Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
My dad’s hackles raised. “I know the law here. Go ahead and call them.”
Romeo pulled me back even farther, putting himself between me and my dad. “Don’t make me throw you out.”
“You could try,” my dad snapped.
I pressed my forehead between Romeo’s shoulder blades and prayed that he would get a freakin’ clue.
This wasn’t the time or place.
“How about you leave, and we meet up and talk about this civilly when the workday ends. We won’t, however, invite your wife so we can show you some of the evidence that’s piling up against her,” Romeo offered.
“Yeah, like I’ll believe anything you say,” Dad hissed. “And who are you to my daughter? Some ex-con that just got out of prison? Makes sense that’s all she could pull.”
That had my hackles raising.
Before I could reply or say anything to defend Romeo, though, Big John had enough.
He caught my dad by the jacket collar and started dragging him behind him toward the yard’s gates.
Once there, he pushed my dad out.
“My vehicle is inside!” Dad snarled.
Big John closed the gates. “Maybe if you’re nice, I’ll unlock it for you once you calm your tits.”
My dad straightened. “I’m calling the cops.”
“Good,” Big John muttered.
He walked right up to me and tapped me on the head with his meaty fist. “Don’t sweat the small stuff, girl. He’s a piece of shit. Always has been. Been seeing how he’s treated you for years, and haven’t done a damn thing about it. But no more.”
I wilted a little at his words.
“How about we break for lunch early?” Paul Junior asked. “I could use some of that food you cooked.”
I’d forgone breakfast and went for lunch.
It was the biggest damn pot of soup I’d ever made, paired with some homemade bread.
It was meant to warm us from the inside out.
And I could definitely use a little warming.
Just as that thought occurred to me, warm, strong arms wrapped around me.
Romeo’s muscular pecs smashed my face together, but I stayed where I was, relishing in the feeling of being safe and happy and warm.
“Your dad’s a dick,” he muttered.
“I’m sorry he said that about you,” I said. “He’s said for years that I was too boy-like to pull a man. And I’m assuming he thought we were together.”
He grunted. “Don’t worry about him. You can’t control anybody’s reactions but your own.”
Still, I felt horrible.
“He’s right,” Paul Junior murmured. “Guy’s a total tool. Big John was right, too. He’s been stuck up his own ass since he met your mother. She gave him the money he craved, and he never had to work a day in his life. Your mother literally did everything for him, then left him everything when she died. I’m happy to hear, though, that she didn’t actually leave him everything. And he’s about to be kicked out of that big, fancy house.”
My lips curled at the edges. “He’s definitely leaving.”
The rest of lunch went great.
All the guys loved my soup.
Romeo didn’t stray far from me at all.
And I was left warm and happy, despite my father’s visit.
Everything was going great.
I had almost everything that I ever wanted—Birdee being nice to me. My father and my stepmother out of my life. A great job. A house—two houses if you counted the one I was kicking my father out of. Savings. A great friend. Vito and Grace.
The only thing missing was the man who loved me unconditionally.
Maybe I’d have that one day, too.
Twenty
Live, laugh, and don’t be a stupid fuck.
—Inspirational quotes to live by
Romeo
“You’re going to make a move on that, right?”
I looked at Mable brushing out Shadow and shook my head. “No.”
“What?” Apollo’s incredulous words as he loaded his belongings into his rental car’s trunk had me turning to survey him.
“Why do you sound so shocked right now?” I asked.
“Because I am,” he admitted. “You’re telling me that you’re not going to pursue what you clearly can see is the best thing that’s ever happened to you?”
I grunted.
“Romeo, seriously.” Apollo closed his trunk and crossed his arms over his chest. “She’s literally everything you could ever want in a woman. She adores you. Everyone can see that you adore her right back. Why are you hesitating?”
I snorted sardonically. “And what? Tell her nothing about the first three and a half decades of my life?”
Apollo punched me in the shoulder. “No one said you couldn’t give her something.”
I swallowed past the bad taste in my mouth. “She deserves it all from me. And I can’t give her that. Her family has done nothing but lie to her for her entire life. What kind of person would I be if I continued that trend?”
Apollo sighed. “When you put it like that…”
“I’m right, and I know I’m right,” I said. “I can be a great friend to her, though.”
“A friend that wants to fuck her brains out. A friend that’ll likely snap the moment that it gets too much. Then feel bad because you’ll have slept with her, liked it, but won’t pursue it because of some misguided idea that you have to tell her everything.”