Page 62 of Spoil
When we get home, it’s late morning and we’re both starving, so instead of cooking we order UberEATS from the diner we ate at the first time.
Around one in the afternoon, the doorbell rings. Hoping it’s Nell, I open it without thinking.
Harrison, Declan and Cass stand on my front stoop. Tina must have called Harrison.
“Come in,” I say, opening the door for them more.
My eyes drift to Danny, who is snuggled up on the couch watching a Disney movie. It’s clear she doesn’t feel good, but besides slightly glassy eyes and a red-rimmed nose, you’d never know. I drop a kiss on her forehead to check her temperature before I motion for my friends to follow me into the dining room. I have a feeling I know what they’re here to talk about, but I don’t want to have this conversation in front of Danny.
Cass is the first to sit. She whistles low, her eyes dragging up and down my body. I had been so worried about Danny; I hadn’t changed out of yesterday’s suit. “Man, you look like hell.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, scrubbing my face with my hands. My normally clean cheeks scratch my palms with what has passed a five-o’clock-shadow hours ago.
They’re quiet for a long beat, the weight of what they want to say a heavy presence in the room. I’m already tired, already miserable.
“What’s going on?” Declan finally asks, breaking the silence. “Tina called Harrison. Said you went full papa bear last night.”
I slump into one of my chairs, turning it to face my friends. My friends, who I know are here with good intentions, but who I wish would leave. We don’t do emotions and heart-to-hearts. We love each other, and respect each other, and while Declan’s found love, and they’re comfortable teasing me about Nell, I don’t know if they’re exactly the right people to help. Cass doesn’t believe in love, and Harrison? Hell, who knows what Harrison thinks?
“Nell texted that she had a fever. I admit I freaked out, but I don’t feel at all guilty about it. I’ll overreact a thousand times before I under-react.”
Declan simply nods slowly in response.
They know it’s not about Danny.
I sigh long and low before I finally just give in.
“They’re sleeping in the goddamn basement.” I blink and look at the room and the house around us. “I offered her everything I have. Me, money, the house...” I trail off, emotion clogging my throat. I’m not sure I can voice out loud the worst of it. That I’m not enough.
Cass is next, talking to me slowly like she would if she were approaching a wild animal. “And why do you think that is?”
“She made some stupid promise to her dad before he died. To keep their family together. But you haven’t seen them, Cass. That’s not a family. They treat her like a servant. And her fucking stepsisters tried to seduce me. Who does that?”
And now, apparently, because I’ve started talking about it, the floodgates open. “All these years of searching for her, of waiting for her, of knowing she’s the one, and she’s right in front of me and I still can’t have her. I imagined a lot of things when it came to her, but all of them ended up with us together in the end. Living out our own version of happily ever after. But what if she never comes around, man? What if she never chooses me? Or the life we could have together? Is she really going to live the rest of her life as a servant because of a promise that was blackmailed out of her?”
“Blackmail?” Harrison asks, sitting forward in his chair.
I rub my eyes. “Not blackmail - blackmail. But it was her dad. Her person. And he was dying. What was she going to say? ‘No’?” Harrison relaxes a little, and it softens the pain in my chest knowing he’s already protective of her.
At the very least, she has new friends. Even that doesn’t feel right. Can I just be a friend to her? I look toward the living room where Danny lies. It would break everything inside of me, but if that’s the only way to be a part of their lives, I know I have to try.
Cass places her hand on my arm.
“I’m not going to pretend like I have all the answers. But there’s one thing I think you both believe. And it’s that that girl out there comes first.”
I nod. Nell nor I are willing to walk away from Danny.
“What did she say when she left?” Declan asks, and my brain is sluggish to understand him.
“Um...” I say, struggling to recall. “Just that... Danny should stay with me for a few days while she did something... I dunno...” I reply.
There’s a long pause before Harrison speaks up. “Childhood trauma around poverty is an uphill battle. It sounds like she doesn’t really know what family means. Add onto both of those the loss of a parent? You’re asking a lot of her. You’re asking her to put her complete faith in you - to trust you to protect her and Danny always. And you’re asking her to adopt a lifestyle she never imagined for herself. I think giving her a few days to process what it all means is the least you can do.”
Declan, Cass and I simply stare at Harrison, slack-jawed. That might have been the most I’ve ever heard him talk. About anything. Ever.
And you know what? He might be right.
Cass stands. “Go shower. You stink. We’ll keep an eye on Danny while you’re in there. Declan and Harrison can open the club, and I can stay while you nap,” she says, and I know it’s an order, not a request.
