Distraction (Club Destiny #8)(31)

A knot formed in his throat as the memories took root. They hadn’t even gotten to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary when she was taken from him. And through the decade since her death, Dylan had kept himself shut off from everyone, wallowing in his own pain and giving everything he had left—which admittedly hadn’t been much—to his two children. It had been on the day Nate had graduated from high school four years ago that something inside of him broke open.

Maybe it had been the fear that he had nothing left to live for because his children were making their own paths in life that had caused him to backslide. Or perhaps it had been due to Ashleigh—the one person who had stood beside him for so many years, never allowing him to fully immerse himself in the black despair that had threatened to drag him under—hooking up with Alex, Dylan’s business partner and best friend, that had done it.

Either way, the despair had continued to cloak him like a wet blanket, and he hadn’t been able to find his way out from beneath it. He hadn’t had a single relationship since Meghan’s death. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to do it, to try to get close to someone.

But there had been one woman.

Sarah.

Somehow, Sarah had always been able to make him smile. Back when he’d first met her roughly twenty-five years ago, when she’d been a bright-eyed freshman and he’d been a senior in high school, and in recent years when he’d run into her again.

For whatever reason, Sarah understood him. Whether it was due to the fact she’d suffered her own loss or because she could see through to who he’d been before his life had been forever changed.

Ever since he’d reconnected with her, he’d felt something that resembled hope. At that time, she’d convinced him to join a grief support group, which he’d been reluctant about but had opted to give it a chance. It hadn’t been his thing, but he’d gone a couple of times since she’d asked. But it wasn’t until their sexual encounter that one memorable night when he’d stopped all communication with her.

Until that night at her house, they hadn’t been intimate, nor had he ever expected them to be, but somewhere along the way, Sarah had become a friend. And he’d taken advantage of that. Until recently, he had tried not to think about her, but there were a few occasions where his thoughts of her had helped to clear the fuzz from his brain, offering him tenuous optimism that there might possibly be something to live for other than his children.

But then, Dylan would feel guilty for wanting to move on, afraid that if he fully dug himself out of the gloom he had become so intimate with, Meghan would somehow feel forgotten. But his sweet Meghan wouldn’t have wanted this for him; even he knew that. She would be disappointed to know he’d basically died right along with her.

“Hey.” Pops’ voice pulled Dylan from his thoughts and he looked up at him. “Where’d you go?”

“Sorry,” he said, grabbing his now empty coffee cup before he stood. Figuring one more jolt of caffeine couldn’t hurt, Dylan made his way around his grandfather to the coffeepot.

“So, what’re your plans tonight?” Pops inquired.

Dylan did not want to tell his grandfather that he was going to a fetish club. “Just goin’ out.”

“With friends?” Pops asked.

“Yeah.” It wasn’t a complete lie. Luke McCoy and Cole Ackerley, the owners of Devotion, were technically his friends.

“Good. We’re gonna stay in tonight. If you need anything…”

Dylan nodded. These days, Xavier spent his time with the woman he’d fallen head-over-heels in love with years ago. Veronica Sellers. Xavier’s administrative assistant. Though she was more than two decades younger than Pops, it was clear she wasn’t after his money. From what Dylan had seen, they were genuinely in love.

“Thanks,” Dylan muttered as Pops left the room, carrying his tea glasses.

Pops would be the last person he would contact, but he appreciated his grandfather’s support. The man had been the most prominent person in Dylan’s life since his own parents had died when he was young. Xavier had raised him and Ashleigh, and had been more help than anyone else by assisting with Stacey and Nate after Meghan’s death.

But tonight, Dylan didn’t need anyone to keep an eye on him. It was high time he got out there, did something to change the course of his life, because otherwise, he was simply existing.

And he knew that was no way to live.





chapter EIGHT

SERIOUSLY?

Sarah wasn’t sure her day could get any worse. But this… It merely confirmed for the millionth time that this was by far her most irrational decision ever.

After dinner, when Bill told her it was time to change to go out, Sarah had broken down and informed him that unless she could wear slacks and a silk shirt, she hadn’t brought anything to wear. But if she’d thought that would deter the man, she’d been oh so wrong. Instead, he had put his hand at the small of her back and guided her into a store within the resort. And it definitely wasn’t one of the department stores she normally shopped at. No, this place was…

It was out of her price range, for one thing. She knew that by the flashy décor and the fact that there were very few items placed strategically around the walls on glass shelves. For another, she wasn’t sure half of the dresses they had in there would even fit her. It wasn’t easy to find dresses for her petite frame most of the time. But, again, Bill had taken her hand and led her right to the sparkly woman with the perfectly coifed hair and flawless makeup who was standing behind the counter, informing her that Sarah needed something for the evening.