Highland Fling (The McLaughlins)

by Shelli Stevens

  They had four more days here in Scotland, and she’d be spending it out of his arms. Out of his bed. If she were going to survive without giving him another little piece of her heart, she had to nip this in the bud now.

  “We can be—” she swallowed hard, “—just friends again. Okay?”

  “Aye. Friends is good,” he said quietly.

  Between seeing more sights and helping out with his dad, the days passed quickly. It was the nights that seemed to drag on. Aleck had spent the rest of them on the couch, while she’d slept in the big bed. Used to sleeping alone, she’d gotten all too accustomed to being with Aleck. It was lonely, cold and depressing. She hadn’t had a good sleep since they’d slipped back into friend mode.

  The morning they were scheduled to fly home, they said their goodbyes at the airport to Aleck’s mom. Rodrick had stayed home to rest, having said his farewells earlier.

  “It was lovely to spend the week with you, Delonna.” Brenda kissed her cheek and stared down at her. “I hope you enjoyed your trip.”

  “Of course I did. It was such a pleasure getting to know you.”

  Aleck’s mom gave a slight smile, but her eyes were troubled. Delonna knew she had sensed things had taken a turn for the worse between her and Aleck.

  “I’m sorry,” the older woman whispered, barely audible as she glanced at her son who was moving the luggage toward the airport doors. “I had hoped…”

  Delonna hugged the other woman again and shook her head. “It’s fine.” It isn’t. “I knew going in what to expect.” I just completely ignored it.

  “All right, Ma.” Aleck returned and pulled his mother into a big hug. “Good to see you as always. Don’t let Da be such a grump, and keep him active, aye?”

  “Always do. Love you, son.” She looked as if she wanted to say more, but Aleck kissed her cheek and then turned Delonna’s way.

  “Ready?”

  Delonna nodded against the lump in her throat. Time to go back to real life.

  Getting back to normal was bloody awful. Not just because of the adjustment to the time change, but because Aleck was once again alone.

  And with no one but yourself to blame, he reminded himself as he made his way through the pub, checking up on things.

  “You look exhausted, go home.” Kenzie appeared in the doorway to his office several minutes later, her forehead wrinkled into a frown.

  “I’ll head back in a bit,” he muttered.

  “Have you even slept since returning?”

  “A few hours each night, but my body is still all out of sorts from the time change.”

  Kenzie shut the door to the office and leaned against it. “What happened between you and Delonna? She’s moved back into the rental—which is a really bad sign after you’ve just spent the week together in Scotland.”

  “There’s no reason for her not to move back. The threat is gone, and… You know, it’s none of your fookin’ business really. It was just time for her to go home.” He almost made it sound like he’d kicked her out, when she was the one to leave.

  “You totally blew it with her, didn’t you?”

  Completely. But it was safer to his sanity this way. His heart.

  “Again, none of your business.” He moved from his desk to kiss his sister’s cheek. “But thanks again for taking care of things while I was gone. Things went well?”

  “Perfectly.” She didn’t look happy with the subject change, but went along with it. “The window was replaced and I think the excitement of being shot up actually brought in more customers.”

  He grimaced. “Good to hear humanity’s thirst for violence is strong as ever.”

  “You know James made bail.”

  Aleck stilled. “He’ll be convicted when it goes to trial. Has he made any attempt to see her?”

  “No.” Kenzie hesitated. “But he’s out there and could at any point.”

  “Have there been any threats against her from that other guy?”

  “No. As far as I can see, she’s safe.” Kenzie sighed. “But she’s not happy. She hasn’t left her room. I can hear her crying at times.”

  Aleck’s chest tightened almost painfully.

  “And she’d kill me if she found out I’d told you that. But I just knew you’d end up hurting her,” Kenzie continued quietly. “I warned her. I just, dammit, Aleck, it’s Delonna. Could you not just have left her alone in the first place?”

  “I wanted to,” he rasped, thrusting a hand through his hair. His heart thumped quicker in his chest. “Fook, I tried. I really did. I just, I couldn’t.”

  There was a heavy silence and when he finally got control of his emotions and glanced at his sister, she stared at him with dawning comprehension.

  “Holy shit on a stick.” Her eyes were wide and her brows drawn together. “I almost don’t believe it, but I think you’re in love with her.”

  “No.”

  “Aye. Like it or not, brother, it’s happened.”

  “The fook it has,” he snapped, striding past her to grab and drink a bit of the pint he’d poured himself earlier.

  Kenzie followed him. “It’s quite amazing how you can have so much advice, so much insight on your siblings’ love lives. Be so spot on sometimes, and yet be utterly blind when it comes to your own heart.”

  He closed his eyes and tried to block out the wash of despondency that moved through him.

  “You don’t understand.” He shook his head, his voice cracking. “I can’t go through that again. I can’t love someone that much.”

  “I know how much you loved Cassie. How much she meant to you.” Kenzie touched his shoulder. “Maybe you never told any of us, but even with as young as I was, I could see it. And I saw the change in you after it happened.”

  He stared at his little sister, a bit amazed at how much she’d been able to surmise back then.

  “Is it that you don’t think you can ever love someone that much again?” Kenzie asked, seeming genuinely confused.

  “It’s not that I can’t love. Clearly I can. Some people you love by default, like family. But I’ve no desire to ever romantically love a woman that deeply again. So much that it nearly destroys you when something happens to them.”

  “But that’s a risk we all take. It’s a risk I take every time Brett gets sent out on the boat.” Kenzie looked dismayed. “Do you really want to just grow old alone?”

  “Aye, that’s the plan.”

  “And you don’t want children.”

  “I’ll have me nieces and nephews to keep me busy. You and Brett should start right on that,” he tried to tease.

  She didn’t take the bait. “You don’t ever want a wife. A partner in life.”

  “No wife,” he agreed, feeling strangely empty now.

  “Then there’s no hope for you.” Unhappiness and disbelief shone on his sister’s face. “If I thought you could make it work with anyone, it would’ve been Delonna.”

  “I’ve been clear to everyone what my intentions are in life.” Fook, why the hell wouldn’t she drop it already? His head began to throb.

  Kenzie didn’t back down, but went toe to toe with him. “Tell me, to my face, that you don’t love her.”

  “Dammit all to hell. I don’t love her, Kenzie,” he yelled, smashing the pint glass against the wall. “Do you hear me? I don’t love her and I’ll never love her. Is that clear enough for you?”

  “It’s clear enough for me.”

  It wasn’t Kenzie who answered, but Delonna. He hadn’t heard the door to the office open. Hadn’t seen her come in.

  Her eyes were bloodshot and strangely devoid of emotion. She wore no makeup and appeared as if she’d been in the same sweatpants and hoodie for days.

  Shame slammed through him hard, making him start to almost shake as bile rose in his throat.

  �
�Ah shite.” He stepped forward. “Delonna—”

  “It looks like I’ve made the right choice.” She stepped past Kenzie and held out a piece of paper to him.

  He didn’t take it. “What’s this?”

  “I’m quitting. I’m old fashioned and put it on paper.” Her mouth almost twitched with a semblance of a smile.

  Kenzie shot him the most vile, loathing look ever, but he couldn’t acknowledge it as he stared at Delonna.

  “You don’t want to do this.” His words were unsteady as he reached for her.

  She sidestepped him, dropping the paper on the floor as he refused to take it. “I do want to do this. I have to do this. I’m sure you’d rather not lose your moneymaker of a bartender, but you’ll find someone to replace me. Both at the pub and in your bed.”

  That was a low blow.

  “Aleck,” Kenzie hissed, clearly telling him to fix this.

  “Don’t leave. I fooked up, Lana.” He caught her wrist as she tried to move away.

  “No you didn’t, I did. I slept with and fell in love with my boss. I knew the risks involved, and I knew you didn’t want serious.” She met his gaze now, solidly and without judgment in her eyes. She tugged her wrist free and backed away from him.

  “We can work through this…”

  “I can’t compete with someone who’s dead. I said I loved you up on the castle and nothing’s changed. But since you can’t accept that love, and you clearly can’t return it…” She gave a helpless shrug. “I’m out, Aleck.”

  “Lana,” he choked out, stepping after her.

  “No.” She shook her head, turned on her heel and walked out of his office.

  “Well congratulations,” Kenzie said, her voice low and shaking. “You’ve just let the best thing that ever happened to you walk out of your life.”

  She could always turn to ice cream, but right now ice cream wasn’t really the patch for the hole in her heart. Delonna closed the freezer and then went to grab a tissue to blow her nose again.

  Fortunately Kenzie was at work and didn’t have to bear witness to this ridiculous meltdown. Though she’d been there to witness the end of her and Aleck at the pub an hour ago, but Delonna had been so focused on just getting through that moment she’d barely noticed her friend standing nearby.

  And now here she was with no job, no guy and no damn idea what her future looked like. Even though James had been arrested, the police had only recovered one thousand dollars of her stolen money.

  Maybe she’d go look through the online ads of who was hiring. Though she knew she wouldn’t have much trouble getting another bartending job. On more than one occasion she’d been approached by the owner of another bar who’d made it clear she could have a job if she were ever interested.

  The sound of someone unlocking her door had her glancing toward it, hope flaring in her heart that maybe, just maybe, Aleck had pulled his head out of his ass.

  But when it swung open a moment later, she realized again how stupid she’d been. Both to hope Aleck would have a change of heart, and to have not bolted the door.

  “You just broke into my house,” she said in disbelief as James stepped through the door and closed it behind him.

  “Is it really breaking in if you gave me a key at one point?” He frowned. “Ah, you’re still crying over me? That’s kind of sweet. And weird.”

  “I’m not crying over you, and haven’t you fucking done enough?” Vibrating with anger, she strode toward him and used all her strength to slap him in the face. “That’s for stealing my money, asshole. And ouch.”

  She gripped her wrist and winced. Despite the look of surprise on his face, James didn’t look too put out. She’d never feared he’d hurt her, not now and not when they’d dated. He wasn’t the violent sort, just more of a jerk.

  “Like I said, I didn’t really have any choice. I’m in a world of trouble, babe.”

  “You sure are.” She went in search of her purse to find her phone to call 911. Maybe him showing up here was violating the terms of his bail. She’d sure try and find out.

  James grabbed her purse from her hand before she could reach her phone. “If you’re going for your phone, I can’t let you do that.”

  “Are you just really stupid or what?” she demanded.

  “He’s after me. That bookie is after me.”

  “Oh? Well then good. I’m glad his focus has moved from me to you.”

  “He’s going to kill me, D. Don’t you care? I don’t have his money and he knows it. I spent most of your money just getting out of town.”

  “And now you’re back because your stupid ass sent me a text and got traced and arrested. Sorry if I have no sympathy for you.” She reached for her purse but he held it over her head. “Give that back!”

  “I need money.”

  “You took all my money, and even if I had some, I sure as hell wouldn’t give it to you.” Her emotions were on overload from this morning with Aleck, and now this. “God, just get out.”

  “Babe—”

  “Don’t call me babe. Don’t call me anything. Just get the hell out.” She kicked at his knees and he jumped back with a laugh.

  “Whoa, getting a little violent, D.”

  “Get out, I said!” She grabbed a lamp, ready to swing it at his head.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy. Okay.” He dropped her purse and backed slowly toward the door. “Fine, I’ll go.”

  “I hope you get life in prison!” It was a childish and completely inane statement, because even some murderers didn’t get life in prison. And this shithead had just stolen six grand from her.

  “Can’t wait to see you at trial, babe.”

  He was going to skip town. She saw it in his eyes. Motherfucker.

  A moment later he was gone and out the door, and she didn’t have the energy to go after him. She went to grab her phone and debated calling the police, but then set it down again. What was the point? Right now she didn’t have the energy for anything.

  Maybe ice cream and some shitty reality TV. Yeah. That sounded like a pretty good idea.

  Encouraged with her new plan, she went to the freezer and grabbed the container. She pried the lid off, ready to devour the rest of the chocolate mint deliciousness and then froze.

  “Son of a bitch.”

  As if her day wasn’t shitty enough, she was completely out of ice cream.

  Aleck was just getting ready to leave work when his brother walked into the back room at the pub.

  Colin looked quite somber, and Aleck bit back a sigh, thinking news must’ve traveled fast from Kenzie.

  “I don’t want to hear it,” Aleck muttered, lifting his hand. “I’ve heard enough from Kenzie as it is. I know I’ve hurt her, and I feel like a bloody bastart, but there’s nothing to be done—”

  “There’s been an accident.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Aleck blinked, his heart quickening and his palms going damp. Those words were eerily similar to what he’d heard nearly twenty years ago.

  “An accident?” he repeated, his words low and unsteady. “Delonna?”

  “Aye.”

  Aleck came around the desk, his heart going a mile a minute now. “What kind of accident. Is she all right?”

  Colin didn’t answer right away, and the sick feeling of dread in Aleck’s chest exploded.

  “Where is she? What happened?” he asked thickly, reaching for his keys.

  “A call came in from a concerned citizen, reporting a vehicle speeding dangerously,” Colin said, his voice low and unsteady. “They were able to give a license plate right before the witness saw the car go off a cliff into the Sound.”

  “No. No.” He knew where this was leading.

  “Aleck…it was Delonna’s car. I’m so sorry. They haven’t recovered the vehicle yet, but are working on
it. But with the time that’s passed since it sank,” Colin paused, pain and regret flashing in his eyes, “they’re now calling it a recovery, not a rescue mission.”

  “I don’t believe it.” Aleck was going to be sick. He staggered around through the office toward the bathroom, but standing over the toilet, nothing came out.

  Colin appeared in the doorway. “I’m so fuckin’ sorry, Aleck.”

  Closing his eyes, Aleck let the denial rock through him. The rage and pain hit with the force of tsunami.

  No. Jesus Christ no.

  He grabbed his keys. “Where,” he choked out. “Where is she?”

  Colin gave him the location and rushed on. “You’re in no condition to drive, Aleck. Please, just stay here. Ian and Sarah are on their way over.”

  Aleck pushed past him, keys in hand, and ran out the door. He was half blind from the tears in his eyes as he climbed into his car.

  He knew exactly where the accident was said to have happened, but his mind and heart wouldn’t let him believe it as he drove to the scene.

  “Please God,” he whispered. “Don’t let this be true. It can’t happen twice. It can’t.”

  When he arrived on the location though, he was met with a mass of emergency responders and curious onlookers. He pushed his way through the crowd, trying to reach the edge of the cliff where the car had gone off the road.

  He reached it just in time to see her car being slowly pulled from the water. Could see the shape of a body up front.

  Grief ripped through him and he barely made it back to his car before falling to his knees with a sob. How was this happening? How the fook was this happening? Delonna was dead. He’d lost her. Just as he’d lost Cassie. Only this time, the pain was tenfold.

  He climbed into the car and behind the wheel. This was all his fault. He may as well have driven that car off the cliff himself. Did she do it intentionally?

  Not even realizing where he was going, he found himself driving toward her and Kenzie’s house. She’d left work earlier, and maybe she would have answers. Give some light on what had happened.

  She’s dead, that’s what happened.