I wince. “That’s not?—”
She holds up her hand. “If you tell me that’s not what happened, I’ll scream. Do you have any idea what it feels like to—” She sucks in a deep breath, snapping off whatever she was going to say. Her eyes go glassy, but she focuses on me, not bothering to hide her pain as she usually does.
“You act like it’s just something for me to move on from, to get over. Spoken like someone who has never had to drag themselves up by their bloody fingertips before.”
“You think I got this playing with toy cars?” I snap, running my fingers over my scars. I’m being a defensive asshole, but I can’t help it.
“No, I think you got that because you were reckless and cocky and didn’t think things through. Sound familiar?”
I fist my hands and stand up. When I see regret flash across her face, I realize she’s lashing out on purpose. She thinks if she pisses me off, I’ll be happy to see the back of her.
Not a fucking chance.
“Bed or sofa, Delphi. Because if I have to choose, it will always be bed.”
She splutters, but no actual words come out, making me chuckle at how flustered I’m making her. Perhaps that’s the key to getting through to her—keeping her off-balance.
“I’m not staying here, Kruger.”
“You need someone to look after you, and that someone is going to be me.”
“Who the fuck died and made you the boss of me?”
“Snake did, and good fucking riddance.”
She recoils as if I struck her, making me regret what I said, even if it is the truth.
“Delphi.”
“Bed. I can make it on my own, though.” She gets to her feet. Before she can argue with me some more, I pick her up and carry her back upstairs. This time, she doesn’t turn into me. She holds herself as far from me as she can while staying in my grip. Her body is rock-solid with tension, and the second I put her on the bed, she scrambles away from me.
“Delphi—”
“I’m tired. Please leave.”
The urge to say something, anything to make it right, claws at me, but I can hear the tears in her voice. And what the fuck would I even say?
I let out a frustrated breath and run my fingers through my hair. “Alright, rest. I’ll be back to check on you later.”
She doesn’t reply, keeping her back to me, which I take as the dismissal it is. I leave her alone, closing the door with a soft snick and head back downstairs. I clean up the mess from cooking and grab a bottle of beer before settling on the couch. I flick on the TV for background noise and aimlessly browse until a program about custom cars catches my attention. I kick my feet up on the table and swig my beer.
Hearing my phone chime, I pull it out of my pocket and see it’s Havoc.
“Hey, something wrong?”
“The security system for Au is down. I can’t get hold of Midas, and as you had it set up, figured you might be able to sort it out.”
“Shit. Can’t really leave Delphi, you know that.”
“Can’t leave the alarms blaring either. Besides, it’s Delphi’s place now, according to Midas. So I don’t think it would go down well with her if something happens to it and we did nothing.”
I curse, knowing he’s right.
“I’ll send one of the prospects over to watch her.”
“These prospects are green as new money. Not sure they’d be much good against Delphi’s sharp tongue, let alone anything else.”
He laughs. “Gotta toughen them up somehow. Saying that, though, they’ll wait outside and keep an eye on the place. You’ll be in and out in thirty minutes. I know there’s been a lot of shit swirling around the club, but there is no threat to Delphi.”
