Christmas From Hell (16 page)

She’d just given this man her virginity and he was sorry, she thought, shaking her head with a humorless chuckle as she reached up with a shaky hand and wiped away another useless tear.

“
I’m-”

“
An asshole,” she said in disbelief, finally getting his attention and unable to believe that she’d ever wanted it in the first place.

Sighing heavily, he shifted so that he was facing her. “Necie, I’m going to make this up to you,” he swore as he reached out to touch her, but she wasn’t having it.

“
Get out,” she said firmly as she glared at the wall, refusing to look at him.

“
Necie, I-”

“
Get out!” she cried, not caring that she sounded hysterical or that she was making herself look even more pathetic. She just wanted him to go even as she prayed that he wouldn’t leave.

She wanted him to shake his head, refuse to leave, pull her into his arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay. She wanted him to do anything other than what he was doing right now, looking at her with pity.

It wasn’t the look of a man in love.

It was the look of a guy who’d just slept with a woman that he couldn’t stand. It was also the final straw, the final wake up that she’d desperately needed.

“
We need to talk about this, Necie,” he said, still reaching for her when fate finally stepped in, and for once, didn’t screw her over.

“
You have about thirty seconds to explain why my granddaughter is crying and then ten seconds after that to tell me why you’re naked in her bed,” the man that she was going to grill the biggest steak for tonight after she’d finally stopped crying, said.

“
It’s just a misunderstanding,” Duncan said as he slowly reached down, grabbed his boxers and pulled them up right around the time that the power was finally turned back on.

Duncan shot her grandfather a questioning look before settling his gaze back on the shotgun that was aimed between Duncan’s legs.

Her grandfather’s lips kicked up into that smile that terrified most men as he asked, “You really didn’t think that I would leave town without making sure that my little girl was being watched after, now did you?” he asked with a
tsk
and a sigh as he gestured with the barrel of the gun for Duncan to get off the bed and away from her.

Duncan slowly stood up, raising his hands in the air even as he leveled a glare on her grandfather that let her know the only thing saving her grandfather from a broken nose was the gun.

“
Then I would say that whoever you left to watch her did a horrible fucking job, wouldn’t you?” Duncan said, squaring off with her grandfather as she sat there, trembling and hoping that Duncan did them all a favor and just left.

Grandpa nodded once in agreement. “You’ve got me there, but it’s a mistake that I won’t be making twice.”

“
How did you get the power on so quickly?” Duncan asked instead, making conversation when he really should be taking this as the blessing in disguise that it really was and leave.

“
As soon as I found out that I had a Bradford shacking up in my house, I called in a few favors, got the roads cleared, the wires fixed on the house and the electricity turned back on,” her grandfather explained as he slowly backed away from her bedroom door, the barrel of the gun remained locked on its target.

“
I was taking care of her,” Duncan bit out, sounding offended and somehow managing to take her misery to a whole new level.

“
I can see that,” her grandfather said as he glared at Duncan, “but now it’s time for you to go.”

Shaking his head, Duncan said, “Not until Necie and I talk about a few things.”

“
Doesn’t look like she’s interested in talking to you right now, son,” Grandpa said, gesturing with the gun for Duncan to get out.

“
We need to talk,” Duncan said firmly, but she’d had enough.

“
No, you need to go,” she said in a tone that let him know that she was done being pitied.

Chapter 17

“
May I ask why you’re walking through the snow wearing only a pair of boxers?” Danny asked in a bored tone as he grabbed another cup of salt and threw it on the walkway that Duncan had shoveled the night before.

He simply flipped his brother off, fucking pissed that he’d been chased off before he could make things right, before he could explain things, apologize and most importantly, before he could grab his clothes.

Old man Dixon didn’t play around. So, he’d been forced to choose, stay there and make things right and lose his balls or get the hell out and live to apologize another day.

As he walked past his brother, ignoring the sharp-numbing pain shooting through his feet every time he took a step, he became more furious with Mr. Dixon. Not because he’d forced Duncan to leave before he could apologize, but because the bastard had forced him to leave when all he’d wanted to do was to take Necie in his arms, hold her and promise to do whatever it took to make her stop crying.

Seeing her like that, because of him had felt like someone had knocked him on the ass. He never should have opened his mouth, never should have said anything so fucking cruel to a woman like Necie, but he had and now he felt like the biggest piece of shit in the world and there was nothing that he could do about it, but wait for a chance to talk to her without old man Dixon around.

*-*-*-*

“
Are you planning on coming out of your room tonight?”

“
No,” she mumbled into her pillow as she lay there, wondering how she could be in this much pain and still be alive.

It hurt.

It felt like her heart had broken in two and she couldn’t help, but wonder how she could feel this way and still be alive. She’d never experienced anything like this before and she prayed that she never did again. She’d lost her virginity to a man she’d thought she was in love with only to realize that she’d been nothing more than a way to pass the time.

“
So, you’re planning on staying in there all night feeling sorry for yourself?” her grandfather asked, earning a murderous glare in the direction of where she was pretty sure the door was, but since she’d shut off all the lights so that her room matched her mood, she could have been glaring anywhere.

“
Yes!” she snapped, offended that he was mocking her pain.

“
I see,” he murmured, sounding thoughtful. “Then you’re fine if I order from Black Jack’s?” he asked, sounding hopeful and making her glare all the more.

“
Not unless you’re willing to sleep with one eye open for the rest of your life!” she snapped, deciding that if she was going to be miserable, then so was he.

It was only fair after all.

“
I’m willing to risk it,” he said, sounding like he really didn’t care, which of course only took her rage to a whole new level that couldn’t be healthy for either one of them.

Keeping her glare fixed on the direction of the door, she threw back the covers off her bed, making a mental note to strip her bed clean and burn everything later, and headed towards the door. As soon as she reached it, she threw the door open, pushed past the large bastard that she loved more than anything and stormed into the kitchen.

“
Where are you going, my sweet little angel?” he asked innocently as though he didn’t know.

“
To make your dinner!” she snapped, simply because it felt good to snap at someone.

“
Steak?” he asked, sounding hopeful.

“
Nope,” she said, letting the word pop and knowing that she really shouldn’t take her anger out on him, but…

What the hell?

He was around and Duncan wasn’t, and hopefully never would be again, she told herself sternly, firming her jaw as she thought over her decision and forcing herself to decide that’s what she really wanted.

She never wanted to see Duncan Bradford again.

“
Meatloaf?” her grandfather asked, following after her like a puppy and sounding so damn hopeful that she almost caved and gave him the dinner that he deserved, but she loved him too much to do that to him.

“
How about I whip us up two fresh garden salads with grilled chicken and sliced peaches for dessert,” she suggested, trying to sound upbeat, but judging by the glare that her grandfather shot her, he really didn’t appreciate the fact that she had his welfare in mind.

He didn’t say anything to her, but then again he didn’t need to, not with the way that he was glaring at her as he absently reached over, grabbed an apple and took a huge bite out of it, all while his eyes told her just how badly he wished that he could throttle her. Normally she would roll her eyes and torment him back, but today apparently was not going to be one of those days, because before she could stop herself, not that she really cared, she started to cry and once she started, she couldn’t stop.

Embarrassed that she was crying over some guy that normally wouldn’t give her the time of day in front of her grandfather, the man that she loved and respected more than anything in this world, because now he knew just how pathetic she really was.

*-*-*-*

“
Open the fucking door!” the shout rang throughout the house as Duncan made a half-hearted attempt to steal the last slice of pizza, but his heart just wasn’t in it.

Danny’s apparently was since the unsupportive bastard snatched the last piece out of his hand and said, “I think it’s for you.”

“
No, shit,” he said, tossing his crumpled up napkin at his brother as he headed towards the front door where his elderly, pissed off neighbor was banging on the door and demanding his head on a pike.

Sighing, because he really wasn’t in the mood to be lectured about something that he already knew that he had to do, he opened the front door and-

“
Mother fucker!” he growled as he stumbled back.

“
That’s for making my little girl cry,” Mr. Dixon said, inviting himself in and getting in Duncan’s face as Duncan absently wiped the blood away from his split lip.

If the old man felt better after getting a shot in, that was fine with him. He’d taken worse beatings in his life and could care less about a split lip if it made the old man feel like he was protecting his granddaughter. He’d probably do the same thing if he had a granddaughter so he just let it go. That didn’t mean that he was going to let the old man get another shot in.

He understood the first shot and was letting it go.

If the old man took another hit at him, because he hadn’t apologized to his granddaughter yet, then he’d be forced to restrain him, take him to the ground and promise the old bastard that he would apologize to her the next time that he saw her.

“
You stay the hell away from my little girl,” Mr. Dixon said, stepping closer to get in Duncan’s face.

“
As soon as I apologize, I plan on leaving her alone,” he reassured the old man, but that wasn’t good enough for Mr. Dixon apparently, because he simply shook his head and said, “Stay away from her.”

And not apologize to her like some fucking coward?

Never fucking happening.

He took a step closer to Mr. Dixon, getting back in the older man’s face as he made things clear. “After I apologize to her.”

“
Leave her alone. She doesn’t want anything to do with you,” Mr. Dixon said firmly.