"Goddamn," I groaned, when my attention flicked to Daryl, who had upped the ante and was trying kick the damn door in. "What the hell, D!"

Jumping out of my car, I ran straight for him, getting there just in time to stop him from smashing his fist through the glass panel in the door.

"She can't be gone," he roared, shaking violently. "She can't fucking be gone, Rourke!"

"I get it, man, okay? I know it's never easier to walk away, but sometimes you just have to."

"I can't!"

"Listen to me," catching ahold of his shoulders, I forced him to look at me, "we've gotta go, buddy. We can't miss this game."

"Fuck the game!" he roared back, eyes bloodshot. "And fuck you if you think that a game is more important than my relationship."

"She's gone, Daryl!" I snapped, shaking him. "Molly? She ain't fucking here, dude, and you need to pull yourself together!"

"What's the point?" he choked out, dropping his head in utter defeat. "I don’t even care anymore."

"Well, I care," I shot back. "I care a helluva lot about what happens to your stupid ass, and I'm not gonna let you fall back into the same depression you fell into the last time she went away."

"I can't…" Shoulders slumped, he shook his head. "I just fucking can't go through that again, man."

"I know," I agreed, voice thick with emotion. "And I promise I won't let that happen to you, but you've gotta play this game, D. Doesn’t matter if we win or lose. All that matters is that you play. If you don’t, you're gonna regret it for the rest of your life, man."

54 Mercy

"Molls, when are you coming home?" I whispered down the line, as I walked aimlessly around the pool in our back yard. "Daryl's a total freaking mess without you." Understatement of the century. "He moved out of his home, he's crashing at our house, he's avoiding his mother's phone calls –" I blew out a breath. "They won state last week, but you'd never think it by the way he's been moping around the place. I'm really worried about him."

I had always thought of Daryl King as an easy-going and carefree kind of guy.

Not lately.

Not since Molly left town.

"I'll be back soon, I promise," I heard her say in that soft southern drawl of hers. "I just need some time first, you know? It's a lot to deal with, finding out about my mom and Bobby. There's been a lot of lies and hurt and betrayal and I need space to work that all out in my head, Merc."

"Yeah, Rourke sort of told me about it," I replied, swallowing deeply. "But I promise neither one of us knew a thing about it until the night you left and Daryl showed up on our doorstep."

"I believe you," she replied, voice soft and a little forlorn. "I know you would never keep something that huge from me."