“Always,” I say, taking her hand and squeezing it. A snowflake falls and lands in her messy curls. It’s beautiful, almost as much as she is. More flakes begin to fall, white and pristine. It really is gorgeous here. It’s like nothing bad could possibly happen. Nothing can hurt me.
It feels freeing.
CHAPTER 12
CODY
Darcy doesn’t come along to my lessons the next morning, and I’m oddly disappointed. I just like her being around. She’s the kind of person who will tell you exactly like it is—no bullshit. There’s so much bullshit in my life already. I don’t know, I guess it’s refreshing to have something real.
I spend the whole day thinking about her, my mind plagued with worry over where she might be or if she’s angry with me. I just want things to be okay. I want to be beside her, laughing and playfully bickering. It’s the only thing that’s felt right in months. Since Claudia died. It’s strange that I’ve only had a few short conversations with Darcy, but she’s managed to make me feel whole again. That must mean something. I’m sure of it.
I know it’s unhealthy to associate the kind of happiness Claudia brought me with Darcy. That’s not fair to her. Darcy isn’t a replacement or something to fill the void. She’s a woman. A woman who just so happens to have a sweet smile and an intoxicating laugh. A woman whose presence I crave. I know she and I have our undeniable issues, but at the end of the day, there’s a connection there. One that’s rare. I should know. I’ve only ever felt it once before in my life.
It’s the kind of connection that makes me want to protect her. It makes me think about her every waking second, wondering what she’s thinking or if she’s okay.
And after yesterday, that feeling has only intensified. The realization that she’s being harassed by her ex was a wake-up call. Instead of fighting against Darcy, I think maybe I should start fighting beside her.
It’s only natural that she’s the first one I go looking for when I get back to the resort in the early afternoon.
She answers my incessant knocking on her door after a couple of minutes, and I immediately notice how tired she looks. There are dark circles beneath her bloodshot eyes.
“Are you okay?” I ask, and my heart swells when she smiles at the question.
She steps aside for me to enter and responds as I walk past her into the hallway. “I’m fine. It’s just… Milo has been calling me all night.” She closes the door behind us and leads me to the couch. We sit, and I hear her sigh. “I’ve tried everything to get him to stop. I yelled at him, I begged him, I even tried to bribe him. I’ve blocked every number he calls from, but he just calls from a new one. I don’t even know how he’s doing it.” Her eyes meet mine, and as exhausted as she seems, I can’t help but notice that she almost looks happy to see me. “I’m sorry I didn’t meet up with you this morning. I would’ve, but I didn’t think I’d be very good company today.”
I shake my head. I can’t believe she’s apologizing to me. Her heart is too kind. I can’t even fathom that she’s real sometimes.
“No, don’t apologize, Darcy. I was just worried that something happened. And apparently I was right to be.” I frown at her and move just a bit closer, as close as I can get away with for the moment. I want to reach out and touch her arm, but I don’t. I know she wouldn’t like it, and the thought of doinganything to upset her right now makes me sick. “There has to be a way to stop this. Have you tried calling the police?”
Darcy shrugs as if we’re talking about the weather. She’s completely too casual about having a stalker—one who might just be crazy, at that. What kind of man harasses a woman like that? How could he make Darcy so uncomfortable and not feel any guilt about it?I’manxious about it, and I’m not even the one being harassed. I can’t imagine how she must feel.
“He’s not doing anything illegal,” she says. “I could get a restraining order, but I somehow doubt he’d honor it. He’s got nothing left to lose. I was all he had—so he says.”
How pathetic. To have someone like Darcy—who’s devoted and loving—and then betray her trust and think he has the right to harass her after everything he’s put her through? If it were Maya, I would have addressed this issue long ago. But Darcy won’t allow me to intervene. So, reluctantly, I’m left to offer emotional support instead of taking physical action.
“He can’t bother you forever. He’ll give up eventually,” I assure her, though I’m not quite sure that’s true. A man who wants something is a man who won’t stop until he gets it. And it worries me the lengths he’ll go to to get her. If he hurts her… Well, he wouldn’t even come close to getting away with it. I’d make sure of that. He would pay, immensely. “But my offer stands, Darcy. If you want me to take care of it, just say the word.”
She smiles, and it’s beautiful. She looks like a mess—like she hasn’t slept at all, with dark circles under her drooping eyes and skin a shade paler than usual—but she’s still undeniably a gorgeous mess. Her red hair is tied up, frizzing out around her face. Her glasses perch on the end of her nose and I have to fight the urge to adjust them for her. Even her old band T-shirt seems wrinkled, but it hangs off of her shoulder just right. Even when she’s not trying, everything about her is painfully perfect.
“Thank you, but I’ll be okay,” she says. Our eyes linger on one another for a moment too long to explain. The tension is palpable. I know it has to be stopped. This can’t happen. I can’t look at her like this.She isn’t mine to protect. She isn’t mine to want. She isn’t mine.
“Want to go get a drink?” I ask in lieu of any other decent ideas. “I’m buying.”
Darcy’s smile grows into a grin. “Isn’t this how we got into trouble the other night?”
I shrug. “Well, last time I didn’t have you there to keep me from doing something stupid. This time, I do. What do you say?”
Darcy considers for a moment, and I have a brief worry that she may say no, but she finally nods.
“Alright. What’s the worst that could happen?”
That almost feels like a taunt because we both know that the worst that could happen would be very,verybad given our track record, but I don’t say anything.
I move to the hallway while she gets dressed, and then the two of us leisurely wander down to the lobby bar, chatting idly and catching up on events that life has thrown at us since we were last close.
It’s still too early for the bar to be very busy, so we take our pick of the empty seats, finding a couple toward the end of the bar. I let Darcy order our drinks but come to slightly regret that decision when the largest margarita I’ve ever seen is sitting in front of me.
“You must be crazy,” I declare, getting a laugh out of her.
