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“Okay, True. I’ll try your way.”
Sighing in relief, I watch him walk away, and then nearly evacuate my body when Milo speaks from right behind me.
“I heard what you told him,” he says, and I spin.
“Just trying to help. She’s pining for him, and if he shows her she’s got no hold on him, she’ll eventually fuck off,” I say with more bite than I intended. I care for all my charges, because how else can I find the right matches for them if I don’t? But man, that woman really got under my skin tonight. She’s at least half the reason Bellamy is so damaged.
“Ruthless.” He smirks. “Thank you. He was wrecked after she left him.” He sighs, looking over the balcony, watching Bellamy talking with his ex. The smile falls off her stupid smug face when Bell pats her shoulder and walks away. I’d pay money to see that look on her face every day.
“I know.” I nod, and Milo looks around.
“I’m heading home, want to walk with me?” he asks, and I agree, needing to get out of here asap. I’ve done all I can for now.
6
True
“So, that man at the bar, you seemed to know him?” Milo says as we walk, and I frown. Who’s he–
“Oh, that butt munch? Yeah. He’s an old coworker.” I shrug. “He’s an ass.” I chuckle. “But you,” I turn, pointing at him, “you didn’t talk to anyone, from what I saw!” I throw my hands up, even though that was what I wanted. Milo frowns, shrugging.
“Yeah. No one approached me. Typically, I don’t have to go out of my way for attention, but maybe I wasn’t what the women were looking for tonight,” he says, and I can feel how uncomfortable it makes him. Which is funny, considering how much he insists he hates attention.
“Or maybe it was your scowl,” I offer, lifting my brow, and then mimicking him. “I’m Mr. Grumpy. I don’t want attention. Don’t even look at me!” I put my fists on my hips, and puff up my chest.
“I do not sound like that. Or make that face.” He sighs, and I giggle at his attempt to pout.
“Oh, but you do! Hell, I work for you, and I didn’t even want to approach you! And just look at you! All those muscles and that sexy half-smirk! You’d be a ladykiller if you just stopped glaring so much,” I tease, making him glare right at me. “Woah, calm down, sir, I promise I’ll be good.” I throw my hands up, and as I realize my mistake, I attempt to laugh it off. “So, tell me why you sat there looking so cranky when you were supposedly trying to get someone to approach you?” I ask, hoping he missed my slip-up. Of course, the hit of lust I got from him tells me that he did not miss anything.
“I’m not doing it intentionally,” he says, thankfully allowing me to drag the conversation in the correct direction after my unintentional slip-up. “I don’t know. Tiff, she… She fucked my head all up,” he grumbles, and I nod my head. Letting him process his thoughts. “I got a security alert on my phone, in the middle of the afternoon, even though Tiff was supposed to be at work, and I knew Coop was at the daycare she supposedly worked at. When I checked the camera, she was right there in my living room, getting railed by some guy on my fucking couch.” His hiss is filled with hatred and so much pain.
“That's awful.”
“It was. Once I got my shit together, I started calling her cell. I guess she realized I’d caught her, because I raced home, wanting to confront them both, but when I got there, the place looked like it’d been robbed. All of her shit, and then some, was gone. Obviously, her new dick had helped her pack in a hurry, or maybe she’d been planning it, I don’t know.” Milo lifts his face to the sky and stares up at the moon for a moment. “Her note said, ‘Coop is with your mom, sorry.’” He scoffs, and my eyebrows shoot up. “She just dropped him off at my mother's like it was nothing. Like he was nothing.”
Those words make my blood boil. Cooper doesn’t deserve the way that woman treated him. No one does. That sweet boy… The urge to choke Tiff out is strong.
“My mom had it rough with my dad. I’m sure you’ve noticed, by now, that my brother is no less tragically damaged. He goes through women like I go through–”
“Tootsie Rolls?” I tease, lightening the mood. He’s got a drawer full of them that he thinks no one knows about. Coop does. We steal them frequently.
“I knew they were disappearing too fast.” He narrows his eyes, smirking.
“He-he.” I smile at him, and he shakes his head.
“Well, Tootsie Rolls, I guess. Our father would disappear on us. On her. Leave us for weeks at a time. Then he’d come around, dump mom, and introduce us to his new girl of the month. She’d eventually leave him, when she realized he was still married, or when he cheated on her too, and go right back to mom, who welcomed him with open arms. There was never a time when things were normal. It took me a long time to realize he was abusing mom. Psychologically. Emotionally. Financially. One day, when Clay was seventeen, I finally had enough.” Milo kicks the rocks on the ground and shoves his hands in his pocket.
“What happened?” I ask when he doesn’t say more.
“He was threatening to leave her. Saying she wasn’t a good wife, fuck, I don’t even remember anymore. Clay called me and said he was leaving. I picked him up, and he stayed with me in my tiny ass dorm room for weeks. Mom finally realized how fucked everything was, once we were no longer there. She left him. It took me longer to forgive her than it took Clay. He’s got a big heart. I don’t. I was pissed.”
“Do you still talk to your dad?” I ask, even though I already know the answer. His file is thick.
“Not for years. Told him to fuck right off, and never saw him again. He doesn’t even know I have a son.”
“Wow,” I say, reaching over to pat his arm, offering him a comforting touch. Milo startles me when he grabs my wrist and pulls me to a stop.
“I don’t know why I told you all that,” he confesses, and a bit of guilt fills my chest. My magic makes him open up his heart to me. He can’t fully love someone else until he realizes he deserves love in return.
