Crazy Thing (The Brighton Family #5)

Chapter 19

19

DARIUS

S mirking with satisfaction, I watch as the anxious hockey player skitters away. Easton Raines is an idiot.

Thankfully, he’s just smart enough to realize that getting on my bad side could mean risking his golden meal ticket. I do co-own the hockey team he plays for, after all.

Glad he made the right choice today.

Ziggy won’t let me off the hook as easily, though. The minute Raines disappears, she turns her fiery attention on me. “Excuse me. I was in the middle of a conversation.” She plants her fists on her hips.

I shoot her an unbothered glance. “That guy was trying to get in your pants.”

She snakes her neck, giving me all kinds of attitude. “Lucky for me, I’m wearing a skirt today.”

I pull out my phone and scroll over the screen like I’m bored. “Stay away from the hockey players. They’re up to no good.”

“Which is none of your business,” she retorts.

Returning my phone to my pocket, I make eye contact with her. "You’re my assistant. He’s my hockey player. It’s my business.”

When I walk off, she abandons her cocktail pitcher on the counter and hustles after me, needing to have the last word.

“Abuse of power, much?!” she hisses. “Newsflash—I’m off the clock right now. So is there a reason why you’re in my personal bubble, ruining my Saturday evening?”

I shoulder my way through the crowd, up to the driveway where I’m parked. Ziggy stomps after me, so invested in this argument that she doesn’t even seem to realize that we’re leaving the party behind. “Something came up with one of my businesses,” I tell her.

“Yeah? Well, again—it’s Saturday evening.”

“And you’re on call,” I state plainly.

“On call?” she spits out.

“Yes. On call,” I repeat. “It was one of the conditions of your employment agreement.”

The sudden realization on her face lets me know that she knows I’m right. And she hates it.

To hide my smugness, I yank open the passenger side door of my car. She stubbornly folds her arms around her middle. We stare each other down.

“Get in the car, Ziggy.”

“You can go fuc—”

“Get…in…the car.”

Her eyes go narrower and she simmers. “You’re a jerk.”

“So I’ve heard. Now, get in.”

She lowers into the seat with a huff. I shut her door, my smirk morphing into a full-blown grin as I stroll around to the driver’s side.

I shouldn’t be gloating. Especially in a confined space with an angry Ziggy. She’ll probably throttle me and end up running us off the road.

But I can’t help myself. Because having her here with me feels like a lottery jackpot win.

The truth is, I’ve fucking missed her. I’ve been miserable since she left my office on Thursday evening. Having to work on Friday without the sight of her pretty pink head fluttering around the office all day? It put me in the worst mood.

The last thing I wanted to do was go to my brothers’ birthday party today. Yet the minute I walked in and saw Ziggy in her colorful bikini top and her flowy mermaid skirt, I felt…better.

Well at least until I saw that asshole hockey player trying to hit on her. That’s when I knew I needed an excuse to get her all to myself. So I made up a story about work.

Goddamn, Darius. That’s some toxic shit .

I slip behind the wheel and shut the door, only to discover that Ziggy’s distinct sweet, earthy scent has already filled my vehicle. And—oh boy—here comes my hard-on.

Ziggy is frowning and tapping away on her phone. “What are you doing?” I blurt out, struggling to keep my eyes on the road instead of peeking at her screen.

When her eyes shoot over to mine, she holds her phone to her chest, hiding her screen from me. “Jeez—do you ever mind your business?” she grinds out. “Where are you taking me anyway?”

Crap. Again, I didn’t exactly have a plan beyond getting Ziggy away from Raines. Now, my dumb lie is about to come back and bite me in the ass.

I say the first thing that comes to my mind. “We’re going to Nolan’s bar.”

“Nolan’s bar?” she echoes, confused .

I keep going along with it. “I have a contractor working on renovations over there, and I’m going to need you to prepare an inventory of additional changes I want him to make.”

Ziggy’s glare intensifies. Her nostrils flare. “And this couldn’t wait until Monday?”

“We’ll have a full day at the office on Monday. We won’t have the time to deal with this.”

She growls out loud. Then she’s typing away on her device again.

This time when I peek at her phone, I notice a text message dialogue box and Daphne’s name at the top of the screen.

Ziggy doesn’t bother concealing the screen from me. “For your information, I’m just letting my sister know where I’ll be hiding your body if you try any funny shit with me tonight.”

I chuckle, pulling into The North Node’s back parking lot. “Fair enough. No funny shit. I promise.”

Grabbing a yellow writing pad from my glove box, I hand it to Ziggy. Then she follows me through the back entrance to the bar, grumbling the whole time.

It takes us all of five minutes to make note of the repairs I want to bring to the contractor’s attention. To be honest, most of these are items I’ve already discussed with him. I need to make sure Ziggy doesn’t find that out, though.

She stands in the middle of the empty dance floor, notepad in her hand and annoyance on her face while she looks around. “Are we done? Can I leave now?”

Fuck. I don’t want her to go. I’m desperate to be close to her. Even if she’s pissed at me.

“Wait. One last thing.”

She sighs heavily like I’m burdening her. I ignore her bad attitude, heading for the stairs leading to the upper level.

With a rough nudge of my shoulder, I shove open the stiff terrace door. “Make a note to get this door fixed,” I mumble to Ziggy as I step outside.

Eyes downcast, she utters a curse word and scribbles a note onto her yellow pad.

But the moment she looks up at our surroundings, her face brightens with awe. “Oh my gosh…” she whispers.

The terrace is even more beautiful than it was the evening Nolan showed it to me. Now there are comfy-looking sofas arranged under the canopy and lush trailing plants hang from woven baskets. With the flick of a wall-mounted electric switch, a thousand fairy lights blink to life, illuminating Ziggy’s wonderstruck face.

The atmosphere is almost… romantic .

“Wow…this place is…incredible.” She spins in a slow circle, taking in the cozy lounge area before turning to the moonlit mountains in the distance before turning back to me.

I try to remain stoic, like none of this affects me. But I can’t help the little smile that comes across my lips. Just knowing I can make her light up like this, does something profound to me.

My hands itch to grab her waist and pull her into my arms. I have to squeeze my fingers into tight, solid fists in order to keep them from leaving my sides and doing something I’ll regret. But would I really regret it?

Right now, I’m having trouble remembering why I’ve been holding back. Was it for her sake? Was it for mine?

My phone starts to ring in my hand. I glance at the screen. Cecily. I decline the call and respond by text.

Me: Not interested. Involved with someone.

Shit. That was kind of harsh.

Me: Best of luck to you.

Then I block her phone number and that’s that.

I’m all about Ziggy. No-one but Ziggy right now.

The pretty fairy girl approaches the guardrail and her gaze turns upward. “Wow…” she mutters to herself again as she stares up at the constellations scattered across the sky.

Yeah. Wow.

She’s so beautiful. Even from this angle. With her pink waves cascading over her shoulders and her floor-length skirt fluttering around her long legs and the heavenly light washing down over her pale skin. She looks like an angel standing with her back to me.

Phone in hand, I discreetly snap a shot of Ziggy with my camera. I want to relive this moment later on when I’m all alone.

As if on instinct, her head abruptly pivots in my direction.

Stealthily concealing my phone in my back pocket, I step up beside her, quickly starting a conversation. “What’s that star up there?” I dare to ask, knowing that she probably has the answer.

She knows a lot about a lot. The woman is a wellspring of information. She’s always educating me.

“That one?” She’s grinning softly now, pointing up at the dark heavens. “Oh, that’s Venus, actually. And the one right over there? That’s Mars. Those two planets are in conjunction for the next little while.”

I respond with a clueless hum. The grin on Ziggy’s face only grows wider as she gazes at the sky and tries to explain what she means. Conjunctions and oppositions and all kind of astrology speak. I’m only growing more confused the more she explains.

Probably because I keep staring at her lips.

They’re really pretty lips. And they feel really pretty when they’re pressed up against mine. I wonder how they’d feel sucking on my cock. Stop it, perv nuts.

When she’s rambled on for a while, her head swings in my direction. “Sorry. Got a little carried away there. I could talk about this astrology stuff for hours.”

“And I could listen to you for hours,” I say. She’s so brilliant. And so passionate. And so mystical I can’t look away.

Her eyes lock with mine and the seconds tick by. We just stare at each other.

She shivers and her arms wrap across her torso. Without hesitating, I shrug out of my flannel, draping it around her shoulders.

“Thank you.” She slips her arms through the sleeves before wrapping them around her middle again.

Something primal roars to life inside of me, seeing the gorgeous woman wearing my clothes while that vulnerable expression dances in her eyes.

“Darius, what exactly is going on here?” she asks me, the air heavy with fizzing tension.

“We’re, uh”—I clear my throat—“we’re working.”

Ziggy doesn’t buy it. Her doubtful expression tells me so.

I try again. “I…I…” I drop my shoulders and shake my head.

Because I really shouldn’t tell her that I missed her so bad all weekend and that I got jealous seeing her with another man and that I was desperate to get her alone with me.

Saying all that would be wrong. But it’s also the truth.

I try again. “I enjoy your company, Ziggy. Outside of the office.”

If I thought she’d be flattered by that confession, I was wrong. Instead, Ziggy looks massively offended. “Outside of the office? You mean, in the dark? In the shadows? Where no-one can see you with a girl like me?”

I blink. “What?” What the hell is she talking about?

She stands taller, holding her shoulders straight. “I get it—a guy like you…why would you want anyone knowing that you hooked up with the weird hippie girl? I get it.”

“And I don’t get it,” I say forcefully.

“Girls like Cecily— women like Cecily—those are the kinds of women that men want to be seen with. Meanwhile, I get to be the dirty, little secret. The one who gets hidden in the dark.”

What?! She’s got this all wrong!

No offense to Cecily but women like her are a dime a dozen. They all look the same, smell the same, taste the same. To each their own, but personally, I find women like Cecily boring.

Meanwhile, Ziggy…She’s unique. She’s bewitching. She haunts all of my senses.

I want to bust down these walls between us and confess it all to her. But when I open my mouth, my billion-dollar negotiation skills fail me.

I don’t have the guts to say what I want to say. In this moment, I’m nothing but that teenaged coward all over again.

“I’ve never looked at you that way, Ziggy,” is all I can say in a weak, unpersuasive voice.

“Yeah. Sure.”

My jaw clenches. I’m so frustrated.

I’m frustrated that I feel so strongly about her. I’m frustrated that I don’t know what to do about it. I’m frustrated that I don’t have the balls to tell her where my head is at, where my heart is at .

“Why the hell do you hate me so fucking much?” I blurt instead.

“Are you even being for real right now?” she spits out, her eyes bugging wide. Like she’s shocked that I’d ask such a stupid question.

“I know that I fucked things up in an epic way. But that was in the past. Would you cut me some slack? Why the hell are you still so mad at me? It’s been more than fifteen years. Why does our past still matter so much?”

Ziggy breaks. “Because I really liked you!” Her screech echoes in the quiet air. “I really, really liked you, Darius.”

The tears come in out of nowhere, quickly spilling from her eyes. Each rivulet of pain streaking down her cheek is a bullet to my chest. All I can do is sweep them away with my thumbs. “I really liked you, too, Ziggy.” I still do .

“You sure didn’t act like it,” she retorts, still stubborn in spite of her tears. “Because the day after you kissed me, you acted like you didn’t even know me.”

“I was a teenager,” I defend weakly. “I was overwhelmed. Kissing you was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. You have no idea how much that kiss changed my life.” I trail my knuckles along her freckled cheekbone.

I remember it like it was yesterday. Frolicking in the woods with Ziggy. Kissing her beneath the waterfall. Falling helplessly under her spell.

I’d never done anything like that before. I’d never experienced that kind of magic.

I remember getting home that night. I remember the look on my father’s face when he told me that I’d missed the phone call. The phone call I’d been waiting for all summer. The phone call offering me the internship that would have all but guaranteed me a full-ride scholarship to the college of my dreams .

I remember my mother’s hand on my shoulder as I’d desperately called the organization back that night, getting nothing but an answering machine in my ear. When I finally got through the next day, I’d been told that the internship had been awarded to someone else because I’d missed the 5:00 p.m. deadline to respond.

I’d fucked up.

I’d missed the opportunity of a lifetime.

Because for one single day in my structured, meticulously planned life, I’d lost focus. I’d gotten lost in a magical girl in the woods. And my future hopes and dreams had come crashing down.

Bitterness and rage had swept over me, my eyes blurry from tears that refused to fall. In my melodramatic fifteen-year-old mind, my life was over. Everything I’d ever wanted had gone down the drain.

And I blamed Ziggy. I blamed this girl who made me feel more than any other person ever had.

When I missed that phone call, I thought I’d lost out on my dream forever.

I didn’t try explaining it to Ziggy. I just pushed her aside in the cruelest way. I just shut down the feelings I had for her. Or at least, I tried to.

By the time I’d come to my senses and made an attempt to talk to her, she wanted nothing to do with me. She went out of her way to avoid me. She wouldn’t even let me get close to her.

Months later, another internship had come along. I still got into the college I wanted. I still got the scholarship I needed.

But I never found myself another Ziggy.

I spent years of my life chasing the high I got from being around her. I never found it. And eventually, I just gave up. I resigned to the idea that love wasn’t important anyway. I focused on my money and career.

Now that Ziggy is back in my life years later, I need to figure out if I can fix this.

“The minute I kissed you, you changed my life. Majorly,” I go on. “I didn’t know how to handle it.” Guilt squeezes my throat so hard. I feel my Adam’s apple bob.

“So you handled it by breaking my heart?” she rationalizes. “By dancing with another girl—right in my face—after making me fall so hard for you? I was devastated, Darius.”

My shoulders drop when I realize there’s absolutely nothing I can say to turn back the hands of time and do things differently.

I gather her cheeks in my palms, staring directly into her beautiful eyes. “If I could make it up to you right now, I would. I’d do anything to make it up to you, Ziggy. All I can say is, I was wrong. I’m just…I’m just so fucking sorry.”

I dare to gently press my lips to the bridge of her perfect, upturned nose.

She abruptly pulls out of my grasp, a fierce emotion emanating from her pretty blue irises.

I expect her to tell me to go to hell. To declare that what I did to her is inexcusable. To proclaim that she’ll hate me forevermore.

Instead, Ziggy rises onto her tiptoes, drapes her arms around my neck and plants her lips on mine.