Hidden Depths
Blame Game

I spent a while calming Maddison down, and was strapping her into her car seat when I felt an arm wrap gently around my waist.

“Chels,” Dalton’s voice was smooth and apologetic. “Are you okay, babe?”

“I’m fine. I have made it this far on my own and I can raise her by myself.” I snapped, turning in his embrace.

Pain flashed across his face but he quickly hid it. Reaching up, he swept my bangs behind my ear. His piercing blue eyes seemed to open up my soul, and read it like a book.

“You’re not alone, Chels. You have me. Seth will get over the shock.” He smiled sweetly. “It’s a bit much and work has been stressful.”

I nodded, “I used to make excuses for him, too.” I smiled sadly before climbing into the car.

Dalton ran behind the car, and climbed into the passenger side. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to make excuses.”

“What are you doing in my car?” I glared at him, annoyed.

“Not letting you run from this conversation. I’m taking away your dramatic exit.” He grinned.

I rolled my eyes and Maddy chuckled in the back seat. I glanced in the mirror; her smile unavoidably brought one of my own. With a sigh I pulled out of the parking lot and started driving.

“Anyway, between this and whoever is using you as a human punching bag,” He paused, waiting for me to either argue or come clean. “I can’t let you run off on your own.”

“Well I was going to take Maddy to the park, but we can do something else if you prefer.” I responded, ignoring his statement all together.

Dalton’s phone dinged and he looked down. “Umm, the park is great as long as we go to a small one.”

I shuddered at the thoughts behind that stipulation. “She’s really in trouble isn’t she?”

I felt tears burning my eyes and the road in front of me began to blur. With shaky hands I suddenly wasn’t sure if I could stay on the road. My panic and anger were overwhelming.

“Chels, pull over honey.” Dalton’s voice was calm. “I’ll drive.”

I relented easily knowing he was right. When we got to the park I was still crying. Dalton got out and came to my door. When I got out he stuck his head back in to talk to Maddy.

“Just a second princess. I need to talk to mommy, okay?” I saw Maddy nodded reluctantly, and say something. “Yes. I’ll get you a treat if you’re good.” Dalton chuckled.

As he shut the door behind him I bit back more tears. He faced me for a second before wrapping his arms around my shoulders. He held me in silence for a minute as I sobbed. After I had regained some control of myself, he let his hands slide down to my hips. His hold on me remained steadfast through the transition.

“I swear to you, Chels, I will do everything in my power to protect her. It’ll be okay as long as you follow my instructions.” Dalton’s voice was serious, and to my surprise knowledgeable. “I’m not leaving her side until this is figured out. They will not lay a hand on her. I know what I’m doing and I need you to trust that.”

“How do you know what you’re doing?” I asked desperately. “Maybe I should go to the police. They could help right?”

“No…” Dalton sighed. “I mean maybe but it would depend on what office you talked to. If the wrong one found out she would be in even more trouble. Also it could cause a lot of trouble for Seth and I. Not that that’s a priority to either of us.”

“It might be to Seth.” I muttered angrily.

Dalton kissed me softly then leaned his forehead against mine. “That’s not true. If it were, I would kill him.”

I laughed nervously because it didn’t sound like a joke. I looked up meeting his gaze but after only a minute he sighed looking down. He seemed uncomfortable, even nervous. Dalton never got nervous.

“What’s wrong?” I asked tentatively.

“This is more my fault than Seth's. I should have known that with so much time with me someone would look into your past and Maddy’s parentage would be found out.” He shook his head, clearly irritated at the thought.

“I don’t understand. You know who is behind this?” I asked, uncertainly.

“No. It could be one of several groups…” He paused looking into the car window. “I promise to tell you everything tonight but I can’t here, and Maddy is getting impatient.”

I followed his gaze to see my four year old glaring straight ahead with her arms crossed tightly over her chest. I chuckled but nodded and we got busy. Dalton did a sweep of the park making sure he didn’t recognize anyone as I pulled Maddison out of the car.

My curiosity was intense despite being pretty sure I had just ended up involved in some kind of turf war. Were Seth and Dalton part of some gang? Why would they need to be a part of something like that when they had good jobs and owned businesses? I knew the two couldn’t be related because no small gangs had that kind of money.

Shortly after I sat down, Dalton came and sat on the bench next to me. “So we have a couple options for tonight. I could stay with you at your apartment, we could go to a safe house, or you could come stay at my place. My place would be safest, but I understand if you want to do something else.”

“Your house is safer than a safe house?” I asked dubiously.

“There’s always a chance of a safe house being found out without us knowing, and their safety relies almost completely on that not happening.” Dalton rubbed that back of his neck, watching Maddy play. “I live with my sister, so I have made sure my house is highly protected.”

“What Amber cant fight?” I asked, trying to imagine the cheery friendly girl fighting. On the other hand she had looked ready to throw fists the first day we met.

“Oh she can hold her own. I made sure of that, but I would really rather her not have to.” Dalton admitted.

I stared at him for a long time before shaking my head. I wasn’t sure what else to say. Luckily I didn’t end up having to say anything.

“Seth is asking Liam for help replaceing out who is doing this. I’m glad that guy’s on our side. He’s loyal to the core. When it comes to his family and friends he would do anything.” Dalton said happily. “I actually like him more than I expect to.”

“Should I be jealous?” I asked sarcastically, thinking of the tall blond man with the crooked grin and bright blue eyes.

Dalton laughed, sounding truly amused, “No way, his wife terrifies me.”

“Oh he’s married?” My voice sounded relieved even to me.

Dalton raised his eyebrows smiling weirdly, “I’m very much straight and have my sights set on someone specific.”

“Oh I know I was joking.” I said blushing.

“Then why so relieved?” He asked.

“Just the way they looked at me was like they were interested.” I admitted.

He nodded looking back at Maddy. “They were more wondering why I was so defensive. Liam’s married with a newborn daughter and Adam’s girlfriend is pregnant, and Liam’s sister.”

“Wow,” I said smiling. “Can I meet them?”

Dalton pursed his lips before saying, “We’ll see.”

I would have argued but Maddy ran up right then, “Mommy I’m hungry!”

“Okay, let’s head home and get something. We need to pack some bags too. We’re going to have a sleep over at Mr. Dalton’s house okay?” I ask, watching Dalton grin pleased.

Maddy frowned but nodded slowly.