Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
Daniel is…sensitive, I know. And while this is my first time at this “maybe my dad will get whacked for power” rodeo, it’s something he’s dealt with all his life. And perhaps the strain on him…I guess it makes sense, in a way. That he’s just so sick of it that all he wants to do is wipe it from his mind.
And there is something about it that I find tempting the idea that I could wipe it all out, too, for the next few hours, and face none of it. But there’s something else in me that wants to stay sharp, that isn’t finished with the night.
And as I see Daniel’s phone, resting on the bar, continuing to light up with text after text, I realize what it is.
“Give me that,” I say, reaching for the phone as Daniel signals the bartender for another round.
“Ignore him,” Daniel suggests lightly, waving a dismissive hand. “Fuck Kent. Fuck Natalia. Fuck ’em all.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I murmur, entering Daniel’s password (which I obviously have memorized) and clicking open his texts to find at lest six from Kent demanding to know where we are.
I quickly type out a reply:
Hey, it’s Fay. Daniel and I went out for drinks to blow off steam. We’re safe. We just…don’t want to be around them right now. All right?
I wait a few moments and am pleased when a text comes right back.
All right. Come home tonight. I want both of you here, safe.
I send a little star emoji back, purposefully vague, and then slide the phone back onto the bar.
“Seriously, Fay,” Daniel says, and I look up to realize that he’s been watching me. “Seriously, fuck Kent. He’s ruining our lives. Why do you even care if he knows where we are? Why do you care about him at all?”
“Daniel,” I reply, frowning at him a bit. “He’s your dad.”
“He’s a dick,” Daniel insists, and I laugh, shaking my head. “What,” Daniel continues, leaning into me a bit, “are you going to deny it?”
“No,” I say, crossing my arms and studying him. “But…I admit that I am less willing to talk shit on your dad than I used to be.”
“Because you have a crush on him,” Daniel murmurs, sighing ruefully and taking a too-large gulp of his new drink. “Which is still weird and gross.”
“Slow down on that, Mr. Green.” I advise, taking the drink out of his hand and placing it back on the bar. “Besides, it’s not like your dad wasn’t on our side tonight, Daniel. He was just as pissed at Natalia and Alessi as we were.”
“Yeah, but only because it benefits him,” Daniel sighs. Then he looks up at me, his face perhaps a little too serious for someone so drunk. “Seriously, Fay,” he says, looking at me closely. “You don’t think he’d kick you to the curb just as easily as Natalia did if it stopped benefitting him? As easily as he did Fiona?”
I bite my lip, hesitating, not knowing the answer and a little afraid of it.
“Fay, he dated Fiona for years,” Daniel insists. “She was practically family. She was like ” his voice breaks a little here, taking my heart with it, “she was like a mom to me. And then poof,” He snaps his fingers in the air to emphasize his point. “Gone.”
“Daniel,” I sigh. “Fiona was…my cousin. She was betraying your dad, reporting back to mine. Telling him Kent’s secrets.”
Daniel goes a little bit pale at this information and turns back to the bar, reaching for his drink. “Okay well,” he murmurs, “that makes more sense then. But still, Fay! He cuts ties. You are not safe, just because you’re sleeping in his bed.”
“I didn’t think I was,” I sigh, and as I say it…I wonder if it’s a lie.
Because honestly, sometimes?
Sometimes that’s the place in the world where I feel safest, the only place that makes sense.
The other night, Kent called me his peace his refuge. And honestly I wonder if that’s what he is becoming for me as well.
But before I can consider it, I notice that Daniel is sliding out of his chair a little bit, his eyes half-closed.
“Whoaaa, boy,” I laugh, jumping up from my seat and helping him sit up.
“I’m fine,” Daniel insists, yawning and swatting me away a little, looking for his drink.
“I know, sugar,” I murmur, grabbing his phone off the bar again and dialing the first number in his recent call list. “Let’s get you home.”
Twenty minutes later, I smile as I see Jerome come through the curtain.
“Well hello, Mr. and Mrs. Green,” Jerome says, looking us over fondly as he wanders over to the bar, his hands tucked neatly in his pockets. “My, aren’t you a sight.”
“Just Mr. Green, tonight,” I say, standing up and tucking myself under Daniel’s arm so that he can lean on me. “Mrs. Green held it together.”
“Did she?” Jerome asks, looking at me suspiciously as I stumble a little in my high heels.
“Comparatively, yes,” I say, raising my chin proudly and making him laugh.
“You guys all right?” Jerome whispers to me, curious and concerned. “The three of them came home and it was…a lot of yelling in Italian.”
“We’ll make it,” I say, giving him a sad little sigh. “It…was a bad night.”
“Okay,” Jerome says, nodding, trusting me to fill him in when he needs to know.
“Hey, ‘rome,” Daniel slurs, finally looking up to see his boyfriend there.
“Hey, handsome,” Jerome says warmly, and I’m both surprised and pleased as Jerome steps close to my fiancé, reaching out to run a hand through Daniel’s dark hair before moving to duck under Daniel’s other arm. I’ve never seen them be this sweet to each other before. I almost blush to see it, the real affection between them on full display.
“Ready for bed?” Jerome asks Daniel softly.
“With you?” Daniel says, looking over at him as if I don’t exist at all. “Any time.”
Jerome grins at his boyfriend, nods to me, and then together we get Daniel out to the car.
Jerome and I get Daniel into the house with relatively little trouble, though Daniel’s loud humming of the Gilligan’s Island theme song has me looking anxiously up the stairs. The absolute last thing I want right now is Natalia coming out of her bedroom to scold me for getting her baby boy drunk.
“Come on, Danny,” Jerome whispers as we work our way up the stairs, the nickname making me burst into a ridiculous smile. “Help us out a little, here,”
But Daniel patently refuses, dragging his feet and making us work for every step. I’m panting a little when we get to the top of the stairs, which makes Jerome raise a critical eyebrow at me. “A little out of shape, Fay?”
“Hey,” I return, glaring at him. “You didn’t have to do it in heels.”
Jerome laughs a little and starts towards Daniel’s bedroom. I go with him but he stops and shakes his head at me. “I got it from here,” he says, giving me a small smile.
“Are you sure?” I ask, unlooping Daniel’s arm from my shoulder.
“Yeah,” Jerome says, turning his head to look at his boyfriend. “Trust me. I’ve got it.”
And so I watch them go, a little jealousy curling in my belly at the intimacy between them. It just seems so simple, in this moment how good they are for each other, even though their situation is impossible. How well they just…fit. Despite the impossible odds.