Yours Forever Book 3

24..

“No, Dagon only told me his first name. Dagon said he had killed off the rest of his men. He came to the house to warn me that Jackson would set his target as my father was next. I don’t know what kind of drugs my father stole from him to sell, but they want the rest of the money.”

“Okay, but now that you got all this information, why is he still there? And how much does he owe?”

“Because he needed help. If I can forgive my stalker for everything he has done, I know I can forgive Dagon. I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t kill him, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone that would. I was in the same spot he is now at one point in my life, and I understand what he is going through. He won’t ever admit it, but he is scared. Also, he only needed five thousand.”

“He can’t hide in your room forever,” Dean said harshly. I smiled at him, “Why are you smiling at me like that?”

“I know he can’t stay in my room. I hoped to sneak him out and take him to your house.”

“Oh yeah, sure, why not? What could go wrong with that?” he said sarcastically. “Are you f*****g crazy? That will never work; I will kill the bastard.”

I didn’t have time to respond before the door opened, and Dean’s doctor walked in.

“I need to take you down to get more X-rays,” he said. Dean was angry already and didn’t want any more tests done on him.

“No...” he shouted, picking up the plate of food I brought him and throwing it at the doctor.

“Oh yeah, that is mature, Dean,” I shouted as he threw the drink at the doctor, who thankfully could dodge it and the food. “Stop it, damn it,” I yelled, grabbing the fork he was about to throw out of his hand.

“I want out of here,” he screamed, and the doctor walked back out of the room.

“Will you quit acting like a child?”

“There’s nothing to f*****g do in this room. I’m so bored, damn it. The only thing I had was my cell phone, and it died. There is nothing good on TV, and I have work to do. Not to mention that you and I need to talk for real about what's between us.”

I let Dean ramble on for a while. “Okay, I will talk to them about getting you out of here.”

He let out a breath and nodded his head. I left the room to find the poor doctor who had to deal with Dean’s sour attitude. He was at the desk, and I walked over to him.

“Hello, I’m Ivy Turner. I’m sorry about Dean Walker’s actions. He doesn’t do well in hospitals. Is there any way he can be released today?”

“Yeah, all I need is one more set of X-rays, and he can leave after I get them. I will mail him the results.”

“I will let him know. Come back in a few minutes, and he will be ready to take the X-rays.”

“Alright,” the doctor replied. He was shaking his head, and I heard him say, “I don’t get paid enough for this,” as I walked away.

I walked back to the room and sat on the bed next to Dean. He still looked angry. “The doctor said you could leave here soon...” His eyes went wide as I spoke. "But you have to get the X-rays done first.”

“Fine, where is the stupid doctor.”

“He will be back soon. You need to act like an adult and apologize for throwing s**t at him.”

He put his head down but soon agreed. It didn’t take long for the doctor to come in and get Dean the needed X-rays. Dean even said sorry for acting like a child. We could leave after the doctor gave Dean some paperwork to fill out. They gave him some clothes to wear because I didn’t bring him any, thinking he would be in the hospital longer.

Once outside, Dean turned and looked at me. “Take me to Dagon.”

“No, we should get you into your own clothes first.”

He looked down at himself. He was stuck in blue hospital clothes and looked ridiculous. He nodded, “After,” he said, getting into my dad’s car.

I entered the driver’s seat and took off to Dean’s house. I was concentrating on the road and not paying attention to Dean at all. He took the opportunity to grab my hand and intertwine our fingers. I wasn’t sure what to do. The bold move made me blush. His hand was warm and mine fit perfectly into his.

I looked over at him and he was giving me a look. Not a normal look either, but a challenging one. I pulled my hand away and moved it to the steering wheel. I heard him laugh a little and a smile came to his face.

“Chicken,” he said, still laughing.

“I am not, I just... I need both my hands to drive.”

He didn’t believe me and laughed even more. When he was done laughing, he smiled at me. “Come on chicken, it’s just a little bit of hand holding,” he said innocently.

He pissed me off, and I ended up grabbing his hand and holding it the rest of the way home. He was happy with himself. He got me to do as he wanted, and I fell for it. When we got to Dean’s, we got out and headed inside. He went upstairs as quickly as possible and changed into his clothes. When he came back down, he was carrying a gun in his hand and was loading it.

“Okay, now, take me to Dagon,” he said.

“Maybe we should get you something good to eat first. I know you hated the hospital food.”

He squinted his eyes, “Fine, but after,” he replied, nodding.

I wasn’t sure how I would get Dean not to kill Dagon for what he had done. I knew I needed Dagon’s help, but Dean wouldn’t make it easy. We returned to the car, and I drove us to the bakery. We went in and took a booth in the far back corner. Dean sat down in front of me and smiled.

“Hey, check it out, Ivy. It is just the two of us.,” he said while laughing a little bit. He knew I was going to start to panic, and I did. I sat upright in my seat and looked at him.

“Stop that, Dean. I’m so scared to do anything with you and you picking on me and pushing me is only making it worse,” I replied sadly, and he looked at me with sympathy.

“I’m sorry, Ivy. I just don’t care as much as you and I want what I want. I’m not trying to pick on you, I’m just trying to make you smile. I don’t know if you know this or not, but getting someone to smile is a good step if you wish to move forward with them,” he replied. I didn’t want to talk to him about it. I decided to change the subject.

“You can’t kill Dagon,” I blurted out. He scowled at me. Not liking the fact that I once again changed the subject on him.

“I can kill him just like you killed my mood, damn it.”

“I need his help. If you cared about me and my family at all, you wouldn’t kill him.”

“Don’t even try that s**t with me, Little Red. You know how I feel about your family and... you. I would do anything to protect you and Ozzy, but this asshole tried to kill me.”

“And he tortured me,” I shouted. “Please, Dean,” I said, putting on my innocent face that had worked on Dean many times.

“Don’t make that face, Ivy. What you’re asking me to do is hard. I don’t think I can do this for you. After trying to kill me and what he did to you, I just can’t make any promises,” he replied sadly. I remembered what Dagon did to me and my body trembled remembering the fear I felt.

“Will you at least promise to try?”

“Sure, if you promise the same thing to me,” he said raising an eyebrow and flashing me his perfect smile.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked with my head down and pretending to be stupid.

“You know what I am talking about, Ivy,” he replied while grabbing my hand. “Please, don’t play dumb. I don’t want to go back to how we were just last week when you hated me. I knew you had feelings for me for a while now, and now that you have confirmed them, I don’t want to hide mine any longer. I understand that in your head this is wrong, but in mine…it’s still wrong, but I don’t care,” he said while kissing my hand. He was looking at me so lovingly that I didn’t know what to say.

I shook my head, “I’m sorry, Dean. I can’t. You were married to my mother, and it is just wrong. I can’t promise you that.”

His face turned to anger at the mention of my mother. He didn’t like it when I used her as an excuse. “I haven’t been anything but a friend and protecter to you in a long time, Ivy. You told me a few times that I wasn’t your stepfather anymore, focus on that. It isn’t like I’m asking you to marry me, I’m just asking you to try with me.”

I knew that even if I tried, my thoughts about what everyone would think would ruin it. I knew I was in love with Dean, but I never in a million years thought that he would return my feelings. Maybe I should have trusted Dean a little more in this situation. He was more experienced than me in the relationship field. Maybe he knew something I didn’t.

I noticed that Dean was watching me closely as I thought it over. He was studying me and trying to get into my head to see what I was thinking. Every movement I made didn’t go unnoticed—damn detectives.

“Okay,” I said finally. I knew Dean wasn’t going to stop pushing. I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to stop or not. I was so confused about everything. “I promise to really try.”

He smiled at me. “Thank you! I love you, Ivy. I knew I couldn’t go back to how things were so this will make things easier.”