Page 60 of In the Dark

Actresses.

Singers.

Miss Americas.

My God, did he stop dating ever?

And there was him and Demi. On and off for years.

After that search, I was acutely aware of how much time he was spending with me rather than all the women whose names he could be stacking up on his bedposts.

I told myself if he was coming to every meal and every errand I ran over the next week, there wasn’t much time for him to be dating other women, right? Especially not Demi. Truly, he barely gave me any time to myself over the next week, insisting I eat every meal with him, confirming I could plan alongside him as he worked, and offering to accompany me to the library, the boutique, and the floral shop in Paradise Grove.

The wedding planning was progressing, and my wounds were healing more and more.

“You don’t have to come with me to get my hair done,” I grumbled as he stood in my doorway, waiting for me to do a final scan of the room.

“Want your lip gloss?” He pointed at my vanity.

I grabbed it and then chewed my cheek.

“And a sweatshirt too. You’re always cold.” He’d given me his suit jacket while at the library the last time.

“Am not.” I glared at him and then hurried over to the closet while Romeo stretched on my bed.

I heard Callahan saying, “She always has to argue, doesn’t she?”

Like he knew me. He’d only followed me around for a week, and quite frankly, the man lived on his phone and laptop.

“I never argue with Romeo,” I informed him as I tied a sweater around the waist of my wide leg pants and blue crop top.

“I highly doubt you didn’t bicker with your ex.” He glared at my cat like it was the man he was discussing.

“I really didn’t.” We’d dated when I was just out of high school and went to the humane society to get Romeo. Honestly, Romeo was a sweet guy who just couldn’t keep up with my way of life. I’d been running in my uncle’s circle by then, practicing self-defense on the daily and coming home covered in blood more than once. I didn’t divulge anything to him.

Still, he stuck around until Paolo made it clear the wet noodle of a man had to go.

I hadn’t dumped him for my uncle, per se. It was more to protect Romeo than anything else. Since then, the men I dated were much crueler and more callous.

Like us. They were meaner, more selfish, and just as corrupt as I was.

“So not Romeo, but with Tomás you argued all the time?”

“Concerned about my past relationships, Callahan?” I singsonged.

“Funny you should ask me that when you’re the one surfing the internet looking at all my exes,” he said, leaning against the doorframe with his signature smirk.

“Don’t flatter yourself.” I crossed my arms over my chest, and he mirrored my movement with a lift of his eyebrow.

“I’m just stating the facts of your search history.”

This was the problem with the internet. If you doomscrolled on there or did a Google search, you were bound to go down, down, down the rabbit hole of the worst-case scenarios. I couldn’t just be happy with knowing the businesses and women the Knights were into in general. I had to dig into each and every one of his stupid girlfriends.

I glanced at my cat. “It’s quite a shame that I get no privacy here, huh, Romeo?”

“I never promised you would.” He pulled on the back of his neck. “But if you’re trying to return the favor and dig into my past, you can just ask.”

“Ask what?”