Decipher (Declan Reede: The Untold Story #3) (13 page)

“I apologise,” Hunter snarled, not sounding sorry in the least. “My friend is one clumsy,
and stupid
, motherfucker.”

The blonde turned on me. “I’ve got nothing to change into, you fucking prick!”

It wasn’t quite a, “thank you for not letting this asshole drug and rape me,” but I wasn’t sure what more I could expect when she didn’t know what I’d saved her from.

Hunter stood and whispered something into her ear. She seemed thoughtful for a second before nodding. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder possessively and began to lead her back through the crowd. I had no doubt he was going to have his way with her—willing or not.

“Wait,” I called after them. “Please, don’t go with him.”

She raised her eyebrow at me. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t?”

I looked down at the table, trying to think of anything that would stop her from leaving with him.

“What about your friend?” I said. “She doesn’t look well.”

She took a second to regard the scene. Luckily for me—and her—her brunette friend took the opportunity to open her mouth and hurl all over the table before slumping into her chair.

“Well, isn’t this the fucking perfect evening?” Blondie exclaimed.

Hunter looked at the brunette in disgust for a second. Then he glared at me. “Just bring her with us,” he suggested. “The more the merrier. Or better yet, my friend here can take care of her. Let Mr. Chivalry get her home safe.”

The blonde regarded him for a second before sighing. “No, I’d better take her home. If something happened to her . . . Well, I’d never forgive myself.”

“I’ll organise a taxi,” I offered. “I’ll even pay for it—to make up for the shirt.”

Blondie’s face softened as she looked at me. “Sure,” she said.

“But what am I supposed to do? Your friend there got me all revved up. Someone’s got to take care of my situation.” Hunter grabbed his crotch as if to prove that he was hard and ready for action.

“Why don’t you go home and take care of it solo?” the blonde asked.

“Why, Hunter,” I said snidely. “I do believe the lady just told you to go fuck yourself.”

As the blonde collected her friend from the table, Hunter grabbed hold of my wrist. “You watch yourself, Reede. You’ll get yours. When you least expect it . . . I’ll be there. I’ll make sure you fucking pay.”

I laughed. “You don’t scare me.”

“Don’t I?” he asked, raising his eyebrow. “You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

“Oh, I think I have some idea, you sick fucker,” I said, eyeing the still untouched cocktail on the table.

I yanked my arm away from him.

“Now fuck off, because I’ve got to help these girls into a taxi.”

“You’re a fool, Reede.”

“I’d rather be a fool than a fuckwit,” I quipped back at him as I helped Blondie juggle the brunette out of the club.

“Can your shirt wait?” I asked Blondie when we were out in the cool of the night.

“I don’t know. Why?” She sounded more than a little annoyed. I imagined the night wasn’t going quite as well as she’d hoped. The July air was crisp and cool, and through her wet shirt, her nipples were so hard and pointed they probably could have cut glass.

I pulled my jacket off and offered it to her. “I didn’t want to make a scene in there, but I think your buddy may have been drugged.”

She gasped. “What? Why? By who?”

I closed my eyes. I could man up—and risk the consequences of being labelled as guilty even though I wasn’t—or I could lie. As I opened my eyes again, I sighed. “I don’t know who. I just know the signs.”

“Oh my God!” Blondie exclaimed. She began to pace. “Oh, fuck! What should I do?”

“Calm down,” I whispered. “Panicking won’t help the situation. We’ll get her to the hospital. They’ll be able to make sure it’s nothing serious. Then you’ll be able to take her home, and she can sleep it off.”

I helped both girls into the taxi and asked the driver to take us to the hospital. Once there, I waited with the pair in Emergency. The brunette was practically paralytic, but kept stroking my cheek and telling me how beautiful she thought I was. At one point, I turned to say something to her, but her almost-black eyes looking out from underneath her fringe of brown hair that was too familiar a shade, was just wrong. The words stuck in my throat as I pushed thoughts of my hands caressing a girl with similar-coloured hair so long ago. Another lifetime ago.

After Hunter’s victim had been seen and cleared by the hospital, I helped the two of them into another taxi. By then, the brunette was passed out cold and snoring loudly. I looked down at her peaceful face and was consumed by a sadness I didn’t understand.

“Thank you,” Blondie said. “For being so sweet back there. Most men probably would have just thanked their lucky stars and taken her home to fuck her.”

I shook my head. “I couldn’t do that,” I said.

“Could you help me bring her upstairs?” Blondie asked, pointing to her house.

I nodded. Within half an hour, the brunette was firmly tucked up in bed, and I was firmly up inside Blondie.

I used her, every part of her, to elicit my own sweet pleasure and drive images of my past life from my mind. While I claimed her body, I relished her cries of ecstasy. Each one was proof that I was a free agent. A man able to do what I wanted, and who I wanted. It was just fucking for fun and, although her body didn’t make my own sing like only one had before, I enjoyed my release anyway.

It was only afterwards that I began to feel like an arse. Not for fucking her—I would have done that a hundred times over—but because I hadn’t really stopped anything. I may have saved those two girls from the night from hell, but I couldn’t help but wonder how many more had suffered at Hunter’s hand or how many more would.

I was all for a drunken fuck, and nights of regret, but not without consent. The thought of going as far as drugging girls horrified me—especially considering I knew all too well how easily drugs could fuck up your life. And at least my usage had been my own choice—mostly.

I crept out of the house early the next morning, unable to completely shake my feeling of guilt. For the next day, I was on edge. I worried about news of the night getting back to Danny, Eden, or Morgan. If someone made the connection between the girls and the nightclub, then it would be easy to trace the fact that I was the one who had been at the hospital. What if someone then connected the drugging with the drinks with my prints on the outside? The police might turn up and accuse me of the worst possible crimes.

I made it back to my hotel room, quickly checked out, and began my long drive back to Sydney with all of those concerns racing around in my mind.

I had to think of a way to make Hunter pay. I had to make him realise that what he was doing wasn’t fun or right. But I had to do it in a way that wouldn’t risk fucking up my own life.

In the end, I decided I had nothing to lose—nothing Hunter could take from me at least—so I told his boss, Paige, about the roofies. I didn’t know what happened to him from there—I’d heard nothing about it in the media.

The fact that he was still on the track the very next week proved that Paige hadn’t done much—if anything. In the races after that, he began to ride my arse harder. Almost to the point of dangerous driving. He’d developed a serious grudge against me, and there was nothing I could do but drive to the conditions. Even if one of those conditions was a lunatic in my rear-view mirror.

After that, I didn’t see Hunter out at any clubs, so I was largely able to put my concerns about him taking advantage of women out of my mind.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: DICK MOVE

I STARED BLANKLY ahead of me as memories of the night I’d learned just how psycho Hunter was ran through me. Knowing what I’d learned about Paige over the past few months—the measures she’d taken to get me on her team—I had no doubt she’d swept my accusations under the rug. She’d probably bought off countless other women over the years. She’d probably even covered it up in the press if she really did have the sway I thought she might. In hindsight, it was easy to see I’d been stupid and naïve to think that Paige was even remotely like Danny and cared about things greater than her own team.

“Declan?” Danny prompted.

“He—he’s not Sinclair material. He’s only in it for himself and—” Meeting Danny’s gaze, I swallowed down the words the memory had forced into my throat. What could I say without sounding like I just had a bad case of sour grapes? It was years ago, and there was no proof by my testimony. I had nothing at all to back up my claim.

Why would he believe me? I was the dumped driver, desperate to get my job back.

Maybe if I’d said something when it’d happened, I would have had a case. But now I had no hope of having anyone believe me. “No. Just that he’s a menace on the track, but you already know that.”

Even as I said the words, Danny’s eyes narrowed at me. It was clear why. Hunter might have been a liability, but he’d only crashed out of one race recently—and that was only because he’d become tangled with me. 

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I said, backing away. “Look, Danny, it’s been solid, but I have to go. Tell Eden I’ll be waiting out front.”

“Wait.”

The commanding tone in his voice stilled my feet.

“I was serious when I said I didn’t want it to go down this way. I’ve had a chance to think things over, and I think I would do things a little differently if I could. It’s too late to change it now, but I wanted you to know that.”

I shrugged. His words were little more than platitudes really. They wouldn’t get me another job. The best it might do is allow me to use him as a reference, but that still left me with the issue of trying to figure out what sort of job I was actually qualified for.

“Yeah. Me too. See you ’round I guess.” I turned and walked away without shaking his hand or letting him say anything more. The whole conversation was just a reminder of my failure. 

I waited outside for almost fifteen minutes before Eden came back out to greet me. She had her head dropped and didn’t meet my eye.

“How could you fucking do that, Edie?” I paced toward the car as soon as she was at my side.

“Fuck, you men are so pig-headed.”

“It’s not pig-headed to try to have some scrap of dignity left. To not have to face the fucking man who sacked me.”

“Sorry, Dec, I just thought that if the two of you were face-to-face, you might be able to work it out.”

“Work out what exactly? It’s not like there’s a spare car anymore.”

“No, there’s not. But there are other positions. I want you back on the team, Dec. It’s just not the same without you.”

I shook my head at her blind faith that things could just go back to how they were. “I wouldn’t hold your breath if I were you.”

“I won’t, but you shouldn’t write off the possibility either.”

“Who says I want to go back?”

“I know you do, Dec. If part of you wasn’t hoping for it, I think you would have taken the job with Wood Racing.”

“I told you—”

“I know what you said, but I still think I’m right.”

“And you say I’m pig-headed.” 

She laughed. “I guess we both are. Must be why we’re friends.”

I stopped my fast stride. She took one more before spinning to meet my gaze.

“Look, if Danny came begging for me to come back, I wouldn’t say no,” I admitted. “But why would he? What possible reason could he have for wanting me back when he’s got that cock Hunter now? He’s only got two licences, and now he’s got two drivers.”

“You’re right. And maybe it was a bit of a dick move forcing you together like that, but we’re all entitled to one of those every now and then, aren’t we?”

In spite of the situation, I chuckled. “Some of us more than one.”

She bumped her shoulder against mine. “Exactly. So when are you seeing Alyssa next?”

“Tomorrow. She’s flying down from Brisbane so that we can have a couple’s retreat weekend where she gets to grill me over everything that happened while we’ve been apart.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Oh, it gets better. Her mum’s coming down to look after Phoebe while we’re away.”

Eden laughed. “Man, sucks to be you.”

“It could be worse, I guess. Her dad could be coming too.” I told Eden all about the tenuous relationship I had with Curtis, and Alyssa’s brother, Josh, as well, while she drove back to my house.

After Eden had dropped me at home, I saw I’d missed a call from Alyssa while I was out to dinner. It was too late to call her back though. She had an early flight in the morning. The thought was enough to send me to bed. I was like a kid on Christmas Eve—desperate to sleep the night away but too excited to actually close my eyes.

I SLEPT late the following morning. Even though Alyssa’s plane left Brisbane early, the time difference due to daylight savings meant it would be almost eleven in the morning before her plane arrived in Sydney.

When I woke, I actually felt better about the situation with Danny. I’d never admit it to Eden, but seeing him again, being able to speak my mind and apologise in my own way for not telling him about Wood’s offers was actually a little cathartic. I breathed a little easier. The weight on my shoulders was just that little bit lighter. I was practically fucking buoyant by the time I climbed into the car to head to the airport.

I pulled up into the passenger pick-up loading zone and pulled out my phone to text Alyssa to let her know I was there. As I did, I saw I had a message from her already that simply read,
Sorry
.

The sweat that leapt to the skin of my palms at the sight of that word made the phone slippery in my hold. Sorry? For what exactly? My throat ached as I thought of the reasons she might send me that one-word text. My gaze lost focus on the screen. Had she changed her mind? Was she not coming?

As I tried to decipher the meaning in her one word text, the passenger door swung open.

“Wanna pop the boot?” It was Alyssa and I wanted to reach across the car and pull her lips to mine.

Instead, I nodded and, after wiping my hands on my pants, reached for the boot release. A tiny smile crossed my lips at the thought that the word sorry clearly didn’t mean that Alyssa wasn’t coming. Whatever it did mean was something I could work out later.

A second later, the door swung open again and Alyssa climbed into the passenger seat. Without hesitation, she leaned across the centre console and cupped my face in her hands. “God, I missed you, Dec,” she murmured before pressing her lips to mine.

I put my hand to the back of her head and clasped her tightly against me. “I missed you too,” I said before deepening the kiss.

The back door opened and a throat cleared. Fuck. I hadn’t meant to devour Alyssa’s mouth with her mother watching. Or Phoebe, for that matter.

I turned back to greet Ruth, but instead I met a pair of ice-blue eyes. Amusement danced in Ruby’s irises as she helped Phoebe into her child seat.

Fucking hell.

“Hello, Ruby,” I said, as politely as I could manage given the shock of seeing her in my car.

“Mum couldn’t make it,” Alyssa said. When I glanced at her, she mouthed the word, “Sorry.”

“Luckily for you, Mum had a flexible ticket, a deal came up on flights for me, and I had nothing better going on,” Ruby said as she buckled up her own seat belt. “But I do have to go back on Sunday rather than staying through to Monday with Alyssa.”

As soon as she was in, I put the car in gear and headed back home.

“When Mum couldn’t make it, I agreed to come with Alyssa so that you two could still have your weekend of debauchery.”

Alyssa rested back into her seat with a sigh. “How many times do I have to tell you it’s not that sort of weekend away?”

“Mummy, what’s da-bor-tree?”

After glaring at Ruby, Alyssa rubbed Phoebe’s knee. “It’s an adult word, honey, it means work.”

I snorted. “Yeah, like that won’t come back to bite your arse.”

“Declan!”

“Sorry.”

“He’s right, you know,” Ruby said. “She’ll go to day care next week and tell them all that Mummy’s having a day of debauchery.”

“Will you stop saying debauchery!” Alyssa’s arm flailed as she snapped at Ruby. “It’s an adult word, honey,” she said to Phoebe. “Okay?”

“Okay, Mummy.” Phoebe’s smile was wide and her absolute innocence made me chuckle.

“Don’t you encourage her,” Alyssa said, snapping her eyes to me.

With a smile on my lips, I made a one-handed gesture of surrender. “Leave me out of this. I’m innocent, isn’t that right, Pheebs?”

I met her gaze in the rear-view mirror and winked. She curled up her nose and nodded. I wasn’t sure she knew what I was talking about, but it was cute that she was willing to go along with it.

“So that’s how it’s going to be, is it?” Alyssa asked with a chuckle. “The two of you ganging up on me?”

She reached back and tickled Phoebe’s stomach.

“Oh my God, would you guys cut it out already?” Ruby laughed as she said the words. “This happy family thing is just too surreal.”

“I told you, didn’t I? This is us now.” Alyssa reached for my thigh and cast a look over her shoulder at Ruby.

Ruby’s gaze darted between me and Alyssa. “I still can’t believe it. But I’m happy for you.”

During the drive home, Alyssa told me about her week at home and about her mum’s emergency dash to help a friend in the hospital. Ruby and Phoebe interjected from time to time. I kept my mouth shut, just revelling in the noise. It was such a difference from the near silence of the rest of my week.

For a long time, I’d filled my life with random noise. With nightclubs and the blissful moans of strangers. With V8s and the sweet purr of my Monaro. The sounds of my family in my car, of Alyssa at my side, were far more pleasant than any others. It was only as I pulled into my garage that the reality of what came next struck me.

I grabbed Phoebe’s bag and Ruby’s bag out of the boot, but left Alyssa’s in place. As I did, I huffed out a breath—trying to release my apprehension as I exhaled.

Carrying the bags inside, I saw Phoebe and Alyssa in the living room setting up a DVD.

“I’ll show you to the spare room,” I said to Ruby as I passed her with her bag in my hand.

She followed me up the stairs. “Nice place.”

I nodded and thanked her. It was easier than launching into a whinge about the fact that I didn’t know how long I’d be able to keep it without some way to pull in the wage I’d had before. Taking a detour past Phoebe’s room, I dropped off her bag.

When I turned around to leave, Ruby had one brow raised at me.

“What?”

“That’s a very, um, feminine room.” She waved her hand at the two pale purple walls. Tiptoes, according to the label. It was paired on the other two walls with Apple Slice at half tint. At least that’s what the consultant at the hardware had told me when she’d run me through it all.

“What?” I walked away, toward my other spare room. The one that originally had only a fold-out couch, but now sported a double bed. “Phoebe wanted purple walls. So I gave her purple walls.” 

“And the bed? I can’t imagine that was there before.”

I didn’t see why she was making a fuss over the fact that there was a white bed with a headboard in the shape of a tiara in the room. “The double was too big for her. It made her feel scared, so I got that one.”

“And the doona?”

My brows pinched together as I looked at the new pink blanket on the bed. “I couldn’t exactly leave a double-sized doona on a single bed, could I?”

“And the teddy?”

“Fuck off. I told you when we had our little chat that I was going to try, didn’t I?”

“See, there’s the Declan I know and love to hate.” Ruby laughed. “Did you cover up the whore slide while you were making the changes to Phoebe’s room?”

“The what?”

“You know, the escape hatch to kick the girls out quickly in the morning. Did you board it up or just put a temporary cover on it?”

“I would have thought it was pretty fucking clear that part of me is done.”

“Is it though? Really?”

“Seriously, Ruby, I—”

“I’m sorry that I find it hard to believe that you’re willing to give up the life you were living down here. How do you go from screwing a different girl every night to being a faithful daddy overnight?”

“I made mistakes. Why won’t everyone let me put that behind me?”

“You were an arse to Alyssa for four years. You can’t expect everyone to forget that because you’ve been nice to her for a few short weeks.”