"You want to tell me the real reason you crashed on my couch last night?"
I look up from my bowl of cereal and give Chris a weak smile. "I told you I wanted to hang out with my big sister." I tell her.
And because Deacon broke my heart.
I don't want to see Deacon.
I miss Deacon.
God, I'm so sleepy. And confused.
I could barely make it through the rest of Lilah's game. I wanted nothing more than to be away from him.
Towards the end of the game I lied to Lilah and told her that I wasn't feeling well so I need to leave her game early and go home. She was sad but thankfully she understood and gave me her permission. Deacon obviously knew I was lying but didn't say anything or try to to stop me.
I call an Uber and it takes me back to Deacon's house. I head upstairs to my room and pack a small bag with a change of clothes and the outfit I planned on wearing to my parent's anniversary party tonight before going over to Chris's house. She doesn't ask what I'm doing here or what I needed, instead she gives me her bedroom and gives me some privacy.
I'm not angry anymore. I'm more sad than anything else.
I love him and I want to be with him but...
I need space.
He makes me smile, and when I'm with him I thought for sure I found my person.
But I'm not his person and that's a hard pill to swallow.
I'm going to have to quit being the nanny. I hated the idea of abandoning the girls suddenly but there was no way that I would be able to work around Deacon after all of this.
I walk into the kitchen and place my empty bowl of cereal into the kitchen sink when Chris answered her ringing phone.
"Hey, Deacon. What's up?" Chris greets and I freeze in front of the sink. "Mya?" She looks at me and I shake my head.
I've been gone since this morning after Lilah's game; I'm surprised it's taken him this long to try to track me down, especially with his overprotecting, second daddy act. "No, I haven't seen her. Is everything okay?" I can't hear what Deacon says but whatever he does, Chris replies. "Yeah, I'll let you know if I hear from her. K. Bye." Then she hangs up.
He texted me a few times and called, but there was no way I was replying back to him.
Chris places her phone down before walking over to stand in front of me by the sink. "What's going on?"
I shake my head. "Nothing."
She crosses her arms. "You're gonna have to do a lot better than that," she tells me. "Come on, talk to me."
"I just got into an argument with Deacon. I just need some space that's all." I explain as best as I can without telling her much.
"You look like you've been crying. Did Deacon hurt you?" She asks hesitantly. She's known Deacon for as long as I've known him and thought of him hurting me is impossible but at the end of the day Deacon is still a man, still twice my size, and I'm a young girl living in his home unsupervised.
"No, of course not." I answer immediately. "At least not physically."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
I sigh, wanting to talk to someone about all of this. I couldn't talk to my mother because she wouldn't understand and Chris was the only other woman in my life who would listen to me without judgement.
So I tell her everything.
"Wow." She says when I'm all done.
"That's all you have to say?" I laugh, nervously.
"I don't know what else to say." She admits.
"How about how stupid I am for falling in love with my dad's best friend."
"I mean yeah, it's messed up falling for your dad's best friend but the heart wants what it wants."
"You're not gonna tell me that it's disgusting or that I'm acting out as a result of some daddy issues?" I press.
"Hey, I'm dating a married couple right now," Chris admits. "So if anyone understands messy relationship situations it's me."
"I don't know what to do. I love him but he's never going to see me as anything more than my age." I say.
"I'm sorry Mya." Chris pulls me into a hug. "You can stay here for as long you'd like."
"Thanks Chris." I hug her back. Not wanting to talk about my disastrous relationship anymore, I pull away from our hug and give her a look. "So tell me about this married couple..."
***
Chris and I spend the rest of the day on her couch watching crappy movies and eating popcorn until it's time to get for my parent's anniversary party. Chris looks stylish in a white blazer and pants set and bright red lips and I decide on a short but elegant old Hollywood dress with feathers at the neckline and did my hair in lose waves.
Chris offers for us to go in one car but I like the idea of being able to escape tonight if I need it, so I tell her I'll just meet her there. It takes me a good twenty minutes of aimlessly driving before I decided to go to the hotel my parents rented did they occasion. Twenty five years of marriage is a huge accomplishment and I'm so proud of my parents for defining what love and being married is, and even though I don't want to see Deacon, there's no way I'm missing out tonight.
As I pull up to the hotel where my parents rented out the ballroom for the occasion, I search for Deacon's car and curse under my breath when I find it. There's gonna be at least a hundred people in attendance tonight, it should be easy to avoid to Deacon for the night.
Taking a deep breath, I climb out of the car, lock it, and even though I want to be anywhere but here, I head for the entrance.
My heart starts beating a little quicker when I realize that Deacon can spot me any second but I continue to head for the ballroom, following the lure of the upbeat jazz music. With any luck, there will be too many people for Deacon to notice me tonight.
I walk in, momentarily stunned by the beautiful decorations my parents had set up for the occasion. There's white and yellow (my mom's favorite color) all around from the flower arrangement, the table cloth, and the table decorations. I immediately spot them at the front of the room; my dad has his arm around my mom's waist and they're talking to my grandparents.
I quietly make my way over to them.
"There's my baby girl." My dad greets me, opening his arms for a hug. I hug him first then my mom before kissing my grandparents each on the cheek.
"Mom, you look so beautiful!"
"Thank you baby! So do you." She smiles.
"What about your old man?" My dad wonders.
"You look handsome as always dad." I reassure him.
"I know I do I just wanted to hear you say it." My dad grins.
"I'm gonna go get a drink. Does anyone want anything?" I ask.
They all decline and I head for the bar. Ever since my experience with getting drugged I'm not so eager to drink anymore like I used to be, but the idea of being in the same room as Deacon has my stomach in knots and in desperate of something to calm my nerves.
I order a glass of champagne and the bartender doesn't ask questions, figuring everyone here is old enough to drink. I thank the bartender the same moment I felt someone come stand at the bar and I turn my head to see Deacon.
Our gaze lock on each other but neither of us says a word.
"I called and texted you. I was starting to get worried." He says, then looks me over. "You look breath-taking."
"Thanks. I'm sure some man here will appreciate it."
He tightens his jaw. "Don't."
"Don't what? Don't cause a scene or don't flirt with other men?" I demand.
The party rages on, but the two of us stand facing each other in our own little bubble. He's still trying to figure out who he's willing to risk, me or my dad.
"This was going to end right?" He chokes out, speaking underneath his breath so that only I can hear him. "In five years I'll be fucking fifty. I'm not going to burden you with that. This was going to end. You knew it was."
I do now.
It's strange; him confirming what I always secretly knew. But it doesn't stop the sadness that creeps over me. I wanted him to fight for me. For us. But I guess I'm not worth it.
I start to head towards my parents but Deacon reaches out and grabs my free hand, stopping me. "Let's go home. Annie's mother has the girls until tomorrow morning; we can talk."
"That's not my home and as much as I love those girls, they're not mine." I tell him. "You clearly made up your mind on where we stand and I'm not going to let you reject me again."
I take a step but Deacon stands in front of me, blocking me. "Please. I'm not ready to let you go Mya."
I grip the stem of my champagne flute harder. "Then tell him. Tell my dad right now that we're together so we can get it out of the way and you can take me in your arms on the dance floor."
"Mya?" A hesitant male voice says, breaking the spell Deacon has on me. I turn my head to see Michael. We've texted a few times but then I started screwing around with Deacon that I completely forgot about him. But it looks like my dad invited him.
He looks handsome in his light blue shirt and black slacks.
He looks between Deacon and I, trying to read the situation.
"Hi, Michael." I smile softly.
"Everything okay?" He seizes up Deacon; ready to take him on if he had to.
He does remember that Deacon is a trained s.w.a.t officer right?
"Yeah, everything is fine."
"Actually we're in the middle of an important conversation, so you can leave." Deacon says, rudely.
"It seems to me that Mya is done talking to you."
I look at Deacon. "I am." I turn and start to leave with Michael when Deacon calls out my name and reaches for my hand again to stop me.
"Hey, what's your problem man?" Michael steps in, pushing Deacon away from me and Deacon shoves back, causing Michael to bump into me, knocking my champagne out of my hand and the glass to fall on the floor.
Everyone is looking now and Michael tries to go for a punch but Deacon grabs ahold of his fist, twist his arm behind his back and shoved him against the bar.
"Deacon! Deacon!" My dad is hollering as he runs over, pulling Deacon off of Michael. "What the hell is going on here?"
I glance away to see my mom wandering over as well as the rest of the team.
"Somebody better start talking." My dad threatens.
"Just tell him Deacon." I urge him.
"This is not the place." Deacon argues.
"Tell me what?" My dad demands, there's a calmness in his voices that scares me.
"Seems to me like your daughter and your partner have been screwing around behind your back." Michael says and my dad instantly drop his hands from his shirt like he's been electrocuted before he stares between Deacon and I.
I don't know what to say. I don't know what to do. This was not how I wanted my dad to find out.
"Please tell me you're joking right now." My dad says to no one in particular, his voice deathly calm.
"Hondo-" Deacon starts to explain and by the tone of his voice and remorseful look on Deacon's face, my dad knew that it was true and before Deacon could finish his sentence my dad throws a punch so hard across Deacon's cheek that causes Deacon to fall on his ass.
"Hondo!" My mom comes over, trying to hold off my dad from going after Deacon. My dad pushes my mother off of him, not enough to hurt her but she does stumble backwards; that's the first time I've ever seen my dad put his hands on my mom.
My dad turns back to Deacon and goes to lunge for him but I step in front of Deacon, blocking him.
"Dad, stop!"
"Mya, move out of the way." My dad warns me.
Deacon stands up and moves me to the side so I'm not standing in between him and my dad.
"How long?" My dad demands.
"A month?" Deacon answers.
My dad is silent as he lets that sink in and the steely resolve and disappointment in his eyes is nothing I've ever seen before.
"We're done." My dad says and the scary part of it all, I didn't know if he was talking to Deacon or me.
------
Wow. A lot to unpack in this chapter!
The cats out of the bag-- Hondo knows! What do you think will happen next??
8+ comments for the next chapter!
Thank you for reading! ❤️