Crazy Thing (The Brighton Family #5)

Chapter 51

51

ZIGGY

“ O w!” I whisper-yell after I stub my toe— hard —on the leg of a hallway table.

I’m groggily creeping through Darius’s house in the middle of the night.

Well, I was groggy, but after smashing my baby toe to pieces, I’m considerably more alert now.

Seriously, ow .

Following a fun afternoon at the hockey arena and a delicious dinner at The North Node, Darius and I ditched his family and finished our night with some ‘dessert’ of the R-rated variety.

After multiple glorious orgasms, I passed out like the dead in Darius’s king-sized bed. I’ll never tell him this, but I think I love that plush mattress half as much as I do him. Unless we’re having sex, I fall asleep the instant my body touches that gloriously soft bed.

I guess Darius must have slipped out to his home office to get some work done after I conked out. Because when I woke up having to pee a few minutes ago, he wasn’t in bed next to me like I expected him to be.

Trying to avoid another injured toe, I’m now carefully tiptoeing toward the kitchen for a glass of water.

Wait—am I on the ground floor or the second? I don’t even know.

Idon’t think I’ll ever get used to how massive Darius’s house is. There are so many rooms. There are rooms I haven’t even been in yet. And everything is so spread out.

I was only joking when I asked Darius for a printout map of his house but I’m starting to think I might actually need one. I’m used to taking one to two steps to just about anything I need in my bus. It’s taking me a while to adjust to all this space.

I’d say it reminds me of my parent’s mansion, but it really doesn’t. Sure, they’re both absurdly huge. But where my parent’s place is cold and sterile, Darius’s home is warm and inviting.I’m comfortable here. I feel accepted and welcome. I like this place.

Even if I still occasionally make a wrong turn when I go searching for a glass of water in the middle of the night.

I am almost to the kitchen—on the first try tonight—when I hear Darius’s voice as I pass by a closed door. At first, I figure that he’s only mumbling to himself and I just about walk on by.

But then, I hear another man’s voice.It sounds like Darius is on the phone. Or rather, on speakerphone.

A meeting? He’s having a meeting at this time on a Wednesday night?

Has he now resorted to working in the middle of the night to make up for the lost hours he spends with me? Has he secretly been hiding a mountain of work from me all while we’ve been frolicking around town like wayward teenagers during business hours?

I almost keep walking. Because there’s a chance that whatever he’s working on is none of my business. He deserves his privacy. I tell myself that if he wants to loop me in later, then he will. I don’t want to stress about all of his business deals, unless he needs me to.

But then, my feet pause. Because even if it isn’t official working hours, I am his assistant. And his girlfriend. I’m worried about him getting enough rest.

I decide to poke my head into the office to at least ask if he needs help. Then I hear the word ‘waterfall’, and my ears perk right up.

“You’ve bought this waterfall for a steal right now, Brighton,” the stranger says with a grunt. “Just imagine what it will be worth in a few years. You can make a goddamned fortune when you resell all that land.” The man laughs heartily. “Must be nice having all that money. I don’t blame you. If I were a rich bastard like you, I would have snatched up that deal myself.”

Then I hear Darius’s voice. “Yeah. Yeah, sure. Now, can we—?”

“And don’t let those weird hippies make you feel guilty. The land is your own private property now,” the other man speaks again. “As soon as the ink dries, you can do whatever the heck you please with that waterfall.”

“Of course,” Darius answers. “I don’t care what the locals have to say. The land is mine and I’ll do whatever I please with it.”

The icy cold callous bluntness in his voice is enough to make me shiver. It’s not just what Darius says. It’s how he says it. Like none of it means anything to him.

He clears his throat, continuing the conversation like it’s nothing. “So, as I was saying…”

My heart falls into my stomach and it starts to pound. The floor is spinning and I want to throw up.The men are still speaking but I can no longer hear them.

‘I don’t care what the locals have to say. The land is mine and I’ll do whatever I please with it ’?!

Oh no. No, no, no.It can’t be.

But it is.

I heard it all with my own ears. Darius betrayed me. He betrayed all of us. The whole town.

Bracing myself against the shadowy wall, I let it sink in. Darius Brighton has betrayed me—yet again.

A part of me can not believe that he would ever do this. But on the other hand, I should have known.

I should have known that he was up to something. I should have realized that he was constantly trying to shut me out of the waterfall deal over the past few weeks. I should have noticed that he was always acting aloof and shady about the details, conveniently leaving me out of the loop and changing the subject every time I tried to bring it up.

The whole time he was scheming to betray me and the town. I was such a fool.

I thought I could trust him.

Except, I knew I couldn’t. I always knew it.

He’s the same guy who broke my heart sixteen years ago. The guy who put his interests first without caring who’d get hurt in the process.

Since when does a tiger change his stripes?

Darius betrayed me once and if I’d learned my lesson the first time, I wouldn’t be so shocked that he would do it again.

I should have remained true to my instincts. But my stupid heart convinced me otherwise. And while it stings so freaking bad that I let myself be fooled, that’s not even the worst part.

The worst part is, I let down the whole town. The Starlight Falls locals were all depending on me to protect the waterfall for them. They believed in me and I let this happen.

I unknowingly aided and abetted Darius’s evildoing. I practically helped him steal the waterfall right out from under the town.

And it’s too late. Darius owns the land now, and there’s nothing I can do to fix it. He’s going to sell it to some greedy developer and get even richer, while the rest of us will lose the heart of our community.

I don’t want to believe it all. I’m still teetering on that first stage of denial, but I know it’s true. I heard his plans for myself.

I brace a hand over my heart and struggle to catch my breath as I realize it was all part of Darius’s devious scheme.

The thoughtful gifts and the quality time. The mind-blowing sex and the fake declarations of love. Ohmigod—the man even asked me to move in with him!

Who the hell does all that? Just for money?!

I’m furious. I’m hurt. I’m shaking.

And if I confront him while I’m in this state, there’s no telling how things might play out.

I need space. I need to cool down.

So I tiptoe back to the bedroom and snatch my belongings in a mad rush. I’m grabbing clothes and whatever else of mine that I can find, stuffing them into my knapsack. Punching them down to get them to fit into the small bag.

Then I scurry back through his house, avoiding the hallway Darius’s office is in. I sneak out the front door, my bus keys in hand. I’m barefoot—I’m not even sure what I did with my shoes—as I run out into the night.

I jump in my bus, roar the engine to life, and take off into the darkness. My heart cracks and shatters on the highway behind me.