Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 72822 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72822 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
I kept my eyes straight forward and refused to say anything.
“He yelled at her and made her cry. It’s just convenient that she killed herself, right?”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
“My sister killed herself because she was raped for years by a boy who came over every weekend to spend time with my brother,” Dante said. “She was upset that she’d killed my family, but I, in no way, shape or form, yelled at her because of that. I was too lost in my own goddamn grief to ever say anything to her. It took me six months to finally talk to my family. I was yelling at the hospital because they wouldn’t let me see my children. I needed confirmation that they were actually gone.”
I turned to find Dante standing in my front entryway, staring daggers at Drake.
“What are you doing in her house?” Drake snarled. “Get out!”
Dante didn’t bother to move.
“This is unforgivable, she’s mine.”
My brows rose at that, and at first, I thought he was talking about Mary. Until I felt Dante’s hand circle my hip.
“She’s mine,” he countered. “Whether you like it or not.”
I didn’t know what in the hell was going on, but I could tell whatever it was, Drake didn’t like it. Not at all.
“Wrong move, D.”
“Right move, Drake.”
I blinked, looked up at Dante in question, and heard the angry growl come from the man in front of me.
Dante dropped his eyes to mine and then turned to watch Drake—who was stalking angrily down the length of my walkway.
He got into his truck, slammed the door closed, and then roared off before I could think of saying goodbye.
Not that I would’ve said goodbye.
But still.
I waited until Drake was farther down the road before turning to Dante. “When did you get here?”
I hadn’t heard him pull up, either.
Dante’s lips twitched.
“Mary wanted to see the kitty.”
I grinned and turned in his arms to see Mary on the porch petting my new friend.
I shrugged Dante’s arm away and crouched next to Mary, who had my new kitty by the torso and was burying her face into his neck.
“You like my kitty, Mary?” I questioned my favorite girl.
Mary looked up and smiled. “Yes!”
Mary knew a few words, two of those she pronounced really well. ‘Yes’ and ‘no.’
I giggled and ran my hand over Mary’s blonde ringlets.
“What should we name him?”
Mary closed her pretty blue eyes and then opened them again.
“Cacker.”
“Cracker?”
Then she shook her head. “Wacker?”
I bit my lip. “Ummm…”
“Yes!”
“Yes, what?”
“Yum!”
I started to laugh. “You want to name him Yum?”
“Yum-Yum.” She nodded her head in confirmation.
I snorted and turned to look up at Dante, who was staring down at his child and me with a bemused smile on his face. “Probably shouldn’t have asked her.”
“I like Yum-Yum,” I said. “Yum-Yum it is, right, Mary?”
That’s when I got a load of Mary’s shirt.
My brows furrowed.
“Ummm, what is she wearing?”
Dante grinned and bent down as he pulled the shirt away from Mary’s chest so I could get the full view of the shirt.
“Travis’s son, TJ, used to wear this shirt. But it got too small for him, and Mary just had to have it. I couldn’t convince her to put on something else, so we’re wearing it.”
I started to laugh, my eyes skimming over the shirt one more time.
If you think I’m cute now, just wait until my beard comes in.
“Ahhh,” I laughed, wiping tears from my eyes.
Dante’s smile was heart stopping.
That night, things for us changed.
Became charged.
No longer was it just us being friends. That night, what we had turned into more, and neither of us realized it until it was too late.
Chapter 19
Maybe eating a donut wasn’t cheating on my diet. Maybe going on a diet was cheating on my donuts.
-Rationale of a hungry person
Cobie
That night Mary fell asleep on the couch at Dante’s house with my cat tucked in close to her chest.
We were now at Dante’s house due to a water pipe that had burst at the wrecker office about thirty minutes into his visit to see the new kitty.
I’d just gone to the fridge and emerged with a beer for both Dante and me when he scooted over and patted the loveseat beside him so I wouldn’t disturb Mary.
We were both on our second beers.
I was downright feeling good, while Dante seemed content… Maybe, dare I say, even happy.
He was all smiles today, despite a pipe bursting in his office and flooding not just his office, but Travis’ as well.
After having an emergency water damage clean up company who specialized in this kind of disaster come out and take a look at it, it was determined that it would take over fifteen grand to fix it. Yet Dante only shook his head and laughed, completely bemused by the situation.
Travis had narrowed his eyes at him at the time, but still, Dante’s mood hadn’t waned.