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Tatiana.
I declined the call and pocketed my phone, focusing my attention back where it needed to be. I had moved on, and I was finally chasing happiness. I didn’t want my past to come in and ruin all of that for me.
There would come a time when I would need to speak to Danny about Tatiana, the same way she had spoken to me about Arthur but now was not it. We had just gotten together and we were still fragile.
In the afternoon Danny, Axel, and I decided to head into town. Danny and I had decided that we wouldn’t be overly affectionate in front of Axel because we wanted to wean him into the idea of Danny and I being a couple.
I would be lying if I said that going out like this didn’t feel like a small slice of heaven to me. It felt normal and natural. They were my family and nothing no one said or did could ever change that. I had a protectiveness over Axel that made me feel like his father.
I would have laid my life down for that little guy. Just like his mother, he had brought in a newfound light that I had never known existed up until this point.
Axel and Danny had gone into Benji’s. I had gone into the vet store to get some dip for the cattle and some more feed for the horses.
As I walked to my truck and placed the stuff in the back, I walked a few blocks down, searching for Benji’s, but then I came to a halt when I noticed that Danny was standing in front of someone. Her back was turned away from me, but I could tell that she was tense.
I picked up my pace but, as I drew closer, I recognized the person in front of her. Arthur. He was actually in front of her, staring at her and Axel like he had seen a ghost. I could see Axel’s features, but that was as far as any father-son bond they shared.
“There you guys are.” I came up beside them.
“Gavy!” Axel exclaimed, holding his arms out to me. Immediately, I picked him up protectively. Arthur was still staring at Danny and Axel with a blank expression. I didn’t like that he was even within a hundred feet of them.
From the look on Danny’s face, I was sure she was thinking the same thing. I could see the fear and shock painted clearly on her soft features. Her eyes were wide like she was staring at a ghost.
“Hi, I’m Gavin. I’m Danny’s boyfriend. I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but it’s not. We need to go now.”
Arthur scowled at my words and looked like he wanted to say something but I leveled him with a stare. He quickly shut his mouth but the scowl on his face remained. I turned my attention to my girlfriend and placed my arm around her waist and pulled her in the direction of the car. Danny’s face was pale white which had me worrying that she was about ready to throw up, but luckily Axel remained oblivious to everything as he ranted on about Benji’s.
I looked over my shoulder at Arthur, who was still in the same position we had left him. The rage that flowed in my veins had me wanting to turn around and go punch his face, but Danny needed me right now. Even as I pulled her away, I could feel her body shaking against mine.
That prick, Arthur, had the audacity to smirk, as I ushered Danny toward the car. There was a glint in his eyes that had my fury building. I knew that look all too well. It was the look of a man with something up his sleeve. I would be damned if he got his way. Danny was mine now. She was mine to protect and to love. If he was going to go after her, he was a dead man walking.
Once both of them were buckled safely in the car, we made our way back to the ranch. The radio played on low in the background, Axel in his booster seat playing with his little superman toy. I kept stealing glances Danny’s way and, with each glance, I grew more and more concerned. She was quiet and looked like a picture of calm and collected. But I knew better.
I reached my hand over the console to grab hers. I threaded our fingers together, and her hand clutched mine so hard, her knuckles turned white. I allowed her to squeeze my hand as hard as she wanted and needed. I would be there for her, and I would make sure that asshole, Arthur, paid for every tear he ever made Danny shed.
When we got to the ranch, I grabbed Axel, but I left all the bags and things in the car. My main priority right now was Danny and Axel. Axel was oblivious to the fact that he had just met his father for the very first time. His world was still turning just fine.
We walked into the house, and I placed Axel in his playroom before I walked back into the kitchen to check on Danny. She was staring out of the kitchen window with her arms crossed over her chest. I could hear her mind racing from where I stood. She bit down on her lip nervously.
I walked up behind her and pulled her to my chest. She relaxed into me and turned in my arms. She placed her head on my shoulder, letting out a shaky breath. She circled her arms around my waist, pulling me even closer.
I wanted to ask her what was going through her head, but I also didn’t want to rush her into speaking. All I knew of Arthur were the things that I had been told. But now, judging from Danny’s reaction, there was more to the story than I had been told. He had broken more than just her heart.
She sniffed. I pulled back a little to look at her face. I placed my finger under her chin, forcing her eyes to meet mine. My jaw locked in place, as I struggled to control the anger welling inside of me.
She looked terrified and broken as tears filled her eyes. The shine that had only just returned to them was now smothered with pain.
I was going to murder Arthur. The next time I saw him, I prayed there would be someone to hold me back because I was ready to put him six feet under, where the rest of his career belonged.
Her lip trembled, as she struggled to hold in her pain, but she didn’t need to do that. Not when she was with me. I pulled her back to me and kissed her head.
“It’s okay,” I mumbled into her hair. “You’re safe here.”
The first sob left her lips and then, from there, all the floodgates opened. It wasn’t those wailing kinds of sobs, but it was the quiet ones. The kind that you didn’t want the world to hear and, in this case, Axel. I don’t know how long we stood like that in the kitchen, but I would have held her for all eternity if it made her pain lessen.
That night I held her while she cried herself to sleep. I had put Axel to bed and made sure to inform Maddy and Marcus of what had happened. She had refused any kind of food, and she didn’t want to leave her bed. I stayed with her the entire night. It broke my heart, watching her in so much pain, and I swore in the pitch-black darkness of the night that Arthur Williams was going to pay one way or another.
