Page 3 of Wounded Dance
Denham Young.
Kicked out of my life when I was fifteen. Gone for good. Lost to me.
My great love. My shame.
Gabriella’s father.
He’s found me.
Chapter 2
Denham takes a step toward me, then sees Blitz and stops. “Livia, it’s really you.”
I want to shrink into the ground, let it swallow me up. I can’t let Blitz meet him. I can’t let Denham say who he is. If Blitz knew, that would be it. He would be horrified. He wouldn’t want me anymore. And the press. I’m famous now. If they knew. God. Everyone would know. It would be huge news.
And Denham…he doesn’t know about Gabriella. At least I don’t think so. My father kicked him out before I found out I was pregnant. We didn’t see him again.
I look wildly across the parking lot. Thankfully Gwen has already gone.
Why is this happening?
“Livia?” Denham says.
“Go away!” I cry out. “Stay back!”
With that, Blitz pulls me close to him. “Who is this guy, Livia? You want me to take his ass out?”
“No!” I say. “Just get me out of here.”
“Livia, please, there is something I have to tell you!” Denham says. He holds his arms out in a pleading gesture. His face, God, that face, one I knew as well as my own, is contorted in anguish.
“No!” I say. “I don’t want to hear it! Please, stay away!”
Blitz hurries us toward his car on the far side of the building.
But Denham follows. “I couldn’t find you, Livia, or I would have told you sooner. I looked everywhere! I didn’t know where you had gone until I saw you on television!”
Blitz stops beside his car and whirls around, pushing me behind him. “Look, pal, get out of here before your face is part of the pavement. Livia doesn’t want to talk to you. Just because she was on the show doesn’t mean you have the right to stalk her.”
Blitz jerks his keys from his pocket and unlocks the door. “Get in, Livia,” he says.
But my feet are stuck. Denham looks so stricken. He’s older now, and so am I. We’re grown. He isn’t that fresh-faced sixteen-year-old. But his eyes are the same. I’d been lost in them once. Lost enough to forget to be careful. I didn’t guard myself.
But he lied. He led me to my shame.
This gets me.
I manage to turn away and jerk open the door to Blitz’s red Ferrari. The wind tears at my coat and my hair swirls around my face.
“Livia,” Denham says. “Just let me say one thing.”
I pause by the door and look back. Blitz is still next to him, looking threatening and angry. I’ve seen Blitz take down a stranger with a single punch. I have no doubt he’d do it again.
“Please,” I say. “Please don’t come into my life now. I can’t bear it.”
Denham’s face is contorted with emotion. “I won’t. I see you’ve got a good thing going.” He glances at Blitz. “I wouldn’t mess that up. I promise. I would never hurt you. I loved you more than anyone else in the world. More than I will ever love anybody again.”
This makes Blitz relax his stance. He looks back at me. “Livia, who is this?” he asks.
