“I can only help Mark by getting control of his father,” Celine hissed back. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I need some time to make decisions. After what happened at Mark’s, I’ve already been attempting to put a plan in place.” Crystal wanted to argue when the woman got to her feet, but she could tell by the closed-off expression on her face that she’d said as much as she was going to for now. “I’ll get your number from Denny and call you when I’m ready.”
Crystal nodded. “I’d appreciate anything you can do.”
As they went to part ways in the lobby, Celine turned back to her and said earnestly, “I am sorry. You seem as if you really care about my son, and I promise you that I’m going to do everything in my power to help him.”
Crystal made it a few more feet to the plush sofa in the lobby before collapsing down on weak legs. She’d done it. She’d faced one of the obstacles in her path to Mark. She dearly hoped that in doing it, she wasn’t making things worse for the man she loved.
Chapter Twenty-three
Mark looked at his Twitter account for the first time in a few days as he sat in his office. Yeah, he had more important things to do than check his social media accounts, but as usual, lately his focus was shit just knowing Angel was somewhere in the building. They’d been apart for almost three weeks now, and he was still a mess. He was pretty sure he hadn’t gone this long without sex since his first time, and the sad thing was that he had no desire at all to do anything to remedy that dry spell.
He was scrolling through his Twitter stream, pathetically hoping for something from Angel when he saw a picture that had him yelling, “Denny!”
As usual, the other man took his time strolling into Mark’s office with a resigned “Yes?”
Mark flipped his iPad around, showing his cousin the picture of him kissing Margot at the charity event in Charleston a few weeks back. “Who in the hell posted this?” he asked, now in a panic. “What if Angel saw that? Oh God, do you think she has?” He frantically scrolled through the remaining posts to see if she had left him a message, but there was nothing.
“You need to calm down.” Denny rolled his eyes in exasperation. “You broke up with her, so it’s not like this is an admission of cheating. What’s the big deal? I mean, I’m sure that she assumes you’ve returned to your loose ways by now.”
Mark felt like his head was going to explode. He got to his feet and rounded his desk, intent on wringing the other man’s neck. “This would upset her!” he shouted, waving his hands in agitation. “And you know that’s Margot. We’ve never even kissed, much less slept together.”
“Um—looks kind of like you’re kissing in that picture,” Denny pointed out helpfully.
“I swear—” Mark began, only to be cut off when Denny suddenly snapped.
“I really don’t want to hear any more of this whining! I liked you when you were with Crystal. Hell, I even liked you okay when you were banging everything on the East Coast. Now you mope from one city to another because you’re miserable without her. But you’re too much of a pussy to do anything about it! So your dad’s a big asshole. Do you think you’ve got the market cornered on that or something? Big—fucking—deal. Crystal’s mom is a rabid bitch from what I’ve heard too, but at least she has some balls. How about you grow a pair and take charge of your life again. Or, at the very least, borrow Crystal’s for a while. Now, I’m taking the afternoon off because I’m at my limit with you for today. And you can call a cab when you’re ready to leave.” With those final parting words, Denny slammed the outer door impressively and left Mark in oppressive silence.
Without giving himself time to think about his actions, he called Declan and, after a fair amount of ass chewing, got the information that he needed. Then he looked up the number for a cab company and ordered one to arrive in fifteen minutes. If Denny’s fit had done nothing else, it had given Mark an idea—or really a plan. And fuck it all. When you had nothing, what was left to lose? It was time to find the balls that he’d obviously lost, and he knew where he wanted to look first.
• • •
“What are you doing here?” an angry voice demanded. Mark almost smiled. He was pissing off people everywhere he went today, it seemed.
“I’d like to speak with you for a moment, Mrs. Webber.”
Angel’s mother stood before him looking like an angry pit bull. He had a hard time figuring out where Angel and Ella got their looks, because there didn’t seem to be anything attractive about the bitter woman snarling at him. “First you put my daughter up to cutting me out of her life, and now you’re here to what? Give me one final kick?”
Mark couldn’t control his surprise. “Crystal’s been here?”
Giving him a hateful glare, she said, “Oh, like you didn’t know? She was a good girl before she met you. But ever since then, she’s been nothing but disrespectful to me. I’ve given those girls my whole life, and they don’t appreciate it. Instead, they both come here and tell me that unless I can turn over a new leaf, I’m not their mother anymore.”
As belligerent as she was trying to appear, Mark could see the cracks in her tough armor. Whatever had happened, the Webber sisters had struck a chord deep within their mother, and she was still reeling from it. He’d come here today to tell her to leave Angel alone, but it appeared to be rather anticlimactic now. She’d done it. She’d stood up to her mother and obviously not backed down. Shit, he was so proud of her. It looked like she possessed the balls, as Denny had suggested earlier, and this was one time that he was okay with letting her borrow them.
“Mrs. Webber, I can see that you’re upset, and I don’t want make it worse. But I want you to know that I love your daughter. I may not be the man that you envisioned her being with, but as of now, I’m going to dedicate myself to pulling my head out of my ass and being the only one she’ll ever want or need.”
He expected to catch some hell for his less than delicate terminology, but then something amazing happened. He blinked several times, thinking he must be hallucinating. But no, Dot Webber, the female equivalent of his father, was smiling. Okay, so maybe it was more like the grin of someone with really bad gas pains, but it was there. It fucking counted. When she opened her mouth, he braced for another smackdown, but instead he got, “Well, what are you doing standing here in your fancy suit wasting my time, then?” She looked past him to the cab idling at the curb and added, “After you’ve groveled to my daughter, maybe you should go buy yourself a car. I’m assuming you’ve got enough credit to pull it, because I’m not cosigning for a loan.”
He grinned broadly before walking backward. “I think I’ve got it covered, but thanks for the tip. Be seeing you.” She raised a brow before shaking her head and walking away. Amazing. The woman might never be more than passingly pleasant, but it appeared Angel had reenacted The Taming of the Shrew. God, he’d been such a fool. But he didn’t intend to let another day pass him by before he begged for her forgiveness.
Chapter Twenty-four
Across town at almost the same time, Crystal opened the door to find Celine DeSanto standing there. She made a mental note to kick Denny’s butt later for not giving her any warning. “I’m sorry to show up unannounced, but that seems to work best for us, doesn’t it?” Celine smiled briefly before asking, “Can I come in?”
Crystal waved her inside, and then led the way to her small living room. The other woman looked far different from her normal polished appearance in her jeans and a pair of running shoes. A black turtleneck rounded out the casual look. “How have you been?” She felt compelled to ask because she was genuinely curious.
“Marcus is in rehab,” Celine admitted. “He checked in a week ago after I threatened to leave if he didn’t get help. Nothing else worked. I begged, pleaded, and tried a healthy dose of guilt, but it took me packing a bag and opening the door before he caved.”
Without thinking, Crystal leaned forward and placed a hand on Celine’s. “I’m so sorry; I can’t imagine how difficu
lt that must have been.”
“It was horrible,” she shuddered. “He started crying when he knew I was serious. I told him that he either got the help he needed and learned to be a father to his son or we were over. As hard as it was, I meant it and he knew that. He checked himself into rehab the next morning in Charleston. I just drove up today to tell you in person and also to talk to Mark.”
Before she could say anything, there was a knock at the door. It seemed as if this was the day for unexpected visitors. She knew Ella was planning to come by later that evening, but figured she might have gotten away earlier than she thought. The last thing she expected when she opened the door was to see Mark standing there looking like some kind of Armani dream in his dark suit. She knew she was gaping at him, but she couldn’t seem to find her voice.
“Angel,” he said in that soft, sexy voice that enchanted her. “Oh, baby, I’ve . . .”
“Mark?” She heard from somewhere behind her. He gave her a questioning look before gently tugging her aside.
“Mother?” he muttered in shock. “What’re you doing here?” Crystal took the hand that was still holding on to her arm and pulled him gently forward so that she could shut the door behind him.
“Come in and sit down with us,” she invited. In a testament to how stunned he was, he did as he was told, settling beside her on the sofa while Celine took a nearby chair. Unable to stand the silence that had fallen over the room, Crystal turned to Mark and made a full confession. “I went to see your parents a few weeks ago while they were still in town. Your mother and I ended up talking alone, and I told her how much I loved you and that I was miserable without you.”
The day just kept getting stranger, because instead of anger, a smile played around his full lips. He reached out to run a hand over her leg, before giving it a squeeze. “You’ve been a busy girl, haven’t you, Angel? I should have expected something like this, since I just left your mother’s house with similar intentions in mind.”
“Wait—what?” Crystal gaped at him. “You went to see my mother? Are you nuts?” Dear Lord, was the man suicidal? Of course, he had no way of knowing that she had already poked the dragon with a stick before he’d walked into her lair. The poor guy.
“I don’t know,” he replied, while darting a look toward his own mother, “are you?” So possibly, we have both lost our minds a bit, Crystal wryly acknowledged to herself.
Probably feeling a little lost over their conversation, Celine sat forward in her chair and blurted out, “Mark, I came by to tell Crystal that your father has entered a rehabilitation facility.”
This time it was Mark stammering out, “What are you talking about?”
At that point, Crystal decided that mother and son could use some alone time together. Mark was so riveted by his mother’s explanation that he didn’t appear to notice when she slipped away to her bedroom, closing the door behind her. She kicked off her shoes and relaxed back on her bed, content to wait for him to find her.
She had no idea much time had passed when something jolted her awake. She jerked as a shape beside her took focus. “How long have you been there?” she asked dreamily as Mark smiled gently down at her.
“A little while,” he admitted. “I was happy just being in the same room with you after not seeing you for so long.”
“Is your mom gone?” she asked, looking beyond him to the open bedroom door.
“Yeah, Angel, she’s gone back to Charleston to see my dad.”
“I hope you’re not mad at me for going to see her,” Crystal began hesitantly. “I thought if you could see that I’m strong enough to handle anything our parents could dish out, then you’d reconsider your decision. I never expected your father to actually seek help, so that was an added bonus.”
He turned for a moment to push his shoes off then climbed into bed, taking her into his arms. He kissed her for long, drugging moments before pulling back slightly. “I was wrong, baby. I was so blinded by my need to save you from the world that I damn near took away both of our reasons for living. I’ve only been existing without you, Angel—nothing has meant anything to me. I can’t tell you how much I regret shutting down on you like that. I thought I was doing what was best, but I should have talked to you instead of pushing you away. I’m not proud of it, but it took Denny throwing some kind of girl tantrum and threatening to kick my ass before I figured out what a fool I’ve been.”
Crystal squeezed a hand up in the air and smirked. “Mia and Gwen pointed something similar out to me. Which pretty much lit a fire under me to stop feeling sorry for myself and take action.”
Mark laughed softly. “So how long do you think we would have gone on if not for our friends stepping in to save the day?”
Shuddering, Crystal said, “I don’t even want to know. I couldn’t care less how much hell we catch from our parental units in the future. I love you, Mark DeSanto, and you’re not getting rid of me again.”
Giving her a tender look full of promise for the future, Mark kissed the tip of her nose before saying, “I love you too, Crystal Webber, and thank you for being strong enough to slay both of our dragons.”
“Whatever,” she huffed playfully. “Now would you please shut up and make love to me already? You know how cranky I get when I haven’t had sex for a while.”
Mark burst out in relieved laughter, jumping to his feet and pulling at his clothes. “I’ll take care of that right now, Angel. Does ‘hashtag multiple orgasms’ work for you?”
“Hashtag hell yeah!” She giggled as he moved to join her. Within moments, only the sighs of pleasure and words of love filled the room.
Epilogue
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ella asked yet again as she looked nervously around the crowded restaurant. The DeSantos were meeting the Webbers for the first time, and it was anyone’s guess as to how it would go.
The day had started out with the news that Gwen was in labor. So Crystal had rushed to the hospital—actually, Denny had taken her at Mark’s insistence, and she had arrived just an hour before Gwen had given birth. Since Dominic and Gwen had elected not to find out the sex beforehand, it was truly a surprise when baby boy Brady made his way into the world. His parents had decided on a name for both a boy and a girl ahead of time. Mac and Gage were not only Dominic’s best friends but also business partners. And they had served two tours in the military together prior to opening East Coast Security. Gage’s middle name was Cameron, and Mac’s first name was McKinley, so those were combined to Cameron McKinley Brady. Gage was thrilled to get first billing in little Cameron’s name, and Dominic was afraid that they’d never be able to live with his ego now. Gwen had told them after Gage was gone that they just liked the way it sounded and it was in no way because Gage was more important, as he had been insinuating. Whatever the reason, Crystal thought it was a wonderful name for the most beautiful baby boy ever.
“Here comes your crazy . . .” Declan began, only to stop abruptly as Ella shot him a reproachful look. Crystal tried to hide her smirk as their mother walked into the restaurant trailed by their father.
“Well, at least she showed,” Ella pointed out. Bless her; she was always looking for the bright side. Crystal had to admit that even though things were far from perfect with her mother, they were better than they had been in some time. She even thought that Mark was winning over the tough-as-nails woman. She wasn’t sure if it was because her mother actually liked him or if it was just because she knew that Mark wouldn’t put up with any of her negative behavior.
When their parents stopped before them, her father gave them both a brief hug before shaking Declan’s hand. Then their mother gave them each a peck on the cheek. “Hello, girls. Where is Sofia?” she directed to Ella.
“Oh, we got a sitter for her tonight. Declan and I thought we could use a date night since it’s been a while.” Their mother couldn’t resist a small eye roll, but didn’t comment. “Oh look,” Ella pointed across the room. “There’s Denny, Mark, and his
parents, I presume.”
Crystal grinned before excusing herself and going to her boyfriend’s side. “Angel.” He smiled in return as she slid into the circle of his arms. “I missed you, baby,” he murmured for her ears alone as he brushed his lips against her temple.
Denny wrestled her from Mark and dropped a loud, smacking kiss on her cheek before going to greet Declan and Ella. She returned to Mark and mentally braced herself to face the man she hadn’t seen since that day in Mark’s house almost two months earlier. “Mr. and Mrs. DeSanto, it’s so good to see you again,” she said politely as she extended a hand.
Mark’s mother took her hand and pulled her forward, hugging her. “It’s Celine, and it’s wonderful to see you again, Crystal.” Then, in a surprise move, still holding on to Crystal, she moved her husband closer. “This is my husband, Marcus. I don’t believe you’ve been formally introduced before.”
And then in what would be the biggest shock of the night, an obviously sober Marcus DeSanto took her face in his hands and kissed both of her cheeks. “It’s a real pleasure, Crystal. I’m looking forward to getting to know you, and I hope you’re open to meeting the real me.”
“That sounds amazing,” she replied honestly. Wow. It was not what she had been expecting at all—it was so much better. She’d expected hostility at the very least, but the couple she saw before her now only resembled their former selves in looks. Their demeanor was completely different and, dare she say, friendly. She glanced quickly at Mark to gauge his reaction, and he looked so happy and not a little relieved. Mark had admitted earlier that he hoped somewhere down the road when his father was further along in his recovery, he might be able to take a position with the DeSanto Group. But for now, they were all taking things one day at a time, while attempting to establish a relationship with each other.
And then the moment was upon them. Her mother, pulling her husband along behind her, marched over to the DeSantos looking like a drill sergeant. As Ella crept up beside Crystal, she whispered, “Oh shit, I tried to distract her, but she’s relentless.”
The One for Me Page 23