Blind Love (Sulfur Heights Series) (7 page)

For those few short minutes
, I was not concerned about everyone’s perception of me or how I was supposed to act. I didn’t care if my hair was messed up or if I looked disheveled because I was feeling something entirely foreign. The moment we made that turn on the road, I kept my eyes closed so tightly that it felt like I was freefalling into an undiscovered part of myself. A part I never even knew existed.

It’s invigorating.

He instantly picks up my attitude and his irresistible smile peaks up at the corner of his mouth. Rolling my eyes, I concede, “I just hate you, Jake Evans.”

He moves closer to me, leaning his bo
dy against the back of the car, arms crossed over his chest and looking like the cocky jerk he is. “And why’s that, cupcake?”

“Ugh…
I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I had fun.” I look back at him and his smile has exploded all over his face. He lets out a little, devilish laugh and stalks his way closer to me. The current between us is unfamiliar and unnerving. With every painful minute I spend with Jake Evans, the harder it is for me to get away from him. There is something evident between us; it’s not romantic, it’s something more—something deeper. The only questions is, am I adventurous enough to find out what that is?

Jake

I knew I was right about her. She’s going to be an adrenaline junkie
, addicted to every intense high. It will now become my challenge to test how far I can go with her, to see if she’s willing to jump when I tell her how high.

It’s impossible for me to deny the feelings I have growing toward her. Am I like Drake and Reggie, all love sick and stupid
? Hell, no, but the feeling is surprising nonetheless.

Delilah breaks our
gaze and leans herself against the car. She is out of place here and the looks from everyone else are starting to irritate me. To outsiders, it looks out of sorts for me to have a rich beauty standing next to me. Well, with the exception of Miranda Cross who I spent a few weeks with during high school, but she’s known for fucking dudes on the wrong side of the tracks and is nowhere near as hot as Delilah.

Guys are walking by
, obviously eyeing her from head to toe, and I want to rip their heads off. I can feel the tension building in my arms and I start clenching my fists. I’ve never once been protective of a woman like Delilah. Presley and Darcie have been the only females I’ve ever stood up for, but they’re family. As a big brother, that’s my job. Now, Delilah is here, standing next to me, and all I want do is protect her. As a big brother? Definitely not, though as a friend, perhaps. She’s innocent and has no idea what kind of people live around here. Grady McGuire is the number one example. He takes advantage of women, feeds on their naivety, and it is sad to say that there are other men living like that in Sulfur Heights.

“Jake, come get your money so we can get the hell out of here.” Jeremy breaks my
trance as he heads over to Ronnie.

I turn to Delilah, who is still living in her own little world. “You might want to get back in the car or come with me. There is no way I’m leaving you here by yourself.”

“I’ll come with you. I’m not sure I’m ready to get back in the car yet.” We push off the car and walk toward the growing crowd around Ronnie.

The noise coming from the group is deafening as we get closer to the middle. Delilah leans closer to me
, and before I realize it, she’s linked her arm inside of mine. Feeding on my new instinct for her, I pull her tightly toward me and clasp her hand, holding it close to my body. Her hand is tiny inside of mine, but the tension of her grip is firm.

I walk to the front of the line
, dragging Delilah with me, and get my winnings from Ronnie. On our way out of the crowd, some jackass decides to make a comment about Delilah’s ass and my irritation accelerates. This couples with my own uneasiness about this growing relationship I’m feeling between us. To top it all off, everyone’s staring at her like she’s a fucking zoo animal.

I flip.

I pivot my body, engaging my eyes with his. I don’t bother looking over at Delilah or anyone else, just this jack ass who’s been stupid enough to make a comment about a girl who’s on my arm. I walk my way over to him, keeping my grip on Delilah’s hand. When I’m chest to chest with the jerk, I yank her back so she’s standing behind me.

“Care to say that again
, asshole?” I say through gritted teeth.

Delilah peeks her head around my shoulder and whispers, “What did he say?”

The dickhead laughs and is now surrounded by his cronies. He’s got a lot of balls laughing at me right now, and it’s going to be painfully obvious to him what a giant mistake he’s just made. I don’t recognize him or his friends; it’s apparent he doesn’t know the reputation of the Evans brothers.

“What
’s wrong with her voice? She sounds like one of those illiterate retards from the back woods of Deliverance.” His eyes break from mine and look directly into hers. Big mistake, asswipe. “Do us a favor, don’t speak. Just stand there and look sexy.”

I feel Delilah shrink into my back, defeated from what the asshole
’s said. I look to Jeremy out the corner of my eye, who’s now standing by my side, fists clenched, ready for anything. Cocking my arm back, I smash my balled fist into this joker’s face. The bridge of his nose cracks when my knuckles connect with his bones.

Blood is pouring down his face
when Ronnie soon steps between us. He motions to the broken douche at my feet and says, “Look, guys, I can get a hundred people here that will tell you fighting these guys isn’t a good idea.” Ronnie’s finger is pointing to Jeremy and me as he continues, “Your man got what he deserved, insulting Jake’s woman, so I suggest you get in your cars and go home.”

Jake’s woman
. That can’t be good for future lays.

The crowd breaks up as the idiots pick up their friend and drag his bloody body back to their car.

I turn to Delilah and she’s staring back at me. I’m not sure if she’s going to slap me again or what. Her face is unreadable. I ready myself for a sting across the face when her arms rise. Instead, she wraps her arms around my neck, hugging me. It takes me a few seconds to register what she’s doing, then I respond by closing my arms around her.

“Thank you
,” Delilah whispers to my chest. She is tiny and her skin is soft. I lean my head down to get closer to hers and take in the lavender scent of her hair.

“You’re welcome
,” I whisper back and for the second time today, I’m experiencing new feelings and it’s starting to really piss me off.

Chapter 5

Delilah

The sound of retching wakes me
up from a peaceful slumber and I can’t stand it anymore. I’ve kept my nose out of it, knowing she would have to realize soon what’s going on with her, but it’s been going on for weeks and she’s still living in la-la land.

I yank the covers off my body and round the corner
, standing just outside the bathroom door. When I push the door open a little bit, Presley is lying in a heap on the bathroom floor, wiping her mouth off with the back of her hand. The room smells like vomit and is about to make me gag then throw up myself.

I’ve known Presley for a long time
, and a few weeks before I set out to come here, she practically begged me to keep the events of her past a secret.

She admitted Drake had no idea about her bouts with depression, anorexia and being checked into a rehab facility just before her parents died.
Presley said no one here would understand and it was better to leave it alone. I, on the other hand, thought—and still do—that Drake had a right to know. Just like I have the right to know what happened to her when she moved to Sulfur Heights.

I’m not blind
. It’s obvious something terrible has happened to Presley since she’s been here, however, whenever I bring it up, she avoids the subject and runs off. Actually, she’s been avoiding me a lot since I’ve come here. After our first night, she seems to be very distant and insists on staying home, locked in her room, instead of spending time with me. Or we’ll watch a movie, never talking.

I think she knows what I’m going to ask and she’s doing her best to avoid having the conversation with me. I want to ask someone about it.
I’m not comfortable enough with Darcie to confide in her, and as far as the others, I get this sense of secrecy from them. It will be impossible to break any of them down to tell me what really happened with her uncle, but if anyone is going to talk to me, it will be Jake. Let’s face it, I’ve given Presley my word I would never talk about her past with Drake or anyone else, and in all fairness, they are showing Presley the same respect.

She
finally notices me standing at the bathroom door. She’s a mess. I hope to God we can help her. I hope this doesn’t lead her down that dark path again.

I break the silence. “You know
, doll, you’ve been doing this every day for a while now. Don’t you think you need to go to the doctor? To find out for sure?”

Presley look
s at me like I’ve lost my mind. Wow, she really has no clue. Maybe I should break it down for her and help her come to the realization of what’s happening to her.

“For sure about what? That I have the flu?”

I simply bring it to light as I study her appearance and then ask, “What other symptoms do you have? Exhaustion?”

“Yes”

“Nausea?”

“Duh, I just got done puking my guts out!”

Yikes.

“Irritability, definitely
,” I snap back.

“So what kind of flu is this? I’ve never felt so horrible in my life.”

Just because my father is a doctor
, doesn’t give me a surplus of knowledge about anything health related. Regardless, every woman knows what the pregnancy symptoms are. Don’t they?

I turn my head to the side
as I lean against the sink. “How about sore boobs?”

“You have no idea
; they hurt so badly.”

Yep
, she’s definitely pregnant. I remember my aunt, Laura, complaining how her breasts hurt one drunken night my mother and she were reminiscing over how their bodies changed during pregnancy. My cousin, Marybeth, and I just sat there, utterly disgusted and making a pact to not be like them at their age.

She reeks of puke and I can’t stand to smell her anymore or I will be getting sick right alongside of her. I squat down and lift Presley off the floor.
Walking to her dresser, I pull out a clean pair of pajama shorts and top then help her get dressed. I walk to the kitchen, filling a glass of water and taking it back to her. She guzzles it down without taking a breath. She is breathing heavily from chugging the water as I sit down next to her on the bed.

I really don’t want to be the one to tell her this, but
it is apparent she is not going to get there on her own. Or she is in such big denial, being pregnant is the last thing coming to her mind.

“Oh
, honey, you don’t have the flu. You’re pregnant, Presley.”

She laughs out of denial and looks at me like I’m the stupidest person on earth. “I don’t think so, Delilah. We are careful.”

“Are you on birth control? Have you ever had unprotected sex?” I ask.

“No, I’m not on birth control and we’ve only done it one time without protection. It was a long time ago when we were really drunk at
The Slab
and snuck into the storage room and since then we’ve al
—
” Presley’s face turns ghostly white.

“And then, what?”

“The night you came into town. After we got home from the bar, we had a pretty incredible night and I made him… you know… without a condom.”

And there it is. I recognize the look of terror in her eyes.

When Marybeth had a pregnancy scare a few months ago, I saw that same look in her eyes. Marybeth and I were raised a certain way and having sex before you were married is the ultimate sin; well, in our mothers’ eyes it is. They are cut from the same cloth, being twins and all, but they are exactly the same
;
both married men our grandparents approved of, live the life of a rich doctor’s wife, and are very active in the charity world along with being uptight snobs. Although Marybeth is known to be a little loose, she is her mother’s daughter.

A
unt Laura is worse than my own mother, which is hard to believe. She’ll treat anyone of a lower social status or different appearance like they’ve been diagnosed with the black plague. I, on the other hand, refuse to treat people unfairly because of what they look like or how much money they have in their pockets, but Marybeth, not so much.

I volunteer to go to the drug store to get a pregnancy test, although I already know it’s going to be positive.
I pull down the street as I think about how devastating this will be for Presley. She’s struggled her entire life with change and has a tendency to pull herself inward, battling her pain on her own. When it becomes too much, then she will collapse and I’m afraid one of these days no one will be there to help her back up. Drake is going to have to be her rock during her pregnancy and after the baby is born. I have no doubts in his devotion to Presley, I’m just scared she’s not going to let him in.