Page 107 of Avenging Azalea

I hit call on my saved numbers, and Naji answered first ring.

“Please tell me it’s true?”

“You already heard,” I asked, and chuckled.

“Are you kidding? I heard it live. The guys there couldn’t resist calling the rest of us when the video started,” he said.

“Yes, it’s true, and the wedding to Vera is off.”

“Thank fuck for that. No offense, boss. I would never have left your service, but I really didn’t like her. There was something sketch about her.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I can’t even describe the relief. Listen, I need you to do me a favor.”

“Anything, name it.”

“Make sure Fawn doesn’t leave, or randomly move out tonight, or go on a date with some other asshole. I’m done with all the bullshit and obstacles. Fawn is mine,” I said.

Naji laughed.

“About fucking time. I thought you two were never going to get together. I’ll make sure Fawn stays put. She’s in the den watching a sappy movie with all the dogs.”

God, that image made me smile. My heart always knew that Fawn was meant to be mine from the first time I looked at her as woman and not the kid that needed my help. Even though I tried to resist, it was no use, I could no longer deny the love that permeated my soul with life. Fawn was mine, and my heart was hers.

Chapter

Thirty-Five

FAWN

So, I was officially depressed. I’d tried to fight it, but the sadness pressed in on me. Now here I was crying my eyes out and eating my emotions while the dogs stared at me like I’d lost my mind.

It was always the same when I felt like this and didn’t want to function or face the world. The night would start with a hot bath, lots of bubbles, and music playing that made me cry. Then it was time to torture myself by putting on a sappy movie, crying non-stop, and eating ice cream. Tonight was Ever After.

I had no clue why I did this to myself instead of going out and having fun. I could’ve called Matt for a date or really anything that wasn’t wallowing in my self-pity. Steph had tried to coax me away, but my comfy pajamas and bawling my eyes out over fictional characters while I avoided my own emotions was what I needed. In some strange way, it was self-healing.

Pulling two more tissues free from the box, I dabbed at my eyes as Drew Barrymore’s world crumbled around her. When she ran from the castle, my lower lip trembled harder. I felt this story in my soul, and no matter how many times I watched it…it shook me to my core. I was the girl with the torn wing that had pretended to be more than I was.

I hadn’t heard anyone come into the house, and the dogs hadn’t gotten up, so when Titus stepped into the doorway, I jumped and almost tossed my bowl of strawberry shortcake ice cream.

“Titus, oh my god, you scared me.” I quickly wiped away the tears running down my cheeks and then looked at the time. “What are you doing home so early?”

He didn’t say a word as he took off his coat and tossed it on the leather recliner. His tie was already gone, and the top three buttons of his dress shirt were open, showing off a triangle tease of his chest and the tattoos that I knew were hidden beneath.

I would never be able to stop myself from staring at him like he was my next scoop of ice cream. I wanted to lick him. My mouth literally drooled at the sight of him. My poor emotions and hormones were caught in a toxic waltz of self-destruction.

“Titus, is everything alright?”

He stalked toward me. There was no other way to classify it. Everything suddenly felt different, and I froze, caught in his predatory stare. I sucked in a ragged breath as Titus bent over and gripped the back of the couch by my head. My heart thumped out of control. It was so loud that the rhythmical thud was all that I could hear.

“I fucking love it when you stare at me like that,” he said voice laden with the same lust in his eyes. What the hell was happening?

“Like what,” I asked stupidly, my brain unable to add one plus one with him this close.

“Like you’re able to see through my clothes and picture me naked,” he said, and the subtle burn in my gut erupted like a volcano. The heat raged through my body, making the once comfortable hoodie feel like I was melting inside of it.

Titus grabbed the bowl of ice cream that I’d completely forgotten about and set it aside. I watched his hand in a complete daze. Was this some really vivid fantasy? If so, please, dear Lord, let me stay in this alternate plane of reality.

“You have a little ice cream…right here,” he said and kissed the corner of my mouth.