Claiming Serenity(36)

“Jolie isn’t… I mean Donovan, I don’t know if she’s capable of loving anyone other than herself.”

“Yeah, that’s information I could have used before I invited her to stay with us for the summer. You remember that, right?”

Layla had shifted back, leaned against the headboard as Donovan angled his neck, watching her movements. Jolie had been there, she remembered that clearly because it was so out of character for her. That girl had never thought much of any place that wasn’t New Orleans. “I remember her being here for a couple of weeks. She told my dad she was staying with some friends in Gatlinburg but I saw her on campus and downtown more than once.”

“That’s because she was in my guest house.” Donovan had spoken then with a cool calm, one that she could tell was tense, that hid something he’d struggled to keep to himself. “My mom was on a cruise with her sister and Michael and John were at a soccer tournament in Maine.” Layla frowned, remembering all the vacations Donovan’s twin brothers had missed. The twins had always been too busy for the family. Five years older than Donovan, those two were equally competitive and had left Cavanagh just as soon as they found a college with a great soccer team, miles from their small town.

Donovan nodded as though he was trying to remember what had happened when he was eighteen in the right order. Layla got the feeling he didn’t want to mess this up. “It was just me and Jolie and, I thought, my dad when he could break away from work.”

“God, Donovan did you sleep with my cousin?” The idea had Layla feeling sick. She’d always known Donovan wasn’t innocent. He’d never been remotely quiet about the girls he’d been with; it was one of the things she’d always hated about him—how easily he’d admit to taking someone, how it had always seemed like nothing at all to him. But her own cousin? No.

“Never got the chance.” Donovan stopped, rolled to his elbow to watch her and Layla worried about the look he’d given her. She worried that something worse, something viler than him being with her cousin was about to be revealed. That worry must have been in her expression because Donovan touched her arm, just a brush of his fingertips on her shoulder before he spoke again. “You sure you wanna hear this?”

“I don’t think there is anything you could say that would shock me. I know who you are.” Layla frowned when Donovan moved his hand back, but she didn’t think he’d been offended by her honesty. She’d shrugged, tucking the sheet closer around her body. “I know who Jolie is, who she’s always been. There’s a reason her sister always called her Soily. She dirtied everything she touched.”

“Well, little Soily wasn’t interested in me. She had her eyes on a bigger prize and I was this stupid eighteen year old clueless kid who didn’t think twice about her claiming she had a headache or that she wanted to visit those imaginary friends of hers in Gatlinburg. When she kept leaving the house every night at the same time, claiming that persistent headache, telling me to get some rest, I finally caught on.” Layla didn’t like how easily Donovan shrugged, as though something that clearly wounded him deeply seemed trivial and not worth his anger anymore. “I followed her, went out to the guest house when she thought I was sleeping.” He’d laughed at himself, but Layla didn’t think he’d found anything about that memory funny. “I could hear them moaning and grunting from outside the door.”

“Who?”

Another slow exhale and Donovan’d looked right into Layla’s eyes. “Jolie and my father.” She’d felt her stomach drop and that acid burn of disgust hitting the back of her throat. She’d covered her mouth, unable to stop the shock, the revulsion from moving her features. But Donovan hadn’t countered her reaction. He’d only continued to stare at her, head nodding as though he understood how disgusted she’d grown. “Turns out I wasn’t the Donley she was into. Turns out that Jolie had her eyes set on someone with more money, someone who could give her whatever she wanted and that damn sure wasn’t me.”

“My dad found out, didn’t he?”

Donovan nodded. “After I busted in on them, my dad was so ashamed, felt like such an asshole that he begged me to take her to your folks.” Donovan looked away from her as though he had replayed that night a thousand times. As though he’d replayed it again, just then, with Layla sitting naked in his bed. “Coach wasn’t too happy when I told him what his brother-in-law’s kid had been doing with my dad… with his best friend since high school. I have no idea if he told your mom. He said he didn’t want her to know and I don’t think he’s spoken to my dad since then, not one word since your dad came to our house and beat the shit out of him.”