All I Ask(83)

“I’m not sure if what I heard is a lie or not, but the rumor is going around and I don’t want you to hear it anywhere else.”

“Okay…”

This town and their fucking rumors. I’m so tired of it and once again, I’m going to be the center of it. God forbid they get a life and leave mine alone.

“So, Keith was here and apparently, the rumor is that you sent Chastity to get information on Keith.”

Well, now I’ve heard it all. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“You mean she didn’t go to the funeral home?”

“Of course she didn’t go! She didn’t even know when it was. This is so insane. I’m so tired of this crap. I want nothing to do with that asshole. I’ve worked so hard to keep Chastity away from him and the poison that is his life and for what?”

“Tea,” she says softly. “I saw her.”

“You saw who?”

“Chastity.”

My heart sputters. “You saw her where?”

Nina releases a heavy sigh through her nose and then shakes her head. “I saw her leaving the funeral home.”

This makes no sense.

“She couldn’t. She was with Derek.”

Nina looks away, she chews on her thumb and then turns back to me. “I know.”

“You…he was with her? No, that’s crazy.”

“All I know is I saw her and then I saw him. I don’t know, Tea. I don’t know what the story is. Derek didn’t tell you?”

No, he most definitely didn’t. In fact, he didn’t say a word.

“I was going to tell you.” Derek’s voice fills the room. “I was waiting for the right time.”





Chapter Thirty-Six





Teagan




Present



I stand, looking at the man I love, wondering what the hell he was thinking. “You took her to the funeral home?” I ask, praying he answers differently.

“It wasn’t like that.”

Nina walks forward, touching my shoulder. “Call me later, okay?”

I nod, not taking my eyes off him.

I wait, trying to wrap my mind around what she just told me. Derek, who hates Keith, took my daughter to see him. He didn’t talk to me, ask me, get my blessing. He just took her? Why? What could possibly be the reason why he would go against something I so clearly was opposed to?

Nina walks around us, her hand rests on his shoulder for a minute and then drops.

“Nina?” I call. “Can you ask the girls to stay downstairs until we get them?”

“Of course, honey.”

“Thank you. For being honest as well.”

She gives me a sad smile and then closes the door behind her.

Derek straightens his back and his lips form a thin line. I don’t care that it hurt, this is far worse. “Before you go ballistic, hear me out.”

“By all means…” I say with anger vibrating in my voice.

There’s not much that he can say that makes this okay. He took her, behind my back, to see the man that has single-handedly tried to destroy me.

“I was driving down Main Street and saw her walking, which I thought was a little strange, since she said she had to do homework.”

I’m going to lose it. She told me that she was going with him and told him she was doing school stuff? Unreal. My daughter is in big freaking trouble, but then again, so is my boyfriend.

“Which led you to…?”

“She was going to the funeral home whether you or I wanted her to or not. I thought it was better for her not to go in there alone.”

“That wasn’t your decision to make!”

“She wanted to see him, Teagan. She knew he was here, you forbade her from going, and I didn’t want her to go in unprotected.”

My heart is racing and I can’t believe this. “Then you call me! Me! I’m her mother. I’m the only goddamn person in this world who has protected that girl. She never should’ve seen him.”

“You would’ve rather I did what?”

“Tell her no. Talk to me.”

This should be clear as day. He had no right.

“I understand you’re mad, I didn’t know what to do when I saw her and I didn’t want her to walk in there alone. You and I both know she was contacting him.”

“You didn’t have the authority to act like that.”

“So you’d rather I held her captive in the car so you could handle it?”

“Yes!” I slam my hand on the counter and turn away.

I don’t know what to feel right now, but betrayal is the one thing that keeps coming to mind. My anger isn’t only about the fact that he took her, which is bad enough, but that he kept it from me.

“I’m sorry. I really am. I did what I thought was best for Chastity. I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”

The thing about intentions is that even while they may be good, they still have consequences. There are things that he’s done and I’ve done that put us here to begin with. I didn’t intend to fall in love with him, but I did. He didn’t intend to have his wife find the journal, but she did. I also don’t know how to reconcile the fact that he intentionally lied.