CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
ALENA
“So,should I call the po-po now?” Vale teases on our call. “Or wait for bloodshed on Meeting Street before I summon a SWAT team?”
I order a Shrimp Po’ Boy from the guy behind the counter at my favorite Charleston deli before I stress, “There’ll be no bloodshed. Just a lot of big dick energy and a few punches.”
“Facts.” Vale laughs. “Your dad has hella BDE.”
I blush. I was referring to Loch, not my dad.
“You know what I mean,” I add. “Yes, my dad is swole as hell, but so is Loch. He’ll tell my dad about us tomorrow night. They’re meeting at a bar, some public place where my dad can shout, not slaughter. I wanted to go, but Loch said it’s better this way. The whole man-to-man thing. I want them to be friends.”
“Man-to-man?” Vale doubts. “Uh, Loch can break a boulder with his fist, but your father’s protection is nuclear. Deadly to anyone within a three-hundred-mile radius.”
Waiting in line to get my sandwich, I’m losing my appetite. “Just lie to me and tell me everything will be okay.”
Vale sighs. “It will. I promise. I’m just giving you shit.Love conquers everything, or so I’ve heard. You and Loch finally said the sweetLword to each other, and your dad’ll see it. And if he doesn’t, tell me, and I’ll slap his hot face until he does.”
“You think my dad’s hot?”
Vale quips, “Dead Icelandic nuns think your dad is hot.”
My dad and Vale.
They’ve always had an odd relationship these past few years. Close yet far. Tender yet tense. Now that Vale’s an adult like me, she doesn’t let my dad intimidate her either. In fact, she twerks on his last nerve with delight.
If they weren’t so opposite and giving me ew-vibes when I imagine them together, I’d totally ship them. Their enemies’ banter is giving hidden lovers.
But no. Vale’s like a sister, not a mother to me. She’s too much fun.
“Come with Nadine and me to the spa today,” I beg. “She got us a suite at The Mercier tonight, and she invited you too. She likes you.”
“Can’t,” Vale grumbles, frustrated. “I’m the only salesperson here today, and I gotta shelve some new male masturbators. I’m trying to convince Jace to try one, so I can give verified reviews, but he’s being stubborn about humping a hose in the bathroom.”
The bell over the deli doorting-a-lingswith another customer entering while I laugh. “Why don’t you just get with Jace? You two would be perfect together.”
“Because,” her tart voice falls tender, “he’s not the love I want. The love I want is so wrong for me, it’s right and impossible to have.”
“You always say that, and it’s so cryptic. Just tell me, are you in love with someone?”
“Jace is.” She shifts the focus. “You should see how heglances at Vivian all the time, then looks away, all busted. He’s so cute.”
“Why isn’t he withher?”
“Cuz she’s oblivious and married.”
“Oh shit.” I sigh, feeling sorry for him. “He’s in love with a married woman?”
“Yeah, girl,” she proclaims. “And your love is living proof; it’s complicated when BDE is involved. Be honest. Is LuvPounder really that big, and?—”
“Ahem.” A husky rumble turns my attention around to the man, looming behind me. The massive, cut man with icy eyes, a nose ring, and ink on his neck. Ink on his shredded body, too, that I shouldn’t know about.
“Hey, uh…” Gawking up at him, I mumble to Vale, “Gotta go. Call you tomorrow.”
I end the call and greet my godfather with a sheepish, “Hey.”
“Hey.” His lush, bearded lips don’t smile. “Didn’t know you were home. Does your dad know?”
