Page 74 of Joey

Dante snorts. “He’s not staying in your room,”

Lorenzo puts a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder and keeps his voice low. “Maybe we should let Joey decide?”

“Since when are you on her side on this?” Dante asks with a frown.

“Since I have better things to do with my time than police our adult sister,” Lorenzo replies with a sigh. “Joey’s a grown woman now, whether we want to admit that or not. Hasn’t she proven that she’s capable of behaving like an adult?”

“Thank you, Lorenzo,” Joey says, giving her oldest brother a genuine smile. “It’s nice to have one of you believe in me.”

Dante rolls his eyes and puts his arm around her shoulder. “You know that I know you’re capable, Joey. Of course I believe in you.”

“Then you don’t believe in Max? Is that it?”

Shaking his head, he releases a heavy sigh. “It’s not that straightforward.”

“Nothing worth having is,” she counters.

Fuck, I wish they would all get the hell out and let me talk to her alone. I have no intentions of sleeping in her room with her, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be spending plenty of time in there with her. The Moretti siblings could go on arguing all night about this. I cough loudly, and they turn their attention back to me. “Can I have a minute with my girl?”

Lorenzo and Dante look at each other, but Kat ushers everyone out of the room, speaking over their protests with instructions that I need to rest. Shooting me a knowing look over her shoulder, she mouths for me to be careful and closes the door behind her, leaving Joey and me alone.

My girl props her hip on the edge of the bed beside me, her fingers still laced through mine.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Kristin, baby girl. I was going to as soon as I figured out what was going on. It just never seemed like the right time.”

“When she told me…and I thought…” A tear runs down her cheek, and she swats it away.

“I know, baby.” Lifting my heavy arms, I wrap them around her, pulling her close and holding on tight. I’ve been desperate to touch her for so long that I’m still not entirely sure this moment isn’t a figment of my imagination, but her familiar scent and the hot tears soaking my chest assure me this is real.

She nuzzles my chest. “I thought I’d lost you, Max…”

“I’m right here.”

“You almost died,” she whispers, lifting her head and looking at me with tears rolling down her cheeks.

“I’d never die on you.”

“You ever even attempt to get yourself kidnapped again and you’ll wish you were dead, DiMarco,” she says, faking a scowl.

“I promise never to even think about it.”

She sits up, her dark eyes locked on my face. “I hate that you weren’t honest with me.”

“I know.”

“If you had been…” She wipes away another tear.

I cup her face in my hands. The fact that she even thought me capable of something like that burns me from the inside. Doesn’t she, of all people, know me better than that? But I can’t fight with her right now. I can feel nothing but grateful that she’s here with me. “I hate that you thought I’d betray you like that, Joey. The fact you could believe me capable of hurting you that way is worse than a knife to the stomach. I regret every single second that you spent hating me.”

“I never hated you, Max.”

“No?”

“No. I can’t.”

“Not even when you thought…?”

Joey shakes her head. “Not even then.”