Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 126840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
And he’d throw his phone and keys on the kitchen island. Maybe not every time, say, when they were in his pockets, or he was home in order to stay home and he didn’t leave them lying around.
But it happened.
“Core,” I called.
“Right here,” he said.
“Everything doesn’t have to be perfect for me.”
“You got nice clothes. You don’t need dog hair on your clothes.”
I let his hands go and framed his face.
He put his hands on my hips.
But he appeared uncomfortable.
“You know I’m in love with you,” I said gently.
Another crooked grin, his fingers dug into my flesh, and he replied, “Yeah.”
“And I agreed to you taking care of me, but do you understand I need to take care of you too?”
“Sure.”
He said it, but his expression said something else.
“I mean that, Core. Say, I leave my shoes out and you trip on them, and it ticks you off, you need to tell me.”
“It isn’t that big of a deal.”
“I know when things don’t seem like that big of a deal, until they happen over and over again, and the person who’s supposed to love you constantly does little things that lack the most common of courtesy, and it doesn’t feel very good. Do the shoes bug you?”
He tried to pass it off by joking, “I’m getting used to dodging them.”
They bugged him.
“I’ll make a point to put them away. And clear my basin when I’m done. But I can’t guess at stuff that might bother you. You have to tell me.”
“Babe, this is—”
I pressed in with my hands as well as my body.
“No, Core, I need you to tell me. And if you want to vacuum Nanook’s fur every day, I’m not going to stop you. But I don’t need that. My clothes will be fine and that’s why we have lint rollers.”
He opened his mouth, but said nothing, though his brows slammed down over his eyes, and he twisted toward the door because someone was hammering on it.
Loudly.
“Stay right there,” he growled, snapped his fingers, pointed at the floor by my feet, and Nanook came right to me and sat in front of me.
I leaned to the left so I could see around the wall that made the small foyer at the front door and felt my body jolt with shock at what I saw when Core opened it and demanded, “What’s your fucking problem?”
“Nice,” my dad spat, giving Core a derisive up and down. “Jesus Christ, look at you.”
He then, in pure Dad style, being a man Core had never met, tried to bowl Core over at Core’s own front door. How he thought he’d manage that, I did not know, and unsurprisingly, it didn’t go well for him.
Core’s arm shot up to his side, Dad ran into it and fell back like he’d run into a tree.
It would have been funny if I wasn’t outrageously pissed he was there at all.
First Kiki.
And now Dad.
Could this day get any more fucked up?
What happened to holiday cheer?
Core didn’t move his arm, effectively caging Dad on the other side of the threshold.
“What the fuck?” Core bit out.
“Would you mind I talk to my daughter?” Dad asked.
Core, realizing he’d just met my father, turned his head to me.
I stepped deeper into the living room, Nanook crowding me, and called, “What are you doing here, Dad?”
Dad glared at Core, but my man was still looking at me.
“It’s okay,” I said, even if I was uncertain if it was.
Core dropped his arm and walked directly to me, positioning at my back so close, I felt his heat.
Dad came in behind him and was looking around, attempting to find fault in our home, and I suddenly wished I’d held my shit so we bought more Christmas stuff to deck the place out.
And then I thought, fuck that and fuck him.
Our home was awesome, and it didn’t matter what he thought.
“Dad, what are you doing here? And how do you know where I live?” I asked.
He shifted his focus to me. “Imagine being me and hearing your child demand to know how you knew where she lived.”
“The question remains,” I prompted.
“Eleanor paid me a visit.”
Well, shit.
“She told me you’ve moved in with a man you barely knew, but you did know he had an unsavory past,” he carried on.
I felt something unpleasant beating off Core into my back.
“And I would like to know, Hellen,” Dad continued, “what the hell you think you’re doing?”
“I’ve moved in with the man I love,” I replied.
“This man?” Dad asked scornfully, flinging a hand up at Core.
“Yes.” I leaned back so I was touching him. “This man.”
“Hellen—”
For so many reasons, I wasn’t doing this.
“Dad.” I sighed. “I can’t even begin to understand why you think you have some right to come banging at my door to demand I explain the decisions I make in my life. From your own actions, you’ve made it so you don’t know me. You don’t know the person I’ve become. You don’t know that I’m not impetuous. You don’t know that I am ambitious. You don’t know that I’m a risktaker. And you don’t know that even if that’s the case, I don’t take stupid risks. You also don’t know this man at my back. You don’t know that he’s tender and sweet and protective. You don’t know that he’s the best dog dad ever. You don’t know that he’s a rare breed who gives me space to be who I need to be and doesn’t make everything about him all the time. You don’t know that he’s so intent on taking care of me, he vacuums every day so I won’t get dog hair on my clothes.”