AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You. Every day.”
“Someone else needs to say it. Is your baby daddy exploiting you? Want me to unleash Mateo on him?”
I pause with the cup at my lips, then take a long sip that clogs my throat.
In her attempts to rekindle our relationship, Caroline got me drunk one night and I ended up telling her everything about the Kingsley mess.
How I hadn’t realized he was the one who took my virginity, innocence and knocked me up on the first try. How he raised our daughter on his own. And how irrevocably out of depth he makes me feel.
Especially lately.
A shudder goes through me in mere remembrance of how he licked my cheeks and almost kissed me that day at the bar.
And the worst part is that I gave him the reaction he bargained for before his lips even met mine. Embarrassment is just the beginning of what I felt and still feel for that lapse in judgment. I lost control with an ease that scares the shit out of me. Which is why I’ve been avoiding him with a passion that rivals my need to escape my filthy origins.
“We don’t really work together,” I tell Caroline with a dismissive tone that should propel her to drop the subject.
But then again, she’s worse than her own dogs with a bone. “Yeah, but you’re always in each other’s vicinity doing Nicolo’s legal work and even havingmeetings.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Why the hell did you emphasize meetings?”
“Because that’s where all the action happens. Duh.”
“N-no action happened.”
“Oh my God.” She finally releases me, her lips opening like a fish. “It did!”
“No, it didn’t.”
“You stuttered like a high school girl with a crush on the quarterback, and you never even had crushes.”
“Shut up.” I slam a hand to her face to block her gleeful expression, but she just pokes my side and continues grinning as if she’s high on weed.
She escapes my clutches and adopts a narrative tone, pretending to hold an imaginary mic. “Dear diary, I found the man who flipped my world upside down on Devil’s Night twenty-one years ago, and I want a redo on Satan’s lair. Please and thank you.”
“Callie, I swear to fuck, either you shut up or I’m throwing you out the window.”
“Sounds kinky and would be more action than I’ve had in weeks. The other day, Iaccidentallyset the shower spray too high and came immediately.”
“And you’re telling me because…”
“Uh…I don’t know, you might need the tip, considering your own lack of action. That, coupled with tension, can be a hassle to deal with.”
“Thanks for the concern.”
“Anytime!”
“Can we please change the subject?”
“No way in hell. I’m not getting off your case unless you tell me what happened today between the two of you.”
I take another sip of my coffee. “And what makes you think something happened?”
“Because you’ve been sighing like an old woman who has the world sitting on her shoulders.”
“I’m just thinking about cases.”
“You’re too much of a boss bitch to worry about work. You can do that shit with your eyes closed. Besides, I heard you muttering ‘that motherfucker’ under your breath while you were making your tequila. Sorry, I meancoffee. And there’s only one motherfucker who gets you angry to the point of cursing him out of the blue.”
