AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Uh-huh,” Dita said, probably not having a clue what I was talking about. “So, uh, don’t they get lonely?” Dita pointed out the snake’s separated tanks.
“Nah. Snakes are best housed separately. Although seeing me getting it on all the damn time might—oomph!” I looked at Dita and rubbed my side. “God, you have a pointy elbow.”
“Can’t you ever be serious?”
I pursed my lips in an unapologetic twist. “My dad’s a joker, so I guess it’s only a matter of DNA.”
She kept silent while pinching those manicured brows into a pensive V.
“Hey.” It was my turn to rib her. But softer, because I was a gentleman of some sorts. “It’s favorable to oppose with a nice compliment or something.”
She shook her head, clearly not amused. Did I ever do anything right with this girl? Did suddenly my flirtation skills roll off like water on a duck’s back? Man, this sucked.
“If you’re not going to talk shop, then shut up, and let me enjoy this beautiful creature for a minute longer.”
“Or what?”
“I’m out of here, and you missed your last shot at getting to know me.”
“Getting to know Dita. Aka Double D. Aka pr—”
“Don’t you dare!”
I ducked, catching her hand mid-air. “Were you about to slap me?”
“It helped you to swallow that… that word!” she hissed.
“You hate that I call you that, don’t you?”
She huffed and pulled her hand out of mine. Dismissing me, she went back to petting Ace with the cutest pout I’d ever seen.
Yep, she really had. I was almost contemplating never calling her that again. Almost. But riling her up was too much fun. Although I had to be careful with these snakes around.
I thumbed her lower lip and pushed it down. She had a gorgeous mouth. Hell, she had gorgeous everything!
“Daddy issues.” I coughed in surprise, loathing the verity slipping off my tongue. There went my game of tactics and reversed psychology. I let go of her sweet lip and went on. “He made my mom leave. Then married some groupie before marrying yours.”
“Oh.” Dita went quiet. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Just make sure you won’t end up with a loser like your mother did.”
“Mom didn’t—” She halted, feeling I didn’t want to hear about her disagree. “I don’t know Cary that well.”
I laughed darkly. “Nothing to worry about. He’s usually not wasting any time.”
Hence the phone call in the laundry room. How many had followed? He’d called me twice during their honeymoon. Of course, I hadn’t picked up. What did the guy expect?
“I haven’t seen your mother around.”
She let that question linger. Indeed, she hadn’t.
“That’s because we never see her.” If she wouldn’t text us on the days that mattered, I would’ve thought she’d died. “Cary, he… well, don’t let your opinion about him change in any way, but he wasn’t a pleasant person to be around, to say the least. He did drugs.”
A whole fucking lot of it and oh, just a small detail, he slapped mother around.
Well, at least she claimed. Cary never corrected me, but I knew Mom lied. Lies like that reformed a teenager’s thoughts. She was as evil as Dad. They were both the creator of my cold, frozen heart.
“Mom endured as long as she could. First time Cary went into rehab, we were twelve. By the time he came back, Mom had already left and hasn’t been back since. It was like she suddenly had enough of the toxicity and distanced from everything, everyone, that was related to it.”
