Page 54 of Secrets That Bind Us
She puts an arm around me. “You’re scaring me, Vee.”
Now I peek at her, put my chin on my thumbs and sigh. “I’m scaring myself, Zo.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Dean
Present Day
For two whole weeks I keep my distance– watching over them from afar. When I have a morning shift, I stop by the middle school and greet the little puberty-ridden sassholes. Some of them I know because I coached when they were younger. I always make sure to step behind the pillar when Verity drops Savannah, mydaughter, off. She keeps her headphones on, uses a crossover bag like her Mama used to, and keeps her head down. She’s all Verity in so many ways I recognize.
Savannah doesn’t talk to anyone really– just sketches in her notebook until the bell rings. At lunch time, I swing by the elementary school and watch as Noah, who dresses slightly better than most students here, is a social butterfly– flitting from table to table to talk to whoever calls his name. There is never not a smile on his face, and he reminds me ofmein that aspect when I was younger. Not Micah.
Savannah and Noah are complete polar opposites. I hope to God Savannah's only moodier due to puberty, and not because Micah ever made her feel less than his. I pray he never showed favoritism and loved them equally.
Like I will be doing.
Following Verity, on the other hand, is a bit harder on me to stay inconspicuous. If she’s not holed up at her house, she’s in town working and talking to Will.Laughingwith Will. Leaningtoo closeto look at blueprints over a table with Will. I know he’s married. I know he has two kids with Evelyn. I know they run a business together– but I don’t like it.
I make sure to pull Will over when he leaves for the day and have a small talk with him.
He throws his head back and laughs. “Jesus, you still got it bad for her, huh?” He speeds away.
Jason finally makes me spill my vitriol during our run, and I tell himeverything.
“And you’re sure she’s yours?” he questions, panting as we run the trail of the community park that leads through the woods and out to the high school practice field. The man can lift, but when it comes to running, heloathesit.
“The second I looked into those blue eyes, I knew she was mine, Jace. Black hair, freckles, my cheek bones. She’s kinda tall, too, for a twelve-year-old. Only thing that ain’t mine is her nose. That’s all Verity.” I pant out, because fuck cardio. The only cardio I want is five-foot-three with brown hair, big brown eyes, and is the mother of my children. But I’ll get there soon. Also- anyone that says Noah ain’t mine is getting a swift fucking fist to the throat.
“But she said you get to meet her properly?”
I nod, spitting on the ground as we keep running in the blistering sun. Fuck, this heat wave is suffocating. It rained a few days ago but that sticky humidity remained. Whose idea was this? I grimace when I remember it was mine. “Told her there was no getting rid of me now.” Then I tell him how she flirted in that little way of hers that always makes my heart flicker and my dickthrob. Verity gives my heart an erection.A heart-on,if you will.
To this, Jason laughs, swiping at the sweat in his eyes. “So the wolf finally caught the rabbit, huh? Well, I’m happy for you. How do you feel, though?”
“Angry, at first. Mostly at myself.”
“And now?”
“I'm just… ready. When it comes to Verity, I promised her forever at seventeen, and I meant it. Now it’s just time for her to realize I did. I’m not a boy anymore. Thank God she wasn’t around to see the worst parts of me.”
Jason stops running, so I do, too. Throwing his arms up and clutching the back of his head, he lets out an exasperated breath, squinting. “There were no ‘worse parts of you,’ Dean. Stupid, sure. Horny, of course. Stupidandhorny, absolutely. But you were always a good man. You just needed a push. And now she gets the man you molded yourself to be. You’re you. You’re just a better version of you.”
“She lost her accent, man.” I reply with a sad shake of my head. I don’t know why that fucking guts me, but it does. “She’s got this… I dunnohow to explain it other than it’s a different cadence to her words. Like she worked really hard to forget she ever lived here.”Forget me,I don’t say.
Jace hums. “She’ll come back to you. She’s still in there. May be a little different, but…” He lifts a sweaty shoulder and lets it drop. “You know, Maranda says sometimes women ‘lose their pink.’ It takes agood man– not a nice man – to bring it back. Slowly but surely. Maybe her accent comes back. Maybe it doesn’t. But the girl that loved you is still in there either way.”
I grunt as we start running again, and we come to another stop at a clearing and sit on some boulders just inside the shade– taking in the nature sounds late summer in Adelaide has to offer.
“I’m guessin’ you’re just waiting for her to hit you up now?”
I dip my chin. “I left my card with my phone number on the crack of her door and another in her mailbox,” I pause, because I’m not proud of this next part, “and another on her windshield under the wiper.”
Chief laughs. “Damn, you leave one on her side porch too?”
I let out a groan because yes. Yes, I fucking did. Jace cackles. “I also called Zoey and asked for Verity’s number to have just in case. I had to promise her I’m not gonna use it and I’m not.”
“Not yet.” Jason counters.
