Vengeance Aside (Wanted Men 0.5)(61)

“Thanks. Anyway, like I was saying, my mom didn’t take much of an interest in either of her children. It sucked, but I got through it.”

Her brother hadn’t. “How did your brother die?”

“He just did.”

Shut down. Hard. What the fuck could that mean? Murder? Disease? Suicide? “Okay.” He kept the disappointment he felt out of his voice and waited to see if she’d give him anything more. He heard her take a deep breath, and then she broke his heart.

“My mom never came to school for track and field events, never saw me in a play, and wasn’t interested in seeing me come first place in my cross country meets. She never talked to me about boys, didn’t give me anything resembling a birds-and-the-bees talk, and I only knew about getting my period because the girls in my class talked endlessly about it when they got theirs. She never picked me up after school, didn’t come to the office the day I broke Jason Barber’s nose for tickling me, I have no school photos because she never bothered ordering them, and I never complained about it, which meant Oma didn’t know it bothered me enough for her to learn how to do it. My brother…he didn’t care, about anything, so… Anyway, I had two birthday parties that Oma put on for me, and to show you what a winner she was, my mom went out with friends because she didn’t like the noise. When Oma died…” She squinted and looked out the windshield. “She didn’t cry. The cold-hearted bitch didn’t cry when her own fucking mother died. She looked at her watch. We sat in the pew with my dad almost snoring, and she looked at her stupid piece of shit watch that her boss had given her for Christmas. She lives with him now in Florida.”

Her arm’s length way of living was suddenly beginning to make sense. “Do you see her often?” He had to ask, even though he wasn’t sure how he’d react if she said yes.

“No.”

Thank fuck. “Do you talk with her? On the phone? Texting?”

She shook her head. “No.”

Good.

In a move Lukas saw as her finally showing him she was coming to trust him, Dale shifted, moving her body so she was facing him.

“I remember when I was five or six, our neighbors across the street had this big dog I’d play with—I don’t know what breed he was. We were screwing around on the road one day, and I went to run, but he tripped me up and I fell instead. Tore my knee open.” She passed her fingers over her right knee, but he couldn’t see anything because she was wearing a pair of black high-waist pants with her black heels and clinging red blouse. “I ran into the house, freaking out because the skin was hanging off like a piece of bologna and blood was running down my shin. My mom was on the phone with her friend, and as I pointed to my leg and tried to stop crying because I knew she didn’t like that, she put her hand on my forehead and pushed back until I was just outside the kitchen door. Then she put her finger to her lips and let the door swing shut in my face.”

She paused, her forehead creasing like she was confused. She was staring at his chest, but by the vacant look in her eyes, she was six years old and back behind that kitchen door.

“I went to…my brother’s room, but he was…in a mood, so I left and went to the bathroom. Cleaned my knee with toilet paper.”

She stopped again, and he watched her rebuild her walls by moving to face forward. She sat stiffly, her back a straight shot of spine. “Made a fucking mess,” she murmured, her voice small. “But I got the job done on my own. After, I tried to reach my mom again and again. Eventually stopped, though. I guess I understood on some level we’d never connect.” She closed down completely when she turned away to look out the passenger window, saying, “When she left when I was fifteen, I wasn’t heartbroken. I wasn’t.”

That last whispered add-on proved she had been.

Lukas swallowed past a thickness in his throat as he compared her upbringing to his, noting the difference between what had been denied her and the unconditional love and affection he’d lived with all his life. He was almost embarrassed to admit he’d taken much of it for granted because it was just the way things were.

The way things should have been for his beautiful little berry.

And the way things would be for her from here on out.





EIGHTEEN


Shutting down the water an hour later, Lukas walked out of the shower and dried off. He eyed the boxers he’d thrown on the counter. Fuckers weren’t going to do much good hiding his dick that refused to behave now that he and Dale were in the privacy of their bedroom.

The minute they’d come in from the garage and headed this way, Mr. Let’s Get It On had stood at attention.

He yanked on the boxers and pulled his robe off the back of the door. It was too fucking hot for it, but he shoved his arms through the sleeves anyway because he wanted to make sure Dale was okay, and she wouldn’t pay any attention to his questions if he strolled out naked with his dick pointing at her.

He opened the door—

She was in the center of the room.

Standing on her head.

“What the hell are you doing?” He approached, moving slowly so his robe wouldn’t part and show her just how gorgeous his cock thought she looked in workout gear. That ripe, apple-shaped ass? Goddamn him.

“Sirshasana,” she whispered in a breathy voice. Her forearms were laying flat on the floor to create a frame around her head. She’d put her hair in a loose bun, but strands were already escaping.