Page 52 of Second Chances (Passion and Perseverance #2)

To emphasize his point, or to seal his promise, Darcy leaned forward and captured her lips in a tender kiss, assuring her that no matter how hard it was for him, he would follow through on whatever course of action they decided on.

“It’s going to be ok,” Beth whispered, pulling back from his embrace. “What if even Charles could just talk to her and get her to see that what she is doing is crazy? I mean, he can’t… won’t… approve of her actions once he knows.”

“Maybe.”

“Or maybe he will have another idea on how to handle this - it is his sister, after all,” Beth concluded, biting her lip before continuing. “So, you never told Charles about your relationship with Caro?”

“No,” Darcy said flatly, his eyes darkening.

“Why not? Even after it was over?”

“She never wanted anyone to know when we were together and I didn’t give a damn either way.

Afterward, I wanted to forget about her and that part of my life; I barely could recognize who I was then.

” He paused to take a deep breath. “That relationship almost cost me my friendship with Charles as it was. He was pretty upset when his sister left and it seemed pointless to tell him then and only add to his misery.”

Always trying to protect those he cares about.

Beth squeezed his hands again, grateful that he was being open with her about his past .

“Do you think he’s going to be upset when he finds out?” As much as she didn’t want to bring up the inevitable, he needed to start to think about how he was going to explain this to his friend.

“I don’t know…” He hadn’t even thought about how Charles would respond.

It had been almost 6 years since his relationship with Caro had ended, but not having told him in all of that time, never giving him the full explanation of what had happened to him…

the result of which could have an impact on their friendship, and not for the better.

“Why does Caroline have that drawing of you?” Beth blurted out, unable to stop herself before the words were out.

Taken aback, Darcy’s head shot up, his gaze searing right through hers, burning with the denial he ached to give her, trying to leave the painful memories of his past behind.

“Because she drew it,” he began, his gaze dropping from hers in embarrassment.

“It was how we started becoming close. We realized that we were both interested in art and one time, she asked me to sit for her, and that was that. We would draw each other from time to time, less so as the years went on.”

“I see,” Beth said softly, her throat thick with the new rise of tears threatening to fall.

They’d been so close, sharing their art between them, something that very few people knew about Darcy.

It hurt to know that Caro had been a big instigator and a big part of that area of his life.

“It wasn’t like that…all the time,” he struggled to continue, knowing that she wanted the truth even though it was hurting her.

“We bonded over it, but only in the beginning. I was focused on my business for the most part, and she continued to focus on her art, deciding that I had better uses, and finding better toys…muses…for her work. I didn’t even think she had any of me left; I burned any and everything that was of her, or was hers, the day that she left.

I thought I had destroyed all her pieces of me - I didn’t want anyone finding them in her studio, so she always left them with me, but I guess she must have taken one. ”

“So, she could have more of them?” Beth asked, her tears threatening to spill over.

God, she was ridiculous. It’s not like she hadn’t already seen the drawing. Why was she getting so upset about this?

Because it hurts to hear how close to him she was.

They were together for years, Beth. What did you expect? Be reasonable.

“I doubt it,” he said quickly. “I mean, she could but I just don’t see how. It wasn’t that many times. Unless she redrew it from memory and put it there, hoping that you would see it.”

“Do you think she would do that?”

“God, I don't know. Maybe. If she’s trying to get you to leave me, and threatening you isn’t working, maybe she’s decided to just try and make you hate me instead,” he paused to laugh coldly. “I wish I could say that I was confident that it wasn’t working…”

Ever so softly, his hand came up to cup her cheek, his thumb gently rubbing the soft skin, watching as she tried to blink away her tears.

One escaped, fleeing down onto his thumb.

He pulled his hand, and the remnant of her tear, away and up to his face, his knuckles fisting, resting on his mouth in pained reflection.

“I don’t hate you. It’s just a lot to take in, that’s all…” Beth said hesitantly, wishing she could reassure him more, but emotions were all over the place. “I’m going to text Jane and see if she is available for dinner tomorrow; I need to tell her in person.”

She changed the subject for the both of them, trying to focus on the future, moving forward, instead of dwelling on all of her questions about his past that would only serve to make her doubt him.

Darcy just nodded, watching as Beth stood up to go in search of her phone, wondering at what point she would go in search of her freedom.

~ Hey, are you free tomorrow night after work?

- I can be. Usually, Charles and I grab dinner together but we have no definite plans. What’s up?

~ I just thought we could grab dinner and talk…about my whole situation .

- Oh, ok. Of course. Just come over when you’re done with work and we can figure something out.

~ Great, see you tomorrow!

Beth set her phone down on the coffee table, coming up behind Darcy as he stood looking out the window of the penthouse, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“What did she say?”

“I asked if she was free tomorrow night to talk about what’s going on and she said that she was, so I’m going over there after work to grab dinner together.”

He nodded, resigned to her plan.

“I can tell her not to say anything to Charles if you want…if you want to be the one to tell him,” Beth suggested, knowing that his and Charles’ relationship could be the next casualty in this nightmare if it wasn’t handled properly.

“I should,” Darcy began, “I just… I’d rather hear what Jane has to say first, if she knows the whole story behind why Caro is here.”

Beth couldn’t help herself from wincing every time he used her nickname, wondering if he had always called her that, wondering if he’d called her that while she was drawing him, naked.

“I don’t want him to feel like he has to choose between his sister and me, when it comes to divulging information or not,” Darcy continued, oblivious to Beth’s momentary discomfort.

“If Jane can figure out why Caroline is here, then I can go to him knowing all the information and asking him for help on the best way to handle it; I can go to him without having to ask him to pick a side.”

Even though she was sure that he couldn’t have felt her slight twitch, it was as if his subconscious had picked up on her response, causing him to switch from ‘Caro’ to ‘Caroline’.

“Ok, I understand, I’ll tell her.”

Beth rested her head against his back, feeling him exhale deeply. She clung a bit tighter to him for a moment before dropping her arms, reaching for one of his hands.

“Take me to bed?” she asked softly, suggestively .

That was all it took for the spark to be lit in his eyes, reflected in the glass. He turned toward her, his expression turning molten with desire as he followed her into their bedroom, their refuge, the one place where they only had each other.