24. Dante
Chapter 24
Dante
I stood rooted to the spot when I heard the sound of male laughter as I entered my home. Jealousy mixed with white hot rage roared through me at the sight of Lucy laughing with Alex, and I didn’t like that feeling at all. It wasn’t me. I didn’t do jealousy, and I certainly wasn’t about to get all googly-eyed over the nanny, even if I could still smell her on my skin days later. Even if I couldn’t get the sound of her erotic moans out of my head.
But there she was, laughing and flirting with the best running back in the country as if she hadn’t had my cock in her mouth days before. It pissed me off and I reacted badly. Her fake tears wouldn’t work on me, even if she did that magic trick where they never fell, just stayed there as some sort of guilt trip.
“That was mean Daddy,” Lena said with a disapproving frown. “What’s a date? And how much money do you have Daddy? Must be lots!”
Alex choked on a laugh and put a hand on my daughter’s back. “He has lots and lots of money, love. You should probably give me back the Swear Words money.” He held out a hand and Lena stood on the kitchen chair and slapped a few bills into Alex’s large hand.
“But you said bullshit, ” she whispered.
He laughed again. “Good point, alright, you keep this then.”
With a satisfied smile, Lena tucked the money back into her pocket and returned to her food. “Okay.”
“Is that chili I smell?”
“It is,” Dotty responded, her tone short and crisp. “It’s on the stove, I’m sure you can find your way there,” she grumbled and left the kitchen.
I frowned at Dotty’s back wondering what in the hell had gotten into her, but shrugged it off and set my work bag down before I moved further into the kitchen and washed my hands a little harder than I needed to.
“Can I go color Daddy?”
“Yeah, sure honey.”
Lena darted out of the kitchen without a care in the world and I envied her in that moment. The kitchen was silent, oppressively so, as I piled a bowl high with chili. “Just say what you have to say,” I barked at Alex.
He sighed loudly enough that I could almost feel his irritation with me, but I didn’t care because I was irritated with him too. “You were too harsh with Lucy.”
“What are you, standing up for your girlfriend now?”
He snorted a laugh. “You sound like a childish asshole, you know that right?” He shrugged. “And worse, you sound jealous. I wonder why that is. All of this in front of Lena too.”
I took the seat across from my best friend and glared at him. “Her job is to watch my daughter, not flirt with any man that rings the door bell.”
Alex stared at me with a serious expression before a loud laugh exploded out of him. “Flirting? You’re not serious, are you?”
I nodded and shoveled another spoon of chili in my mouth.
“You’re ridiculous, not to mention so jealous you can’t see straight.”
“I’m not jealous,” I growled. “I know what I saw.”
Alex rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair, folded his arms and glared at me. Hard. “I know when a woman is flirting with me, and let me tell you that Lucy wasn’t. She was nice to me, that’s all.”
That was bullshit. “You mean to tell me that you showed up and she didn’t respond?”
He smiled. “She was shocked to see me on your doorstep, yeah, but that’s probably because you didn’t brag that your best friend is Alex Witter. Then again, why would you when you’re so much richer than me?”
Okay, I felt like an asshole for that. “Sorry. I was just upset.”
He shrugged. “It’s okay, man. I’d be upset too if I thought someone was trying to steal her from me.” His gaze narrowed angrily. “For the record, I would never try to steal your girl, and the moment I saw her, I knew exactly why you said she wasn’t my type. You wanted her for yourself.”
I opened my mouth to deny it, but Alex shook his head.
“You think I don’t know when a woman is interested in me, or more so, in the superstar version of me? Trust me, I know exactly who likes me for me and who doesn’t, and Lucy wasn’t giving off any kind of bad vibes. Called me out on my record against the Tornadoes, if you can believe it.”
I smiled. “She doesn’t give anyone an inch.” And why didn’t I know she was a football fan?
“If anything, she treated me like I was her boyfriend’s best friend, not a potential date.” Alex let his words sink in and then he laughed, at me. “You screwed that all to hell though, without any help from me I might add.”
“I’m not a child Alex and I don’t need you to spare my feelings.”
“Believe me,” he laughed. “I’m not. You were an ass to her and you don’t deserve to have your feelings spared, I’m just telling you that she didn’t do what you crassly accused her of doing. She’s a nice woman, and a fan, nothing else.”
Shit.
“She’s going to quit.” And not only will I not get to see Lucy every day, but I’ll have to start the nanny search all over again. The thought of that didn’t sit well with me. As much as I pretended to dislike having her around, I liked having her here. I looked forward to it, dammit.
“Way to worry about the important things,” Alex snorted. “She likes the job and has nothing but good things to say about Lena, so she probably won’t quit. But whatever was happening with you two is probably over.”
“Who said anything was going on between us?”
Alex rolled his eyes. “Seriously? I’ve never seen you get that bent out of shape about a woman you haven’t slept with.” He shrugged. “Besides, I got to know her a bit, and I would’ve been just as pissed off as you are right now if I thought I was about to lose her.”
What he didn’t say, didn’t have to say, was that my behavior had made me lose her anyway. “What’re you doing here anyway?” I asked, changing the subject from my fuck up to Alex’s. I knew the man well enough to know that if he managed to drag himself away from his glamorous lifestyle to my relatively boring home, he’d done something.
“I was in the neighborhood,” he said, deflecting. I decided to let him off the hook for now and not press the issue. He’d tell me when he was up to getting whatever was weighing him down off his chest.
“I need to check on Lena.” It was a lame excuse, but I needed a moment to myself. Alex was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a liar, had never lied to me anyway, and he wouldn’t have hesitated to give me shit if Lucy had flirted with him. All of that meant I had horribly misread the situation and said terrible things to Lucy.
I need to apologize.
But somehow I felt myself hesitating as I left the kitchen. Probably because I couldn’t think of what I could possibly say that would redeem myself to Lucy. Later. I would apologize later.
After I checked in on Lena, finding her busily coloring in her unicorn colouring book, I went out back and found Alex out on the terrace with a beer in his hand, his gaze unfocused on the distance. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m great,” he answered in that breezy way of his. “Just needed a break and figured I’d come see you. Maybe you should stop worrying about me and go apologize to Lucy.”
“I will, once she’s had time to cool down.”
Alex shrugged. “If you wait you’re just giving her time to come to terms with leaving Lena. And you.”
I sighed heavily and shook my head. “Right now, we both might say something we regret, which will result in the same thing, her leaving. I need to clear my head first.”
That moment never came though. Lucy refused to join us for dinner, and when I stood outside her door before heading to bed, there was nothing but silence.
There would be no more midnight sandwiches, unfortunately.