Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
“What?” I ask, my eyes going wide.
Jerome laughs, shaking his head. “Yeah, he told them day one to keep their hands off the one with the purple hair or else they’d lose their jobs.”
“Just Janeen!?” I gasp, a little appalled that I wasn’t included in the ban.
“Well, there was no need to include you,” Jerome says, smirking, “considering you’ve got your gigantic baby daddy at your side at all times. No one even has a chance to hit on you.”
“Wait,” I say, turning my head at him now. “Why did Daniel do that to Janeen? Are the sailors like…bad guys? Everyone has been so nice…”
“Nah,” Jerome says, grinning deeply now. “He just wanted to see her spin her wheels. She’s been throwing herself with more and more desperation at the crew, who want nothing to do with her he’s getting a kick out of it ”
I throw my head back and laugh when I hear this, delighted. But then I shake my head, bringing my gaze back to my friend. “No, that’s mean poor Janeen, she loves a sailor.” I unfold my leg and give him a little kick. “Tell him to take it back let the poor girl run free.”
Jerome shrugs and nods. “I’ll do my best,” he says, shaking his head.
“Who knew,” I say thoughtfully, munching on more popcorn. “Ivan had the gall to warn me about you, but the whole time Daniel was the devious one.”
I’m still laughing a little and reaching for another handful of popcorn before I realize that Jerome has gone silent. Confused, I let the popcorn fall from my fingers and move my eyes to my friend, a little surprised to see him laying perfectly still on his bed, his face worried.
“What?” Jerome asks.
“Huh?” I ask in response, not understanding.
“What did you just say?” Jerome asks, sitting up and looking at me carefully.
I shake my head at him, still not getting it. “About Daniel being devious? I’m sorry, Jerome you know I don’t really think that ”
“No,” he interrupts, peering at me closely. “About Ivan. Warning you about me. What did he say?”
“Um,” I say, sitting up straight, my hands darting anxiously to play with my hair as they rarely do anymore. “I don’t really remember, Jerome ”
“Yes, you do, Fay,” he says, frowning at me and pushing. “I know you do. Seriously, just tell me.”
I take a deep breath then, looking at him seriously now. “He said that I should watch out for you. That he had done his research on you, and that you were shady and…” I bite my lip now, not wanting to say more.
Jerome just narrows his eyes at me and raises his chin once, urging me forward.
I heave a sigh. “Jerome, he said you were grasping and that you always move towards the most powerful person you can. That you’d worked your way up from the streets and were now…conveniently shacked up with the heir to the Lippert fortune.”
Jerome leans towards me now. “What else,” he says softly, intuiting that I’m leaving something out.
I shake my head at him then, sighing as I drop my eyes and my hands start to braid my hair. “He asked me if I thought you were actually gay.”
“What?” Jerome gasps, offended and appalled.
“I didn’t listen to him!” I say instantly, whipping my wide eyes up to him now, begging him to believe me. “Obviously I didn’t listen! I trust you, Jerome! Our entire fate was in your hands, you could have turned Kent in in half a second!”
Jerome groans then, covering his face with his hands and flopping back on the bed. “Yeah,” he grumbles sarcastically, “but why would I do that when I’ve got this amaaaazing gravy train taking me to Europe! If I turned in Kent, I’d lose my meal ticket and I wouldn’t get to go on this luxury cruise!”
“Jerome,” I groan, scooting closer to him and putting a hand on his stomach. “That is not what I think! It was just a joke!”
He keeps his face covered. “If it’s not what you think, Fay,” he murmurs, “then why am I just hearing about it now?”
“Because it was stupid! And Ivan was just grasping at straws, trying to convince me that you and Daniel weren’t really on my side!”
“That’s precisely right, Fay!” Jerome says, sliding his hands from his face and glaring at me now. “I don’t know why you even listened to that guy! At all! You gave him way too much freedom in that house ”
“We needed him!” I insist, my eyebrows going up, shocked that I even have to defend myself on this point. “You know we needed him to trust us, Jerome!”
“Did you need to go that far with him, Fay?” Jerome snaps, sitting up now and glaring at me. “Did you really need to let him into your inner circle to get him to trust you that much? I mean, does Kent even know that you kissed him?”
I blink at Jerome now, my eyes going wide that he’d throw that in my face.
But then I get mad. Because who the hell is Jerome to throw that in my face?
“Yes, Jerome, I did tell Kent that, and he understood why I did it.” I say quietly, leaning in to glare at him now. “Though we’re both very confused about why you hit on me so much before I found out you were dating Daniel!”
Jerome’s mouth falls open all of a sudden, and I don’t know whether it’s in shock or because he wants to throw something else at me, when suddenly the door opens.
“What’s going on in here?” Janeen asks, frowning as she comes into the room. “Are you guys…actually fighting?”
Jerome and I both turn to stare at her, going silent. But then Jerome snaps his mouth shut. “It’s nothing,” he says, not looking at me as he gets up off the bed and heads for the door. “Forget it.”
Janeen just watches him with wide eyes as he pushes past her, not even looking at me once before he heads down the hall. Janeen stares after him before she turns her eyes to me.
“Seriously, Fay,” she says, staring at me. “What the hell was that?”
And I groan and fall back on the bed, covering my face with my hands. “Honestly, Janeen? I have no idea.”
Kent sighs as he leans against the doorframe of the little dining room, which the six of them frequently use during the day as a kind of living room. There’s no place to comfortably relax except the table, and Kent can’t decide if he’s lucky or unlucky that Daniel’s the only one sitting there today, reading a book and drinking a cup of coffee.
Sighing again, Kent knocks on the open door next to him to get his kid’s attention. Daniel looks up with surprise that turns a little into chagrin, but then then back to surprise when he sees the bottle of whiskey in his dad’s hand.
“What’s that for?” Daniel asks, confused, nodding towards the liquor. “It’s not even noon.”
“Yeah, well,” Kent says, walking to the table and sitting next to Daniel, putting the bottle between them. “I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”
“Uh-oh,” Daniel says, looking at the bottle instead of at his dad. “Are we…talking?”
“Yup,” Kent says on a deep exhale. “She’s making me.”
Daniel laughs at that, looking up at Kent now. “She’s not wrong, you know. We need to.”
“I’m aware, kid,” Kent replies, wrapping a hand around the neck of the bottle and pointing it towards his son. “So, do you want this in your coffee? Or…”
Daniel scoffs and starts to rise. “Don’t be ridiculous, dad,” he murmurs, moving towards the kitchen. “I’ll get us fresh glasses and ice.”
“Atta boy,” Kent sighs, smiling as he watches his kid pass through the door.
When Daniel returns with the promised glasses, Kent pours and they both drink deeply in silence. There is just…so much that they’ve left unsaid for years. It’s difficult for both of them to even know where to begin, so used are they to dancing around the important subjects that they’ve left lying between them.