Chapter Thirteen

Macayla stood motionless, unable to take her eyes off of the sight in front of her. She wanted to believe that it wasn’t Martin but she knew it was.

She slowly closed the door, just as quietly as she’d opened it and walked down the hall to Dale’s room.

Hearing voices coming from his room as well, she slowed but knew there was nothing going on because the door was wide open and the lights were on. As she reached the doorway she saw Dale and Ashley sitting on the bed facing away from her as Ashley did her best to run Dale into the wall of some track on the video game they were playing.

“Ashley, Tony’s looking for you…” she said suddenly, startling them both.

Ashley rolled her eyes. “I’ll kick your ass later Junior, you just wait.”

“Yeah, that’ll happen,” he joked back watching Ashley leave the room before turning his attention to Macayla. That’s when he noticed the blank expression on her face. “What’s wrong Mac?”

“Can you just take me somewhere else? I don’t think I can stay here tonight…”

Dale frowned in confusion. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“I just need to get away from here. I don’t know where to go, though, I just figured you had some idea… Plus I don’t have a car.”

He nodded. “Yeah. I guess. Go get some clothes.”

Dale watched her walk away and close her bedroom door behind her then started down the hall himself to find Martin. When he passed by his room he heard the moans and cast a quick glance at Macayla’s door. “Son of a bitch.” Without knocking her burst into Martin’s room and turned on the light. “What the hell are you doing?”

“GO away…” murmured the brunette that Martin had pressed into the bed, her eyeliner and mascara running messily down her face.

“Shut the hell up and get out of my house,” Dale growled at her before turning his attention back to Martin. “And you… I thought you’d changed but apparently I was wrong. Get your stuff and get out. Until you can straighten your ass out you’re not welcome in my house.”

“What?!”

“Don’t… she trusted you Martin and you pull this shit… Get out.”

Dale turned and strode towards the open bedroom door and Martin watched him before his gaze caught Macayla standing in the hallway with a bag in her hand and tears running down her face. “Mac… shit…” he grunted as he struggled to get up from the tangle of sheets on his bed.

She just turned away and followed Dale down the stairs.

“Mac! Please…” Martin called as he wrapped a sheet around his waist and ran after her, grabbing her arm just before she walked out of the front door. “Please Macayla… it’s not…”

“Don’t… Because it is, and I don’t want to be lied to anymore…”

“I didn’t lie…”

“Just stop it…” she raised her hand to quiet him.

Dale placed his hand on her elbow as he opened the door for her and took her bag. “Come on Mac.” He cast a warning glance at Martin before looking at the other occupants that had stopped to watch the altercation. “Tony, get everyone out of here, please.”

“No problem…” he replied before he gave Martin a look of his own and walked away.

---

They’d been riding for nearly an hour and Macayla continued to stare out of her window. She hadn’t said a word since they’d gotten in the truck and Dale didn’t know what to say to her.

He couldn’t believe what Martin had done. Since Macayla had shown up he’d really straightened up, or so he’d though. There had been no more one night stands and all in all he seemed pretty taken with her. After that whole jealousy thing in Daytona getting sorted out he figured things would be going great for them by now. Apparently he was wrong.

“You okay?” he finally asked, unable to handle the silence any longer. He’d long ago turned off the radio as soon as they’d gotten in because every song that played seemed to talk about being done wrong.

She just shrugged. “I feel stupid.”

Dale reached between them and grabbed her hand. “You’re not stupid Mac. You didn’t know this was going to happen. Hell, I didn’t know this was going to happen and I’ve known him for years. I thought he’d finally gotten his act together, I mean you’re all he’s talked about since you got here.”

“Well, I guess we’re both stupid then…”

“He’s gonna blame it on the alcohol ya know…”

She snorted. “Poor alcohol seems to take the blame for everything.”

“I’m sorry. I told him to get his stuff out. I don’t want him back there, especially while you’re there.”

“You can’t just kick him out for that Dale…”

“Yes I can. I can do whatever I damn well please. It’s my house. And I’m not gonna kick you out…”

Macayla smirked and rolled her eyes. “Of course not, who’d take care of Kellen then…”

He pulled the truck to the shoulder of the road and threw it into park before turning to face her. “Look at me Macayla.” She slowly looked at him through heavy eyes. “That’s not why I’m not kicking you out. I know you’ve got nowhere else to go. I know you’re alone. And quite frankly I like having you around. You being Kellen’s nanny is just part of the deal.”

“I don’t know how anyone can like having me around…”

“Don’t start that self-depricating shit with me. You’re a beautiful, smart, fun woman and Martin’s an unbelievable ass for fucking that up.”

Her gaze met his in disbelief. “You think I’m beautiful?”

“Everyone thinks you’re beautiful…”

He pulled the car back out on the highway then pulled off at the next road, following a long two lane drive that curved and banked in all directions before pulling to a stop in front of an old cabin.

”What’s this?”

Dale hopped out of his side of the truck then walked around to open the door for her. “It’s Daddy’s old hunting cabin. I’ve kinda modernized it a little as a place to escape to when needed.” He took her bag and grabbed her hand, helping her over the rocky terrain. “Watch that top step, it’s a little loose.”

He unlocked the door and stepped in to turn on the lights, hoping everything wasn’t covered in dust. It’d been a while since he’d been there.

Macayla walked in behind him, her eyes taking in the rustic decoration. “Homey…” she laughed.

“Well I’m just surprised there’s not dust.”

“It’s bigger than it seems from the outside…” She looked at the small kitchen and the fairly large living area with a large stone hearth and two doors off of the main room.

Dale led her further into the room, opening one of the doors to reveal a state of the art bathroom then the other door. “This is the bedroom, obviously. California King so you’ll have plenty of room to get comfortable. There’s also a tv and we’ve got satellite so you shouldn’t get too bored.”

“Thanks for doing this Dale. I’m sorry I pulled you away from your party…”

He shrugged and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her to him. “To be honest with you, I’m not much in the partying mood lately anyway. That’s why you found me playing playstation with Ash.”

She laughed and returned his hug, enjoying the comfort she found in his arms. “You know I think Ashley’s got a little crush on you so you better be careful.”

“But I thought I saw her making out with Reed the other day…” he said in confusion.

“Oh you did. But he’s accessible, you’re not.” She pulled away from him and looked at her watch realizing it was nearly three in the morning. “I’m gonna go ahead and get changed. I’m ready for about a years worth of hibernation.”

“I’ll call Teresa first thing in the morning and have her take Kellen to the shop with her, I’ll pick him up there. So, get as much sleep as you can.”

“Alright. Thank you Dale…”

He kissed her cheek and gave her another quick hug. “No problem sweetie…”

Dale watched her close the door before quickly knocking on it

“Yes?”

“I need to get some blankets out of the closet…” He brushed past her and grabbed a pillow and two thermal blankets out of the closet. “Good night.”

“Night.”

He spread the one blanket out on the sofa and stripped down to his boxers, then turned off the light and lay down, pulling both blankets tightly around him. He set the alarm on his cell phone to get up and call Teresa then stared out of the window behind next to him.

He wasn’t tired and for some reason all he could think about was the heartbroken beauty in the next room.

~next~

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