None Other Than You

by Samolu Pearl

  "We told you to get out, now do it." Kevin glares defiantly at Teigan. "You want a shiner on the other eye too?" Teigan growls.

  Kevin glares at him one last time before turning his glare on me, and seething says, "This isn't over, Bitch."

  He stumbles over a foot rest on his way to the door before slamming it behind him. Teigan and I stand still for several minutes before I let out a breath of air and start to fall onto the couch.

  "Delaney?" Teigan turns quickly to find me sprawled halfway on the couch and the floor in utter shock.

  "I didn't know he had a son." I whisper.

  Teigan look into my eyes, glassed over with shock. He kisses my forehead. "I'll be right back." I hear him run into the other room while my mind spins in circles.

  I have a half-brother.

  I have a half-brother.

  I have a half-brother.

  I have a half-brother.

  Does that mean he is back too?

  "Yes, Mom, give me to Mrs. Knight. Don't ask just do.

  "Mrs. Knight? Delaney told me yesterday about her father. No, not Patrick. Yes, she did tell me. Well there was someone in your house, he's left now, but he claims to be Kevin Mason. Yes, she's not doing so well. I'm standing in front of her now, she seems kind of out of it. Yeah, he ran down the street. I gave him a black eye to make him leave. Yes, I'll watch her.

  "What? No… We didn't see Allen. He came over? Are you sure? I haven't seen him. Okay. I'll be here."

  "Teigan." I whisper. His blue eyes find mine, their concern and care evident. "I need you." I say softly, letting his arms wrap around me as I stare blankly at the front door.

  Chapter Eighteen: I'm Your Someone

  It's been five days and there is no sign of Allen anywhere. Pete has been an amazing help. He has stayed with us, sleeping on the couches with Dan and Sean while the three of them look for Allen and stay on the watch for Kevin or Adam Mason.

  That's the name of my father. Adam Mason. And he is in town. And he is after my family.

  We've pretty much kept to ourselves for the past five days, and with the help of the Teigan's and the Kingsley's, we haven't heard or seen either of the Mason's.

  "Delaney, keep your head up. We'll be fine." Mom says as we walk through the store. She hasn't been to work in five days and was going stir crazy in the house. I usually do the shopping so I brought her along to get her outside.

  "I just don't understand why he would come back after all these years." I say, scratching the last item off our list.

  Mom pulls the cart towards the front of the store to the shortest line. "Neither do I, Sweetheart."

  Mom and I are silent as we unload the groceries onto the checkout stand, lost in our thoughts. I've been wondering these past few days why the Mason's came back, why Kevin seemed so keen on letting me know they were here, why Darren likes me, and why on Allen has disappeared off the face of the earth.

  "I'm sorry, ma'am, but it says your card can't be accepted." Mom and I exchange confused looks and she digs in her purse.

  "Try this one."

  Each and every one of mom's cards is refused as she hands them to the woman at the stand. Embarrassed to no end, we leave the store with nothing of what we spent the last two hours getting off the shelves.

  I end up having to drive home—mom is too distracted to pay attention to the road—and my thoughts are again on Darren, who has been nothing but helpful to me these past few days. I can't help but lean on him when he's letting me use him as a crutch but I also can't help but feel horrible about it.

  By the time we're almost home I've all but forgotten about the groceries we left behind until Mom suddenly points at Pete's and tell me to pull over.

  We hop out of the car and she practically runs inside. I follow her and in seconds she finds Pete in the shop.

  I stop in my tracks as I watch her run into his arms and break down. I've never seen my mom interact so openly with Pete even though I've entertained the idea of them together before.

  "What is it? What's wrong?" Pete looks from my mother to me and the entire shop has stopped their conversations to stare.

  Mom's sobbing ceases long enough for her to say, "Something's wrong. Something is terribly wrong."

  Pete wraps his arms around her and searches the shop for Bethany, John, or Mason. He finds Mason and nods in his direction—the signal means watch the shop.

  I follow Pete and my mother to his apartment upstairs. He gets her situated in a chair and I take the one next to her, my hand tracing comforting circles on her back.

  He puts a pot of hot water on the stove and pulls up a chair right in front of my mom. "Joan." He says softly. "Please, tell me what's wrong."

  Her eyes look up to his and I feel as though I've walked in on an intimate moment between the two of them. I'm confused—wasn't mom in love with Allen?

  "It's just like last time." She says. "Adam came back and was comforting when I didn't have anyone…" Her voice drifts of and she glances at me, almost guiltily, and then looks back at Pete. "The last time he was here he wiped out all of our accounts. The same thing happened—same store and everything. None of my cards work, Pete. I think my accounts are empty. I think Adam Mason has taken every last bit of money we have." Her voice breaks and her face falls into her hands.

  Pete pulls her into a hug and stares at me over her shoulder, looking confused and angry at the same time. "It's going to be alright." He mutters as her holds her closer.

  "Pete." I say, "What are we going to do?" He looks away from both of us for a long time before standing up and going to the stove.

  "I'm going to fix this."

  "How?"

  "We don't expect you to fix this Pete," Mom says through her tears. "I just needed someone…"

  Pete turns around and looked pointedly at Mom. "I'm your someone." He says seriously. "Don't ever forget that." Mom nods slowly as she watches him pour the water into two cups and put tea bags in both. "Drink these before you head home." He bends down and presses a kiss to mom's forehead.

  "Where are you going?" Mom asks as he heads for the door.

  "I have some business to take care of. I'll come by the house later." And before either of us has a chance to say anything, Pete is out the door and down the stairs.

  "Mom, why didn't you say anything in the car?" I ask after a moment. We're both staring at our steaming cups, not touching them.

  "It was too much to handle. Pete has always been there for me when everything gets to be too much…" I turn my gaze to Mom and let it rest on her as I watch her think.

  "Why are you with Allen?"

  "Well that's out of the blue." She says, reaching for her mug.

  "If Pete is your 'someone' like he said and you go to him when you need help and he takes care of you like he does, then why are you not with him?" Mom turns to look at me.

  "Because he doesn't see me that way."

  "Right, because he would hold you like that and take care of you like he does if he didn't."

  "We're friends." She says, clutching her mug tighter. "And where do you get off giving me relationship advice?" She asks with a slight, irritated smirk.

  "Ah…. I…" I stutter.

  "That's what I thought."

  Suddenly I find myself blurting, "I'm seeing Darren."

  She turns her entire body towards me. "Since when?"

  "Christmas morning, I think."

  We look at each other for a long while. "We need to talk more about these kinds of things."

  "Yes, Mom. Yes we do…."

  * * *

  I stare at the front of the newspaper and can't believe my eyes. "You've got to be kidding me," I say, throwing the paper back onto the counter. I had just started to accept the fact that my biological father had stolen all of our money for the second time in my mother's life and thought that was as bad as it could get. But this . . . I had definitely been proved wrong.

  "What is it?" Teigan asked, leaning over my shoulder. He had been hanging o
ut at the house very often and keeping my family, especially me, company. His eyes widen just as mine did when I saw the front article. "They seriously wrote an article about your family and all of its problems." His jaw hung open wide. "This is ridiculous."

  "Read it. It makes it even more ridiculous," I say, pulling away from the table and look upon the paper with horror. "Allison sold out the entire situation, my parentage, everything, to the freaking newspaper. Mom's marriage to Mason, his abuse . . ."

  I start hyperventilating and sink to the floor, hugging my knees around me. People aren't supposed to know your family's secrets like this.

  "Delaney," Teigan says and I feel him lean down over me. He's wearing sweats and nothing else in the kitchen. Did I mention that he had spent the night and that we had stayed up all night talking? We were grabbing a late night snack/early breakfast when the paper hit the door and I decided to get it for Mom. If I could help it, Mom would never know about this article.

  My breathing picked up even more. I start to feel dizzy and Teigan wraps his arms around me and he takes deep breaths. Somehow, my breathing slows to match his and the world stops spinning.

  "It's like an endless spiral, Darren," I whisper, leaning back into his warm chest. "We're going down and down and there isn't anything to hold on to to help get us back up."

  "You have me." He lays a soft kiss on my forehead before helping me stand up. He grabs the paper off the counter without really letting go of me and leads me upstairs.

  I sigh and lean into him. "As amazing as it would be to have you be my family's hero, how do you plan on pulling that off?"

  "Actually, I've been setting up something for several days to at least help to pull you out of that endless spiral."

  I stop in my tracks at that. We are right in front of my room and, after he stares at me for a moment, wondering why I stopped, I shove him into my room, shut and lock the door, and shove him onto my bed. I loom over him, my hands on my hips, and glare.

  "Spill it."

  Teigan laughs and stands up, reaching out for me. I back up, still glaring at him, and he smiles more. "Delaney, it's a surprise that everyone has been working on very hard for the last few days and you will find out tonight so please don't ruin it by making me tell you."

  I frown, but he's backed me up against the door and I have nowhere to go and nothing to look at but his blue eyes looking down at me. "So you're saying I could make you tell me."

  He sighs and his eyes flutter in a way that makes me blush. "Delaney," he whispers, his voice husky and deeper than usual, "you have several . . . actions . . . that would make me answer any question you ever wanted to ask me."

  "Teigan, what . . .?" I gasp, my eyes wide. I had no idea what he was talking about. With the way he was talking it sounded like he was recalling some fantastic sex we had experienced or something—but that wasn't possible seeing as we had barely started making out.

  "All you have to do is grab me and kiss me and my defenses go down. And, if you so wanted to abuse the power, if you waved your legs in front of me in any way shape or form, I would be all yours." He smiles and leans forward and my stomach tightens in that way it always seems to now whenever Darren Teigan gets close to me, and especially my bare skin. I feel his breath on my neck before I feel his lips press ever so slowly onto the spot on my neck that he has discovered—the one where, whenever he kisses it, my knees buckle and my eyes flutter and I can't seem to think clearly.

  My knees buckle, my eyes flutter, and I can't seem to think clearly. My hands slide up his bare arms to his bare back and I lose my sense of clear thinking almost completely. I pull him closer to me, my hand on the back of his neck keeping his lips over my neck and I feel him smile and laugh at the same time—a low chuckling that shakes his whole body slightly. His body that happens to be very close to mine.

  He pulls his head back and captures my eyes with his. "Apparently I have the ability to sway you as well."

  I blush and he smiles more, his hands going to either side of my face. " I promise you, Delaney, you will find out tonight, and you will hate me and afterwards I pray you will forgive me because I have your family's best interests in mind."

  "Is it like a New Years Eve party?" I ask.

  Teigan nods. "Yeah, its at the Milovich's party. We really want your whole family to come."

  "Well, I don't know how most of them will feel about going somewhere with that many people—I'm guessing there will be a lot of people," Teigan nods again, "but. . ." I sigh and rest my head against his chest. "You've flattered me too much to argue with you and . . . if it will help Mom especially, I'll give it a chance. I can't stand seeing her like this."

  Mom had been almost inconsolable after we found out the accounts were empty again because it meant we couldn't afford anything—none of the basic necessities, the house, anything. And the part that had hurt her the most was that my stupid biological father hadn't just emptied her accounts, he had hit everyone's.

  Eleni, Sean and Dan had no money to pay for their college and dorms. Sarah and Brent and the triplets were in the worst situation—they only had a down payment on the apartment and could hardly afford to take care of the triplets at the moment with diapers and food seeming much more expensive when you had no money whatsoever. And Ryan and I, who had been saving for college with work for years, had nothing to show for our efforts.

  "I just want to catch the asshole," Teigan says, his body suddenly shaking and his voice much harsher, "and I'll make sure he can't cause you any more harm."

  I squeeze him and he returns the favor. We stay like that, resting in each other's embrace for some time—enough time for the light of dawn to start filling up my room. I sigh and whisper, "I'm really glad I stopped running and let you in."

  I can feel his grin with his chin resting atop my head. "As am I, Ace."

  I roll my eyes and pull back to look up at him. "Really? The nickname stays?"

  He grins widely and pulls me in for a hug. "Absolutely," he says.

  I sigh, and let it be. "I'm just grateful to have you." I'm grateful I have someone to lean on like Mom does.

  It's almost like he reads my mind because he rests his chin on my head again and whispers, "I'm your someone, why wouldn't you have me?"

  * * *

  Mom looks nervous as we walk up the path to the Milovich's front door. I know I feel nervous at the prospect of celebrating New Years with a large amount of people when we are still so hurt.

  Everyone had come; Mom, Sarah, Brent, Dan, Sean, Eleni, and Ryan. Grandma Vi and Grandpa Sam had stayed home to take care of the triplets. Grandma Vi had had a very strange look in her eyes as she said goodbye to us. I already knew something was up, but the fact that Grandma Vi was in on it made me even more suspicious.

  I pull Darren back—he was walking with our group into the party, as was Pete next to Mom—and wait for Eleni to pass us before I whisper in his ear; "Can I know what's going on yet?"

  Daren shakes his head. "The surprise is inside. You only have to wait for a few more minutes, alright?"

  I glare at him and he catches me off guard with a quick kiss. The abrupt feel of his lips on mine sends chills through me. "Don't do that."

  He grins and pulls me closer, taking us towards the house once again. "I know you enjoy it."

  "So," I grumbled, not really having a point.

  "So, I like doing things you enjoy."

  I roll my eyes as we stand as a group on the porch, waiting for someone to come to the door. Darren slips away from me with a wink and I watch as he moves to stand next to Pete.

  The two of them face us and Pete nods to Darren. "Okay, so we didn't just convince you to come to a party," he starts. I can see Mom's eyes narrow at Pete and Eleni scowls, and folds her arms, facing away from the house. "We wanted you out of the house and socializing, yes, but we also wanted to do something for you."

  "'We,' being you and Pete?" Dan asks.

  "Actually, the 'we' being most of the town that you know,
" Pete answers.

  "What--?" Mom starts to say but the door opens and Mrs. Milovich answers.

  "I'm so glad you're here!" she exclaims, looking at all of us standing, still in disbelief that one, Pete and Darren had pooled their efforts and two, that they did something that seemed like it was going to be . . . big.

  Mrs. Milovich turns her attention to Pete and Darren with excited eyes. "Everything is ready. Bring them in!"

  I watch as Pete looks at Mom with pleading eyes. They have a kind of silent conversation before she shakes her head and gives him her hand to lead her in. I smile—if he has been this kind to her and he is taking this good of care of her, then I don't know how she can't love him. Or maybe she does—she just hasn't realized it herself yet.

  Sarah, Brent, Dan, Sean, and Eleni walk in behind them as Darren comes toward me. "Don't tell me you're going to try and back out now."

  I shake my head. "No, but I am nervous." When Pete had said the whole town would be here, my first thought was that Allison and Lily would be there, and others who would at every chance they got, and they would eat me alive with stupid comments that shouldn't get to me. They were just words after all, but they would hurt me. I knew that without a doubt.

  I felt more than saw Darren come closer and wrap his arms around me. His breath tickles my ear as he whispers, "Don't be nervous. If you need me for anything, all you have to do is reach for me."

  I look up at him, confused. "How are you so sure of how you feel about me so soon? I don't . . ."

  "You don't have to know anything," he said, tucking a stray hair behind my ear. "I know that I like you a lot. I don't like that you're hurting and all I want to do is help you get through to the other side of this . . . this messed up situation. Hopefully I'll be there after too."

  I stared up at him, amazed and confused.

  He laughed at my expression. "Honestly, I'm not sure where it came from, but it's your own fault for being you." We both smiled at that. "But I'm here."

  "I know," I whisper, still nervous, but a little more trusting of him. "You're my someone, right?"