A Secret Kiss

  Chapter 21

  Savior

  “Shit!” Darcy swore under his breath. He shouldn’t have picked up the phone. Shouldn’t have at all, and now, what was he supposed to do? Hang up! That was what he was supposed to do.

  “Hello? Darcy, is that you? Darling, please, I’m so sorry. Please talk to me. I’ve missed you. I’m very sorry for what happened. There’s no excuse for what I’ve done. I know I slept with the guy, but I swear I’ll make it up to you. I swear, Darcy, sweetheart. Please talk to me.”

  Darcy tightened his hand around his cell phone as he stared at the number on the screen. Kate Anderson. It was her again—his ex-girlfriend. The ex-girlfriend whom he’d never had any feelings for, the ex-girlfriend who had cheated on him. Now she expected him to go crawling back to her? Just like that? Did she consider him stupid? He would never go back to her. Not now. Not ever!

  He’d never liked her. In fact, he’d never understood why he’d gone into a relationship with her in the first place. Well, to be honest, the relationship had always been one-sided, and that was her side. He had gone along without realizing it because Tara and Alaina had been pulling him along since Kate was their friend.

  He gritted his teeth. Shit! She was still going on about her mistakes, begging him to come back to her. He was sick and tired of it and quickly switched the phone off, cutting her off midsentence.

  He stood up and threw the cell phone onto the sofa with so much force and frustration that if it were the wall it would have been smashed to pieces.

  He needed to be alone to think clearly, to get Kate out of his mind. And, yes, he admitted to himself, to stop himself from thinking about his adopted sister Sakura.

  Sakura. Why was he thinking about her? Why was he hurting so much thinking about her? Why was he thinking about her and Sebastian together? Why was he hurting so much when Sebastian had taken her out riding on Hayden’s motorbike? Why had his heart beat so fast when he’d seen Sebastian holding Sakura’s hand? Why had he held his breath when Sakura looked at him?

  The expression on her face. Oh, God! It really tormented him. It had caused his breathing to shudder involuntarily and his heart to flutter achingly. There was something in her eyes, something deep, passionate, and longing.

  No! Don’t be stupid, Darcy! the voice in his head shouted. She never wanted you. She hated your guts.

  “Shit!” he swore under his breath. He needed to get away. He needed to be in his comfort zone, and his room wasn’t his comfort zone anymore. He needed to be somewhere else.

  In a split second he was gone out of his bedroom.

  He came to the only other places in the house where he knew he’d find peace and quiet. A place where he knew no one would find him. A place high up where he knew he could lie down and think.

  He opened the door to the indoor pool and found that it was, as he expected, empty. Yes, he had the place to himself and he was glad.

  He headed straight for the stairs that would lead him up high to the diving board above. Once he reached the top, he lay down, put both his arms under his head, and closed his eyes. Instantly, Sakura’s face conjured up in his mind, and his heart started to beat irregularly again, almost painfully.

  “Sakura,” he whispered softly. “Why do I feel like this toward you? Why?”