Surprises

Part Twenty-one

Lucky turned away from the others and left to wait in the penthouse. No one looked at him with condemnation in their eyes. No one said anything to make him feel bad. He was doing a good enough job of that on his own. It was so clear. Whatever happened to Hope would be his fault, and nothing anyone said would take that away from him.

"Why don't you give it a rest?" Mike said, his voice low and again, blame-free.

"I'm not doing anything," Lucky argued. "I've already done enough."

"There's no argument there," Mike said quietly. "But what's the point? Guilt can't change the past. If anyone knows that, it's me. Come over here and sit down. Or help me in the kitchen."

Lucky nodded and followed Mike out of the room. As they left, Carly spoke to Dara.

"Feel free to make yourself at home here."

Dara gave the younger woman a strange look. Carly blushed and tried again. "I'm serious. There's no catch."

Dara shrugged and leaned back against the sofa. She closed her eyes. Carly used the moment to get a good look at Sonny's former lover.

Other than being a petite brunette, Dara Jensen was nothing like the women from Sonny's past. The difference went beyond the obvious, as in skin color. Dara Jensen was totally together. She was cool, aloof, intelligent, and didn't wear her heart on her sleeve. Well, she hadn't until now. Carly could certainly understand the change.

No, the ADA wasn't like any of the rest of them. She was able to let Sonny go without coming back for seconds. Carly wondered what kind of willpower that took. She considered herself pretty tough, but when it came to Sonny... She wasn't nearly as strong as she'd like to be.

"Why are you staring at me?" Dara asked from behind closed eyes. "I can feel it. If you have something to say, I wish you would do it now. Let's just get it over with."

Carly bristled. "What are you talking about?"

Dara opened her eyes and looked straight at Carly. "The past is just that, the past. My relationship with Michael, or Sonny, ended a long time ago. It won't be resurrected."

"I'm not concerned that it would be," Carly snapped. "I trust Sonny."

The other woman nodded. "Good."

"You know, I'm not the one with the attitude problem," Carly argued.

Dara's eyes narrowed. "Do you have a problem with my attitude? Joseph Sorel may have my daughter and you're telling me I have an attitude problem!"

"That's not what I said!"

"It's what you meant!" Dara shot back. She rose from the sofa. Her brown eyes flashed. "What do you want from me?"

"I want to know why Sonny never told me about you!" Carly shot back. "That's what I want! What was so special about you that he kept you a secret?"

# # #

Marcus and Keesha decided to ride together while Sonny and Jason paired up. Jason had seemed reluctant to part with Keesha, but something she said changed his mind. Marcus watched the interaction from a distance. Another woman he thought he knew had pulled one helluva surprise on him. He wondered when or if the tricks would stop coming out of the bag.

"You okay?" he asked, after she climbed in beside him and slammed the door shut.

She pulled on her seatbelt as he started the engine and followed Jason's SUV out of the parking garage. "I'm fine. I guess you didn't expect to see me with Jason."

"Nope," he answered, "but I'm getting used to expecting the unexpected."

"We've been seeing each other," she confessed.