Page 29

Looking down at the soft, slender hand that covered his brought the strongest comfort he had felt in years to his soul, along with her words.

She now spoke as if she was revealing the world’s biggest fucking secret. “You just have to mean it.”

* * *

That was often the part people seemed to forget. It was like it was foreign for people to actually mean their apologies.

It was simple. You actually are sorry when you say sorry, or you don’t fucking say it at all. But even after all these years of human evolution, the concept had yet to be grasped.

When she felt the light squeeze on her hand as their fingers intertwined, all thoughts went out of her head as she was tugged in Dante’s direction …

* * *

Dante couldn’t believe it himself as he pulled the woman in for a kiss. It was possibly the rum runners, or the place, but it just felt right, while it was also indescribable. The peace that was beginning to wash over him while being with her, he was sure would envelope him when their lips met … But, of course, it would all be too good to be true when light footsteps grew closer.

Leo cleared his throat to announce his arrival when he went back to his lounger. Dante had wanted to see his son happy again, even if it was just for the weekend, but he couldn’t say he was exactly pleased at the shit-eating grin on his son’s face.

Fucking kids. They were such cock blockers.

Ten

Foodgate

Each one of them sat around the table, eyeing each other as they waited to see what Lila was going to put in front of them for dinner.

Nadia was certain Amo had made the sign of the cross, kissing his fingertips in a silent prayer for the food to be good.

When the salads showed up with another weird dressing combination, she went to take a sip of her rum runner to calm herself.

She didn’t know why it was bothering her so much, but she was certain it was because it didn’t bother Dante. All the unbearable man had to do was walk into the kitchen and tell his chef to prepare something different. Sure, Leo and Amo weren’t starving, but Nadia understood what it was like to get fed food you didn’t like, and that was probably why it bugged her so much.

A lot of her foster parents, the bad ones, either made her go without eating or never cared to ask what kind of foods she had liked; sometimes even forcing her to eat foods they knew she hated.

However, since she and Dante had spoken about it, she supposed she should give him a chance to fix it. Still, anger ate at her while she watched the two boys eat the bottom of their salads, so she sat there, taking her frustrations out on her drink as she sipped it dry.

Seeing Lila head toward them with plates, Nadia started her own prayer.

So help me, God, if this food is disg—

One look at the dishes that was being put down before them had every single one of their mouths dropping, including Dante’s.

“Whole fried lionfish!” Lila announced proudly, on the chef’s behalf.

Nadia was pretty fucking certain her food should not be staring back at her as the thing in front of her looked like a dead carcass served on a plate. Not even the lemon cut into a crown that the chef had placed on the terrifying fish made it appear a delight to eat. It only increased its jarring appearance.

Something in Amo had clearly broken, as he whispered, “I can’t do it.”

Oh, honey, neither can I.

She was giving Dante one final fucking chance, but he appeared to still be speechless as he continued to stare at the water monster.

Fuck it …

* * *

Dante stared at the frightening fish that looked like it had jumped straight from the ocean floor and onto his plate after being barbequed on the way up. Honest to God, he had never seen anything like it in his life. Of course, he had seen whole fried fish before, but certainly not like this. Lionfish had a different effect to see it … well, whole. This fish either needed to stay deep, deep, deep down in the ocean where it belonged, or it needed to be served like fucking fish sticks. There was simply no in-between.

It was only when he heard a thump that he lost eye contact with the nightmarish fish.

Nadia had abruptly stood, causing her chair to fall backward at the movement.

“Lila, I’m sorry, but we will not be eating this tonight.”

Everyone looked at her, stunned; the blonde woman even more so.

“Y-You won’t—”

“No,” she said with certainty, picking up the deadly plate. “Now, please help me take these back to the kitchen. I’d like to talk with the chef.”