Page 64 of At The End Of The Day

My eyelids fluttered closed with a muted curse. We were never going to have a proper moment. This was Billy all over; stolen, fleeting moments that never gave full satisfaction, leaving me always wanting more, feeling empty.

“Yes, acorn,” I croaked, finishing what I was doing.

“Then can I go change? Please?” she asked, dragging the word out.

I craned my neck to look over my bicep and chuckled at the skirt. “Yes, you can go change.”

“Thank god,” she whined and darted from the room.

Bringing my attention back to Dash, I startled that he’d never taken his eyes off me. As I began to withdraw, he grabbed the back of my elbow to prevent it. His chest heaving, I began to shake, my skin flushing. At a slow pace, he searched every inch of my face, then tilted his head to roam lower, down my chest. Taking his time to return to my eyes, I broke out in goosebumps, my stomach coiling. Bit by bit, he released his hold and let me stand upright.

My mouth ran dry, so I licked my lips, snatched my shirt, and yanked it back on, ignoring the pain it caused. Backing away from the bed, I was mesmerized, his eyes practically glowing as he stared at me with an intensity that had my core quivering.

My voice raspy, I croaked, “I’m gonna check on the acorn, see if she needs food.”

His sight instantly shot down to my crotch, the flames flickering brighter in his stare.

“Are…you hungry?”

Inching his focus back to mine, he was gazing at me through his lashes, a brow arching.

Jesus, the way he was fucking looking at me, it was like I was being hunted, all over again, but in an invigorating manner, one that had my muscles shaking and my stomach coiling with need. I had a feeling, if not for our wounds and his daughter’s presence, he would absolutely ravish every inch of my body. So, fucking hot.

I gulped the knot in my throat and cautiously crept from the room, that stare warning he might just do it regardless. My back bumping into the wall in the hallway, I stood there a moment, looking into the room. Since the bed was situated just inside the door, all I could see was the bottom corner of the mattress, yet could almost still feel his scrutiny.

“Vinny?”

“What?” I shouted, banging against the wall at the intrusion of her squeaky, innocent voice. My jaw snatched to the side, my insides jittery.

She was hovering in the doorway of her room right beside me, holding the frame so she could lean. Her bottom lip puckering, she eyed me suspiciously. “I’m hungry. Janelle cooks nasty food. Can we order a pizza?”

Snatching my focus back into the master suite, I could now see Dash’s foot, meaning he had laid down. My head bobbing awkwardly, I swallowed and whispered, “Yeah, sure. L-Let’s…let’s go.”

“Yay!” she squealed, racing past me down the hallway toward the living room.

A palm pressed to my stomach, the insides shaking. Pulling a deep breath into my lungs, I held it a moment and closed my eyelids, trying to compose myself. The weakness in my knees faded so I pushed off the wall and strolled after Piera. Never had Billy ever looked at me the way Dash just did. I had definitely wasted years hanging on to something I should have let go long ago. That stare, in itself, was an aphrodisiac like nothing else I’d ever felt.

Chapter 26

Vincent da Silva

“No! God, no!” Dash screamed from the bedroom.

I snorted and lunged to my feet, discombobulated from being ripped from my nap so abruptly. It took a few moments for my body to remember it was busted, but the pain caught up in a hot wave that broke me out in sweat and made me nauseous, my arms hugging my torso. “Ah, fuck.”

“Vin, no!” he shouted again.

My heart skipping a beat, I took off running down the hallway, overwrought with a burst of adrenaline. Shoving open the door, it banged on the wall from the force. My own body riddled with pain, sweat was drenching my clothes, beads trickling down the dip of my spine. Dropping to a knee on the edge of the mattress, I bent over and grabbed the sides of his neck, my fingers curling under his ears.

“Dario! Hey, man. Dash, open your eyes. Look at me, baby.”

He was thrashing about, an arm lifting, his fingers crooked as if he were holding a gun and repeatedly pulling the trigger. His lips curled over gleaming teeth, he, too, was dripping sweat, his breath foul from not brushing his teeth since leaving the hospital that morning. “No!” he whimpered.

“Dario, baby.”

“Daddy?”

I looked over my shoulder at Piera standing in the doorway, rubbing at her eye. “Everything’s okay, acorn. He’s just having a nightmare.”