Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 82060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
I winced, because…yikes.
I wasn’t a fan of Michael’s, but that was harsh.
Darius kept talking.
“And how I knew you knew about Michael is that Kenneth’s sister is running with the wrong crowd. He’s worried, Lena’s worried, and she came to the offices today to ask me and Lee if we could intervene. And she let it slip, thinking you’d already told me. I didn’t disabuse her of that thought.”
I stepped back. Miffed.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“You’re missing the point here, Malia.”
“No,” I said sharply. “I didn’t tell her we were together for years, and she was mad at me. She didn’t tell me about you and Liam, and I was mad at her. I thought we got beyond these lies.”
“None of you have accepted Kenneth. I can’t speak for her, but if I had to guess, she doesn’t want to give you more ammunition for keeping him out of the pack.”
“I like Kenneth!” I exclaimed.
“You think he’s touched.”
“I still like him.”
He dropped his head back and whispered, “Jesus Christ,” to the ceiling.
“Darius,” I called.
He looked at me.
“I love you, heart and soul, and honest to God, I wasn’t keeping the news about Michael from you because I didn’t trust you with it. I’m living in a cloud of happy goodness, and I wanted to just hang here for a while, and I like you being here with me.”
“A cloud of happy goodness?”
“It’s fluffy.”
He stared at me.
I stared at him.
“Fuck, I love you,” he said.
“Are we going to have sex on the kitchen island?” I asked hopefully.
“Absolutely,” he answered.
I could tell he was going to make a move to initiate that.
Except he couldn’t.
The doorbell rang, and when I say that, I mean someone was leaning on it so it didn’t stop.
Alarm sizzled over the surface of my skin.
“Stay here,” Darius bit, and avoided me standing frozen right in his space as he got off the stool and went straight to the laundry room.
He came out of it with a gun.
“Where’d you get that?” I asked, my eyes rounding.
“Gun safe.”
“There’s a gun safe in the laundry room? I didn’t know that.”
“I know,” he said as he moved into the living room.
By the way, through all of this, the doorbell didn’t quit going.
I went to my purse, nabbed my phone, and was wondering if I should have 911 ready, or Lee, or alternately Eddie, when I heard Tex boom, “About fuckin’ time. I was out there forever.”
I dropped my phone and went to the doorway between the kitchen and living room to see Tex walking in with a pet carrier in one hand and a massive Petsmart bag that looked heavy hefted over his other shoulder, like he was Santa Clause.
“Yo, woman,” he said to me, shrugged the bag off his shoulder and set it down with a thunk.
He then put the pet carrier down and unlatched the gate.
Tentatively, an utterly adorable, teeny, tiny, black and white tiger striped kitty slunk out of the crate, gazing around curiously.
“Kitty!” I squealed and dashed forward.
The kitty froze at my motions so I caught her (or him) before she (or he) could retreat to the crate.
I picked her (or him) up and cuddled her (or him) to my face.
Her (or his) fur felt just like silk.
Oh my God.
Instant love.
I looked to Darius. “Oh my God, honey. Kitty.”
“See I picked the right one,” Tex said, watching me contentedly.
Darius swung disbelieving eyes to Tex.
“Get over it,” Tex told him when he caught them. “You got a family now. Every family needs a cat.”
“Maybe you’d wanna ask first?” Darius suggested.
“You might say no,” he returned. He then jerked his head to me. “Though, she says yes. Anyway, quit bitchin’. I gave you time to settle in.” He lightly kicked the Petsmart bag with the toe of his boot. “Litter. Kitten food. Kitty pâté.” He turned to me. “They need a little bit a’ wet. Better protein delivery. But it fucks up their teeth. So they also need dry.” Back he went to Darius. “Toys. Treats. I got the litterbox in the car. And a litter mat is in the bag because they track that shit everywhere.”
Darius sighed.
Tex kept talking.
“Got his shots.” So it was a he. “And you’ll have to take him back in to be fixed. Also got a good vet. I’ll get you the number.”
He walked to me and scratched the kitten’s head with his big, rough fingers, and the kitty squinted his eyes with happiness.
God.
I loved him with all my heart.
“Named him Scrapper,” he told me. “’Cause he’s a scrapper. Found him alone in my alley. Scrawny as all get out. Barely alive. Bottle fed him. He pulled through.” He stopped scratching and said, “Also knew I was givin’ him to you, and it’s perfect. Because you and your man are definitely scrappers. Life sucker punched both a’ you, neither of you went down. Even if it kept hitting you, you kept your feet and carried on scrappin’. Found your way back to each other. Got yourself the lives you deserve. That means nothin’ll ever get you down. Because you two are scrappers.”