Page 83 of The Edge of Summer
I watch my sister lead Sophia into the crowd. When they meet up with Abbie and Gabe on the other side, I pull Delilah down the hall toward my office. On our way, we bypass the mayor. She looks like she wants to talk to me, but I just keep moving. I’ll deal with her later. I’ve already spent enough time catering to her today—I have more important things to worry about right now.
When I shut us inside my office, it becomes apparent just how small the space truly is. With a wary glance my way, Delilah perches on the edge of my desk. I continue to walk the length of the room, too keyed up to stand still.
“If you brought me back here to get lucky, I’m sorry to inform you that you can’t. I’m on my period and?—”
“I didn’t bring you back here for that,” I interject.
Delilah’s frown of confusion deepens. “Then what are we here for?”
For the first time since I saw the picture, I stop and think. How am I even supposed to broach this subject? What if she has no idea her picture is out there? What if she does and I just jumped the gun? There is no easy way, so I go for the full truth.
“I found a couple of my guys looking at a…picture today,” I say. “Delilah, it... It was yours.”
I stop in front of her and study her face. Her already pale skin goes impossibly whiter as she registers my words. Reads between the lines. She swallows thickly. “Oh.”
She doesn’t seem surprised. I feel somewhat better knowing that at least I wasn’t the one to break the news to her, but at the same time I hate that she already looks so defeated. I would do anything to take that look off her face.
I take a step closer and find her hand again. I give it a gentle squeeze. “What happened?”
She offers me a self-deprecating smile. “I was young and stupid.”
“Hey.” My thumb begins to move in slow circles across the back of her hand. “The last thing you’ll ever be is stupid.”
She sighs. “I met Mitchell in high school. He was one of the first guys to ever give me attention. I didn’t know any better. We were together forseven years. I didn’t see it then, but he was just using me to make himself look good. I gave him friends in high school, and he piggybacked off my father’s reputation after graduation. Last summer, I found out he had been cheating on me. I broke up with him after that,” she says.
I nod in approval. “That’s my girl.”
She offers me a small smile. “After a few days of not responding to his texts or calls, I got the news that my picture was spreading across the internet. It was from shortly after I turned eighteen.” Her hand tightens on mine as she swallows. “It would be bad enough for anyone, but it didn’t just affect me. It affectedmy dad’s job, too.”
Her dad, the premier. No wonder the picture spread as widely as it did. If her last name was attached to it in any way, of course it would get picked up by the media and anyone who had a bone to pick with her father.
“This Mitchell guy—he’s the one that shared it?”
She nods. “He would never admit it, but I know it was him. He’s the only person I’ve ever sent pictures like that.” Her cheeks flush in embarrassment and I hate that this is making her uncomfortable. “I guess it was some kind of power trip to try to make me come back.”
Anger surges through me. What a pathetic man. To have someone as remarkable as Delilah and then to fail to cherish her… It’s unthinkable. She deserves much better than her shitty excuse of an ex.
“My dad had to pay to have the pictures removed.” A guilty look crosses her features at this. “But by then, it was too late. Everyone knew, and they couldn’t scrub all of them.”
Suddenly, it all makes sense. The way she worried about the cameras; how she seemed so desensitized when her car was vandalized. She’s probably had that word, and worse, hurled at her already.
“I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that, Delilah.”
Surprise paints her pretty features. “It’s o?—”
“Don’t you dare say it’s okay.” With my free hand, I cup her jaw, tilting her head. I need her to see me. I need her to hear my next words. To know that I mean them. “Nothing about what he did is okay. It was a blatant violation of your trust and privacy.”
She looks at me for a long moment. Her eyes begin towell before a single tear slides down her face. I sweep it away with the pad of my thumb, then continue stroking the soft skin over her cheekbone. She leans into my touch.
“Thank you,” she whispers. And with those two words, the tension in her shoulders melts, replaced with overwhelming relief.
“He hasn’t reached out again, has he?” I ask.
If he has, I’ll have to think of a better way to see to it he stops bothering her. I’m sure Finn wouldn’t mind helping. He, more than anyone, hates when a woman is taken advantage of. And despite it being hard to tell, I think he took a liking to Delilah the day they met at his shop.
Thankfully, she shakes her head. “Blocking him seems to have worked. It’s stupid—I should have done that months ago.”
“Let’s not focus on the past, yeah? Let’s just focus on the fact that fucker is out of your life for good.”
