“Sophie, stop behaving like a child,” Daniel sighed.
“You think I’m behaving like a child?” Her voice was getting shrill. “Do you know what?”
“What?” His hand reached over his face. Lucy watched as he squeezed the bridge of his nose between his fingers. He was stressed. Faint lines were pulling together on his forehead and Lucy felt guilty that she’d started the fight. She didn’t want to be the reason that he was tense. She didn’t want to be the reason that he wasn’t happy, even if that meant that he was with Sophie and not her.
It wasn’t like they could ever be together anyway. It wasn’t like he’d even want to be with her after the court case. So, why was she pushing so hard on Sophie? What did she expect from Daniel? It wasn’t like he was going to stay single for the rest of his life. It wasn’t like there wasn’t going to be another Sophie, somewhere down the line.
“You either get in that pool with me now,” Sophie’s tone was sharp and cold, “or I’m going.”
“Then you should probably go,” Daniel said without hesitation.
“What?” Sophie took a stunned step backwards. “What did you just say?” she demanded. “How can you tell me to leave? I’m the best damn thing that’s ever happened to you.”
Daniel laughed. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
When they had been arguing she had looked like a spoiled toddler. Sophie didn’t look like that anymore. Instead, she looked like a beauty queen who had just broken her winning streak. Lucy could see it happening in her eyes. She could see the doubt creeping into Sophie’s eyes about her own self-worth.
“If that isn’t true,” her bottom lip was trembling, even though her eyes showed no sign of tears, “then why did Josh contact me? Why did he beg me to get back together with you? Why would he do that if I wasn’t the most important girl in your life?”
Daniel showed a slight flicker of confusion over Josh’s name being mentioned, but he hid most of it well. “I don’t know why my brother told you that, but I think it’s time that you go,” he told Sophie coldly.
“You’re kicking me out?” She didn’t move. “You can’t do that. What about us? What about what we have together? You can’t end things like this. I won’t let you.”
“You won’t let me?” Daniel shook his head softly. “You don’t really have a choice. Now, here’s something you do have a choice about. You can either walk out of that door yourself or I can call my guard to come and escort you out. Which would you prefer?”
*******
Chapter 16
Friday morning had come, well before Lucy was ready to deal with it. She spent the night before counting down the hours and then minutes of sleep she could have before she would have to get up. When she realized that she had less than half an hour left, she gave up completely and went to take a shower.
The court case didn’t start until early afternoon. That left Lucy sitting in the purgatory of the morning. The hours seemed to slow down when the sun came up. It was like time itself hadn’t started to torture her. She didn’t think that it could get any worse—that’s when the knocking started at her door.
“What’s up?” she asked, taking in Daniel’s clearly angered state. She stepped back, so that he could come into the room. He walked in with the anger of ten men. His shoulders were pulled back, his breathing quick and sharp.
“Please tell me that he’s lying,” he demanded.
“What?” Lucy asked, confused. “Tell you that who is lying?”
“Josh.” He was glaring at her. He’d come in demanding that she claim innocence, but he’d already judged her as guilty. That was clear. There was no room in his eyes for doubt.
“I don’t understand.” Lucy shook her head. She wanted to back away from his glare. It was intense as it seared against her skin. She didn’t move, though. She barely even dared to breathe. She didn’t want to do anything that might make him think that she was guilty. She didn’t want to do anything that would intensify that look of betrayal in his eyes.
“He told me about the Thai place.”
It took Lucy a second to work out what he was talking about. There had been so much going on in her head already, without the addition of Daniel and his anger. “Oh.” Her eyes dropped down to his chest. “What did he tell you about the Thai place?”
“He said that you both saw Sophie there with some other dude.”
Lucy nodded. “Sure, I did see that.”
“He also said that he wanted to tell me, but you told him not to.”
“What?” Lucy could feel the color draining away from her face. “He told you what?” she repeated when Daniel did nothing but stare at her.
“You heard me.”
“That’s not what happened,” Lucy said quickly.
“You just told me that it was.”
“Sure, I saw Sophie there with another guy, but I wanted to tell you.”
“If you wanted to tell me, then why didn’t you?” Daniel’s words hung in the air because Lucy didn’t have an answer for them. “Well?” he pushed her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know,” Lucy told him weakly. “I don’t know why I didn’t tell you. I just didn’t.”
“You don’t know?” he mocked her. “You let me stay with a girl who was cheating on me. You forced my brother to keep it a secret from me. What kind of person does that?”
“I didn’t force him to keep it a secret. He’d talked me into not telling you. He said it was for the best. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to see you getting hurt, but I figured that it was best that I stayed out of it.”
Daniel laughed. “You thought it was best that you stayed out of it?” he copied her. “I needed you, Lucy. I needed you to tell me the truth, so that I wasn’t made a complete fool out of.”
“I’m sorry.” She meant it. She meant every little syllable, but that didn’t change anything. How could it? When had the words “I’m sorry” ever actually made anything better?
“You know, you can count me out today.” He brushed his hand through the air. “I don’t see why I should be there for you, when you weren’t there for me.” He walked over to the door. Lucy could feel her heart hammering against her chest. She couldn’t let him leave. She couldn’t let their conversation end on the note that it had.
“Please come,” she said desperately. “I know that what I did was wrong. I know that I should have told you, but I need you today. I know that I’m being selfish, but I really need you. I wasn’t there for you and you’re angry. I get that. But, please, be there? I don’t know if I can do this without you.”
Daniel shook his head. “Lucy, why do you even care? You’ve gone your whole life without me in it. You’ve spent years avoiding coming home. Don’t act like you care just because you’ve been forced back into the family.”
“It’s not that,” Lucy said. She stopped herself from saying anything else.
“Then what is it?” he asked her with frustration. It was obvious from the way that his weight was shifting between his feet that he wanted to leave.
She wanted to tell him the truth. She wanted to tell him that it had nothing to do with him being family. She loved him. She’d known that from the moment that she’d seen Sophie’s arms wrapped around his waist. He made her a better person. He made things easier for her just by being around. He was the only person in the world that she’d entrusted with her secret. She trusted him.
“You know what, it doesn’t even matter,” Daniel said when Lucy had failed to say anything. “I’m getting out of here.”
Lucy opened her mouth. She wanted to call him back. She wanted to sort things between them, but she closed it again. She knew that there wasn’t anything she could do. She’d known since she’d asked Daniel to come to the courtroom that it would be her last day with him. She just hadn’t realized that he’d walk away from her before it even started.
********
Chapter 17
What was happening with Daniel did
n’t change anything. Lucy was still sitting in the courtroom. She was still being held as a witness to what had happened. The ceilings in the small courtroom were high. The empty space between them and the ground made everything that happened in between echo out. It made everything that was happening in it seem surreal. It made time go slower, as words refused to end.