Crossroads
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine.
Author’s Notes- This is the fourth part of my Dick Mulligan AU “The Road to Nowhere” and now there is only an epilogue left. This took me forever to write, probably because it is so angsty. This is for my dear friend boneandfur, who helped me plot out Dick and Summer and let me run ideas and lines by her.
Pairing- Dick Mulligan x MC
Summary- Summer’s past catches up with her and she and Dick share some painful truths.
Rating- PG-13
“I am not your fiance!” I spit out, glaring at Jason, anger finally dulling my shock. “I never was.”
His eyes filled with annoyance, though he masked it with a placating smiling. “Dawn, don’t be like that.”
“My name is Summer,” I told him coldly, “I have the ID to prove it.” I turned to Dick, placing my hand on his arm, wincing at how tense he was. “Dick… I know we need to talk.”
“Yes, I think we do,” he said coldly, though he didn’t’ remove my arm, “but first these men need to get off my land.”
“As soon as Dawn agrees to come with us, we’ll go,” my brother said calmly.
“Did the lady commit a crime?” Dick asked him, his jaw set. “Is she suffering from some sort of illness that impacts her judgment?”
Alec looked more uncomfortable than I had ever seen him. “Well, no… But this is a family matter.”
“Do you want to go with them darlin’?” Dick asked me, some of the harshness fading from his voice.
“No,” I said adamantly, clinging to Dick. “I do not.”
“Well, then, there’s your answer,” Dick said coldly, wrapping his arm protectively around me. “Get off my land before I make you.”
“Is this what you’ve resorted too?” Alec asked me scornfully. “You are so desperate to play poor little rich girl and run away from the terrible life that you’ve shacked up with a two-bit cowboy in a trailed in the middle of nowhere? When are you going to grow up, Dawn?”
Dick stiffened at the insult, though his arm stayed around me.
“I am grown up,’ I said quietly, “old enough to make my own decisions and know what I want from life.” I looked at Jason scornfully. “And that includes knowing I will never marry you, no matter how far I have to run, or what tricks people pull to try and force me.”
I thought of the writing job that had vanished because they’d decided that the cheque from my father was worth more than one fledgling staff writer. The apartment that was suddenly closing for renovations and evicting all the tenants even though it had only been built two years before. But the new owners had demanded upgrades I had been told, unsurprised to learn the name of the company that now owned my building.
The only thing had surprised me was how fast my ex-boyfriend had dumped me. I’d thought better of him. Or maybe I’d wanted to believe my family wouldn’t stoop that low. But they had and Elliott had ended things before I’d even had a chance to tell him about my eviction order, and maybe broach the idea of moving in with him. He’d even had the nerve to try to turn it around on me. “It’s not like they’d ever let me marry you, Sumer,” he’d told me, unable to meet my eyes. “So isn’t it better for us to just cut our losses now before we get too attached?” I’d bitten my tongue to stop from asking just how much he’d been paid to cut his losses because I didn’t actually want to know. It was humiliating enough to know your lover could be bought without knowing the exact price.
They’d wanted me to crumble. To acknowledge that they had all the power and just give in and go back to the life they had chosen for me.ut instead I’d called in a favor with someone my parents had no influence on and I’d packed all my stuff into my car in the dead of night and started driving towards California. Only to get sidetracked by car troubles and a sexy cowboy. And now they had found me. But I wasn’t caving.
Alec just rolled his eyes. “Always so dramatic. Do you think this cowboy is worth any more than the last loser you chose? I bet he’ll sell you out right now.” He smirked and turned his attention to Dick. “How much do you want? Name a number and it’s yours, all. You have to do is promise not to contact my sister again.”
Dick went stiff with rage. “Get off my land,” he bellowed, letting go of me to take a menacing step off the porch.
I took some satisfaction in the way Alec and Jason both stepped back. “We’ll be in Billings for the rest of the week, waiting for you to come to your senses,” Alec told me. He looked around the land. “Nice land. I wonder what the value is?” The threat was unmissable and I winced thinking of what I had brought down on Dick.
After making his threat, Alec got in the car, Jason following him, though not before sending one more glare in my direction. Dick and I were silent until the car vanished out of sight.
“So Dawn is it?” Dick asked, the anger still visible but more controlled.
“I changed my name shortly after I turned 18,” I told him, “Legally, I am Summer Layton.” My grandmother’s name, the one I had chosen to take to honor her and to honor the connection with the only part of my old life worth keeping.
“And before that?” Dick asked, leaning against the trailer steps, not coming any closer.
“I was born Dawn Harrington,” I told him, “Daughter of Joel and Carly Harrington.”
“How’d they make their money?” Dick asked with deceptive casualness, “or was it inherited because neither of those guys looks like they’ve ever worked a day in their life.”
I chuckled despite myself. “They haven’t, unless you count an hour on the treadmill while checking the stock reports work.” Dick’s raised eyebrow told me that he did not. “But to answer your question, mostly real estate, a few other interests. My father is old money. My mother is not, though reminding her of that just pisses her off.” My mother did everything to forget that her parents had earned their money through hard work.
“And you are a struggling writer,” the skepticism in his voice was apparent.
“Yes,” I answered, “I didn’t lie, Dick.” I’d left out some truths, but I hadn’t told any lies. “Everything I told you about Boston happened. It happened because of them.”
As we stood there, only a foot apart, one that felt more like miles, I told him the whole story. I told him about how growing up my parents had been my own source of real affection, how to my parents I had just been a pawn to use to further their business and social connections. How they’d announced my engagement on my 18th birthday without giving me a chance to consent. About how I’d used my inheritance from my grandparents to support myself through college, to try and get a new life away from them and how easily my parents had made that life go away.
“So he just took the money?” Dick asked, disgust evident when I told him about Elliott’s betrayal.
“Well, I’m sure it was a lot of money,” I commented, trying to sound light. I paused, watching him carefully. “But you didn’t even ask for a number did you.”
“I’ve done a lot of stupid, selfish things darlin’,” Dick told me, his hands tightening on the railing, “but I’m not a sell-out.”
I nodded, wanting to take a towards him and cover his hand with my own, but feeling frozen in place by the lies of omission I’d told. “Alec… He’s ruthless,” I warned him, “He’s probably going to make your life miserable, maybe try and take over your mortgage.”
I closed my eyes, unable to even look at him. If Dick lost his land because of me…
I felt a hand cupping my face and my eyes shot open to see Dick had closed the distance between us.
“Don’t worry about that,” he assured me, his eyes far gentler than I deserved, “there isn’t much he can do. I own this land outright, it’s why I haven’t built yet. If I learned anything from my old man, it was don’t owe anything to anyone, especially a bank.”
There was a story there, evident in the wry twist of his mouth and the rueful bitterness of his tone. But I didn’t press. I’d kept too many secrets to ask Dick about his. Not right now, maybe not ever.
I nodded, enjoying the touch of his hand against my face. I leaned closer and Dick’s free arm closed around me gathering me to him. He held me for a long moment, but too soon he pulled away.
“Where do we go from here, darlin’?” He asked quietly, his expression serious, all the heat and tenderness of the last week suddenly vanished replaced by a kind of quiet sadness.
A few hours ago he’d asked me to stay. We’d made love on his land and considered the possibility of a future together. But then the truth had come out and now I didn’t know where we stood.
“I can stay…” I said hesitantly, “just like we talked about…” Though my family had already found me here and I knew they would come back, that I’d be fighting them as well as trying to build something was Dick and was that even possible?
“I want to start something Summer,” Dick said quietly, “this land, my life… I’m ready to build, to focus on the future, but I don’t think you are, you are too busy running from the past.” He raised a hand to cut me off. “No excuses needed. Just, we met at the wrong time.”
He was right. I knew it and so did he.
The picture he had painted earlier had seemed so tempting and I’d wanted to believe it could be real, but even then I hadn’t told him the truth, because I’d known when Id id that it would shatter the whole illusion.
“So what happens now?” I asked quietly, staring out at the beautiful land, anything to avoid looking at Dick.
“Now I drive you back to Sweet Ridge and you head to California,” Dick told me, “and hopefully there you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for.”
So this was it. A few more hours in a car and we’d part ways. But wasn’t that how it was supposed to go? It was only supposed to be one night and it turned into more, yet it was always supposed to end, so why did it feel so wrong? Why did my heart feel like it would break?
This was never supposed to be anything. Yet, it had become something, and I knew, that whatever California held for me, I’d never forget this week or the cowboy I’d shared it with.
- End
