Page 65 of At The End Of The Day

She pouted and batted her lashes, her innocence shining in her wide, dark eyes. “Is he okay?”

I petted the side of his face, turning my concentration on him. At the sound of my voice, he was starting to calm, sagging back into the sheets that were soaked with sweat. My pulse slowing, I nodded and gulped, wondering if any of us would ever recover from what happened in Georgia. The things we said, did, learned…

“Yeah, acorn,” I sighed, dropping my chin to my chest. “Yeah, he’s okay. It’s just a nightmare.” I tipped my head to flash her a smile, the only light coming from the small lamp on the nightstand.

“Is it because Mommy’s gone?”

Bristling, my eyelids rounded. Oh, shit. Why did we keep forgetting about her? “Uh, yeah, probably.”

She pouted further and sniffled. “I miss Mommy.”

Heaving another sigh, I sank to my ass on the mattress, still petting his cheek while focusing on the little girl. “I know you do. Come here.”

She ran over and climbed onto my knee, snuggling into my chest and tucking her head beneath my chin. “Is she coming home?”

Fighting off the cringe, I folded an arm around her to hug her closer, dropping a kiss to her hair. “I dunno, acorn.”

“Daddy was so sad here by himself.” She leaned away to look up at me. “Will you stay until she comes home? He’s not so sad when you’re here.”

My heart lurched to the side and spun around before plummeting to my stomach. Ouch. “Uh. Ahem. Well, I’m going to be here a while to help take care of him until he’s better.”

“Good.” She nestled into my chest again and heaved a sigh. “Daddy needs you. You’re his best friend. The Eddies are my best friends. Can they come over?”

This time, I was unsuccessful hiding my reaction. “Uh, I dunno, we’ll have to see about that.”

She slid off my leg with a heavy sigh, tucking her dark brown hair behind an ear. “Can we have waffles for breakfast?”

“Sure thing.”

Before she left, she hopped to her tiptoes and kissed Dash’s cheek, whispering, “Love you, Daddy.” Yawning, she strolled out of the room and disappeared around the corner.

Groaning, I gazed down at him, my palm cupping the cheek. My thumb stroking side to side, I dared to copy the little girl, bent over, and grazed my lips to his. Afraid of a repeat of what happened in the car earlier, I stopped before actually kissing him. My eyes opened, I gave in to intrusive thoughts and breathed against his mouth, “I love you.”

His eyebrows furrowed and his nose wrinkled. A moan slipping past his lips to heat my face, his features smoothed out and he sighed, suddenly looking very peaceful.

My insides rattled that I actually spoke those words, I slowly rose to my feet and backed out of the room for the second time that day, the atmosphere feeling rather threatening. Things were getting out of control, and I was fucked with no salvation. The things I was feeling for this man were starting to surpass anything I felt for Billy, and he wasn’t even reciprocating. I was about to ruin my life.

Both my palms together over my mouth and nose, I cursed under my breath and strode back into the living room, my heart slamming against my shattered ribs. I had to get the fuck away from Dash. As soon as he was healed enough to take care of himself, I had to go. Would Tyler and Violetta be okay if I butted up into their brand-new life together, at least for a little while? Tennessee wasn’t so bad, I could definitely build a new life out there.

Anywhere that put distance between me and Dario Mangiacavallo.

Dario “Dash” Mangiacavallo

My own snore pulled me from slumber. Groaning against the pain, I reluctantly opened my eyelids to stare at the ceiling in the darkness. A sigh heaving my chest, my head rolled to the side. For a split second, I saw Mary lying beside me, only her face was mangled, as it probably looked since she’d been dead for about six weeks. Wearing the light pink nightgown the night I snapped her neck, she was oozing, as if she’d been in water. Her eyes milky white, an arm lifted, revealing her hand cut off at the wrist.

My heart lurched and I flung myself to the side. If not for the nightstand, I would have tumbled from the bed. The lamp tipped over, but didn’t hit the floor, the shade bent to cast the room in an awkward ray of light.

“Jesus fuck!” I shouted and then cried out, my arms instinctively curling around my chest. Hissing through gritted teeth, I peeked through one clenched lid and found the mattress empty. Relief flooding, I exhaled and tried to relax, but the pain wouldn’t relent.

Vincent banged into the doorframe and stumbled into the room, panting. “What? What’s wrong?”

Gulping, I checked once more, just to make sure I was alone in the bed. My head plopping to the pillow, I groaned and rubbed my face. Right as I was about to answer, Piera started screaming. My heart turning over and my veins icing, I bolted upright and three of the bullet holes exploded with agony.

“Ah, shit!” I whimpered, my eyes actually watering.

“Goddammit, what the hell is going on?” he grumbled and darted from the room.

Every fiber in my being longed to get up out of this bed and go to my daughter to comfort her, but I couldn’t even get one foot on the floor. The pain, goddamn this pain! Jackyl had managed to land six bullets; the one in my shoulder and upper gut went straight through, the one in my lower abdomen had to be surgically removed, one grazed my thigh, the other two had ripped the flesh on my thigh, not imbedding but not merely grazing. I’d been shot before but never like this. This was pure agony.