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Chapter Forty:
The Date
Zeppelin
After all we’d beenthrough, going on a proper date with Sterling felt odd. Not in a bad way, in a new way, one that had a permanent smile on my face as I dressed. I had no clue where he was taking me, but I trusted he’d pick somewhere I’d love. After all, he knew me better than anyone else ever had before, so I wouldn’t have been surprised if he picked a restaurant that solely served cereal.
I opted not to put on that dress I went on a date with Caffery with and went with a simple black one instead, one that matched the Chuck Taylors I decided to wear with it. I’d always hated heels, and something about Sterling told me he wouldn’t care if I was going out in sweatpants.
“Can you help me zip?” I spun around, and the second he had it up I felt his warm lips touch my neck, making me nearly call the whole date off. But before I could tell him to fuck me right here and order pizza instead, the doorbell rang. I frowned at him in confusion — it was late, far too late for a casual visit from Jake. “Are you expecting someone?”
“No. I’ll get it.” His eyes narrowed as he walked toward the door and peered through the peephole. “Who the fuck?” He opened it quickly and I tried to peek around him to see who it was, but his giant frame blocked my view. “Can I help you?”
The next voice I heard sent a chill down my spine.
“I must have the wrong house. I was told Zeppelin Bryce was staying here.”
David fucking Sorrin. What in the everloving, fuck-me-in-the-ear hell is this?
I nearly laughed in the fucker’s face when I placed a hand on Sterling’s back and felt how tense he was. David’s life was on a timer and he didn’t even know it. “Does ‘fuck all the way off’ mean something different in your brain, David?”
“If it does,” Sterling cut in with understanding dawning on his face, “I’d be more than happy to spell it out for you.”
He shifted on his feet and swayed a little, then tried to straighten his spine. “You weren’t supposed to leave.”
“I wasn’t?” I said sharply. “I see you brought your fucking audacity. What the hell do you want? And why the fuck did you stalk me here?”
Sterling leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed and an amused expression as David’s jaw dropped. “Go on,” he said. “The lady asked you a question.”
“Can we not do this in front of him?” David asked slowly. “Just come out here and talk to me. Five minutes, that’s all I ask.”
Nothing about Sterling’s posture changed, though he flicked his gaze down to meet mine. “I trust you, Zeppelin. If you want to talk to him, I won’t stop you.”
“I really don’t. I’ve heard all he has to say and most of it was just repeated bullshit from the last time he opened his mouth. Where’s your wife, David? Does she know you’re here? Because my man is right here and we don’t have secrets, so go ahead. Say what you need to say to both of us.”
He pulled his bottom lip between his teeth as if I’d somehow still find that attractive. “I don’t think you really want that, sugar bear.”
The old pet name made me simultaneously sad and furious, but I couldn’t get a word out before Sterling’s hand wrapped around David’s throat and squeezed.
“So you just don’t understand English at all then, is that it?” Sterling growled. “What the fuck makes you think you have the right to come here and speak to her like that?”
My heart hammered in my chest at the thought of Sterling getting in trouble for this. “Sir.” I placed a hand on his arm and ignored David’s squirming altogether. “He’s not worth it. He’s not worth anything ... that’s why he’s here. I’m not his sugar bear, I’m nothing to him but an old flame he thought would wait around for him. This is for his wounded ego, don’t give him the satisfaction of anything. Let him crawl back to Point Isly with his tail between his legs. I’m hungry.”
He instantly let go and fixed his suit jacket. “It’s not polite to push a man in a suit toward violence, Daniel.”
“It’s David.”
Sterling didn’t blink. “Of course. My apologies, Dylan. Now get off of our property.”
He leaned behind me to grab my purse from the table inside the door then locked up without a second glance toward the man who’d once tried to break me, and I took his hand with my head held high and let him lead me toward his gorgeous ride. How I’d been hung up so long on such a selfish asshole was beyond me. Sterling was everything he wasn’t, he put me above himself, something I’d never experienced before, and that lowlife wasn’t about to ruin what we had. He couldn’t if he tried.
I could feel the tension simmering under Sterling’s skin on the ride to the restaurant and all during dinner, and by the time dessert came and he was staring at his phone for the fifth time, I had to ask. “What are you doing?” I pointed my fork at his phone and took a bite of my chocolate cheesecake.
He looked up abruptly. “What? Oh. Checking the security feeds outside. I want to make sure he actually left. I honestly can’t decide if I want to thank him or beat the shit out of him.”
“Why would you thank him?” I fed Sterling a bite to share since he’d been so distracted I was already almost done eating the whole slice.
“Because,” he said simply. “You only ended up in Brisley because of him, right? If he were a better man, my life would be very different right now. I’d never thank him for hurting you, but I do thank him for not being man enough to get you back.”
