Page 108 of Beautiful Dangerous

I’m not. Not really. I don’t want this shit anymore, I want a normal life with the woman I love and I can’t believe how ridiculous that sounds, to be honest. How can a man like me have anything even resembling a normal life?

Fight for it.

Fight forher.

I intend to…

“Here. Taste this.”

Celine shoves a spoon laden with cooked peppers and rice in my face. I take it from her, blow on the food to cool it, and eat it. It’s delicious, but then, everything Celine cooks is delicious. I’m going to miss her food, a lot.

“Not too spicy?” she asks, her hands on her hips as she waits for my verdict. “Enough salt?”

“Perfectly seasoned, and just the right amount of heat, for me.”

“Good.” She turns back to the stove and puts a lid on the pot. “Katy will look after you, when we’re gone. She’s learnt a lot from me, she’s a good girl. A hard worker.”

“I know. But I’ll still miss your cooking.”

She turns her head to look at me, smiling widely. “Thank you. I will cook you something extra special before I go, your favorite. And maybe a couple of meals to put in the freezer…”

“Celine, please, you have enough to think about without making extra meals for me. And I’m sure, as you’ve already said, that Katy is more than capable of replicating your recipes.”

“Of course she is!” She shoots me another smile. “But she will never be able to recreate them as well as me.”

She winks at me and I laugh, and for a moment I allow myself a few minutes of peace and calm as I chat to Celine about seeing family members she hasn’t seen in a long while, her son’s college course, and the house in Mexico she’s about to take charge of.

“Change isn’t something we always welcome,” Celine says as she ladles portions of rice and vegetables into containers. “But sometimes it needs to happen.” Once again she throws a knowing look in my direction, and now I’m sure she’s very much aware of how Olivia and I felt about each other, before Javier’s return from the dead. She knew, but she’s loyal to Javier, always has been, he’s like a son to her, and now that he’s back she wants him to be happy. I get that. But doesn’t Olivia’s happiness count, too?

“Maybe,” I murmur, setting my empty mug down on the counter before heading toward the door.

“Lucca?”

Her voice makes me turn back around. “Yeah?”

“Olivia will be okay. Javier, he adores her. And their love story, it was always meant to be.”

I force another smile and nod, even though I don’t believe a word of that. I don’t believe Oliviawillbe okay, and maybe Javierdoesadore her, but their love story? That’s over. It’s done.

Heading out of the kitchen, I pull out my phone and check for messages, but there aren’t any. And my heart sinks. Before Javier’s reappearance Olivia and I used to text all the time, when I wasn’t with her which, granted, wasn’t that often, but I miss the small, everyday things we used to chat about. I miss the interaction, the always feeling like I was connected to her, that we were growing closer…

And that’s when you should’ve stopped it. That’s when you lost control…

“There you are!”

Javier’s voice booming along the hallway almost causes me to drop my phone, and I shove it back in my pocket and look up.

“Where’ve you been?” he asks as he strides toward me, his face a mask of barely hidden contempt. And who died and made him my fucking father?

“At the compound.”

“With the bikers?”

“Yes, with the bikers. If you’d needed me you should’ve called.”

“I shouldn’thaveto call, you should be here. If you want to stay out all night then you should at least have the courtesy to let me know.”

I’m surprised he’s not having me tracked, to be honest, but then again he has no need, does he? He won’t let Olivia out of his sight, therefore she can’t get to me without his knowing. So why the fuck he cares where I am, I have no idea.

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