Shadows In Durango

Chapter 123

*****Vincent's POV*****

The silence in the car was killing me.

I kept my eyes locked on the road, gripping the steering wheel so hard that my knuckles pulsed around the leather.

The tension between us was thick, almost suffocating, and I figured that it wouldn't have been so severe since we had both spent some time apart...

But boy was I wrong!

I could feel her growing antsy beside me, fidgeting, probably lost in her own worried thoughts, and all I could think about was how badly I'd screwed this all up from start to finish.

I knew that I couldn't avoid this conversation any longer, but damn, I still wasn't as ready for it as I thought I would be.

Not even close.

There was a million things to say and to talk through, yet all I could give her right now was thickening silence...

She had every right to be angry, every right to hate me for how I had handled things. The way I'd kept her in the dark. The way I'd gone behind her back.

But what the hell was I supposed to do?

Did she expect me to just sit back and watch her get pulled into even more danger? Watch her father finally catch up with her? Watch her get hurt because of me?

I only thought I was helping...

I glanced over at her, just for a second, and saw the tension in her face, her hands twisting nervously in her lap below.

She was hurting like I was over this, probably more.

And I hated it.

that I was the one who'd put

take the silence anymore. I had to

Anything.

her. My eyes stayed glued to the road ahead, my voice low, as if saying it too loud would

the side of my face. "What? I mean, how?"

a hand back through my hair, trying to figure out how to explain myself. "I don't blame you for what happened to Daryl. I'm angry,

angry at her for Daryl getting shot at all, but I knew it probably seemed that way with how I had acted last night, but I was

fucking monster here, and yet why could I see the guilt

words, and then, almost like she couldn't stop herself, she whispered, "I feel that I'm responsible for all of this. If I hadn't come into your life at all, none of this would've happened to any of you."

it, like she really believed she was a curse, or some

didn't. I had no right to snap at her, not

to do with you. But..." I hesitated, knowing what I was about to say wasn't going to be easy for her to hear. "What was to do with

but I couldn't pretend like it didn't bother me. She should have told me. I needed her to tell me. To trust me with

wanted to

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she finally spoke, her voice was so small, I almost

you were dealing with was a lot," she admitted, her voice shaking with the weight of her guilt. "You seemed so stressed and on edge that at the time, I didn't want to selfishly add another problem on top of that... but what I didn't know was that your stress all linked back to contacting my father behind my back... Why didn't you just tell

were ones that hit me hard next,

say to that? She's

I start, but nothing else comes after that, I was truly at a loss for words as

their toll now since this very matter

up the quiet road and in to my driveway, I put the car in to park and took a second to think... allowing

presence close but distant at the same time. I didn't even know where to start now. I'd run it over in my head a thousand times, thinking through all the

this heavy talk was

chose to reach out to the one person she

knew I had fucked up majorly, I knew that, but I was now fucking terrified of what might happen once everything was

forcing myself to face her

been hurt many times before, now hurting because

thought I was doing the right thing in order to keep you safe, I didn't know he was going to manipulate the situation like he did, and the whole arranged marriage thing wasn't mine or my fathers idea, it was all him - believe me!" I begin

it was malicious, at least not intentionally, but the same fact still remained - I should have discussed it with her