Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 03 - Of Dark and Bright (14 page)

Chapter 10

I
T HADbeen Chris who’d left a message on Dan’s phone, telling him that Tat was safe and back home where she belonged. It had been good to hear, of course. He’d been doing his best to keep the unpleasant possibilities out of his mind, but he couldn’t deny that he’d been worried about her. He hadn’t been thrown into a hysterical panic, but he’d been concerned.

He had no idea what it meant that neither Evan nor Jeff had called him with the news. Well, he guessed he knew what it meant that Evan hadn’t called. They were still fighting, apparently. Which was good, because Dan was still absolutely pissed off. But why hadn’t Jeff called him?

When the three of them had first started, it had always felt like Jeff was on Evan’s side, but that perception had faded over the years. Now, it was back. Jeff and Evan were the real couple, and Dan was just their piece on the side. God, he was tired. And cranky, he had to admit. The whole situation would probably look a hell of a lot better once he’d had a good night’s sleep. But he didn’t think he’d be able to rest until some of this was settled, so he nodded to the security guard on duty at Krista’s front door, then knocked. “It’s Dan,” he called softly.

“Come in,” she answered, and he followed her voice down the hall to the kitchen. “Hi,” she said, and she nodded to the pan on the stove. “I’m making hot milk. You want me to add some for you?”

“No, thanks. I’m good.”

 

“Okay.” She sank into one of the kitchen chairs. “You keep an eye on it, okay? Keep it from boiling over?”

 

“Yeah, okay.” He picked up the spoon and stirred absentmindedly.

 

“What’s up, Danny?”

 

That was a good question. “I’m sorry about Evan. I mean, sorry he treated you like that.”

 

“Like what? Like a criminal? I hate to tell you, Danny, but—”

“But you didn’t have anything to do with it. I mean, there
was
no ‘it’—Tat was fine. Evan totally overreacted, and he took it out on you.”

“He was worried about his sister,” she said evenly.
“And I was worried about
mine
.”

“It’s not really the same, Danny.” She didn’t explain what the difference was, and Dan couldn’t keep Evan’s words from returning to him.
You obviously don’t care about her like I care about Tat.
Was it a contest? And if it was, had Dan already lost? Fifteen years ago, he’d run away from his abusive home and left his baby sister behind. There was no denying that, and maybe there was no way of moving past it, either.

“You don’t have to stay here,” he said. He could tell from her expression that he’d caught her by surprise. “I’ll talk to Susan. I bet she could get the bail agreement changed, and you could stay at my place instead.”

“I thought you said it was a one-bedroom?”
“I could sleep on the couch.”

She frowned at him. “Danny, look around you. Why would I want to leave this place to go live in your crappy apartment? That doesn’t make any sense.”

He had no response. He was offering her dignity, a place where the host’s generosity wouldn’t disappear at the first challenge. But apparently that didn’t mean as much to her as it did to him. He distracted himself by pulling the milk off the burner and finding a mug for it. He leaned over and put the drink on the table in front of her, and said, “He may not want you here anymore. He usually calms down
fairly
quickly after one of his little fits, but he stays crazy longer when Tat’s involved.”

“He already apologized about it.” She took a cautious sip of her milk, then smiled at him. “You don’t need to worry about me. I’ve got him right where I want him.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

Her smile shifted from sweet to patronizing. “It means that he really wants a baby. You could have been a part of it, but you were too pure for that. So I talked to Evan, and he seems really excited about becoming a father. I don’t think he’s going to kick the mother of his baby out of the house. Not when we’ve got a deal worked out.”

“Wait a second.” There had to be a mistake. “He just… he said he was interested, maybe. I mean… yeah, I think he wants kids.” Dan could accept that much. “But he didn’t make a deal with you. He said he’d have to talk it over, figure it out, get back to you… something like that.” Dan tried to make this make sense.

But Krista’s confidence was overwhelming. “Get back to me with the contract, sure. We’ve got a few details to sort out, and he needs to figure out how to make it legal. But we’ve got a deal.” Another sip of milk and another smile. “You’ve been sleeping with the guy for two years, and what do you have to show for it? Me, I fucked somebody else entirely, cruised in here a month ago, and I’m going to walk away a millionaire. I guess we know who the smart Wheeler is, don’t we?” She leaned forward a little and stretched her fingers out to rest on his forearm. “When he dumps you, maybe I’ll let you stay with me for a bit. You can sleep on the couch at
my
place, how about?”

“Jesus Christ, Krista!” Dan didn’t even know who he was angry at. Everybody, from the feel of it. “That’s your kid you’re talking about. You sold your baby to a stranger, and you’re
bragging
about what a sweet deal you got? Are you serious?”

“You think I should feel guilty? The kid’s going to grow up in the lap of fucking luxury around here! Best toys, best schools, best start in life. You think I should have left it with you? What the fuck can
you
give a baby?”

Dan just stared at her. It wasn’t like he wanted the baby for himself. Not really. Well, he’d thought about it, sure. He’d started thinking that maybe it wouldn’t be that bad. Raising a kid was an incredibly important job, and maybe he didn’t know exactly what to do, but he knew a hell of a lot of what
not
to do. Starting with not treating the kid like something to be bought or sold. What could he give a baby? He shook his head at his sister. “I could help it grow a conscience,” he said, and he headed for the door.

E
VAN knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep until he sorted things out with Krista. He tried not to think about Dan and dealing with his ruffled feathers. But that didn’t work, and he could absolutely hear what Dan would have to say about Evan’s current trip.
You’re still just thinking about yourself, Evan. You think it’s a big deal that you can’t sleep, so you’re going to go intrude on a pregnant woman whose life you’ve already turned upside down. You feel bad, so nobody else can rest until you feel better. Be that way if you want to, but don’t pretend that you trying to soothe your conscience makes you a good guy.
Yeah, that was what Dan would say, and he wouldn’t be wrong. But Evan kept walking anyway. Screw Dan and his sanctimonious bullshit.

The lights were still on in the guest house, and Evan gave a quick wave to the guard on duty before knocking on the door. He heard Krista’s voice from inside. “Dramatic exit not too satisfying?”

Evan took a moment to let that comment make any sense that it could and decided that she must not know who was at her door. “It’s Evan,” he called.

A pause, and then she said, “Oh.” Her head appeared from the kitchen doorway. “I’d say ‘come in’, but it feels a bit strange inviting you into your own place.”

He could remember Dan saying something similar when they’d first started out. But Evan had given Krista a hell of a lot more reasons to feel unwelcome than he’d ever given Dan, and he needed to keep working to apologize. “Is it okay if I come in?” he tried.

She shrugged. “I already said it’s your place.”
“Yeah, but do you mind?”
“Suit yourself,” she said.

That was as close to an invitation as he was going to get, he figured, so he pulled the screen door open and stepped inside. She stepped back into the kitchen as he headed down the hall toward her, and by the time he arrived, she was sitting at the table. There was an empty mug by her elbow and a half-eaten cookie on a plate by her hand. She looked almost completely neutral. She looked like she’d never met Evan, never discussed the custody of her baby with him, never been insulted by him. He had no idea how to handle the conversation.

“I wanted to apologize again, for this afternoon. I’m sorry if I made you feel like you were under suspicion.”

“You made me feel like I was under suspicion because I
was
under suspicion.” She cocked her head like she was trying to figure him out. “Are you saying that you’re sorry you suspected me? Are you saying that you
aren’t
actually all that protective of children under your care, after all?”

Evan wished Jeff was there. Well, really he wished Dan was. When Dan was on his side, when he agreed with Evan’s goals, he was a fantastic ally. There was just something pure about him, a core of strength that he couldn’t be shaken from. The outside of him would thrash around and make a mess of everything if given a chance, but that core was always there, keeping him stable. And it would keep Evan stable too, when they were working together. Of course, when they were working against each other, Dan’s inner strength was incredibly frustrating. So Evan didn’t exactly wish Dan was there in the current situation, but he absolutely wished Dan was on his side, and there. But he wasn’t, so Evan had to deal with this woman on his own. “I’m protective,” he said. “But I was wrong not to trust you.”

She raised an eyebrow, but didn’t pursue the topic. Instead, she waved a hand to the bag of bakery cookies on the table. “Are you hungry? Dan brought them over yesterday.”

“No. I’m fine, thanks.” It was stupid, but Evan didn’t want to eat Dan’s cookies, not while Dan was still angry. It seemed wrong somehow. “I just wanted to….” Wait, he’d already said this. He couldn’t apologize again, and start the whole “what are you sorry for” conversation up for another round. He might as well cut to the chase. “I wanted to talk to you about the baby. I’ve checked with lawyers. Specialists in this sort of thing. They say that it’s illegal to give you money, straight up, for the baby. So we can’t really have a contract like that. But they say that it’s pretty hard to keep me from giving a friend’s sister some money, if I feel like it.”

“And you’d rather do that? Instead of setting up that trust, like you said? So I’d just get a big chunk of money, not the monthly allowance?”

She still seemed neutral, but he had a quick flash of something from her, something that made his business sense tingle. “The monthly allowance is still the goal,” he said. Once he’d given her the money, she’d be beyond his control, and he didn’t like the sound of that. “But it’ll have to be a bit informal. Because of the laws. But, yeah, we can work something out.”

She nodded. “We need to look at numbers. But you haven’t told Dan about this? Is that… are you planning on being a single dad? Or just you and Jeff?” She didn’t seem upset about either option, just curious, and he wondered again just how this woman felt about the entire situation.

“No, I’m… I’m planning to talk to Dan. I’m just waiting for the right time. Things have been a bit hectic lately.”

 

“He’s angry about this afternoon,” she said. “He thinks you were disrespectful.”

 

“I was.” Evan wondered whether they were going to loop back around to his apology. “I’m really sorry.”

She frowned. “
He’s
the one who’s angry. And maybe part of it’s because of me, but mostly, I think he’s mad because you disrespected
him.
” She took a bite of her cookie, chewed and swallowed, then said, “Have you apologized to
him
yet?”

“No. Not yet.” Evan really wasn’t sure how he wanted that conversation to go. In his fantasy world, he and Dan
both
apologized. Evan would be happy to express regret for being disrespectful if Dan would admit that he’d been insensitive to Evan during a crisis situation. Because it
had
been a crisis. Or had at least felt like one. But Tat was home. She’d shown up shortly after her call, looked somewhat chastened when she saw the full security team that had been assembled, and then breezed past Evan as if he wasn’t even there. She’d been locked in her room ever since, avoiding the talk that she and Evan were going to have as soon as they both calmed down. Which maybe meant that Dan didn’t have too much to apologize for, really. Evan needed to think it all through. Probably with Jeff’s help. In the meantime, though, he was here, with Dan’s sister, trying to make sure he was still going to be able to adopt Dan’s niece or nephew, even though he hadn’t managed to discuss it with Dan yet. Jesus. “I really need to talk to Dan,” he said, almost to himself.

But Krista heard, of course, and she sighed. “Yeah,” she said. “And it might be a little trickier than you think. He really wasn’t that impressed when I told him you were going to buy the baby.”

“HE’S NOTanswering,” Evan said. He looked at his phone. “I miss

the old kind. The ones with handsets to slam down. Or at least a fucking bottom to flip closed. I mean, I want to
hang up
, not
end call
. You know?” He looked over at Jeff and Chris.

They were sitting in the same place they’d been all evening, in the big Adirondack chairs on Jeff’s porch. Jeff thought maybe he’d stay there forever, sipping Wild Turkey, listening to the crickets, and letting the pain in his chest ease away. Chris had been excellent company for the entire exercise. Evan, on the other hand, was a disruption.

“I hate it when he does this. Goes all incommunicado.” Evan stared at his phone some more, still trying to find a more dramatic way to express his disgust.

Jeff sighed and took a sip of his bourbon. “Maybe it’s not a bad thing,” he said. “Maybe you both need a little time to cool down.”

“Nothing’s going to change overnight,” Chris agreed. “You should go inside, find a glass and maybe another bottle, and come out here to enjoy the night.”

Evan didn’t seem impressed with this attitude. “You don’t think he and I need to talk it out?” He looked at Jeff. “You don’t think we need to communicate, and share our feelings and all that?”

Jeff looked at Chris, who frowned back at him. Right. Solidarity. “We don’t know. That’s for you and Danny to figure out.” Jeff tried to sound supportive, but firm.