But Tarek had been right. Just because this man and I had DNA in common, didn’t mean I owed him much of anything. He’d caused so much death around me, so much sadness—now he wished to claim paternity?
Enough was enough and I’d reached my limit of my father’s bullshit. He’d gone off, cheated on my mother, got her killed, stole from a drug cartel and had his own son tortured. Those were all horrible things. But he’d put Tarek in danger—gotten him shot and blown up. He’d hurt the one man who’d loved me even after I almost destroyed him.
No, Jeffrey was no good to anyone—not even to his own damn self.
After I left the room, I stopped in the hospital’s lunchroom and grabbed some juice and yogurt and made my way back to Tarek’s side. When I arrived, he was standing at the window, arms folded across his chest with peeks of his ass through his hospital gown.
I giggled. “Well, hello there, Mr. Jonas.”
Tarek turned to look at me with a quirked brow. “Are you checking out my ass, Ms. Sargent? I’ll have you know I may be easy but I’m not cheap.”
“Aww, stop!” I laughed. “Want a drink?”
He leaned his butt on the windowsill and I walked to stand between his thighs. While unscrewing the cork from a bottle of juice, he nibbled on my neck and cheek.
“How did it go with your father?”
“He and I will be taking a break from each other for a while.” I told him.
“Thanks.” He accepted the drink and took a sip. “How do you feel about that?”
“Surprisingly okay.” I replied. “I want to spend a night alone with you. Then we can go pick Lilo up and I’ll have to get some things set right.”
“Like?”
“Starting over—buying a place for us, Lilo and I.”
“I have a house.”
I leaned back to see his eyes. “Are you asking me to move in?”
Tarek nodded. “It’s four bedrooms. Lilo will have plenty of space to run around and grow. I mean, why move backward? We’re already here and you’ve fallen in love with me.”
I eyed him, trying to be cross with his ego. When he winked at me, I failed and laughed. “Okay. We can decide on all that later. Right now, you need to get back into that bed before…”
Too late, Tarek’s mother, father and younger brother entered the room. I hadn’t seen his father in a while, and I had yet to meet Jesse. I tried slinking out, to give them some space without me throwing a dark cloud over the place. But the family kept me there, wrapping their arms around me as though I was meant to be with them.
Sure, they did it for Tarek, but I couldn’t feel guilty about it if I tried.
Instead, I sat beside Tarek on his bed and allowed myself to be immersed into the warmth of a real family.
Cobra
Malik forcedme to stay at the hospital a little longer than I thought was necessary. Mom was worried even though I was up and about the same night I was brought there. I didn’t complain since Ellie brought Lilo to visit. Lilo was excited to show me he’d learned letters.
“I’m very proud of you.” I’d told him.
The smile to light up his face warmed my heart.
The day I was released from the hospital, I checked in on Jeffrey. The doctor said he’d discharged himself against doctor’s wishes. Ellie didn’t know where he went but I was pretty sure he had gone back to the house.
If he could get it sold, there would be some money to be had there. When I discussed it with Ellie, she was ready to let the house go for it held nothing but bad memories.
I wasn’t going to worry about it.
On my way home, I stopped at the station to fill out some reports and check in with Grim and my captain and to take some time off—real time off. My body had gone through hell in the past few weeks.
My captain was only too pleased—especially since we’d gotten Otis off the streets. His cartel was headless. At least that would slow them down for a while.
