Double Dare (Neighbor from Hell #6)(66)

It was the moment that her entire world shattered.

*-*-*-*

“Get the f*ck off me!”

“Tell me what you said to her!” he shouted, shoving Aidan into the concrete wall of the stairwell, struggling to keep it together.

“I can’t tell you!” Aidan shouted back, trying to shove him away, but he wasn’t going anywhere, not until he had some answers.

“Bullshit!”

“You know that by law I can’t tell you anything!” Aidan snapped, trying to shove him away again.

“And you know that I don’t give a flying f*ck about anything but her! Tell me why my wife can’t stop crying!” he said, slamming his brother into the wall, more terrified than he’d been in life.

She was crying…

Marybeth was crying and for the first time in his life, he had absolutely no idea how to fix this.

“I can’t!”

“Tell me!”

“I-”

“She needs a hysterectomy,” their father said as he walked through the door and joined them on the landing while Darrin tried to wrap his mind around what he’d just said.

“W-what?” he asked hoarsely as his grip around his brother went slack and his legs gave out.

Before he could hit the floor, his father and brother had him. They dragged him over to the stairs and helped him sit down.

“You’re fine,” his father promised, sitting down next to him as he put his arm around his shoulders. “Everything’s going to be fine, Darrin. I promise. She’s going to pull through this.”

“Dad, we shouldn’t be talking to him about this,” Aidan said, sounding miserable.

“We’re not, so go take your mother out to lunch for me so that Darrin and I can talk,” his father said, his meaning crystal clear.

“I’d love to,” Aidan said with a slight hesitation that told him everything that he needed to know.

His brother wanted to be the one that told him.

“It’s fine,” Darrin said, scrubbing his hands down his face. Aidan hesitated for a few more seconds before he reluctantly turned around and left, making sure to close the heavy steel door behind him.

“Are you okay?”

He chuckled weakly as he shook his head. “Not even close.”

“She’s going to be fine, Darrin. I promise.”

He turned his head and stared into eyes so much like his. “You don’t know that.”

“I know that I’d rather die than see anymore of my children hurt, Darrin, and since losing Marybeth would kill you, I plan on doing everything within my power to make sure that she lives to be a hundred.”

Shaking his head, he looked away, needing a moment to clear his head. “You should talk to Danny.”

“Don’t change the subject,” his father said, giving his shoulder one last squeeze before he pulled his arm away.

“He misses you,” he said, needing another moment to prepare himself for whatever his father had to tell him.

“I miss him, too,” his father admitted softly. “I just have no idea how to fix this, besides letting him beat the shit out of me for what I’ve done to him.”

“Have you tried talking to him?” he suggested, hoping that his father took the first step so that they could put this bullshit behind them. He hated the estrangement between his father and brother and would give anything to fix it.

“I can’t seem to stop f*cking up where your brother is concerned.”

Darrin glanced back at his father to find him staring down at his clasped hands. “You still blame yourself for what happened to him, don’t you?”

“Every day of my life.”

“He doesn’t blame you, Dad. He knows that he f*cked up, but I honestly think joining the Marines was probably the best thing for him,” he said, wondering when his father would stop beating himself up over what happened to Danny.

“That doesn’t change the fact that I should have handled things differently,” his father said, shaking his head.

For several minutes they both sat there, staring at the faded marble tiled floor until Darrin said the words that he prayed wouldn’t destroy him.

“Tell me about Marybeth’s condition.”

Chapter 33

“Can’t we watch something else?” Duncan asked as he held the ice cream sundae out to her that room service had graciously delivered along with over two hundred dollars worth of food thanks to Lucifer’s credit card.

“No,” Aidan said from her other side where he sat, devouring an overstuffed shaved steak and cheese sandwich with the works while she shook her head and took another bite of the rather delicious spaghetti and meatballs dinner that the guys had ordered for her.

“There’s a game on,” Duncan pointed out, taking one last bite of his ice cream before he set the glass dish carefully on the nightstand and returned his attention to his meatloaf dinner.

“We’re watching a movie!” Aidan snapped, throwing his brother a murderous glare that dared him to change the channel.

“It’s boring,” Duncan grumbled with a pout as he shoved a large forkful of mashed potatoes in his mouth.

“Then leave!” Aidan snapped a tad bitchily and if she wasn’t so depressed she’d probably tease him over his unhealthy obsession with Lifetime movies.