“Why do you think I called you over here, you dumbass?” she hissed. “If you don’t do something fast she might leave with that loser!”
“Like hell she will.” Dalton knew he had no right to interfere, but since he was the reason she was feeling vulnerable and betrayed, he felt compelled to step in. “How much has she had to drink?”
“Too much to make a rational decision about who’s taking her home tonight. I heard him offer and she said she’d think about it. That’s when I knew I had to call you. That guy could be a sick freak for all we know.”
“So you’re not really drunk?” Dalton asked, checking his sister’s eyes for any sign she may be inebriated.
“Of course not,” she said, slapping his arm. “I had one glass of wine before dinner. That’s it. I’m driving tonight. You really think I’d be drinking?”
“You sounded pretty convincing on the phone.”
“That’s because I had to get you over here. Fast.”
Dalton’s gut clenched as he watched the cowboy’s hand slip below Sophie’s waist as she rested her head on his shoulder. “Well now that I’m here I better let that jerk know things aren’t gonna go down the way he thinks they are tonight.”
“Wait,” Sabrina said, grabbing his arm. “You’re not going anywhere until you tell me why you broke up with Sophie. Are you crazy? That girl loves you and I know you love her.”
The last thing Dalton wanted was to explain himself to his little sister, but he knew she wouldn’t give up until she’d gotten answers. “You know why I ended it.”
“Then you’re still using?” Sabrina asked, looking deflated. “I thought you said-”
“No, I’m not using,” Dalton said, casting a quick glance around to make sure no one was eavesdropping. He wouldn’t tell Sabrina he’d almost slipped tonight or that every hour seemed harder than the last. She was already worried about him and he didn’t want to cause her any more grief. “But Sophie doesn’t know about it and I don’t want her to.”
“Sophie won’t think any less of you,” Sabrina assured him. “She loves you. She’d want to help you through this.”
“Well she can’t help me!” Dalton lowered his voice when a few people glanced in their direction. “No one can help me with this. I need to deal with it on my own.”
“What you’re doing to her is so unfair,” Sabrina said, sounding outraged on Sophie’s behalf. “I can’t believe you’d sleep with her again and then tell her it was over. I can’t believe you’d do something like that.”
Dalton couldn’t believe Sophie had told her friends they’d made love tonight. “I didn’t ask her to come over.”
“Oh, and that’s supposed to make it better?”
“I tried to say no.”
Sabrina rolled her eyes. “But you’re just guy, right? At the mercy of your libido?”
“No, I’m a man who’s in love with a woman he can never have.” His voice was low enough that Sabrina had to strain to hear him. “When she came to me tonight, I knew it would be the last time and I…” He closed his eyes, replaying his last few moments in Sophie’s arms. “I caved, okay? I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t turn her away. I needed her too much.”
Sabrina looked sympathetic when she curled her arm around her brother’s forearm. “That’s just it, you do need her. I don’t know if you can get through this without her help, Dalton.”
“I can,” he said, emphatically. “I have to. I’ll be damned if I’m going to drag her into this mess. It’s my problem. I created it and I need to find a way to fix it on my own.”
“Why are you being so stubborn?” Sabrina asked, on the verge of tears. “Why can’t you let someone help you?”
He hated hurting the people who loved him, but he had to do this his way if it was going to work. “I just need you to understand,” he said, putting his arm around Sabrina’s shoulders. “I love you for caring, but what I need is for you to support my decisions right now.”
“Even if I disagree with them?” she asked, tilting her head back to look at him. “Letting Sophie go is the biggest mistake you’ve ever made, big brother. I just know it.”
He knew it too, but he felt his hands were tied. “I know you may not understand, but I’m doing this because I love her, sis. She doesn’t need all my drama in her life. She needs a nice, stable guy who’s got it together.”
“Someone like him?” Sabrina asked, hooking a thumb over her shoulder.
“No, definitely not someone like him.”
“Why not?”
“I know his type.” Dalton knew his opinion was baseless, but he didn’t care. His instincts told him the guy Sophie was dancing with was all wrong for her. “He’s just lookin’ for a good time.”
“I don’t know about that,” Sabrina said. “He said he’s seen her in here before and he actually came here tonight hoping she’d be here.”
“Now, that’s just creepy,” Dalton said, glaring at the back of the guy’s head as he twirled Sophie around the dance floor. “He sounds like a stalker if you ask me.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Sabrina conceded. “But what if you’re not? What if he treats her like a princess and makes it impossible for her not to fall in love with him?”
Dalton’s stomach was churning as the rage and fear boiled up. “Why are you doing this? I can’t handle this tonight.” He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to handle the thought of Sophie loving another man.
“I’m doing this to make you see what you stand to lose before it’s too late.” Sabrina grasped his jaw, forcing him to look at her instead of Sophie. “It may not be him, but it will be someone. Sooner or later a man will come along who’ll make her forget all about you. Can you live with that?”
No! “What choice do I have? Sophie doesn’t deserve to live the rest of her life wondering if her husband’s gonna start usin’ again. It’s not fair to her.”
“So you’re trying to be a martyr?” Sabrina asked. “How about giving Sophie credit for being an intelligent woman who can make her own decisions? If she doesn’t want to be with you when she finds out the truth, if she decides it’s not worth the risk, so be it. But at least let her decide for herself.”
Dalton knew that would be the ultimate rejection, if she learned the truth about him and decided he wasn’t man enough to make her happy for the rest of her life. “It’s not a chance I’m willing to take.”
“I never pegged you for a coward,” Sabrina said, shaking her head. “I always thought you were the toughest, bravest guy I knew. Hell, everyone thought you were fearless, especially on the football field, but to see you now… Where’d that guy go, Dalton?”
“I’ll be damned if I know.” He’d been looking for him every day in the mirror, but it seemed he’d vanished without a trace.
“Well I suggest you dig deep and find him,” Sabrina said. “Before you’ve burned through your last chance with that girl.”
***
Sophie thought Dalton was a figment of her imagination, a hallucination after one too many drinks, but when he glared down the man who refused to let him cut in, she knew he was real and if she didn’t do something soon, fists would start flying.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she demanded, stepping between the two men. The quick action caused the room to start spinning, so she planted her hand on Dalton’s solid chest to steady herself. Big mistake. Touching him again weakened her resolve. “I thought I told you I wanted nothing more to do with you?”
He gripped her arms when she staggered to the side. “What the hell are you thinking, getting loaded the night before the wedding? You’re going to have the mother of all hangovers tomorrow.”
“Wedding?” Wyatt piped up behind her. “What wedding? Y’all aren’t gettin’ married, are you?”
“If we were you’d have lost a few teeth by now,” Dalton said, cutting him down with one menacing look. “If you were smart you’d keep your mouth shut while I talk some sense into the lady.”
“Y’all, uh, just broke up?” Wyatt asked. “Last night?”
“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” Dalton asked, pointing at the door.
“He’s not going anywhere,” Sophie said, grabbing her dance partner’s hand. “He’s taking me home.”
“Oh no, he’s not,” Dalton said, narrowing his eyes at Wyatt. “Are ya, slick?”
“I, uh…”
Sophie turned around to see her strong, handsome cowboy shrink under Dalton’s withering stare. “Tell him to go to hell, Wyatt.”
“Sophie, you didn’t tell me your ex was Dalton-frickin’-Mitchell. I’ve seen him on the field.” He whispered in her ear, “I think you’re great, but I don’t wanna mess with him. I’ll see ya around. Maybe when y’all sort this thing out and you’re really available, we can go out sometime.”
“We have sorted it out,” Sophie said, planting her hands on her hips as she glared at Dalton. “It’s over. I’m done with him.”
“Uh, that may be,” Wyatt said. “But I don’t think he’s done with you.”
Sophie could have cried when Wyatt walked away. Not because she thought he was the answer to her prayers, but because she was so frustrated that Dalton didn’t want her, but didn’t want anyone else to have her either. “I thought I hated you before, but that was nothing compared to how much I hate you now.”
“That may be,” Dalton said, looking more smug than concerned. “But at least I saved you from yourself, so my work here is done. My sister is the designated driver tonight. If you even think about leavin’ with anyone else I’ll be back here so fast it’ll make your pretty little head spin.” He slid a finger under her chin. “You’re in no shape to be flirtin’ with men and leadin’ them on. You’re vulnerable right now. You need a little time.”
“And whose fault is that?”
“Mine. It’s all my fault, sweetheart. That’s why I’ll be damned if I stand by and watch you make a mess of your life on my account. Trust me, I’m not worth it.”
***
Carly glanced at Sophie in the salon mirror while the make-up artists applied their foundation. “I know you must feel like hell. Thanks for haulin’ your butt out of bed so early to do this with me.”
“Are you kidding?” Sophie winced when the sound of her own voice bounced around inside her head like a loose bullet. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.” Except home in bed with my head under the covers sleeping my life away.
“I love you for lying,” Carly said, grinning. “I haven’t seen you that drunk since college. What the hell were you thinking?”
That I needed something to dull the pain of losing him. “I wasn’t thinking and if I ever do anything that stupid again, you have to promise you won’t let me make a fool of myself the way I did last night.”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
“Yeah, right.” She’d argued with Dalton and his sister and threw herself at some poor unsuspecting cowboy who was just looking for a dance partner. Okay, so maybe Wyatt had been looking for more, but she had no business leading him to believe he stood a chance when he didn’t.
“No one could fault you for letting a handsome man stroke your ego after what Dalton did to you.”
Carly was as angry with Dalton as Sophie was, claiming if he hurt her best friend he’d made an enemy of her as well. She’d even gone so far as to tell her fiancée she didn’t want him at their wedding until Sophie intervened. She knew how important Dalton was to her brother and Brett’s wedding day wouldn’t be the same without him there.
“Still, I’m glad I didn’t let him take me home. I was in no shape to…” She let her voice trail off when she thought of what could have happened had Dalton not intervened. She’d never been stupid enough to leave a bar with a stranger, especially when she was drunk. What had she been thinking?
“I know. I was secretly glad Sabrina called Dalton ‘cause you weren’t listening to anything I said. I tried to warn you it was a bad idea. If Sabrina hadn’t called Dalton, I would have called Brett. I don’t think the guy was dangerous, but you can’t be too careful.”
“You’re right.” Sophie was grateful she had so many people looking out for her, but she wouldn’t put her friends and family in the position of having to worry about her again. From now on she would behave like the mature, responsible adult she’d been before Dalton’s rejection made her feel like a teenager whose heart had been broken for the first time. “I won’t do anything like that again. I promise.”
“You better not,” Carly warned, shaking her finger at Sophie’s reflection in the mirror. “I want to enjoy my honeymoon, not worry about what kind of trouble you’re getting in to back home.”
“Don’t you dare waste one single second of your honeymoon worrying about me.” Sophie’s smile slipped as her eyes met her best friend’s in the mirror. “Seriously, you’ve waited your whole life to marry Brett. I want you to enjoy every minute of it. No one deserves to be happy more than you guys do.”
“I want you to be happy too.”
“Ah ah,” the make-up artist who was working on Carly said, waving her mascara wand in the air. “Don’t you dare start crying now. This mascara is supposed to be waterproof, but you’re not allowed to cry until you’re exchanging your vows.”
Both women giggled before Carly said, “Deal.”
Chapter Sixteen
The other groomsmen had left Brett and Dalton alone in one of the church’s two dressing rooms after sensing the tension between the two men.
“If you don’t want me here just say so and I’m gone,” Dalton said finally, unable to meet his friend’s eyes. “I wouldn’t ruin this day for you and Sophie for anything.”
“But you would ruin my sister’s life without a second thought, huh?”
When Dalton’s head snapped up, Brett said, “Yeah, Sophie told me everything. How could you do that to her? If I’d known you were going to treat her like all the others, I never would have encouraged her to get involved with you. I thought our friendship meant something to you. It never occurred to me you’d treat my little sister like-”
“I treated your sister with respect,” Dalton cut in. He was tired of being attacked. No one knew better than he did what a mess he’d made of things and no one was paying a higher price, not even Sophie. “She wasn’t like all the others and don’t you dare imply she was. Those women meant nothing to me. Soph meant everything.”
“If that’s true why the hell did you dump her?”
Dalton had always hated that term, especially since it didn’t begin to describe the loss he felt after letting Sophie go. “Because I love her, that’s why.”
“I don’t follow.” Brett shook her head, throwing his hands up in the air. “You don’t treat someone you love that way.”
“Really?” Dalton asked, on the verge of exploding. “I seem to recall you put Carly through hell before you finally decided she was the girl for you, so don’t preach to me.”
Brett released a shaky sigh before he hung his head. “You’re right. But come on, man. This is my sister. It’s supposed to be my job to protect her and I feel like I let her down. Maybe I should have seen this coming, tried to warn her that this might happen.”
Dalton felt the sting of Brett’s words, but he understood. As close as he and Dylan were he’d have done anything to protect Sabrina from getting hurt. “Maybe you should have. The only thing I can tell you is I never meant for this to happen. I really thought everything would work out.” I was in denial until I couldn’t go on lying to myself anymore.
He wanted to tell Brett everything, but this wasn’t the time or place. He knew his friend would empathize, without judging or pitying him. Brett had been surrounded by pro athletes most of his life. He’d been an athlete himself and he understood how easy it was to fall from grace when the life you knew came to an abrupt end.
“I believe you,” Brett said, finally. “We’ve known each other a long time and if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that you’re direct, especially with your friends.”
“I appreciate that.” At least there were a few people in his life who still had faith in him.
“So, what now?” Brett asked.
“We get you married.” Dalton forced a smile, even though it felt unnatural. “Unless you’re having second thoughts?”
Brett chuckled. “Not a chance, man. But I meant what’s next for you and my sister?”
“I know what you meant.” Dalton stood and faced the mirror, straightening the silver tie the bride had selected to match her bridesmaids’ dresses. “For now we try our hand at being polite strangers, I guess. Maybe someday we’ll be friends again, but I know Soph has to work through her anger and resentment before that can happen.”
“Why did you do this?” Brett asked, standing beside Dalton. “It doesn’t make any sense. You said you loved her, that she meant everything to you. So why would you end it?”
Dalton knew this question was coming. He’d prepared for it with a half-truth that wouldn’t make him feel even more deceptive. “I’m still figuring out who I am, post-football. I have to create a whole new identity. I’m not gonna lie, that hasn’t been easy. I just feel like I need to focus on that before I commit to a long-term relationship with a girl like your sister.”
“A girl like my sister?”
“Sophie brings one word to mind for me, Brett. Forever. Plain and simple. I don’t see it any other way.”
Brett whistled. “Wow, never thought I’d hear you say that about anyone.”
Possession (Texas Titans #8) Page 18