Ch 11 - Emmett
The dining room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Delilah just bolted out of Beau’s wide-open front door, and my blood was roaring in my ears. Seeing her so torn up over this nearly killed me. Then to have my sister, of all people, attack her was my last fucking straw.
I couldn’t even remember a time I was this angry. Probably after Jack dragged me away from Danny’s body, and it had fully hit me what had happened—that he was gone. Just like then, my fingers were numb, face hot, chest tight. I wanted to scream. It was a good thing the kids were gone because the likelihood of that happening wasn’t exactly zero.
My gaze slid over to Claire at a glacial pace. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” The words came out low, gruff. Full of disbelief. I’d never spoken to her like this before. Then again, she’d never given me a reason to.
“You know I’m right,” she responded, her face flushed with anger.
I shook my head, unable to hide how disgusted I was by her behavior. This wasn’t the sister I grew up with, the woman Iadmired. “No, you’re not. You are so far from right that I don’t even recognize you. Who are you to judge her lifestyle choices?”
Claire wrenched her jaw. “Because herlifestyle choiceshave screwed us,” she said through clenched teeth. “She said it herself!”
I took a step towards her. “No,yousaid it,” I hissed. She flinched, but didn’t lose that cutting glint in her eyes. “Delilah doesn’t even know what’s been said because Ethan wouldn’t tell her. You’re the one who went all self-righteous and weaponized her life and ran with it.”
“He’s right, Claire,” Savannah said, her voice calm, yet weighed down with disappointment. “You shouldn’t have done that. Even if that’s the reason why we lost the money, you shouldn’t have said all of that. It was cruel.” Weston stayed silent beside her, his lips in a thin line that all but confirmed he agreed.
Claire’s gaze darted between all of us before she turned to Beau. “Should’ve never let her be in charge of this. We can’t afford another mistake.”
“You don’t mean that, bear,” Tess said, her chin quivering while curled into Levi’s protective grasp. “You know she’s the best person for this job.”
“We don’t know that. There are other equine therapists.” The words came out brittle, as if she were trying to convince herself and us.
Just the fact that she said them, even if she didn’t fully believe them, turned my stomach. “Mama would be sick if she saw you acting like this.”
A gasping sound flew out of Claire as if I’d hit her, her head whipping towards me. All the blood had drained from her face, her eyes welling with tears. The last thing I wanted was to hurt her, but it was true. Our mother would’ve never judged someone the way Claire was criticizing Delilah. Not a strangeron the street, and certainly not someone as special as Delilah. She didn’t raise us to behave like this.
“Now that’s enough,” Beau warned, his voice sharp with a murderous look in his icy eyes. He and the rest of the McLeods had stayed out of this, but I knew he wouldn’t let that slide—and he shouldn’t. But I wasn’t afraid of Beau, and Claire needed to be called out on her need to control everything that we’d all let her get away with for too long.
My jaw tightened. “All I’m gonna say is this: If you don’t fix this with her, I’m out. You’ll have to find a new ranch manager on top of a new equine therapist.”
Claire’s jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious.”
“Try me.” I turned on my heel and left to find Delilah. And I didn’t give a damn how it looked to any of them either. My girl was hurting, and there was no way in hell I wasn’t going to make sure she was okay.
I stopped short, my breath catching in my throat. Realization hit, and I frowned at the ground. My girl? When had that happened?
Probably right around the time she laid my hand over her heart and told me she’d trust me enough for us both three weeks ago. I could still hear the certainty in her voice, picture the sun in her hair.
Crying near my house pulled me out of the memory, and I practically sprinted towards the broken sound. When I rounded the corner of the wrap-around porch, I found Delilah on the porch swing. Her face in her hands, shoulders shaking from muffled sobs. My heart sank at the sight of it. I felt useless, guilty. Helpless in a way I never had before. Wordlessly, I sat beside her. I wasn’t good at comforting people, but I wanted to be here…just in case she needed me.
“I don’t know why I’m crying like this,” she said between forced laughs. The pain in her voice wrecked me. She tilted herhead back with a sniffle, wiping her eyes. “I must be getting my period or something.”
I huffed a laugh. Even when she was devastated, she tried to deflect with humor. “No, sugar, I don’t think that’s it.” I stroked the side of her head, brushing her hair back. “It’s okay to be sad. Just means you’re human.”
Her lips twisted to the side, nodding jerkily. “Yeah,” she squeaked.
And then her face crumbled. Followed by a broken sob. I pulled her into my lap without thinking twice. She clung to me like I was the only thing keeping her together, and I held onto her just as tight. Listening to her cry tore me to shreds. I’d thought all this time she was immune to hurt like this, and I think that’s what made seeing her like this so goddamn painful.
“I’ve got you, sweet girl,” I murmured into her hair. My hands moved in slow, soothing arcs along her back, unable to stop myself from touching her. She nuzzled closer into me, and I rocked us gently on the swing, staring out into the night.
Delilah’s quiet whisper broke the silence. “Do you think she’s right? That how I act is why Ethan pulled the money?”
“I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out.”
She sat up, her brows pulled together. “What?”
God, she was gorgeous, even with her tired, puffy eyes and messy hair.
