Game of Love(34)

DEX’S VOICE TRAVELED down the stairs to the lower level, where Ellie was debating how to handle seeing his parents again. When they were younger, Dex had complained about his father’s pushing things on him, demanding good grades, manly actions, and respect. What Dex couldn’t have known was how much Ellie had craved a parent who would care enough to demand those things from her. Of course, not manly actions, but respect, good grades. Hell, she’d have tried her damnedest to meet those expectations as if she’d had a real father instead of a heroin addict she’d never known. She listened to their conversation as she ascended the stairs.

“I wish you would have told me, that’s all,” Dex said.

“And what good would that have done?”

Ellie stopped at the sound of his father’s deep, intimidating voice. She held her breath as he continued.

“You were already out of your mind when she left, Dexter. I took care of it. I wasn’t going to dump a load of hurt on a boy who was already down.”

“I get that, but maybe I could have helped her in those months afterward. Maybe it would have helped us somehow four years ago.” Dex paused, and Ellie held her breath. She could guess at what they were talking about. Obviously, his father must have had an idea about what had gone on with her foster father. Of course he did. Adults weren’t blind, like teenagers.

She heard a chair scrape against the floor, then footsteps across the kitchen floor. “I did what I thought was right. You can question it, but it’s not going to change the outcome. What’s done is done, son. Now you have to deal with what happens next. And that is on your shoulders.”

“Ellie?”

Ellie started at the sight of Joanie Remington beside her. “Um…hi.”

“Sweetie, how lovely to see you again.” She opened her arms and embraced Ellie.

Shoot me now. “Uh…Good to see you, too. I’m just…um…” Eavesdropping. “Sorry we showed up so late last night.”

“Oh, don’t be silly. Come. Let’s get some breakfast.”

Ellie followed her into the kitchen feeling like an intruder. Dex reached his hand out to her, and she breathed a little easier. Sort of. Still stupefied by the discomfort of being a couple in front of his parents, her eyes darted from his mother to his father.

“Hey, you’re awake,” he said in a groggy, sexy voice, void of the earlier angst from his discussion with his father.

“Sorry I slept so late.” She stood up straighter as her eyes shifted to his father. He stood with his shoulders square, tall and rigid. His gray hair was shorn close in short military fashion. “Good morning, Mr. Remington.”

“Good morning, Ellie. Would you like some coffee?” His navy blue eyes softened as he pulled out a chair beside Dex. “Sit, please.”

She let out a shaky breath as she lowered herself to the chair, feeling as though at any moment the elephant in the room might trample her. She reached for Dex’s hand. Her leg began its let-me-out-of-here bounce beneath the table, and Dex settled their hands on her thigh and inched his chair closer to her.

Words pressed at her lungs. Get it out in the open. Talk about it. She accepted the warm coffee from his mother. “Thank you.”

“Dex tells us that you’ve got a job at Maple Elementary. I taught a few art classes there back in the day.” Joanie sat down across from Ellie. “Even back then their teaching methods were very individualized.”

Thankful for something else to concentrate on, Ellie wrapped her hands around the warm cup to steady them. “I’m really excited about it. Did Dex tell you our idea to apply for an educational grant and try to develop an educational software program for kids?”

“Your idea,” Dex corrected as he brushed her hair from her shoulder.

She felt her cheeks flush at the intimate touch, worried about how his parents might react to their relationship.

Joanie glanced at the two of them and smiled. “He did. It sounds like a great idea, and who better to help bring it forward than the two of you?”

His father lowered himself into his chair at the head of the table with a fresh cup of coffee and set his eyes on Dex. Even without looking, she felt the tension radiating from Dex. James shifted his gaze to Ellie, and Dex put his arm protectively across the back of her chair and grazed the tightly strung knot at the base of her neck, which she’d been trying to ignore.

“Are you here to stay, then?” he asked.

Ellie couldn’t pull her eyes from his. “Yes. Assuming my job goes well.”

He nodded. “And you’re living in the city?”

“Well, for now—”

“She’s staying with me, Dad,” Dex said.

His father nodded. “I see.”

“I was supposed to stay with a girlfriend, but she…It didn’t work out,” Ellie explained, feeling like she was taking advantage of his little boy, which was ridiculous given that Dex was twenty-six, and they were both adults.

He took a slow sip of coffee, looking at Joanie over the rim of his cup. When he set it back on the table, he locked eyes with Dex. “I think it’s a good idea that Ellie stays with you. The city can be a rough place, and this way we know she’s safe.” His thin lips arced into a smile. His eyes softened as he turned to Ellie. “That is, of course, assuming Ellie wants to stay there.”

The walls felt like they were closing in on her. Dex wanted her to be honest so badly, and her gut told her to claim him as he’d claimed her at his office, but what if she did and then his father nixed the whole thing? What if he thought she was bad news for his son? What if…? What if…? The hell with it.

“Mr. Remington, I know I’ve had a messed-up life, but I’m on a good track now.” Damn it. Why were her eyes damp? Dex wrapped his hand around her shoulder and squeezed. Thank you. Thank God you always know what I need.

“Ellie, honey, you’ve always been on a good track,” his mother said.

His father’s stare iced over. His jaw clenched just as Dex’s had the evening before.

Shit. I’ve ruined everything. She gripped the sides of the chair in anticipation of the trampling.

When his father pinned his gaze on her, she whipped her head to the side and looked at Dex, afraid of what she’d unleashed.

“What that man did in that house had nothing to do with you.” His father’s eyes narrowed.

Ellie froze at his fervent tone.

“He was a pig,” he said. “A beast. And just because you lived in that house and bore the brunt of his sickness does not mean that you were on a bad track.”

He reached out and took her shaking hand in his as a tear streaked her cheek. She couldn’t wipe it away. She could barely breathe. Never in her life would she have imagined him reaching out in such a tender way, and for a moment, it scared the shit out of her.

“You have strength like no other, Ellie,” his father continued. “Whatever happened in that house. Whatever he did or said. Remember, you are who you are because of your inner strength. Don’t let that bastard make you feel otherwise.”

Ellie breathed in hindered gasps for air. Her shoulders rose and fell as she tried to gain control of the tears she fought against.

“Ellie?”

Dex? She heard his voice, but couldn’t focus. The hurt—no, the relief—was too great. They saw inside her. He recognized the girl she’d been protecting all these years. Fuck. And now I’m blubbering like an idiot. Her hand hung limply by her side as tears streamed silently down her cheeks. Dex’s arms came around her. Joanie’s comforting voice whispered in her ear.

“It’s okay, honey. Let it out.”

His father’s enormous hand grasped hers.

She melted against Dex’s chest, her eyes locked on his father’s hands. Tears streaked her cheeks as her body trembled, overwhelmed by their support. She sucked in a breath. “I…I’m sorry. I just…” She wiped her eyes, feeling like a fool. She felt her cheeks flush. “I’ve spent my whole life proving who I was.” She patted her chest. “Inside. Trying to separate myself from all the crap I grew up with.”

“We’ve always known who you were.” His father shook his head. A deep V formed between his thick brows.

Joanie touched his shoulder and looked at him disapprovingly. “Of course you have, Ellie, and you probably always will. And that’s okay. But now you know. We have never seen you as anything less than the strong, beautiful person that you've always been.”

How could his mother know just what she needed to hear?

“I’m sorry. I’m so embarrassed.” She rounded her shoulders and shrugged away from Dex. He pulled her back. Of course he did.

“Embarrassed?” James said with a shake of his head. “Embarrassed to be with a twenty-six-year-old guy who plays games for a living maybe, but embarrassed by who you are? No. That’s just unacceptable.”

She smiled at his rare moment of levity. Dex rolled his eyes, but she saw relief in his sweet, compassionate smile.

“I like that he does something he’s passionate about,” she said to lighten the mood.

“Then he’s a lucky bastard.” He winked at Dex.

Dex gazed into her eyes, and there was no mistaking the love that welled there. That had always been there for her.