Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend (16 page)

So with my eyes still closed and fists wrapped around my legs tightly, I let go. Everything I’ve ever known has been ripped away.

That’s how Dax found me.

Dax

I pulled the truck up to the curb of their driveway, excited for the first time about sharing a Christmas that didn’t have anything to do with Saints and Sinners. Danny usually held a white elephant Christmas, and I usually went because she begged me to be a part of it. In which every dancer in that place would get me something. At least the single ones did. Provocative shit I didn't want.

This year though, when Danny asked me, I told her I already had a prior engagement. When she started her inquisition, I just grabbed her, hugged her and told her, “Don’t worry about me anymore. I’m happy. Just leave it at that.”

“Is it a girlfriend? Don’t you think I should meet her, Declan?”

Fuck. . The only time she called me Declan was when she was serious or I was in trouble. Which after turning sixteen, never happened. Was I ready to tell her about Scarlet? I hadn’t told Danny I was even talking to someone, let alone dating someone. Or being in love with her.

“Yes, she is my girlfriend. I am going to spend Christmas Eve with her. No. No names. Don’t look at me like that, Mother. I know how you get, even being out of the loop with your parents, you still have plenty of people to contact if you want information. You’re not getting it from me and you’re not going to pry. I’ll tell you all about her when I am ready. When she’s ready.”

“Hiding her? That’s so unlike you, Dax.”

“I’m not hiding her. It’s still too new. For both of us.”

“Hmmm…you’re dating someone?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a girl.”

Sigh.

“Yes.”

Then she started laughing. Hard.

“What’s so damn funny, mother?”

“The fact that you have a girlfriend. God, she’s probably some skank trying to get you for your money.”

Now that pissed me off. I got close enough to her that I probably looked threatening. She was still my mother and I'd never raise a hand to her, but her insulting Scarlet was not going to happen. Ever.

She stilled and looked at me with a shocked expression. “Declan?”

“Never, and I mean never say anything like that about her again. You don’t know her and I will keep her far from this place and you if I have to. She’s something I’ve never had and I won’t ruin it by wreaking havoc of this life on her. So just back off. When she’s ready, when I’m ready-then we’ll see. You cut her…you cut me. We might be new to this relationship shit, but she’s mine and I won’t stand for you or anyone else to speak out of turn about her.”

I never let my anger come out around my mother. I could get like my father and with his Irish background, a temper could flare up so fast that I'd end up having to step away and cool off.

Just thinking about that made me think about Scarlet. I couldn’t help being over-protective with her. She was naïve, but smart. She didn’t really know the world I lived in. For the time being, I wanted to keep her away from this life. The girls who worked here wanted sugar daddies. Danny never hired anyone who wasn’t at least attractive. That’s one reason the lounge did so well. You didn’t need a membership for the ground floor but the entrance fee was expensive. Therefore, a lot of the people who came in here were high-rollers. I would never bring her to a place like Saints and Sinners. I could never imagine Scarlet being in a place like this.

Just the other day Danny was telling Sebastian about the new girl. How no one really liked her and how her body was too soft for the dancing. They wished they hadn’t called her, but when the girl who had made it through the dance auditions ended having too much drama to be bringing in here they fired her. Drama being she was with a MC guy. That shit was one thing I told Danny to never hire. We didn’t need their money or their club whores coming in here.

Not even on the top level where the dancers stripped. Most members were male and we did a background check on each one. That was one rule I told Danny I would never break. I did the books for the entire club. No way was bad shit happening on my watch.

Even though Danny said no one really liked the girl, she had saved their asses by singing live and gathering a crowd. Which was something that's never happened before. Someone singing and 'saving the day'. But Danny still, even though she's thankful, saw the other girls not really liking her. She didn't care as long as no cat fights or shit happened. They did their job and that was the extent of her caring. For the most part. She did care about the girls that have been there the longest. Always at her best to help them when they got in a jam. Or did her best to try and get me to finally pick one of her 'good girls'. Gimme a fucking break.

Anyway, I was ready to spend the evening with Scarlet and her grandmother. Scarlet actually got brave and had me come over twice since that night.

I haven’t made love to her again, although I was dying to get her back underneath me, filling that tight, wet heat with my cock. I’ve been rock hard since taking her virginity. I wanted her body craving mine, just as much as mine was begging for hers. My cock knew when she was somewhere near. My body changed…the alertness that she was close. That tingling sensation in my stomach…made me fucking queasy but it surged to life just knowing Scarlet was in the vicinity.

She told me her grandmother liked embroidering, so I got her one of those embroidery books she had talked about once. She liked looking at the pictures, if not trying her hand at a few. Strange, but I didn’t know any women who liked things like that so what the hell did I know? Scarlet knew how to do all that girly shit. Mending, sewing, quilting and embroidery.

I got out of the truck, grabbed the gifts, (yeah I totally bought Scarlet more than one thing. Was it wrong to spoil her? I didn’t think so.), and made my way to the porch. The rain had calmed down enough it was just sprinkling lightly. The weather finally changed; the rain bringing in a cold front.

I knocked on the door and waited. Both cars were in the drive and I waited, thinking maybe last minute primping or some girlie shit. My hands were full of gifts so I couldn’t reach in my pocket for my phone. Fuck.

“Scarlet! You there, Pix? Don’t be shy. If you didn’t get me anything, it’s okay.” And it was. I really didn’t want anything from her but herself. If she had a bow around her body when she opened the door, I’d be one happy fucker.

I reached over and knocked again. Juggling the gifts weren’t heavy, but I was starting to get worried.

“SCARLET! Answer the door, baby! Nana!”

I still felt weird calling her that. I mean, why did she want me to call her that? Weird. And the few times I’ve been here, I would catch her looking at me and she’d smile like she knew something. Like there was a big secret and she knew the end result. Of course, I knew the end result. I wanted Scarlet more than just a fling. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I just had to get her to get with the program.

When I waited a few more minutes and no response, my body felt double-no triple-the hypervigilance. Something wasn’t right.

“I WILL BUST THIS FUCKING DOOR OPEN! SCARLET! OPEN THE DOOR NOW!”

I waited one minute. Two minutes. I waited another damn three minutes. Fuck this. I took the gifts back to the truck, locked it and started running up the steps when I heard this blood curdling scream from inside.

“SCARLET!”

With my running momentum. I rammed into the front door. Luckily for me, the house was old and Nana hadn’t changed the door for a more modern one, because it splintered when I heaved my shoulder into.

“SCARLET!”

The scream was cut off, but I heard it from upstairs. I took the steps three at a time and ran into Scarlet’s room. No one there. Her dance room-no one there either. I burst open the door to her grandmothers room and saw Scarlet huddled in a corner, her head shaking no and her body rocking back and forth. She was sobbing hysterically.

“Pixie!”

I ran over to her. She was mumbling something I couldn’t quite understand. She had her face covered with her arms.

“Scarlet Kristen Castle, answer me. RIGHT NOW!”

Her head whipped up. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Her face was red, splotchy and swelling. I cupped her crying cheek and demanded, “Talk to me.”

“She left me. She left me. She left me.”

“Who, baby?”

Then with a quaking hand, she pointed over to the bed. Turning my head, I saw Nana, lying on the bed.

Not moving.

From here, I could see she wasn’t breathing either.

Oh, no.

Fuck.

Why didn’t I see that when I came in?

I was so focused on Scarlet I didn’t even check to see what was happening. How long had Scarlet been curled into this corner? She found her grandmother like this? I got up and walked over to the bed, covering Nana with the blanket.

“Not her face! Please.”

With unsteady hands, I tucked the blanket up to her chin.

“I’m going to call an ambulance, police, and hell. Someone to come. Okay? Maybe we should go out into the living room.”

I walked back to her to lift her up when she wrenched herself away.

“No! I won’t leave her. I can’t. Don’t make me.”

I didn’t know how I felt about being in a room with a lifeless, albeit peaceful, body. I didn’t want Scarlet in here, either. Now that she lifted her head, her eyes were fixed on Nana.

“Scarlet, come with me, please. It’s not good to just stay here. Please, baby.” She shook her head hard, refusing to budge.

“Fucking hell. Alright, I’m gonna get help.”

I wasn’t going to leave her in here to wallow in the sight alone, so I walked to the other side of the room and took out my phone. I kept my eyes on Scarlet. She was still rocking her body and I longed to hold her. To get her the hell out of this room. Out of this house and back to mine. I kept the call to the authorities short and they told me someone was on their way.

Pocketing my phone, I went back to Scarlet, lowered to my haunches and rested my hands on her knees, and I gently kneaded the curve. I blocked her direct line of path and her eyes just seemed to glaze over. Not really seeing me. Looking at her, she looked absolutely devastated and lost, her eyes were rimmed red and puffy from crying. Her cheeks were red and splotchy. I slowly brought my arms out.

“I won’t take you from the room if you want to stay. I would prefer to go into the living room. Let’s leave Nana in peace, baby. Let me carry you there. Please.
Please,
Scarlet.”

The eyes that seemed to stare at nothing finally shifted to me.

The tears I thought were finished, welled up again in her eyes and she whispered, “She left me.”

A horrible wrenching sound ripped from her lips and she thrust herself into my arms.

Sobbing, her voice was muffled as she said, “She left me, Declan. I have no one now. I just talked to her this morning and she was fine! How could-

The rest was mumbled into my chest and I reached down to lift her up into my arms. “Come with me, Pixie.”

I took her down the stairs and into the living room, her hold on me was so tight I almost couldn’t breathe. I sat us down on the sofa, keeping Scarlet in my arms as we waited for someone to come.

Her arms wrapped around my neck and she squeezed me tight, burying her face in my neck. I could feel her hot tears soaking up into my skin and the edge of my shirt.

“How could she leave me? I wasn’t ready. She was so excited for tonight. Now I have nobody.”

I settled her a few inches away from me and I captured her chin with my hand. Holding her firmly but gently, I waited for her to look at me. She had her eyes closed and the tears straining down her cheeks.

When they did open, I said, “You are not alone. I am here. I’m not leaving. Sometimes things happen, baby. It’s out of our control. It doesn’t look like she had a bad time going. I am so sorry, Scarlet. I won’t leave you. I-I will never leave you.”

Her breath was catchy and she looked God awful, but holding her in my arms, felt so damn right. She laid against my chest, straddling my legs, and held on with a death grip.

Her face was tucked again against my neck and collarbone when she whispered hoarsely, “You-you promise?”

I never made a promise like this before. To always be there for someone. Never believed someone was important enough.

I knew better though. Since the night we made love, hell, since meeting her, I knew something was different. I would gladly go any distance for her. I wanted her to be all mine. She deserved everything this world had to offer and I wanted to be the one to spoil her.

To show her a world she’s never imagined. Shit, she changed everything inside of me. My heart was exposed and open.

So promising this was easy. I took her shoulders, and moved her inches away from me. I let my hands slide up her shoulders, skimmed her neck until I cupped her cheeks. I told her what my heart and mind were screaming.

“I promise. I will never leave you. Never abandon you. I will always be there for you. Scarlet, I-I promise.”

Holy-fuck-me-shit. I almost said ‘I love you’. Was she ready for me to tell her I loved her? I did love her. I loved her with everything I had. She deserved to hear it. So I told her.