It's nearly dawn before I see the glow of city lights up ahead. Darcy must be running on sugar and adrenaline at this point, I don't understand how she's still fully alert after driving all night.
I offer some of the chocolates I'm eating to her, better for the driver of the car to run on sugar rather than nothing. I'd really appreciate it if we didn't end up in a car accident. Darcy absentmindedly takes some.
Talking would probably help her stay awake. I've already fallen asleep a few times, and I'm still exhausted, I can't imagine how she feels. I chew on my lip as I watch her. She really is stunning. Her features are sharp, her vivid amber eyes surrounded by smudged eyeliner. She looks effortlessly confident in her dark jeans and black tank top. It's such a simple outfit but she pulls it off flawlessly.
It doesn't matter how gorgeous she is, I still don't want her falling asleep at the wheel. I straighten my posture. "Is this Emberheart city?" I ask, I push my voice higher, as far away from how sleepy and hoarse from crying my throat actually is. This alpha is going to be actually in my life now, at least somewhat. I have to at least try not to be the worst.
Darcy glances at me quickly, her eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Yeah, that's the city," she responds, "We're going to more of a small town area though, there's more greenery there, plus the packhouse has a lot more space than the city's. Sorry, it'll be about another 20 minutes until we get there."
I'm more relieved than I thought I would be at the thought of not going straight into a big city for the first time in my life right now. Greenery, that means trees, hopefully I can find some quiet space for myself in between work there.
"Do you like forests as well?" My voice comes out too hoarse, I sound too tired. Idiot. Darcy thankfully must not notice, because she smiles.
"Yeah," She says softly, "I really do. The city is great fun, but I like spending time in nature too, plus our town has beaches. Which are arguably cooler than skyscrapers."
I light up at that. "Like beaches as in, we're on the coastline, touching the sea?" I wince when I notice how unnecessarily loud I'm being. I need to get a hold of myself before I become even more of an inconvenience to her.
"Yeah, touching the sea and everything." Darcy teases. I feel the urge to roll my eyes at her, not everyone gets the chance to see the coast. But I don't have that privilege anymore, I need to be polite, nice, acceptable. I've somehow thrown myself into her life, and I cannot just be my messy self constantly; that's not fair on her.
I try to clear my sore throat, sounding hoarse and sad is just putting emotions that are entirely not Darcy's problem in her face. "You have an impressive territory." I compliment.
Darcy's smile drops at my tone. "Thanks." She says blandly. Fuck I must sound worse than I thought.
I keep attempting to make conversation, but she seems completely uninterested and kinda pissed off. She must be realising what a mistake she's made in taking me in. Fuck. My hands clench tightly together and I stare out the window quietly. I know I should try harder to make her happy, but I'm just so tired, so I try to be small, hopefully if I'm invisible enough I won't upset her too much.
We arrive at a small town, surrounded by ancient looking woods. Darcy parks the car, and when she opens the door I can hear the faint sound of what must be waves. I lift my crutches and get out of the car, my legs are stiff and unsteady, I wince at the pain as I stand up fully. I quickly smile when I see Darcy looking at me.
She looks pissed off, she's definitely regretting her decision. Shit. I follow her into the packhouse, focusing on each step, trying to look as stable as possible. I'm already an inconvenience to her, and I need to present the best facade I can to limit how annoying I am.
Darcy stops and sets down my bags before unlocking a door with a key. "This is your room for now." Her voice is definitely strained with annoyance. "There's a small bathroom attached, and the kitchen is down that way and to the left." She nods her head in the general direction of the kitchen and hands me the key.
I walk into the room and turn back to smile at her as she brings in my bags and sets them carefully in the corner. She looks properly pissed off now. "Is everything ok?" I ask with a practiced level tone. Don't show the pain, don't show the fear of her being upset. Smile.
Darcy takes a slow breath, then points at the bed. "Sit." Her voice is almost a growl. I quickly stumble to the bed and sit carefully on the edge of the mattress. Should I apologise? Stay quiet? I don't know her well enough yet to know the right answer. I stare at the floor, I can't bear to see those vivid eyes looking at me with such anger already.
She walks over to me and then I do look up, because surely it's weird to stare at someone's shoes. I offer another smile, I'm not sure what good it'll do at this point, but it's probably better than immediately crying. Darcy huffs in annoyance. "Do you want to be smiling right now?"
My smile is replaced by confusion. "What?" I say softly. Darcy rolls her eyes.
"You're in pain, we've been on the road for hours, your life just got fucking flipped upside down. Don't be forcing a fake smile! You don't have to perform for me!" She exclaims.
But I do. I have to perform, it's the only thing I'm half good at, the only thing I can do to reduce my burden. And now I'm her burden. I have to smile, I need to perform. I give her the most reassuring smile I can. "I'm fine, honestly, I'm not in that much pain at all."
Darcy grabs my face and suddenly we're very close together. Her eyes are practically ablaze, deep amber with flecks of gold. "You don't lie to me." She growls. I open my mouth to disagree but she cuts me off. "You do not perform, you do not lie and pretend you're ok. You live your fucking life and you be yourself. I don't give a flying fuck what those assholes said to you before. This is now. You don't pretend that you don't need help."
She continues to glare at me with my face trapped in her hand. Our faces are very close together, for a minute I think she's never letting go of me. I feel my face getting warm and then she's finally backing up. We'll unpack the fluttering in my stomach later, or maybe never, right now I just stare at her in confusion.
After a weirdly long staring contest, Darcy puts her phone number in my phone and walks to the door. "Text or call if you need anything. I'm going to take a nap." She says tightly. I just nod. And then she's gone.