Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“I always intended to,” she said a little primly.
At the opposite end of the dining table from her, his father let out a low chuckle. Clarence wasn’t wrong when he called Livy a firecracker. She was full of spirit and attitude, but the older male loved that about her.
Twisting in her seat to better face Deke, she leaned toward him slightly, resting her lower arm on the table. “Have you given any thought into what I said last week about Dayna?”
Deke bit back a sigh, and his cat bared a fang at the mention of the other female. In actuality, Livy hadn’t “said” anything about Dayna. She’d yelled about how Deke needed to “be done with her already.” The look his brother, Cash, shot him suggested he was having that same thought.
Deke had already decided before then that he needed to pull back from Dayna, but he hadn’t told his mother that.
He wouldn’t tell her now either.
Because she would tell her sister, who’d tell her mate, who’d tell his father, and so on and so on … until eventually it got back to Dayna. She should hear it from Deke first. He already didn’t like that he’d spoken of his intentions to Tate and Luke before he had her. It didn’t seem right.
Deke dipped his piece of steak in what was left of his pepper sauce. “Trust me to do what’s right for me.”
Livy’s lips thinned, and her hands balled up. “Two and a half years she’s stayed away. That’s not someone who deserves you.”
For God’s sake. “Mom,” he drawled, a warning note to his voice that told her to let it go.
Livy ignored it, a flush of annoyance staining her cheeks. “She has her reasons for not returning, I know. But she could have let you go at some point. She could have said, ‘Look, I can’t break away from my family yet, but if you’re unattached when I return to the US, I’ll come to you.’ That would have been the decent thing to do. But she held you to your word instead.”
“Mom, seriously, leave it.”
“You wouldn’t have done that to her. No way. But she’s too possessive to let you move on, and this is her way of making sure you don’t.”
He briefly flicked his gaze to the ceiling. “Mom.” Inside him, his cat unsheathed the tips of his claws, far from in the mood to deal with any nagging.
“The only time she seemed to show any real intention of coming back was last time you were dealing with touch-hunger.” With a little sniff, Livy folded her arms. “If you ask me, she did that for one reason only—to make sure you didn’t consider choosing to pursue something with Cassandra.”
Deke harbored that same suspicion. Dayna had made a few sarcastic comments back then such as how nice it was that he and Cassandra “got along so well.” He hadn’t told Dayna who was helping him burn off the touch-hunger. She had discovered it via Therese and Gerard.
“Is that the kind of person who deserves to have you wait for them?” Livy asked, her tone sharp. “Someone who gets your hopes up when she thinks you might otherwise choose another woman?”
Rather than explain that, no, he didn’t—hence why he’d first considered pulling out of the vow back then—he shoved his steak into his mouth. “We don’t need to have this conversation again.”
“We do if you and Dayna are still bound up in a ridiculous promise.” Then she went into yet another full-on rant about Dayna.
He met Cash’s eyes. The little shit was on the verge of laughing.
Of course, Deke could easily shut this crap down. All he’d need to do would be to let out a few dominant vibes—as a submissive, his mother would falter under the weight of them. But he would never use his dominance against her that way. Not purposely, at least. He’d done it accidentally as a juvenile on a few occasions, and he’d hated himself each time.
Using another way to handle the situation, Deke tossed out, “She wants me to move to Australia.”
Livy’s back went ramrod straight. “If you say you’re going, I will beat you with a pot.”
He fought a grin, lowering his cutlery to his now empty plate. “That’s not an incentive for me to stay.”
“I mean it, Deke,” she clipped. “You are not leaving us. Not to be with someone who clearly doesn’t love you the way you deserve to be loved.”
“I heard Australia’s a beautiful place.”
“And if you loved her, you’d find it unbearable to be away from her, but you’re managing it well enough—that’s telling.”
“Australia’s looking more beautiful by the second.”
Clarence chuckled into his glass.
Livy shot her mate a hard look. “This isn’t funny.”
Struggling to wipe his amusement from his expression, Clarence set down his drink. “Let’s just do as our boy asked and trust him to do what’s right for him.”