Better (Stark Ink Book 2) (5 page)

If Dalton hadn’t spent the last six months learning to fight off his urges before they overwhelmed him, he might very well have left Zoey where she stood, in his entryway, crying over her broken marriage. He would have driven all night to confront her sad excuse for a husband and broken
him
, instead. Before now, he hadn’t known it was possible to hate another person as much as he hated this man that he’d never met. It wasn’t hard to imagine a better world without him in it. Certainly Zoey was better off without him. Zoey and her baby.

Jesus Christ
, he thought as he held her and stroked her hair.
Zoey’s baby
.

In a way he felt responsible for that as well. He’d apparently pushed her so hard that she’d met, gotten married, and gotten pregnant in the space of less than a year, probably all in an attempt to erase the memories he’d created for her. Perhaps she’d been so devastated at the loss of the future she’d wanted with Dalton, that she’d latched on to the first person who’d even come close to fitting the bill and tried to carve out that life with him, instead.

While Dalton was being supported by people telling him to quell his destructive urges, Zoey had not had anyone to do the same for her. But where were her parents in all this? What had they done to stop this train wreck of a marriage before it had materialized? Before it had gotten this far, before it was too late to do anything when the absolute most amount of devastation possible would occur when it derailed? As she sobbed against him, he understood that she was in no shape to answer the million questions he had.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” he told her, even though he honestly didn’t see how. He had not intended to ruin her life, only send her on her way to a better one. It seemed he was a poison that no one could get out of their system, even after he himself had been cured.

“Alright,” he said, “let’s go to the spare room. You need to get off your feet and lie down.”

He guided her gently to the extra bedroom, thankful that he had fresh sheets on it. He sat her down gently and put her sack of makeup on the nightstand.

“I’ll make you that tea,” he said. It really was the absolute least he could do.

She nodded and he closed the door behind him, feeling guilty about leaving her but not knowing what else to do. In the kitchen he found her boxes of tea and checked the labels for the one that made you sleepy. Surely that would be okay for the baby. He’d be sure to ask if it was as he set a small saucepan on the stove and heated some water.

He heard the car pull up and made it to the door before Ava and Sienna had a chance to ring the bell. He swung the door inward, hoping to just grab the keys and send them on their way, but Ava marched in and looked around. Sienna followed her inside, giving Dalton a sheepish look. Dalton wasn’t put off or even surprised. Ava was Ava.

“She’s resting,” he said pointedly.

Ava glanced down the hallway, toward the closed bedroom door and shook her head. “I can’t believe he hit her.”

Dalton grunted. For Ava, that was putting it mildly. “Well, she’s safe now and she has space to think things over.”

“She going to the cops?”

“Maybe in the morning,” he hedged, making his way back to the kitchen. He still needed time to try and convince Zoey it was necessary. He doubted he could file a complaint for her. He didn’t mention the baby, though. Perhaps he needed some time to get used to the idea himself. Or perhaps he was making things easier on himself, because Ava was a loose cannon on her best day and Dalton didn’t need two women going off the deep end on him. Probably a little of both, he decided as he wiped the sides of the cup.

“Thanks for taking care of the car,” he told Ava as he guided her back toward the front door. Sienna followed without a fuss.

“Look, go home tonight,” he said finally. “I… I’ve got enough to worry about here for one night, okay?”

Ava looked like she was about to argue, but instead she nodded glumly.

“I appreciate it,” he said to smooth over the ruffled feathers.

“Yeah, okay.”

Ava and Sienna left and Dalton picked up Zoey’s mug. He carried it carefully down the hall and knocked lightly on the door before letting himself in. He supposed the awkwardness of the situation kept him from getting too comfortable, even in his own place.

She smiled at him weakly as he stepped inside.

“Here you go.” He set the steaming cup down on the nightstand.

“Dalton-” she said, voice hoarse from too much crying.

He shook his head. “Not tonight. Nothing needs to happen tonight, including talking.” He wouldn’t lie to himself and say he didn’t feel a bit of a reprieve there. His own apologies could wait another day. “Just get some sleep.”

He quickly shut the door behind him and walked back to the kitchen. He stood at the counter, staring at the used teabag, knowing he should throw it away but making no move toward it. Finally, instead, he took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed. Jonah picked up on the second ring.

“I… need a favor,” Dalton told his younger brother.

Jonah hesitated. Probably not because he was disinclined to say yes, but most likely because in the history of their relationship Dalton had never asked Jonah for anything. Jonah was always wary of anything new.

“What?” he prompted bluntly.

Jonah was definitely not one to beat around the bush or dispense with niceties. He was as outspoken and occasionally foul mouthed as Dalton himself, probably more so. He was also nearly as large as Dalton and, like Dalton and Adam, could handle himself in a fight. But unlike Dalton and Adam, Jonah had a mean streak in him that was both unpredictable and probably unhealthy. The Starks had spent years trying to keep it at bay, with marginal success. Right about now, though, Dalton was more interested in harnessing it.

It was unlikely that Patrick Grant would have the balls to show up here, but he might. Rapid City wasn’t a large city, finding almost anyone was relatively easy. Though Dalton had moved once since his break up with Zoey, he felt pretty confident that Grant could find his new place with little effort.

“Um… babysitting, actually,” Dalton replied, calling it like it was. After all, Jonah was likely to see it that way and so it was probably best to just get it out of the way.

“You don’t have kids,” Jonah pointed out.

Dalton pictured Zoey’s belly and grimaced. “True. Listen, Jonah, I have a problem.”

Jonah must have heard something in Dalton’s tone that made him take notice. “Okay.”

“Can you come over tomorrow, early?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Zoey’s…”

Dalton paused. He was tempted to say Zoey was back, but she wasn’t back and he should be careful saying that she was, because saying she was might lead to thinking she was and when she left it would be harder.

“Zoey’s here,” he told Jonah.

“Zoey? Why? I thought you said she was getting married.”

“She is married.”

Jonah paused. “So, why’s she at
your
place? And why do you want
me
at your place if she’s there?”

“He hit her.”

“Son of a bitch,” Jonah snarled. “Are we going to find him?”

“No.”

“Why not? We should!”

“We’re not doing that,” Dalton insisted. “I just need you to be here with her tomorrow while I’m at work. Just in case he shows up.”

“If he shows up, he’s leaving in an ambulance,” Jonah muttered.

“Which is why I’m calling you and not Ava. Then again, Ava might actually kill him.”

“It’s not out of the realm of possibility,” Jonah said darkly.

Dalton sighed. It wasn’t worth arguing about. Jonah was young and hotheaded on occasion. But despite his personal problems, he knew not to raise his hand to a woman. He was better than that. Dalton could relate to Jonah’s sense of outrage at the situation.

“Just be here early, okay?” Dalton asked. “I’ll call Adam and clear it with him.”

“Sure, no problem.”

Dalton disconnected the call and set the phone on the counter. Jonah could protect Zoey, easily, if it came to that. There was no way to get out of work, unfortunately, but Dalton would be less distracted if he knew she was safe. He swept the teabag off the counter and deposited into the garbage, as though doing that might erase any sign of her. It didn’t work though. It was probably his imagination, in fact he knew it was, but something about the
feel
of the place had fundamentally changed the moment Zoey had walked through the door. Maybe it would go away when she did, but truth was that Dalton hoped it didn’t.

Dalton woke early and crept down the hall. He gently nudged open the door to the second bedroom. Zoey was still there, sleeping soundly. He breathed a sigh of relief. Knowing she was here— safe— did things to him that he’d rather not think about. Some things got inside you and stayed there, like addiction. Some memories did too, although they were more painful and harder to get rid of. But Zoey was real this time, no phantom presence in the night that he reached for and never found.

He closed the door again and headed into the kitchen. His phone showed a text from Jonah that he was on his way. Dalton cringed as he dialed Adam’s number, knowing it was early.

Adam answered on the fourth ring.

“I need to borrow Jonah today.”

“Just during the day?”

“Yeah.”

Adam paused. “Okay, but I really can’t spare him in the evening. It’s our busiest night of the week.”

Dalton glanced at his watch and thought about what he needed to get done that day. “I’ll be home before dark. I just need him to be here while I’m gone.”

“Is there a problem with your place?”

Dalton shifted on his feet and looked up at the ceiling. Lying to your family wasn’t exactly the best way to get them to trust you. “Ah… no. Not really.”

“D?”

Dalton took a deep breath. “Zoey’s here.”

There was a long pause “What do you mean Zoey’s there?”

Dalton tapped his fingers on the counter. “I mean, she’s having some problems. So she’s staying at my place today.”

“What does having problems mean? What kind of problems?”

Dalton glanced over his shoulder at the closed bedroom door. “Relationship problems.”

“
Relationship problems?
No, Dalton. She’s
married
. You mean
marriage problems
. Which are A, none of your business and B, not your problem. You’ve got your own problems.”

Dalton gripped the phone tightly. “You knew she was married?”

Adam didn’t reply.

“You knew and you didn’t tell me.”

Adam sighed. “Her parents put an announcement in the paper. Pop saw it. We agreed not to tell you.”

“So you just decided I didn’t need to know?” Dalton couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It was one thing to help out your family when they needed it. It was another to start making decisions for them.

“It wasn’t a good time to tell you. We just wanted you to focus on getting better.”

“I
am
better!”

Silence again. Dalton’s jaw dropped. Didn’t Adam agree? Dalton hadn’t missed a single meeting or a day of work in almost six months. How could Adam imply that Dalton hadn’t changed? Dalton opened his mouth to ask, but slammed it shut. Somehow he suspected he didn’t want to know the answer.

“I’m taking her to her parents tonight anyway,” Dalton snapped. Saying it out loud only made him more angry, though.

“Well, that’s good,” Adam replied. “It’s for the best.”

“Jonah’ll be at work later,” Dalton growled and disconnected the call.

Adam could be a self-righteous prick sometimes.

There was a soft knock on the door and Dalton crossed to the living room to answer it.

Jonah shuffled inside, ducking in the harsh wind. He scraped his heavy boots on the mat and looked around.

“She’s asleep,” Dalton told him.

Jonah nodded.

Back in the kitchen, Dalton swept his keys off the counter and pocketed them. He glanced down the hallway. Zoey was asleep, but she wouldn’t stay in there all day. Dalton rapped the counter with his knuckles. “So, listen. She’ll be here for the day and I’ll take her to her parents’ house when I get off work. If she needs anything, get it for her.”

Jonah wrinkled his nose. “Like what?”

Dalton rubbed the back of his neck and looked at his younger brother. “I don’t know. I don’t know about that stuff. Here’s the thing. She’s pregnant.”

Jonah’s jaw dropped.

Dalton frowned. “Jonah?”

Jonah didn’t respond.

“Jonah!”

Jonah finally shook himself and looked at Dalton.

Dalton smirked at him. “Do you need to take off your boots to finish counting? It’s not mine. If it was, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” Dalton shook his head. “I don’t know how you put your hands on the woman carrying your kid.”

Jonah’s jaw tightened. “There are all kinds of assholes in the world.”

Dalton froze. Maybe calling Jonah had been the wrong move. Dalton had been so wrapped up in Zoey that he hadn’t given the baby much thought. Jonah’s parents, his real parents, had been truly evil. Dalton cursed himself for putting Jonah under the same roof as a kid whose father was also abusive. Dalton’s hand flexed, squeezing his cell phone. “Maybe I should call Adam back,” he said quietly.

Jonah’s menacing gaze met his. “Don’t call Adam.”

Dalton’s fingers twitched. “Jonah.”

Jonah shook his head. “Don’t call him. I got this.”

“Jonah.”

“I won’t kill him,” Jonah declared. “If he comes here, I won’t kill him. I promise.”

Dalton hesitated, searching Jonah’s face, trying to discern the truth.

Jonah shrugged. “How much damage could the prick do to someone who’s not even born?”

Dalton checked his watch again. He hated to leave, but if he was going to call Adam he had to do it now. It was selfish, but Dalton was still kind of pissed off at his older brother and preferred the younger one just now. He pointed a finger at Jonah. “If he shows up here, you call me.”

Jonah nodded. “I’ll call you. After I hurt him.”

Dalton sighed.

Jonah grinned. It was positively feral. “You didn’t say I couldn’t hurt him. He deserves that much.”

Dalton had to admit he felt the same. He sized up Jonah, who nearly filled the entire kitchen space. Clad in all black, his steel-toed boots matched the ring in his eyebrow, which was barely visible through the dark hair that fell just above his eyes. His black leather jacket made him look even more imposing. There was no way Zoey’s pansy-assed stockbroker husband— or whatever he was— would stick around long enough for a beat down. Dalton was sure Grant would take one look at Jonah and high tail it out of town.

Dalton found he was a bit disappointed at the thought. “Don’t hurt him too badly.”

Jonah grunted.

“Anyway, I left a note for her so she knows you’re here. She’ll see it when she wakes up so you don’t give her heart attack.”

Jonah grinned and reached for the handle on Dalton’s fridge. “I’m very cuddly.”

Dalton snorted. “You and porcupines.” He took one last glance down the hallway.

“Hey,” Jonah said. “She’ll be alright. Don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry? Jonah, this is the woman I think about every day,
every single day
. You don’t get it. Not worrying is not an option.” Dalton slid his phone into his pocket and shrugged on his jacket.

“Dalton,” Jonah called out to him.

Dalton paused with his hand on the knob.

“You’re wrong. I
do
get it. And no one is going to touch Zoey again.”