Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 85322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
He let out an unsteady breath and nodded slowly.
“To be honest, I don’t think I can keep this from you anyway,” he admitted. “I’m gonna need you through all of it, West. I’ll need you to ground me if I flip my lid.”
“Consider yourself grounded. No screen time either.”
He flashed an uncertain smile and squeezed my hand. I caught his eyes welling up too.
I knew what he meant, of course. Whether he called me the person who kept him grounded or his moral compass, the current clusterfuck was definitely one he didn’t want to get lost in by himself.
“Have I ruined everything?” he asked quietly.
I furrowed my brow and—
“I mean—complicating shit,” he said. “If I was working as a bartender now and this happened, we woulda waited for the cops to do their thing.”
I sighed and shook my head. “Complicating isn’t synonymous with ruining, baby. Call me a hypocrite for wanting justice without being willing to enforce it myself, but… No, you haven’t ruined anything. And I will gladly take some complications if whoever came after Giulia will get what’s coming to him.”
He sniffled and kissed my hand. “I needed to hear that. Thank you.”
I’d tell him however many times it took.
I thought back on the conversation I’d had with her earlier today, and I had to come to grips with the aforementioned hypocrisy. But in the end, maybe it wasn’t a matter of man or monster. Perhaps it was simply about choosing sides, and I’d certainly done that. I couldn’t deny that I cared far more for “my side” than any enemy.
I didn’t care about fairness as much as I would’ve liked.
Alfie had spoken so bluntly on the matter before we’d gotten back together, and I remembered it had shocked me. And now, screw it, I was with him. It was about us. I would always choose us and our side.
“For the record, covering for Kellan is really fuckin’ boring,” he grumbled. “Since I don’t show my face much, I’m just taking calls and yelling at motherfuckers to pay up on time.”
I chuckled under my breath.
“But the money’s good,” he added with a little smirk. Then he dug out something from his pocket, and I felt my eyebrows crawl higher. It was a bundle of cash. “I made two grand today. Before September’s over, Liam estimates I’ll walk away with roughly thirty grand.”
“That settles it,” I murmured. “I’m quitting my job.”
“Kellan makes bank.”
“Yeah, well. I had four cannoli today.”
I also really needed to go to the bathroom.
“I’ll get you all the cannoli you want,” he promised. “Maybe I can get one next time.”
I wasn’t making any promises.
“We’ll see,” I said. “Now, what are we telling Trip and Ellie? I don’t want to drop them off at school and kindergarten tomorrow morning with the slightest worry about their nonna.”
“Yeah, no, fuck that,” Alfie agreed. “They’re asleep now, so maybe we downplay shit tomorrow—she fell or something, but there’s nothing to worry about?”
That would work. Even though they loved Alfie’s parents much more than mine, their attention spans weren’t great if they didn’t sniff out that something might be seriously wrong. For instance, when Trip had asked about my parents the other week, I’d shrugged it off and said they were traveling.
Sooner or later, I’d tell them a child-friendly version of how we weren’t on good terms at the moment, which was an understatement. Some nosy neighbor of mine must’ve spoken to my mother because she’d been calling more often lately. I could only assume she’d found out I was back with Alfie.
It wasn’t on my list of priorities to even send her a text.
CHAPTER 18
Alfie Scott
“So, anyway. Why do you sound like you just woke up?”
“Because I did,” I bitched. “Lemme tell you—waking up to Liam calling ain’t the same as waking up with West next to me.” I walked out of the bathroom and decided I could get dressed later. Sweats worked for now. “West shut off my alarm and thought a love note would make shit okay.”
All right, it was more than okay, but motherfucker, I had to step up my game. He was being way too good to me.
Dad chuckled gruffly, and it sounded like he lit up a smoke in the background.
“So…some improvements, you said?” I asked, heading down the stairs. It felt so weird sleeping in. It was past ten! West had dropped the kids off at school, sent Colby off to a driving instruction thing, brought breakfast to Dad at the hospital, and now he was on his way back with breakfast for us.
“Yeah, two surgeries done, hopped up on painkillers,” Dad replied. “If I don’t smile when she tries to talk, I’d cry like a baby.”
Fuck, it hurt. I was haunted by the photos he’d taken of her injuries. She looked so frail and broken in that hospital bed. And the anger that followed—I didn’t know what to do with it. I couldn’t show West the extent of it, and I definitely couldn’t show the kids any of it.