Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 122206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
I put one foot in front of the other and hurried out of my kitchen, down my short hallway, and pulled the door open. I jumped when Dante’s body stumbled forward. I heard a voice curse that most certainly was not Dante’s. It belonged to his eldest brother.
“Pull yourself together, man! This shite’s fuckin’ embarrassin’.”
“Don’t talk t’me,” Dante threw over his shoulder. “Ye agree with Da.”
“Because he’s right.”
“Ina.” Dante turned his tired, bloodshot eyes on me. “Tell JJ he’s wrong.”
I stared up at this giant of a man who was sexier than sin and though I was angry with him, hurt over him … when he looked at me with those big blues, I wanted to do anything he asked of me. He looked sad.
“You’re wrong, JJ.”
Dante’s smile could have knocked me off my feet if he didn’t stumble forward, bump into me, and do the job himself. He took me to the ground, and I was aware that my hearing aid was knocked out of my ear. Instantly, my hearing was gone. Soft, muffled sounds were all that registered. Dante leaned up off my body, and his mouth moved, but I didn’t catch what he said.
“Me hearin’ aid!” I panicked. “I can’t hear ye.”
JJ hauled Dante up to his feet, so I rolled over, grabbed my aid, and sprung upright, too. Hurriedly, I put it into my ear, adjusted it, and waited. When I looked at JJ and saw he was speaking to me, my heart nearly stopped. This was my last working aid. I needed it.
“No, no!” I blinked back tears as I removed my aid, tried the power button, and put it back in my ear. “Please, work!”
I waited and waited, but I heard nothing. My only working aid was now broken.
“No.” I burst into tears. “Fuck!”
I turned away from Dante and JJ and hurried down my hallway and into the bathroom. I closed the door behind me, pressed my back against the hardwood, and slid down until my behind touched the ground. I was so fucking screwed. I had health insurance with my job, and the plan was really great. It covered seventy-five percent of any hearing devices I was prescribed, but I had to pay the remaining balance out of pocket, and I didn’t have that kind of money right now. I only had two full days of work at the garage under my belt. My first payday wasn’t until the end of the month.
I closed my eyes, pulled my knees up to my chest, and pressed my face against them. Once again, I found that I was in the presence of Dante bare-legged and wearing the only oversized sleepshirt that I owned. He probably thought I wore the same thing every single night without washing it. That thought made me more upset than I already was, then I realised that I just ran from Dante and his brother like a fool, leaving them in my doorway.
This day needed to come to a fucking end.
I opened my eyes when I felt a little vibration on my back, then a firmer one that made me jump. One of the brothers realised I couldn’t hear them, and they were trying to make as much noise as possible. The sounds were muffled, but paired with the vibrations against my back, I assumed the noises were of a fist pounding firmly against my bathroom door. I stood, turned, and opened it. Dante stepped forward into my space immediately.
He looked so worried that he appeared to have sobered up some. His eyes were still bloodshot but he had lost that droopy, unsteady look to them.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” Dante said. “I didn’t mean to fall on ye. Did I hurt ye?”
Surprisingly, he didn’t.
“No,” I answered. “I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not.” He lifted his hands to my cheeks and thumbed away my tears. “I made ye cry. I’ve made a mess out of everythin’.”
I didn’t reply.
“I’m gonna bring ye to get new aids tomorrow, okay?” he assured me. “I’m the reason it’s broken, so I’ll pay for replacements.”
“Ye only broke this one, Dante.” I sniffled. “I broke me other one.”
“Don’t care. I’m gettin’ ye a new set.”
“No.” I shook my head. “The ones I want are over four and a half thousand euros, and that’s just the startin’ price. They could cost more if I need any custom work on them. Me health insurance with your daddy is great, but I still have to pay a good chunk of money out of pocket. It’s too much money for you to—”
“Please,” Dante interrupted. “Let me fix this. I broke it, so let me fix it.”
I had a feeling he was talking about a whole lot more than my hearing aids. I looked down for a few moments until his thumb ran over my lower lip. I lifted my head.