AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“One,” he finally bit out. “I’ll give him one warning. But if anything like this happens again, I won’t settle for handling it with words, Addison. I will deal with it how I fucking please.”
I gave a slow nod. “Understood. Thank you for—”
“Don’t thank me. Don’t think I feel one bit sorry for him. I don’t care what’s happening in his life. Like I said before, he’s not my concern.Youare.”
“Just as you’re my concern,” I assured him. “So I get it. I’m not thanking you forhissake. I’m thanking you because I appreciate that you put my feelings first.”
“Where he’s concerned, I won’t do it again. I won’t allow him to flit in and out of the picture, like what you want and need doesn’t matter. Like you being married tomedoesn’t matter.” Dax’s eyes flared with intensity. “It fucking matters. It’s going to matter every day for the rest of your life, because I’m always going to be part of it. He needs to understand that. And I will get that through his head one way or the other. What measures I need to take to ensure that will all be down to him.” Dax then strode away.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sipping wine in the living room of my previous home at Oakengrove one mid-November evening, I watched with an inner smile as my sisters squabbled. We made an effort to get together for a girls’ night at least one weekend a month. Sometimes we spent it either here, my place, or Harri’s house. Other times we hit the movies, a bar, or a restaurant. Always they’d end up bickering over something.
Curled up in the corner of the sofa, Alicia swiped out her arm. “No way. I’m not doing it.”
Harri pouted from the other end of the long couch. “Oh, come on, live a little.”
Alicia’s lips flattened. “See, this is why I don’t like playing truth or dare with you when you’re shitfaced—you always come up with the most immature dares.”
“I’m not shitfaced.Youare.”
“Nu-uh. I’m just a little tipsy.”
There was nothing at all delicate about the snort that popped out of me. “You passed the tipsy line. Wealldid.” Hence why my head felt all light and warm and fuzzy.
Alicia let out a prim sniff. “Well, I’m not doing the dare—and that’s final.”
I tucked my legs under me on the plush armchair. “Then, as I see it, there’s only one solution to your problem. If you don’t want to go through with the dare, you’ll just have to answer Harri’s question and fess up to why you left Dario.”
Alicia glowered. “I don’t wanna.”
Our baby sister rolled her eyes. “You’re going to have to tell us at some point. Why not do it now?”
“I don’t wanna,” Alicia repeated.
Harri twisted her mouth, briefly averting her gaze. “Okay, I wasn’t sure whether to tell you this or not, but”—she took a long breath—“hetextedmeyesterday.”
Alicia’s spine snapped straight. “What?”
I winced at the shrill note to her tone. Harri had called me last night to tell me about the text, unsure what to do. We’d both agreed it was best that our sister be informed of it, just as we’d agreed we would do what it took to ensure that Alicia didn’t give him the reaction he wanted—even if it meant us both sitting on her.
“I’m guessing he got my cell number from my business website,” Harri added. “It was only a short text. He insisted I tell you to contact him; that he had things to say you needed to hear.”
“That son of a bitch.” Her face hard, Alicia set her glass down on the table with a trembling hand.
“I didn’t reply to it, I—”
“Why didn’t you call me after he messaged you?” Alicia demanded, her eyes glittering with an anger I knew wasn’t directed at our sister but at Dario.
“I wanted to tell you in person so I could stop you from doing anything dumb like contacting him. Don’t you see? He knew you’d be mad he texted me; he’s trying to goad you into finally acknowledging his existence.”
“Of course I see he’s trying to manipulate me! But you still should have told me right away.”
Harri inched up her chin. “Youwouldn’t have toldmeright away. You’d have done exactly as I did.”
“So?”
Snickering, I cut in, “So don’t be a hypocrite. Get off Harri’s case—she made the best call and you know it. No, don’t object unless you can honestly say you’d have reacted differently in her shoes.”
