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.

was the one who'd put that

couldn't take the silence anymore. I had to say

Anything.

you for this, you know," I said quietly, not daring to look at her. My eyes stayed glued to the road ahead, my voice low, as

her gaze burning into the side of my face. "What? I mean, how?" Her voice

myself. "I don't blame you for what happened to Daryl. I'm angry, yeah, but not

that way with how I had acted last night, but I was just

was the real fucking monster here, and yet why could I see the guilt all over her face as though it was her who had

for a moment to think on my 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

way she said it, like she really believed she was a curse, or some kind of bad luck, hearing

jaw, fighting the urge to yell, to tell her she was wrong, but I didn't. I had no right to snap at her, not after

this willingly," I said, trying to stay calm, even though part of me wanted to punch something just thinking about that bastard alone. "He made his own choices, and he hurt people because of his own issues. That's nothing 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 you, was not telling me sooner that you knew he was here, in town." I could feel her shift in the seat beside me, and I knew I'd hit

me. She should have told me. I needed her to tell me. To

only wanted to keep her

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was a long pause, and when she finally spoke, her voice was so

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

words were ones that hit me hard next, pausing any and all thoughts racing through

can I say to that? She's

but nothing else comes after that, I was truly at a loss for words as I stared ahead and waited for my street to open up

her emotions taking their toll now since this very

put the car in to park and took a second to think... allowing my head to bury in to my hands, the

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 things I would say when we found her, but now that we were actually here, it was like every word I

known this heavy

an explanation for why I had chose to reach out to the one person she feared most in this

that, but I was now fucking

to face her on this. She was staring out

hurt many times before, now hurting

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,

remained - I should have discussed it with her from