Derek lifts his eyebrows and slides a look of disbelief my way. “Letting her? Wow, Nikki, didn’t realize you were on a leash.”
I roll out my shoulders, trying to remember why I want anything to do with either one of these idiots. I could just leave. I could go home and get back to working on my book. I don’t need this shit.
Henry picked me up though. It’s kind of far to walk, and it’s disgustingly hot outside tonight. I don’t want to get sweaty.
I don’t know, going home sounds pretty damn good right now. If I leave, they might kill each other though, and I’ll be responsible. If Henry kills Derek, then Derek will be dead. If Derek kills Henry, he’ll go to jail. Either way, Kayla will raise Cassidy full-time. I can’t be responsible for that. Guess I have to moderate this bullshit.
“All right, both of you, out to the lobby,” I say, holding the bag of popcorn in one hand and shoving Henry out into the aisle with the other.
Gesturing to the movie screen with an expression of innocence, Derek says, “We’re gonna miss the trailers.”
“Now,” I tell him.
“It’s so sexy when you act like a mom,” he tells me, standing to follow me. “Cassidy wants to know when you’re gonna come over and play with us again, by the way. We got a big bucket full of sidewalk chalk, and she told me she wants you to help her decorate the driveway.”
“She did not,” I say, glaring back at him. “You are such a manipulative bastard.”
“Cross my heart,” he swears. “She liked you. She said I should invite you for another sleepover. I’m inclined to agree. I really enjoyed the last one. Not as many times as you enjoyed it, but…” He trails off, winking at me.
Oh, my God, he is the worst.
With every word out of Derek’s mouth, Henry fills up with more rage. His whole body is vibrating with it by the time we get to the lobby. Derek pretends Henry isn’t even here and tells me about Cassidy’s pet lady bug, and how it was hiding when I was over last weekend, but it came out after I left and Cassidy wants to show it to me.
I would say I can’t believe him, but the sad thing is, I can. It is so like Derek to turn the tides in his favor. To turn the thing that drove us apart into the thing that drives Henry away from me.
Henry knew no details about my incident with Derek last weekend. Undoubtedly he thought of it as a strictly physical drunken hook-up, but now Derek is standing here talking to me about his daughter—who Henry didn’t even know existed—and the pseudo family time we spent together. With every deliberate word out of his troublemaking mouth, Derek paints a picture—not of a tawdry one-night-stand, but of something real, something with roots.
I don’t know why Henry even stops once we get to the lobby. In his shoes, I would keep walking right out the door and never look back.
“Anyway,” Derek says, lowering his voice theatrically, “if you wanted me to come later, you should have texted me. I could’ve swung by after the suit dropped you off at home.”
“Just fucking stop it,” Henry snaps. “You think this is funny? This isn’t funny.”
Nodding once, Derek says, “I can see how it wouldn’t be for you.”
Eyes wide, Henry stares at me. “You like this person? This is the guy who fucked you up so much? This fucking asshole?”
“You know what? I’m going home,” I tell him, shaking my head. “I’m sorry, you have every right to be pissed off, and I know I should be more apologetic, but I can’t. This is exactly what he wanted. You’re playing right into his hand. You’re going to say things to me in anger that I will never forget, and so I’m just… I’m not going to do this. I’m sorry you took time off for this. I’m sorry Derek ruined our date. He won this round and we lost. Now, I’m going home.”
I reach over and snatch the Diet Coke Derek bought me out of his hand and head for the doors.
Chapter Fourteen
“Nicole,” Henry calls, following me.
“Oh, Henry, please don’t. Be mad, but do it away from me. I have a long memory. Ask him. I don’t forget when people offend me. I hold grudges and hate them forever.”
“Not sure he’s the best person to ask, seeing as you apparently fucked him and played house with him last weekend. If that’s what your grudges are like, ple
ase feel free to hold a fucking grudge against me, Nicole. You didn’t tell me any of that happened.”
Lifting my eyebrows I ask, “Did you want to hear it? I tried to tell you everything when you came over that night, but you stopped me. I would have told you whatever you wanted to know. I wasn’t being deceptive.”
We’re outside the theater now, under the lights in the parking lot. It’s a hot night made hotter by the stirring of passion, of anger and embarrassment. I hate that I’m the reason Henry is embarrassed. I hate that Derek is hurting him in his single-minded focus to win. I hate most of all that it doesn’t have anything to do with me, but if pressed, he would insist it does. Every time Derek loses me, he thinks he wants me back, but he doesn’t have the staying power to stick it out. It’s easy to get swept up in Derek’s passion, to believe in his conviction. It’s a lot harder when he gives up on you and it turns out it was all bullshit.
The door of the theater swings open and Derek comes strolling outside. He approaches slowly, his gaze drifting over to us, but he gives us a little breathing room.
Dragging my gaze back to Henry, I tell him, “If you want to talk about this, let’s leave and do it out of his earshot. He doesn’t deserve to hear the destruction he has wrought.”