Behind Closed Doors by Ashelyn Drake Page B

seat nods, joins Darren, and drapes the dishtowel over his shoulder.
     
    “Does he even work here?” I ask.
     
    Darren waves it off and meets me at my stool. “He’s here all the time. He knows what to do.” He leads me out the back, through the employee entrance. The back parking lot is full of cars, too. He walks over to his BMW and opens the passenger door. I’m not sure if he just doesn’t want to talk out in the open or if he plans to take me somewhere. Maybe his apartment. My pulse quickens at the thought.
     
    I get in the car and wait for him to join me. He gets in but doesn’t start the engine or say a word. “Darren—”
     
    He puts his hand up. “I need a minute.” God, how bad can his secret be? He sighs. “My dad used to teach at Timberland.”
     
    “Really? I thought you said he’s always had this pub.”
     
    “He has. Ever since he got fired.” He stares through the windshield at the back of the pub, and I can tell this isn’t easy for him to talk about.
     
    “What did he do to get fired?”
     
    “I think you mean who .”
     
    Who? Oh my God! “Did your father sleep with—”
     
    “One of his students. My mom.”
     
    “Oh.” That’s not so bad. “Well, at least it worked out for them, right?”
     
    “My mom was expelled, and my dad was canned. How did it work out for them?” He leans his head back on the seat and turns so he’s facing me.
     
    “Because they’re still together.” Rooming with Noelle is certainly changing me. She’s acting more like me and I’m acting more like her. I even sound like her now.
     
    “My grandfather owned the pub, and when Dad’s career went to shit, my grandfather gave the pub to him.”
     
    “So your grandfather was rooting for your parents?”
     
    “More like trying to save the family’s reputation. He told my dad he could have the pub if he married my mom. You know, so people wouldn’t think he was the type to just screw around with his students.”
     
    I can’t help wondering how old his mother was at the time and how they’d met. “Did they meet without knowing he’d be her professor?”
     
    “Not exactly. Mom was a senior. She knew Dad was a professor, but he didn’t know her. She came into the pub one day with a few friends, but she ditched them pretty quickly and hung out at the bar with Dad.”
     
    Dear God! Their meeting is sounding way too familiar. The only exception is I didn’t know who Darren was when I approached him.
     
    “By your expression, I’m guessing you see the connection, too. Believe me, it’s more unnerving when it’s your parents. The last person I want to compare the girl I’m sleeping with to is my mother.” His words are like a knife in my gut. “Mom didn’t tell Dad that she knew who he was.”
     
    “And your dad thought she was a grad student.” I can barely get the words out. That’s why he was so pissed at me. I did to him what his mother did to his father. It wasn’t exactly the same, but it was pretty damn close.
     
    He moves closer to me. “I’ve never been so attracted to anyone, so you can see why certain similarities freak me the fuck out.”
     
    I nod. If Darren reminded me the least bit of my dad I’d be running. I’m not sure how he’s still in the car with me.
     
    “You’re not like her though. You look nothing alike, and Mom’s nowhere near as forward as you are.”
     
    I breathe a sigh of relief. “So she agreed to marry your dad?”
     
    “No. She turned him down. He lost everything, and she left him.”
     
    The story can’t end there. Darren wouldn’t be here if it did. “How did they get together then?”
     
    “Mom transferred schools, but she never forgot my dad. She came back after she graduated, and they’ve been together ever since.”
     
    “Was your dad angry that she misled him?”
     
    “Not like my grandfather was. Dad loved her, so he got over it pretty quickly.”
     
    “You could’ve told me this before.”
    He laughs.