Disappointment flashes across his features in a different sadness than before. “I wouldn’t know.”
“You’ve never been?”
He shakes his head. “My mother couldn’t afford much. She met my dad when he traveled on business. Her life wasn’t the greatest there, so she agreed to come back to the states with him and well—”
“Then they had you.”
He nods.
“How did she die?” I’m asking too much but I want to know him, so each question keeps spilling out.
“Depression won.” His attention focuses on the floor, but mine rests on him.
One powerful word is all I need to understand what he means. I don’t need to ask anymore. Though, I yearn to wrap my arms around him in comfort. Hush isn’t the man you cradle in your arms though. Not right now at least. The thought was crazy.Not now?As if I’d plan to embrace him, comfort him in the future?
I shiver, the bitterness of the air finding its way through me despite Hush’s warm body against mine. And I could have sworn I felt the slightest shift of him moving closer. Nearly impossible. But his thigh touches mine now.
“What about you? Why are you alone, Danika?”
My eyes slam closed because the way he says my name is like morning doves singing. He’s never said it before—addressed me by my name.
I shrug. “Being alone isn’t so terrible,” I reply, lying through my teeth. At times being alone has its advantages but other times, it’s gut wrenching. “You’realways alone.” I can curse myself after saying that.
“It’s better that way.”
For a reason unknown, my stomach grows sour with a tiny light burning out. “I lost my parents, too.” Not really wanting to talk about the tragic accident, I don’t elaborate, and I know Hush won’t push for more. “How did Hush become your name?”
As the wind whistles outside, the storm seems far from over.
“Just something the guys came up with.”
Should I ask? Shall I dare ask him to share his real name?
I don’t. Instead, I turn to get more comfortable, my breasts pushing into his muscular arm. The scar on my back also sends a shooting pain throughout my back but I manage to hide it.
“So, darts, huh?”
I smile at his comment. “It’s an embarrassing skill I picked up at drunken college parties. Nothing to really brag about.”
“It’s oddly impressive.”
A laugh bolts out. “Yeah, well… don’t get too excited. I don’t know how many times I’ll be playing darts in the future. I’d much rather be…” I pause realizing how easy it was to almost slip out my joy for yoga.
“What? What would you rather be doing, Danika?”
Goosebumps rise at the sound of my name again. It’s so smooth. “I used to teach at a yoga studio. But I’d rather not talk about it.” Warmth still seeps into me from his body as my eyes grow heavy. I don’t remember anything after that as the darkness falls upon me.
FIFTEEN
Hush
“My parents do not hate you.”
I’d like to tell Gracie she’s wrong, but her family means a great deal to her and if she believed they welcomed me with open arms, then that’s what I’ll let her keep thinking. It was easier that way.
The first time her dad met me, there was no doubt, disdain dripped from him like a leaky faucet down his judgmental face. Here I was, a man dating his daughter, covered in tattoos, and all he thought he saw was a felon. I’m nowhere near that kind of reputation. I was a contractor, builder, but for some reason I didn’t match up to his idea of whom his daughter should marry. They came from money. Lots of it. And I, well, came from shit. My mother tried her best after my father left. She worked two jobs just to keep food on the table. If I wasn’t so goddamned in love with Gracie, I would have told her father to fuck off.
As far as her mother went, she too, was also good at hiding her disappointment from her daughter who was blinded. Loved her family too damn much to think they wouldn’t accept whoever she brought home. Her parents’ dream was for her to marry a doctor, or a surgeon, as Gracie had told me.
