The Fae Book 2: Burr and Daisy

Chapter 23: I Was Worried For You

We'd all had dinner together at Melody and Liam's home, and I noticed Burr had been quiet and watchful. Now that Harmony had clued me in about Oberon always keeping me in his sight, I noticed it. Those silver eyes were on me, following my movements, watching me speak. If I smiled, I saw that he smiled. If I laughed, he smiled big. He seemed to be hanging on my every word and reaction, and allowing my mood and feelings to dictate his.

When dinner had ended, and Harmony announced she was tired and going home to bed, I'd asked her for a ride home. Hatch held Lyric in his arms and said they'd be happy to drop me off.

Burr hadn't liked that.

"I'll take you home."

Hatch grinned huge and rocked back on his heels. "Oh, no need for that, fairy boy. We'll be happy to take Daisy home since her house is right by ours. You can stay here at your mommy and daddy's."

"Thanks, Bitch," Burr gritted out, clearly angry that I'd asked Hatch and Harmony for a ride home instead of him-- the lightning that flashed and cracked right outside was a huge clue.

So Burr had walked me out to their car, and he helped me into the back seat. He'd come over to change Purr's kitty litter and then had just taken me to his parents' house for dinner so I hadn't needed my car. 

"I'll see you tomorrow morning," he'd said. He'd also been picking me up to take me to work in the mornings.

We'd driven off, Burr watching us, hands shoved in his jean pockets, the picture of dejection.

After Hatch walked me to the front door and had seen me inside, he and Harmony drove off. At that point, I realized I'd forgotten my phone at Melody and Liam's house. Sighing at my pregnancy brain, I'd walked to my car and driven over to their house and walked inside. Melody had threatened me with all sorts of dire things if I didn't stop knocking.

"Family doesn't need to knock. And we only lock the door if Liam and I are gettin' busy," she winked at me. "But other than that, just come on in."

Harmony and Burr had made the appropriate gagging noises and objections to that kind of information, but I'd laughed because I loved it when she tormented her children.

Nan was the only one in the living room reading one of her bodice rippers when I walked in. Her Rebel Rogue's Passion. Yep, she was old-school romance all the way.

"What you're looking for is out on the deck," Nan told me when I said I'd left my phone behind. I hadn't gone out on the deck, but maybe someone had picked it up, thinking it was theirs, and taken it outside.

"Thanks," I said lightly. As I'd walked to the open door, I heard Oberon's mom say my name and I froze.

"-- you told Daisy how you feel?" Melody was asking her son. They were side-by-side on the deck, their backs to me, leaning on the railing as they looked toward the ocean. Lightning flashed right on shore, not too far off the deck.

"She doesn't believe me," he said, and his voice held despair. Hopelessness. "All she believes is the bullshit I spewed about her that she overheard me telling Nan to get her off my back with the matchmaking! And fuck me if I wouldn't give up everything I have to take back all the times I hurt Daisy."

I knew I should announce my presence, knew I shouldn't stand there listening like I had before, but it was as if invisible hands were holding me in place and preventing me from even opening my mouth.

"And you know what the real irony is?" Oberon asked his mother. "I feel the complete opposite now. When she walks into a room, I can barely breathe. I just watch her and think she's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life, inside and out. I can tell you the way her lips move when she's talking to people, the way those eyes of hers sparkle, the way her hair curls down her back when it's up in a ponytail."