit that to you or anyone else. You were always
there
,” he suddenly whispered, “
there
…in the back of my mind. And the revelation I’d dated her would’ve come from me anyway. I don’t like secrets with you. I never have, but don’t think I didn’t notice you tiptoed around the answer to Ryan as only you can do.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you called
me
yet you still won’t show any of your cards. I swear to God, Darcy. I can’t crack your code, and it’s driving me insane.”

“Then why do you put up with me?” I whispered.

“I put up with it because you’re cute as hell, but you’re the worst liar on the planet. And you’ve been lying to me a lot lately. Don’t think I haven’t been killing myself trying to figure out who and why someone bumped my damn car. Was it someone from my grandfather’s world back after us, or was it
you
?” He paused, waiting for my reaction. Unfortunately, I gave him nothing but respirations. If I told him about Madison Flannery, it would make things worse. Trust me. I should’ve told earlier. “You’re doing something, aren’t you?” he exhaled. “But if I ask what you’re doing, you’ll lie. You’ll look me straight in the face and fricking lie. You’re lying about everything, so much that I know you’re also hiding how you truly feel about
us
. It’s all over your face, Darcy, and the other night it was all over your body. That’s why I’ve put up with your little science experiment because I know it’s going to blow up in your face…if it hasn’t already.”

The.

Freaking.

Nerve.

Just like that, angry Darcy was back in the driver’s seat. “Did you hear that?” I seethed.

“No,” he seethed just as deadly.

“That was me giving you the silent treatment.”

His voice immediately went soft. Careful. As if he handled a treasured possession and feared one wrong move would make it crack. His concerns were legit, but by God, I wasn’t a sure thing. Dylan was definitely gorgeous, but it was the kind of gorgeous that’d leave a girl begging at her knees. I couldn’t chance breaking. I just couldn’t.

“Don’t hang up, sweetheart,” he begged hoarsely. “My relationship with you trumps everything else. So what if the conversation took a dramatic turn? It’s better to talk things out than hang up angry and not solve anything at all.”

“Ah, for crying out loud, hang up the dang phone,” a voice grumbled near me.

Murphy stumbled through the door, hair in Einsteinian disarray, right as I dabbed the tears from my eyes with a tissue. “Don’t pick me up tomorrow,” I whispered. “I’ve already made plans.”

Dylan’s voice was racked with grief. “Don’t,” he begged, “don’t hang up like this,
please
.
God, Darcy
, I’m half asleep.”

I hung up anyway, wondering if we could declare our semi-relationship dead…it was close.

I hadn’t slept with my father since I was nine. At that time, I did it for an entire embarrassing year. I made a deal with God if he’d help me make it over that hump of pain, I’d never do anything to immortally embarrass my father—i.e., things including mug shots, embarrassing press conferences, teenage pregnancies and such. The first two I’d probably negate before I saw twenty. Don’t waste your breath on the last one, considering I’d just blown my relationship with Dylan all to heck and back.

I was curled into Murphy’s chest, blubbering like a lovesick fool. “D-dylan wants us to date one another, but I told him I needed to date other people first, just to be sure. Why I said that, I honestly don’t know. All I know is there’s a girl named B-brynn Hathaway he’s dated before, and I don’t think a m-mmoose tranquilizer will slow her down.”

Whooo…that felt better.

I’m not sure it was understandable.

Murphy grew still beside me, and then after a few seconds grumbled something about young love, heart attacks, and too many hormones in today’s cattle. “How do you know he’s dated her before?” he asked. By the sound of grief in his voice, you’d think he’d just got dumped.

“He told me. And when they’re together there’s too much emo.”

“What in the heck’s an emo?”

“Emotions,” I explained. “It’s never good when girls look like their world is ending when their crush simply leaves the room.” I sighed, feeling like an idiot I even had to spell this out. “Murphy, if you haven’t noticed, Dylan is girls’ locker room conversation.”

“I can see that, but what I don’t understand is why you’re so upset if he said he’d like to date
you
.”

“I’m not sure he’d be able to remain exclusive,” I explained. “I’ve heard a few rumblings at school that something with Brynn might still be going on.”

“Reliable sources?”

“I’m not sure.” Ivy, no. Jagger, maybe. Collin, uh, why would he lie?

Murphy fell silent again, as though he didn’t believe it. “Life is always best operated under the truth, kid. You know that.”

Well, the truth and I’d had a lot of communication issues lately, so pardon me if I took a pass. “She’s just so—”

“Pretty?” he interrupted softly.

“Crushing,” I sniffed.

He snorted, “I doubt she’s as crushing as you, and I think Dylan’s already registered that.”