Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
ALENA
“So, should I call the po-po now?” Vale teases on our call. “Or wait for bloodshed on Meeting Street before I summon a SWAT team?”
I order a Shrimp Po’ Boy from the guy behind the counter at my favorite Charleston deli before I stress, “There’ll be no bloodshed. Just a lot of big dick energy and a few punches.”
“Facts.” Vale laughs. “Your dad has hella BDE.”
I blush. I was referring to Loch, not my dad.
“You know what I mean,” I add. “Yes, my dad is swole as hell, but so is Loch. He’ll tell my dad about us tomorrow night.
They’re meeting at a bar, some public place where my dad can shout, not slaughter.
I wanted to go, but Loch said it’s better this way.
The whole man-to-man thing. I want them to be friends. ”
“Man-to-man?” Vale doubts. “Uh, Loch can break a boulder with his fist, but your father’s protection is nuclear. Deadly to anyone within a three-hundred-mile radius.”
Waiting in line to get my sandwich, I’m losing my appetite. “Just lie to me and tell me everything will be okay.”
Vale sighs. “It will. I promise. I’m just giving you shit. Love conquers everything, or so I’ve heard. You and Loch finally said the sweet L word to each other, and your dad’ll see it. And if he doesn’t, tell me, and I’ll slap his hot face until he does.”
“You think my dad’s hot?”
Vale quips, “Dead Icelandic nuns think your dad is hot.”
My dad and Vale.
They’ve always had an odd relationship these past few years. Close yet far. Tender yet tense. Now that Vale’s an adult like me, she doesn’t let my dad intimidate her either. In fact, she twerks on his last nerve with delight.
If they weren’t so opposite and giving me ew-vibes when I imagine them together, I’d totally ship them. Their enemies’ banter is giving hidden lovers.
But no. Vale’s like a sister, not a mother to me. She’s too much fun.
“Come with Nadine and me to the spa today,” I beg. “She got us a suite at The Mercier tonight, and she invited you too. She likes you.”
“Can’t,” Vale grumbles, frustrated. “I’m the only salesperson here today, and I gotta shelve some new male masturbators. I’m trying to convince Jace to try one, so I can give verified reviews, but he’s being stubborn about humping a hose in the bathroom.”
The bell over the deli door ting-a-lings with another customer entering while I laugh. “Why don’t you just get with Jace? You two would be perfect together.”
“Because,” her tart voice falls tender, “he’s not the love I want. The love I want is so wrong for me, it’s right and impossible to have.”
“You always say that, and it’s so cryptic. Just tell me, are you in love with someone?”
“Jace is.” She shifts the focus. “You should see how he glances at Vivian all the time, then looks away, all busted. He’s so cute.”
“Why isn’t he with her?”
“Cuz she’s oblivious and married.”
“Oh shit.” I sigh, feeling sorry for him. “He’s in love with a married woman?”
“Yeah, girl,” she proclaims. “And your love is living proof; it’s complicated when BDE is involved. Be honest. Is LuvPounder really that big, and—”
“Ahem.” A husky rumble turns my attention around to the man, looming behind me. The massive, cut man with icy eyes, a nose ring, and ink on his neck. Ink on his shredded body, too, that I shouldn’t know about.
“Hey, uh…” Gawking up at him, I mumble to Vale, “Gotta go. Call you tomorrow.”
I end the call and greet my godfather with a sheepish, “Hey.”
“Hey.” His lush, bearded lips don’t smile. “Didn’t know you were home. Does your dad know?”
What my dad doesn’t know is the only thing protecting Michael Cummings, my godfather, and Loch Waring, my boyfriend, from death by dismemberment.
Is my dad completely unreasonable about my adult sex life? Yes. Does he care? Like the devil does for the souls he claims.
“Yeah, for a couple of days,” I answer easily. “What are you doing here?”
He glances up at the menu board. “Just got out of court. I’m picking up sandwiches for my office. You?”
Michael Cummings is a top lawyer in Charleston, but tell that to his style. Killer tailored suits. Dark cryptic ink. He has lions tattooed on his right thigh. What is it with men and lions? His dark, styled hair and beard make his blue-eyed glare glacial.
But he’s always warm toward me.
All my dad’s friends are.
Pastor Sire Rutledge: My dad met him in juvie. Nick Barinov, the famous NFL player: My dad does his taxes. Even Jace and Grant, the brothers who work at Delta’s: My dad met them at his gym. And Michael: Dad said they met at the local college.
I gotta admit, they’re the hottest group of men I’ve ever seen, and they treat me like a princess. Worse, like I’m kryptonite.
If they weren’t friends with my beastly father, they’d be dateable. But none have ever raised an interested eyebrow at me.
It’s been kind of sweet and an ego punch. I used to think it was me. That I was too nerdy or curvy. That I wasn’t pretty enough for a man. Not even Michael, my godfather.
He wasn’t attracted to me. He took pity on me but hid it so well.
But nowadays, I’m finally loving myself. I am hot. I love my curves. I feel so beautiful when Loch grabs my hips; he can’t keep his hands off me.
“I’m in love.” Why I feel like I should tell Michael, I don’t know, but I smile, confiding, “You’ll approve of him; I promise.”
Coolly, he asks, “Who is he?”
“A sweet guy at work,” I assure, but he narrows his eyes so protectively, I keep going. “Don’t tell my dad. My boyfriend is telling him. That whole man-to-man thing, so promise me you won’t say anything.”
Michael drags in two furious breaths while I watch it dawn over his stunning blue eyes. Huh. Eyes that suddenly remind me of Loch’s. Guess they’re not such a rare trait.
Michael’s realizing he and my boyfriend share something in common: my dad’s wrath for them touching me.
Okay, fucking me.
And though I dread Dad’s reaction to Loch. It chills me to the bone what my dad will do if he ever finds out about me and his best friend.
“Alena, I won’t tell him.” Michael’s face softens. “You deserve love, and I’ll make sure your dad doesn’t kill your boyfriend. Just be prepared if he ever finds out about me and you and—”
“I know.” I want to touch Michael’s arm, like a friend assuring him, but I crossed that line once and never again. “I promise. Besides, it’s been years, and now I’m in love, and you’ll find love too. Deep down, you’re a softie, you just gotta let a woman see it.”
Shortly after my night with Michael, he met his first wife. A blonde Russian bombshell who seemed perfect for him. They had a whirlwind romance, a lavish wedding—I was there and happy for him—but then, there was a sudden, shocking divorce. She left him. Overnight. Clueless. And angry at everyone.
Except me.
Michael’s always kind to me.
“Don’t worry; I’m fine.” He tries to smile, but it doesn’t come easily. Logical. Lawful. Lethal. That’s my godfather’s default. “Just promise me this man treats you like a fucking queen, or I’ll kill him myself.”
“Like a queen?” I laugh. “One who gets dirt under her nails, raccoon eyes from her mascara, and ticks in her hair? Yeah. I’m a royal mess alright.”
“Alena, you’re beautiful,” he whispers, again with echoes of Loch that almost unnerve me. “You’re strong, smart, kind, and a fucking badass. That’s a queen. I heard what you did, rescuing that woman. Your dad’s proud, and so am I.”
But Michael was never like my father.
He’s never felt like my soulmate either.
Like Loch feels when he’s holding me in bed, safely imprisoned in his arms, so I won’t sleepwalk. Or when he’s swiping guacamole on my nose while we dance in the kitchen. Or when I swear he’s built an altar between my thighs, worshipping me all night.
Loch’s the sun, rising over the shadows of my life; I’m blossoming in his light.
While Michael feels like one of those shadows. Like an aloof force waiting, should I ever need his protection.
“Thank you.” I answer his praise softly before taking my paper bag from the counter. I turn back to Michael. “I gotta go. I’m having a spa day with Nadine.”
He knows who she is. Everyone knows Nadine.
“Have fun.” His ice almost melts with a warm smile. “You deserve it, Alena.”
It’ll take a fiery woman to melt him one day, but I know she’s out there.