Page 22 of Come Inside

“The monster.” I leveled him with my gaze. “Father dearest.”

The air left him in a whoosh. “Your father? What kind of man? Fuck!”

“He’s dead now, but his impact? It hasn’t faded too much unfortunately.”

He brought a hand up to rub his temple. “Yara, I know this may not mean much coming from a practical stranger, but we make our own beauty. Sure, you are undeniably gorgeous, but it’s more than that. You are vibrant, you have brought life into every moment since we met. But even more importantly? No one else’s opinion matters except your own.”

“But that’s the thing, isn’t it?” I went to reach for my wine, but he caught my hand, holding it in a tight grip, addicting static fire spread through my nerves while I tried to ignore it. “How does one build confidence after years of that? And then when I thought I finally might be okay. That I might finally accept who I was as a person, flaws and all, a particularly nasty man fell into my life.”

Daniel.

I laughed caustically. “In some ways he was even worse. The scars he left behind were just as painful.”

I leaned back against my chair, watching his face the entire time. There wasn’t any pity present, just fury.

“So that’s my story, a twice broken girl trying to figure out her shit one faltering step at a time. And that’s why I’m here.” I squeezed his hand back, ignoring the fluttering of emotions he was causing.

How I somehow felt more seen in his presence than I had in years.

“You’re not broken,” he argued.

I waved a hand in dismissal, but internally, my heart pounded against my ribcage.

“So, James, do you want to tell me your story now? Or do you want to do it after?”

“After,” he practically growled out the word.

“Okay, well first things first. I need to lose myguard.” I didn’t look behind me, I could still feel the holes Kazi was burrowing into the back of my head. “Here’s the plan.”

Chapter 16

D

His Doll. His Yara.

D fidgeted in annoyance, he had stayed out of sight in this disgusting restaurant, but their dinner had gone on for ages.

His doll was acting differently than she should.

D wasn’t quite sure of the specifics, but he knew for certain this wasn’t going according to plan. He had signed James up for this, knew he would request the discretion package, but why did it seem like more than that?

This date had gone on for too long; he wasn’t sure what there was left to discuss.

Why did it almost appear they wereflirting?

A moment later she threw her drink at James. His anger simmered down, and he chuckled.

Better.

“Fuck off!” his doll screeched loudly enough to echo around the entire restaurant.

Silence followed for a moment before the hum of conversation started up again. He kept his eyes focused on her retreat, she was heading for the bathrooms.

The time wasn’t right to take her, she had caused too much of a scene.

He would need to wait a little longer, he would have to make James meet up with her again. Get her in public. Further away from Kazi.

D glanced back at James, a restaurant employee was leading him away, blubbering apologies.

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