Boys of the Dark | ✓ (2015)

25. The Boy with the Final Round

"I want you to stay with them," Delilah told him.

Lucan advanced a step, his brows narrowing down at her. "No way. I'm coming with you."

She shook her head and forced him to stop advancing. "I need you to stay with Brody and Paris. You guys just started with a new life and I can't take that away from you. Plus, you need to make sure Brody will be okay. Now that he knows all this, I don't know what he'll do."

'We could drug him' Ryland would've said.  You know.  If the littlefucker was actually here.  

Lucan just shook his head, clutching the back of her neck. She was sure that was supposed to be a gesture of kindness but she stiffened, feeling hostile. "I can't leave you. I need to make sure you're safe."

"Lucan. Please." The urgency in her voice released his grip, his hands softly cupping her neck. "I can take care of myself. I'm the fucking Devil for Hell's sake."

He left his hands on her skin. "I know. I know."

Slowly, he bent down and kissed the top of her forehead. "Sometimes I wish you were still mine."

"Sometimes, I wish that too," she said, more to herself than to him. But it was too late to take it back now. She stepped away from him and he dropped his hands. "Take care of them. Brody, Paris..." She left a long silence for something else that wasn't hers.

"I promise," he confirmed.

She nodded and reached for the door.

"Delilah?"

She stopped and turned. She had to stop doing this—stopping and turning for people she didn't want to hear. "Yes?"

"Be careful out there. I don't want to lose you again."

She didn't nod and just left, hopefully leaving him in a spot where he wouldn't think or worry too much. But who was she kidding. No matter where you put someone or where they were, they would be worrying and thinking and worrying a little more. She was never safe.

Not as long as her children were in this world.

Ryland's children.

Their children.

At that moment, she could feel a little part of her die with the rest of her love.

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 "It's going to be weird without you," Paris said.

He grabbed Delilah in a headlock, messing up her hair before she pulled away. "Oh god, just try not to cover the whole world with your love while we're gone."

He gave her a wink. "No promises."

She laughed, throwing her head back. She went up on her tips toes and kissed the side of his cheek, only getting a bit of his jaw with their height difference.

HB reloaded the gun and tossed it in the bag. "I don't do goodbyes," she said but Love was already on her.

He picked her up and spun her around, whispering things in her ear that made her eyes roll. Then he grabbed her by the face and kissed her, hard and passionately to a point where Delilah felt slightly uncomfortable.

When HB pulled away, not even giving a smile as the back of her blonde head faced him, Delilah saw the tint of pink at the corners of her cheeks.

This warmed Delilah's heart and she gave HB that quirky, awkward smile that she knew her friend detested.

"Oh shut up," HB said.

Delilah grinned, throwing the strap of the bag over her shoulder. "Take care of everyone," she told Paris who stood by the door.

"You know it, doll face," he said with a big smile.

Oh how she'd miss that smile.

They both got into the car, not speaking a word until they hit the highway. "Did you talk to Brody?" HB asked.

"Yeah. He said he understood but at this point, I'm not so sure," Delilah said. Both of them didn't look away from the front window, not daring to look at each other. They knew what they were getting into didn't guarantee anyone coming back.

HB put on the radio, music killing out the silence. But as soon as a smaller, soft song came on, she reached over and brought the volume down.

"Did you say goodbye to Ryland?"

"No," she quickly said. She found her own answer hard to swallow. Apparently he came to Love's apartment earlier to ask where she was but at that point, she was already out with HB to get supplies.

"Maybe it's for the best," HB said, filling silence. "Who am I kidding—it is for the best. The guy's a dick."

"That's probably the most normal human thing you've ever said," Delilah said.

HB laughed, cracking a beautiful smile over black lips. "Yeah. Earth is slowly starting to grow on me." 

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A/N: 

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xx 3.14