Total pages in book: 190
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
I exhaled heavily. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“Would you?” he challenged. “Would you ignore that one of my exes—or anyone, for that matter—approached me the way he did you?”
“No,” I admitted on a mumble. “No, I’d want to rip them a new one. I would rip them a new one.”
“Then you should get it. You only feel sympathy for him because you still have feelings for him, but that’s not—”
“What?” I burst out, my head flinching. “Whoa, backup. You’re way off base there.” I took a step closer to him, holding his gaze. “Dax, I swear to you, I feel nothing for him. Nothing.”
His eyes searched mine, broody and piercing. “Then why care how I handle this?”
I licked my lips, feeling my shoulders droop. “Because I said and did things I’m not proud of when I was grieving. I got a little lost. I was mad at everyone. At life. At the universe.”
I’d steadily become someone that I didn’t like. If it hadn’t been for the support of my friends and family, I might have continued to grow bitter and resentful. “People were more understanding than I deserved. They made allowances and gave me leeway and were so incredibly patient with me.
“I don’t know if you can relate to any of that. I don’t know how it was for you when you lost Gracie. But there has to have been at least one occasion when you fucked up but were fortunate enough to have someone overlook it when you needed them to.”
The anger in his eyes wavered, faltering in its intensity. “You really think I could overlook what Grayden did?”
“No. But maybe you could just settle for verbally warning him not to do it again?” I suggested. Moments of agonizing silence ticked by as Dax stared down at me, so many thoughts and emotions working behind his eyes.
“One,” he finally bit out. “I’ll give him one warning. But if anything like this happens again, I won’t settle for handling it with words, Addison. I will deal with it how I fucking please.”
I gave a slow nod. “Understood. Thank you for—”
“Don’t thank me. Don’t think I feel one bit sorry for him. I don’t care what’s happening in his life. Like I said before, he’s not my concern. You are.”
“Just as you’re my concern,” I assured him. “So I get it. I’m not thanking you for his sake. I’m thanking you because I appreciate that you put my feelings first.”
“Where he’s concerned, I won’t do it again. I won’t allow him to flit in and out of the picture, like what you want and need doesn’t matter. Like you being married to me doesn’t matter.” Dax’s eyes flared with intensity. “It fucking matters. It’s going to matter every day for the rest of your life, because I’m always going to be part of it. He needs to understand that. And I will get that through his head one way or the other. What measures I need to take to ensure that will all be down to him.” Dax then strode away.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sipping wine in the living room of my previous home at Oakengrove one mid-November evening, I watched with an inner smile as my sisters squabbled. We made an effort to get together for a girls’ night at least one weekend a month. Sometimes we spent it either here, my place, or Harri’s house. Other times we hit the movies, a bar, or a restaurant. Always they’d end up bickering over something.
Curled up in the corner of the sofa, Alicia swiped out her arm. “No way. I’m not doing it.”
Harri pouted from the other end of the long couch. “Oh, come on, live a little.”
Alicia’s lips flattened. “See, this is why I don’t like playing truth or dare with you when you’re shitfaced—you always come up with the most immature dares.”
“I’m not shitfaced. You are.”
“Nu-uh. I’m just a little tipsy.”
There was nothing at all delicate about the snort that popped out of me. “You passed the tipsy line. We all did.” Hence why my head felt all light and warm and fuzzy.
Alicia let out a prim sniff. “Well, I’m not doing the dare—and that’s final.”
I tucked my legs under me on the plush armchair. “Then, as I see it, there’s only one solution to your problem. If you don’t want to go through with the dare, you’ll just have to answer Harri’s question and fess up to why you left Dario.”
Alicia glowered. “I don’t wanna.”
Our baby sister rolled her eyes. “You’re going to have to tell us at some point. Why not do it now?”
“I don’t wanna,” Alicia repeated.
Harri twisted her mouth, briefly averting her gaze. “Okay, I wasn’t sure whether to tell you this or not, but”—she took a long breath—“hetextedmeyesterday.”
Alicia’s spine snapped straight. “What?”
I winced at the shrill note to her tone. Harri had called me last night to tell me about the text, unsure what to do. We’d both agreed it was best that our sister be informed of it, just as we’d agreed we would do what it took to ensure that Alicia didn’t give him the reaction he wanted—even if it meant us both sitting on her.