Decipher (Declan Reede: The Untold Story #3) (30 page)

She turned back toward me. “We have to have a wedding.” She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

I laughed. “Isn’t that every little girl’s dream?”

“You knew me as a little girl, Dec,” she said, rolling her eyes. “When did I
ever
indicate that was my dream?”

It was true. Whenever she’d mentioned the future, it was almost more in regards to
being
married rather than
getting
married. If I could have Alyssa beside me forever, without all the white wedding bullshit, I had no complaints. “That’s fine, a quickie down at the courthouse suits me.” I chuckled.

She smiled at me. “Sounds perfect.”

“Don’t you dare!” Ruth gave me a look that easily rivalled any of the evil glares I’d received from Curtis.

Alyssa rolled her eyes again, and I stifled a chuckle.

“You can’t take that away from your father, Alyssa. You know he’s been chomping at the bit to walk you down the aisle.”

It was my turn to roll my eyes. I knew the last thing Curtis wanted was to walk Alyssa down the aisle and hand her off to me.

I pulled Alyssa into me, kissing her cheek softly. “You get what you want—don’t worry about anyone else.” I was already planning just how quickly we could get married and get all the nonsense over with. Information that had actually been posted publicly in the Births, Deaths, and Marriages offices. A month and a day, and she could be mine officially.

She nodded and turned her face to kiss my lips. “Thank you; but Mum’s right. We should do this properly.”

I sighed but didn’t argue. I couldn’t because Killer Curtis seemed to take that as his cue to enter. “Do what properly, pumpkin?” he said lazily, from somewhere behind me.

I watched Alyssa’s face carefully. She flinched a little as he spoke, and I realised it wasn’t going to be pretty. I didn’t want Alyssa to have to say anything she would regret later, so I decided to man up and take the pressure off her.

“Our wedding,” I said boldly, turning to face him. I was glad that neither Alyssa nor Ruth could see my face because it gave me the opportunity to sneer at him just a little. I returned his smug smile from the previous night, more than willing to rub Alyssa’s acceptance in his face.

He choked and his face turned pink, then red, then an odd shade of purple. His eyes shot to Ruth.

“But I thought—” He started.

He was obviously cut off by a look on her face or something, because he stopped short. He stood, mouth gaping, staring between Alyssa and Ruth, not even sparing another glance in my direction.

I took this as my opportunity to score some Alyssa brownie points. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to ask your permission first, but the decision was made so quickly. I guess I’ll just have to ask for your blessing instead.”

He finally looked at me—although glared was probably the better word. The look made my lips twitch upward. I didn’t doubt that murder was crossing his mind at that point in time. Alyssa, misinterpreting his glower as an objection to our plans, walked closer to me, and wrapped her hands around my arm. Score one for Declan.

“It’s what I want, Daddy,” she said. I could hear the defiance in her voice. “He’s all that I ever wanted. You know that. Please, can’t you just be happy for us?”

Ruth, who’d obviously seen the anger coming, sat a plate of food down on the table for Curtis at that exact second. He regarded it for a moment before deciding that Alyssa and I could wait.

He chewed his food and seemed to be deep in thought before he finally spoke—when he did, he drew each word out.

“I’ll support you,” he said. “I’ll even give you my blessing.” He shot me a dark look. “I’ll walk the prettiest bride in the world down the aisle. But I
don’t
have to like the person at the end.”

“Dad!” Alyssa exclaimed.

“Fine by me,” I said at the exact same time without a word of a lie.

Now I just had to survive until New Year’s Eve without him killing me in my sleep, and we’d be fine.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: CATCHING ON

EACH MORNING I woke, I was thankful.

There were so many things I was thankful for. First, I was alive. That meant Curtis hadn’t found a way to sneak past Alyssa and murder me while I’d slept. Second, the fact that the prison didn’t close for the holidays, meant Curtis was still required to leave the house every day. Third, my ring still adorned Alyssa’s hand—a promise from me to do the best I could, and a promise from her to love me even when I fucked up. And fourth, that it was one day closer to an escape from living with the soon-to-be in-laws.

During the days since Christmas, there had been a rotating front door of friends and relatives of Ruth and Curtis coming and going, almost at whim. After living alone for so long, the constant presence of so many other people was driving me insane. But during the brief lulls, when no one else was home and Phoebe was asleep, the silence was just as unbearable.

The need for constant noise, but not constant chatter, was one of the reasons I always felt so Zen in my ProV8. It was easy to focus on the drone of the engine, on the hum of the rubber on the track, on the telemetry information and feedback from the team, rather than on everything else. Other than the brief moments where Alyssa’s memory had haunted me, I’d never felt more focused than when I was on the track. Which was why I’d insisted on heading out to the kart track the morning of New Year’s Eve. I needed clarity before all the shit was supposed to go down that night. All the things I’d kept hidden from Alyssa were buzzing around my head like a swarm that I needed to escape.

Throwing the kart deep into the corners, feeling the arse slide out as the drift took over, being so low to the ground—low enough that I felt like it was just me and the track—wasn’t quite the same as being in a car, but it was close enough to be a much-needed salve to balance everything else I’d been doing.

While I tore up the track, Alyssa and Phoebe just watched from the stands. Even though it felt a little selfish doing something that I needed—something only I would truly enjoy—neither of them complained as they watched me run lap after lap. One day soon, that would change. In a little under two years, Phoebe would be able to go on a tandem kart, and damned if I wasn’t going to try to make a little revhead out of her. My little girl could be a princess and kick arse on the track. And Alyssa could choose to join us or wait in the café.

When I came back in from the hour-long session on the track, Alyssa was waiting with Phoebe perched on her lap.

“Feeling better?” she asked.

“Much.” It was amazing how much a few laps could make a world of difference. It had clarified some things for me, and thrown other things into sharp focus. In a little under twelve hours, I’d have shown Paige and her lackeys that I wasn’t someone to be trifled with. Then in the morning, Alyssa and I would be picking Phoebe up from Ruth and Curtis and starting the journey home.

But first, we had to get ready for the night.

When we left the kart track, we headed for Alyssa’s parents’ first, dropping off Phoebe and grabbing my tux, before driving straight into the city.

Alyssa’s expression during the drive was enigmatic. I had no idea what she was thinking, and part of me didn’t want to ask. I didn’t want to start any conversation that might lead back to the evening’s plans.

We were almost into the city when Alyssa turned to me, curling up in the passenger seat and staring at me with such a reverent look that I couldn’t help but reach for her and brush a strand of hair off her face.

“It’s funny how quickly life can change, isn’t it?” she asked. Her voice was wistful and full of wonder.

Unsure what she was getting at, and what she expected me to say in return, I simply nodded. Obviously, she’d been thinking something over and it was dangerous for me to try to guess at what. A second later, her gaze dropped to her engagement ring and she started to play with it, using the diamond to twist it around her finger.

A gentle sigh left her lips. “I mean, this time last year, I was panicking about how hard the last year of uni would be, trying to get over the fact that things would never work with Cain, worrying about what I’d do for work when I graduated, because I had no prospects lined up. Being at the end of the uni year just seemed so far away.”

I tried to ignore her mention of Cain, but it surprised me that it had been so recent. The way she’d talked about him made it sound like it was ancient history—not something that had happened a year ago.

“God, New Year’s always makes me so sappy.” She laughed. “I guess I’m just trying to say that this time last year, I was terrified of what might come next for me. It was all so unknown. And it’s still unknown, but knowing that I’m heading there with you at my side, Dec, that’s . . . I don’t know. Amazing. I never allowed myself to believe we’d be here, but I never stopped loving you. Never.”

“Me either, Lys.”

“And now, well, the BS with the paps is all behind us. I won’t have to pretend to be nice to Darcy to keep my job ever again. We can finally just look to the future, and we’ve got the rest of our lives ahead of us.”

“Lys, I—” The details of my plan were right on my tongue. It would have been easy to warn her, but I needed her reactions to be real so that no one implicated her. If the plans didn’t go the way I wanted, she needed to have plausible deniability—just like Danny. After a gulp of air, I swallowed down the words, along with the rising tide of guilt that washed up from within me. “I can’t wait.”

Ten minutes later, we arrived at the Suncrest Hotel car park. We’d already planned for what came next. I’d go to our hotel room and get dressed with Morgan, while Alyssa and Eden went off to have all sorts of shit done. Words I didn’t even know the meaning of had been discussed: mani-pedis, blow-waves, up-dos, and a whole range of other things. I was happy enough to leave the two of them to get that sorted. It gave me time to sort some other stuff.

Almost as soon as Alyssa had left, I texted the random number in my phone.

Room 607. Room key will be at your table.

The reply came back almost instantly.
Looking forward to it.

After an hour of messing around in the room, throwing back a few beers, Morgan and I decided it was probably time to get ready. He slipped across the hall to his room while I dressed in mine. We’d already agreed to meet the girls downstairs, because they’d be cutting it close to the start time.

So much of the night felt reminiscent of the formal. Even though I’d had the do-over date with Alyssa and had exorcised most of the demons from that night, a nervous energy built in me. When I met Morgan at the lifts, he was practically buoyant. For him, the night was just going to be a fun-filled night of pranks and mischief—exactly his type of thing—but the revenge I’d planned felt so much more important than that to me.

“Are you ’right?” he asked, staring at me as I paced back and forth in front of the elevator.

“Yeah. I just, well, I can’t help wondering if this is the right thing to do. Maybe I should have just left it.”

“Dude, it’s too late to back out now,” Morgan said when we got into the lift. “It’s time to strap those balls of yours back on for one night and get this done.”

“I guess.”

“No guessing. The time to back out was last week. Now, there’s nothing left for you to do but hold on for the ride.”

And hope that I don’t lose anything important along the way.

It didn’t take long to find Alyssa and Eden in the crowd. In fact, the instant my gaze slid to Alyssa, it stuck. Although I’d seen her silver-and-turquoise dress before, during her shopping trip when she’d said she wanted to get it because it matched my eyes, it didn’t seem like the same outfit.

Maybe it was the way her hair was styled, the make-up, or the lingerie beneath, or maybe it was the way the soft lighting in the foyer seemed to backlight her body, but the outfit had gone from pretty to downright illegal. The way the strapless dress hugged her breasts, and slipped down to accentuate her waist and hips, left my mouth dry and my pants tight. The silvery lace overlay that curled around the curves of her breast highlighted the delights hidden by the satin underlay.

My lips curled as I thought about what Phoebe would say if she saw Alyssa just then. She’d no doubt think her mother had become the living embodiment of a Disney princess. Although there was nothing Disney about the things I wanted to do to Alyssa. Especially with the turquoise mask she wore over her face that just made her look like sex in disguise.

God, the things I would do to her while she wore that mask, if given half a chance. The colour made her eyes gleam almost gold, and when she focused them on me, they shone like stars in the night. Despite how shit-hot she was, she looked at me like I was the centre of the fucking universe or something. I wondered if my own simple black mask did the same things to her imagination as hers turquoise one did for me.

Almost as soon as I met her gaze, every thought of what the night might hold, disappeared. I wanted nothing more than to drag her back to the elevators, up to our hotel room, and have her fuck me every way she wanted to—so long as it was with that mask in place.

When she saw me devouring her with my gaze, she grinned and smoothed down imaginary wrinkles in the dress. My body moved closer to her long before my brain had caught up after it’s appraisal of her fuck-hot look.

“You like?”

“God, that dress looks fantastic on you.”

“But let me guess, it’d look better on the floor?” She laughed as she teased me.

“Fuck, you stole my best line.”

“I find it amazing that you were able to charm anyone with your cheesy lines.” 

Even though I had a retort, I bit down on it. With everything that was lined up for the night, I didn’t want to give Alyssa any extra reminders of what had happened at the New Year’s Ball the year before. Especially when she would soon face a pretty major one. Maybe it was time to warn her. At least she wouldn’t be totally blindsided by what she was walking into.

“Lys, can we talk for a moment?” My voice was as sombre as I felt, but I’d decided in that moment that I needed to warn her. Plausible deniability be damned, it was more important to ensure she didn’t assume the worst when everything came out.

“Is everything okay?”

“No, it’s—”

Morgan came up behind me and elbowed me in the back. “You’re up.”

Alyssa’s gaze flicked to him and she grimaced. It was clear she still wasn’t comfortable with Morgan’s presence, but that was the least of my problems. Time was up, and I’d missed my chance to warn Alyssa.
Fuck!
“It’s fine, Lys. Shall we go in?” 

When I walked into the ballroom with Alyssa on my arm, I had no doubt I was the proudest guy in the room. She looked like a million dollars, maybe more, and turned so many heads. Including the one I wanted to notice her.

“Declan? What’s going on?” Darcy’s voice cut through my pride, and reminded me of the reason I’d had Paige invite her for me.

“What do you mean, Darcy?” I afflicted the most innocent tone I could muster. “I’m here to celebrate the coming of the New Year with my future.” I gave Alyssa a reassuring smile.

“But why is
she
here when you invited me?”

Alyssa gasped and turned to me.
Fuckity fuck!

Ignoring the pain radiating off Alyssa, I spoke directly to Darcy. “I thought I made myself clear in my note,” I said. “I want a do-over of last New Year’s. More than anything.”

Darcy puffed out her chest and wore a victorious smile. I wanted to shake my head at her stupidity. Even if there were a chance in hell I wanted to go anywhere near her—which there wasn’t—I wouldn’t exactly be telling her I wanted to fuck her while Alyssa was at my side.

Alyssa tried to pull from my hold, but I held her waist tighter, curling my fingers around her stomach, and refused to let her go.

“I think you misunderstand, Darcy,” I said, ensuring my air of innocence was unaffected by the tightening of my throat at Alyssa’s reaction. “If I could have the do-over I want so badly, I wouldn’t let this,” I grabbed my crotch, “come within a thousand Ks of your poisonous pussy. In fact, I would never have left Alyssa, because I’m hers and hers alone. Utterly and completely, and no amount of smear campaigns will ever change that. All it will do is make me rain fury down on anyone who says a single bad word about her.”

“What?”

“That’s why I invited you here tonight, so that you can see just how in love we are.” When I saw the person who’d just slipped in the door pass us, I smirked. Timing couldn’t have been better if I’d planned it—which I kinda had. After all, Morgan had been watching for Darcy so I could ensure she was inside the ballroom before I led Alyssa in, and I’d had Eden keep Blake Cooper amused for a few minutes outside. “Oh, I probably should have told you too.” I pretended to grimace. “I gave the other ticket I had at Paige’s table to Blake. You know, your husband. I thought that couples should be together on a night like this. Although, to be honest, I’m a little surprised that neither of you mentioned it to one another.”

Darcy fumed. I could almost see the smoke curling from the top of her perfectly coiffed head. And she hadn’t even noticed her husband was right behind her yet.