Chicken Soup
Vex
“Is the whole storyline to this movie things blowing up?” Dahlia takes another garlic knot out of the container.
“Mostly. Action movies aren’t really known for complex plotlines.” I take a sip of my beer and try to watch the television instead of staring at the woman sitting next to me.
How can I find a woman with wet hair and unicorn pajamas on sexier than any woman I’ve ever seen?
“Do you like to watch things blow up?”
Her voice is too soft. I shift my gaze to her, finding furrowed brows and a half-eaten garlic knot hovering in the air. Dahlia isn’t talking about the movies. She’s asking about my life.
All of this is wrong. I shouldn’t be sitting on a cloud next to the most beautiful woman in the world. A monster like me doesn’t deserve her.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.” She sets one of her small little hands on my forearm .
That’s why I’ll never let her go. A good man would have walked away and left her to live a beautiful life with someone else. “Why aren’t you afraid of me?”
Dahlia shrugs. “Regardless of what anyone else sees when they look at you, I see a hero. A good man hiding beneath a veneer.”
“I’m not a good man.”
“What would you call a man who took care of me when I didn’t feel well? A man that made me tea? A man that watched chick flicks with me?”
“Determined.”
Her laugh is just as sweet.
Something about it draws the truth out of me. “No. I don’t enjoy what I have to do sometimes, but that doesn’t stop me from doing what needs to be done.”
Her hand reflexively squeezes my arm. “Then why don’t you stop—”
The doorbell rings.
She jumps a little.
“Are you expecting someone?” I’m half off the bed before the ringing stops.
“No. I was planning to spend the day wallowing in bed, feeling sorry for myself.”
There is no way I’m ever leaving her alone when she’s in pain. “Are you glad those plans changed?”
Dahlia’s eyes move to the bed, then up to mine. “Yes. These garlic knots are better than anything I had planned.” She winks.
Whoever is at the door will be leaving immediately. I move towards the stairs.
“Wait. What if it’s my mother?” She hops out of bed.
This isn’t the way I want to meet her parents. I mentally shake my head. There’s no way Dahlia is ever going to introduce me to them. Whatever this is, it isn’t ever going to be something normal. “Does your mother just randomly show up?”
“Not today.” Dahlia shakes her head. “She has a chiropractor appointment. My dad always goes with her to those.”
“Then climb back into bed. I’ll take care of the door.”
“Vex, it’s my door. ”
“And you don’t feel well. Go rest.” I take the stairs two at a time as the bell rings again. Like we didn’t hear it the first time. Though Dahlia doesn’t have the best security system, she has several decent locks on the door. She needs a better security system. One that lets me know if something happens. Not that she’s in any danger living on this street, but you can’t be too safe.
After twisting and turning several locks, I yank the door open to find a man standing in front of me. “What do you want?”
“Oh sorry. I must have gotten the address wrong.”
Is the confusion on his face real or feigned? “Who were you looking for?” Like I know any of the neighbors.
Movement across the street draws my eyes to where Max Vincenti is leaning against a lamppost watching the door. This guy was let through, but they don’t know him.
“Prue.”
My body goes tight. Why is this guy calling my Dahlia by a nickname?
“Sorry, Dahlia Fleur. I must have transposed one of the numbers. Do you know which house she lives at?”
“What do you want with Dahlia?” And why are you showing up at my woman’s house without an invitation?
“I’m her boss.”
Her boss… The one that wants to date her. My hands flex into fists. That was the easiest bet I’ve ever won. “Employers don’t make house calls.” Though I have once or twice, but I don’t live by anyone’s rules. Nor was I hitting on my employees like this creep.
“I don’t normally, but she isn’t feeling well. Could you point out—” He stops, probably recognizing the threat on my face. “Never mind. I’ll just get the right address myself. Sorry for interrupting—”
A small hand touches my shoulder.
She didn’t listen. Stubborn woman.
“Who’s at the door?”
“Prue?” the soon-to-be-dead man asks .
“Adonis?” Dahlia pokes her head out from beside me.
“Prue? I didn’t know you were married.”
My hands ball up into fists. It doesn’t matter if there is a ring on her finger or not, Dahlia is mine. How dare he give my woman a nickname?
“I’m not. This is Vex. He’s my… um Vex.”
Did she want to say boyfriend?
“Why are you here? Is something wrong at work? Did someone get hurt?”
What? Why would she even ask something like that? Is her job dangerous? I should have done the research myself. Why did I trust Payne?
Because I can trust him with my life. If Dahlia had a dangerous job, Payne would have mentioned it.
“No. No. Nothing like that. I just brought you soup since you weren’t feeling well.” Adonis lifts up a takeout bag. “It’s the best chicken noodle soup in the city. I get it at this little deli—”
“She doesn’t need your soup.” She doesn’t need anything from you.
“That was so sweet of you.” Dahlia taps my arm like she’s reminding me to mind my manners.
What she doesn’t get is this is me controlling myself. If she wasn’t standing right there, I might have beaten Adonis up… or worse.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t feeling up to coming into work today.” She reaches an arm out to take the bag from him.
“Not a problem. Any time you need a day off, all you need to do is call me. I understand that some days—” His eyes move between the two of us. “—you just need a day off to spend with the people you care about.”
“Are you insinuating she’s not sick?” How dare he think Dahlia is capable of lying?
“No. No. Just letting her know that she’s supported at work. And if she needs anything, I’m there for her.”
I’m going to kill him. This guy thinks he can steal her away from me while I am standing right here. “She doesn’t need anything from you.” I shift slightly to move Dahlia’s arm and slam the door in his face .
“Vex! What was that? You just closed the door in my boss’ face.”
“You have plenty of food upstairs.” Food I provided for you with no expectations… well, almost no expectations.
“That’s not the point.” She puts her hand on her hips.
“Are you still hungry? Do you want chicken soup, because I can get you—”
“Ugh.” She flings her hands up in the air. “You’re being purposefully obtuse. I don’t want soup. Those garlic knots are about the best thing in the world. But that’s not the point. Adonis was just trying to be kind, and you slammed the door in his face.”
“And you’re blind. How can you not see that he wasn’t trying to ‘be nice’? A man is never just nice to a woman—” That isn’t totally true, but in this case it is. “—for no reason. He wants you.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.” A woman her age should know this. I shouldn’t have to explain something so obvious to her.
“Then why did you bring me those treats and stay with me today?” She steps forward with one hand back on her hip and a militant jut of her chin.
“Because I want you too.” Her mouth drops open at my blunt words. “But unlike him, I’m not playing games with you. Or holding your job over your head. I want you, Dahlia. And I mean to do everything in my power to make you mine.” I take a step forward.
“Yours?” she croaks.
“Yes, mine.” I take another step forward. “In every sense of the word.”
“Um.” She leans the tiniest bit forward.
“Is that a yes or a no?” I already know the answer. She’s shown me dozens of times today by simply letting down her guard, by touching me without the need to, and by sleeping in my arms like she’s done it for her entire life.
“You didn’t ask me a question.”
There’s that spunky independence again.
“But if you did, my answer wouldn’t be either. I don’t know you well enough… yet. ”
That breathy ‘yet’ almost makes me lose my control. I take one last step, closing the distance between us, and lean my head down.
She tips hers up until we’re staring into each other’s eyes with our lips almost touching.
I want nothing more than to kiss her until she changes her mind, and I would with anyone else. But not Dahlia. I don’t want her to say yes because of a passionate moment. I want all of her, including her mind and her heart. Pushing her too hard, too fast, won’t get the response I want.
But tormenting her might. “You will.”
She closes her eyes and leans in.
“But not today. A beautiful woman told me today wasn’t the day to kiss her.”
Dahlia blinks up at me with a frown on her face.
Soon. Very soon, I’m going to kiss those sweet lips. “We should finish our movie.”
“Fine. But next time, don’t slam the door on my boss.” She sashays up the stairs.
There won’t be a next time with that guy.
***
I should have just gone and killed Adonis. What’s one more body in the ground and stain on my soul?
Instead, I’m pounding on Payne’s door way too early since Dahlia kicked me out to go to work.
How dare she kick me out? Why is she even working? My woman doesn’t need to work.
Payne pulls the door open bleary-eyed. “Why are you banging on my door at this horrific time in the morning?”
I push past him into the foyer. “I need a drink.”
“What did she do?” Payne closes the door and follows me .
“Dahlia didn’t do anything. She’s perfect.”
“Then why are you taking up drinking at seven in the morning?” Payne collapses on the couch rather than walking up to the bar in his living room.
“Because of her boss. I should just go kill him.” I pour way too much whiskey into a glass and join him.
“Do you want me to do it for you?”
And that’s the sign of a true best friend. “No, if he’s going to die, I’m going to be the one to do it. He’s got it bad for Dahlia.”
“Is he stalking her or something?” Payne sits up.
“No. He’s too smart for that. This Adonis guy—What a horrible name. His parents must have hated him—thought he would sweeten her up with soup. He brought her chicken noodle soup like it was some sort of prize.” I want to rip his head off of his smug—
“Didn’t you do the same thing—”
“Dahlia is mine. And I’ll kill anyone that tries to take her from me.”
Payne has the nerve to laugh.
“This isn’t funny.”
“It’s hilarious. My best friend is falling in love.”
Love?!? I can’t be falling in love with Dahlia. It’s one thing to want her. It’s another thing to need her… But falling in love. “Impossible.”
“Then explain to me why you’re jealous of an idiot with a bowl of soup.”
“I—I…”
“Exactly.” Payne folds his arms across his chest with a smug grin on his face. “This is going to be hilarious.”
“Love is a weakness. I can’t have any weaknesses.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“If you weren’t my best friend, I’d shoot you, too.”
“But I am.” Payne holds out a hand. “Give me a swig of that.”
“Go get your own.” I move my glass away and down it in one gulp. The fire burning its way down my throat does nothing to soothe the beast inside me .
“That was mine. You showed up at my house all grumpy.” He pushes himself up and takes my glass.
“I can’t be falling in love with her.”
“Then break up. Walk away now, before your heart gets involved.”
“Walk away?” Every fiber of my body cringes at those words, even as my mind knows I should. “I can’t.”
“Then you’re too far gone already.” Payne leaves the glass and just grabs the bottle.
“We haven’t gotten drunk in years.” I take the bottle from him and tip it up to my lips. “At least it’s the good stuff this time.”
Payne sits down across from me. “So how are you going to deal with Adonis without killing him, because, as far as I can tell, he’s a good guy?”
That’s right. Payne researched Dahlia. A thorough job involves all the people around her. “What do you know?”
“I thought you wanted to get to know her on your own?” Payne raises an eyebrow and steals the bottle from my hands.
There’s no way I want a clinical knowledge of Dahlia. I want her to trust me. But Adonis is another story. “Tell me about him without telling me about her.”
He takes a shot and hands it back. “I’ll tell you what I can.”
Why is it so hard to tell me about the idiot I should be killing? I take another drink. This is going to hurt tonight.
“Adonis Holmes Graysen is a honorable man in every sense of the word, even when it comes to his entertainment. They could put him up for sainthood.”
I hate this guy. “Anything else I should know about him?” I can’t keep the sneer out of my voice.
“He still goes to Sunday dinner with his family every week. He holds the door open for others and walks old ladies across the street,” Payne laughs as he says the words.
It would be wrong to break my best friend’s jaw, but a few bruises wouldn’t be a big deal. “So killing him isn’t an option. How is any of this helping me get him out of her life? ”
“Ask her to move in with you. Problem solved. Women never want to work when they can live in the lap of luxury.” Payne doesn’t even blink as he takes the bottle from me.
“Dahlia isn’t like that. She’s stubborn. And sweet. And beautiful.”
“Are you trying to make me puke up this exceptional whiskey?”
He’s just jealous.
“I don’t wanna hear about your love life. It doesn’t matter how independent they appear, when they realize how much money you have, they’re all the same.”
And I thought I was jaded. “Dahlia doesn’t care. She wouldn’t even let me buy her clothes.”
Payne spews his mouthful across the couch, just missing my pant leg. “What?”
“She won’t take my money. As far as I can tell, she’s got enough of her own.”
“Dahlia isn’t poor, but she doesn’t come close to your money. Are you sure that wasn’t just a fluke? A mental break because of the stress of everything that happened?”
“She doesn’t listen to anything I say.”
“That’s a woman thing. This needs more testing. Buy her something nice, like diamonds, and see how she reacts.”
Payne is driving me out of my mind, or that could be all that I’ve drunk. “Diamonds aren’t getting rid of Adonis and his soup.”
“Stake your claim then. Start showing up at her job being the doting boyfriend. Make him step back.”
That could work. “How would I do that?”
“You know, if you dated before, this would be easier.”
There was never anyone worth the effort. I raise my eyebrow and snatch the bottle back.
“Send her flowers at work. Have lunch delivered to her. Show up and kiss her in front of everyone. Pick her up or drop her off at work occasionally. These are all the basics. ”
Hmmm. “I could do flowers. She really likes them. But we haven’t kissed yet. And she seems to be a private person. I don’t think she’d like me showing up to kiss her in front of everyone.”
“Wait. Back up.” He rolls his hands backwards like that is going to help. “You haven’t kissed her.” His gaze narrows at me. “But it’s stupid o’clock in the morning and you just left her house?”
“Dahlia isn’t like that. We haven’t even gone on a date—”
“You slept over. That should count as a date.”
“It doesn’t in her mind. Not to mention she wasn’t feeling well. I didn’t want to take advantage of her weakness.”
“You take advantage of everyone else’s,” Payne mutters under his breath.
“They deserve it.”
“You are so falling for her. The first thing you need to do is kiss her. Gotta find out if you two are compatible.”
“Compatibility isn’t an issue.” Just looking at her turns my blood into fire. “Adonis is.”
“Just punch him in the face and get it over with. It’s going to happen, anyway. You might as well do it now so she can stop being mad at you sooner rather than later.”
Would Dahlia forgive me? Probably not. “She got mad at me for slamming the door in his face.”
“Oh, maybe she likes him.” Payne’s grin is positively evil.
I should wipe it off his face with my fist. “Don’t test me.”
“Fine. I’ll give you one more hint. According to my research, she’s shown no interest in him. Not even one hint of it.”
My fist relaxes around the bottle.
“But there might be another party interested in her that you’ll need to worry about.”
WHAT? “Who?”
“I can’t tell you that without telling you more about her. ”
Why did I set those asinine rules? Who cares if I get to know her before I get to know her? There’s no way I can let another guy steal her away from me.
“Do you want me to tell you?”
YES! “No. But can I kill this one?” There can’t be two men up for sainthood who are pursuing the woman I want.
“Nope,” Payne says that way too cheerfully. “But you can probably get away with beating him up a bit if you play your cards right.”
Well, that’s something, at least.
All of this is hurting my head.
Or it could be the half-empty bottle in my hand. “We should talk about something else.”
“But talking about Dahlia and the idiot she’s going to turn you into is fun.”
“I can still take you down.” No matter how well I trained Payne, he will never be stronger or more ruthless than I am.
Payne rolls his eyes. “The only thing I wanna talk about is bed.”
“What happened to that girl you rescued? She seemed attached to you.”
Payne sighs. “She’s asleep… in my bedroom.”
“WHAT? Are you crazy? That girl needs help.”
“Don’t you think I know that? But if I’m more than ten feet away from her, she freaks out. Starts screaming and running around like a madwoman.” Payne snatches the bottle back and takes a long pull from it. “I don’t know what to do. It seems cruel to just shove her out the door and tell her to get help.”
“You’ve got to do something. This isn’t healthy.”
“Oh wise man that knows everything when it comes to women, what should I do?”
That eye roll definitely wasn’t the booze talking. How in the world should I know? “What did Barb say?”
“That she’ll probably need long-term psychiatric treatment. Possibly at an in-patient facility, but that isn’t her specialty, so she’s asking around to find the right person to evaluate her. But we both know there is no right person. No magical cure. She’s broken.” Tears fill Payne’s eyes .
“Temperance would know. If she was still practicing.”
“Temperance?” Payne lifts his head up as he tries to piece together what I just said.
“Temperance Vincenti. She brought the clinic to Willow Street. But her other one focuses on abuse victims.” That place still does good things for the kids back on Willow Street.
“Do you know her? I avoided that place when we were kids.”
Didn’t we all? Even though they did their best to make the clinic feel comfortable, it was always scary to walk inside. You had to be half dead to walk through those doors. “No. But her son, Max, was in my office a few days ago. I’ll see if he can help.”
“Thanks. I wouldn’t ask if it was…” His eyes move to the closed doors. “I still see her down there in that pit.”
Those pits will haunt both of us forever.