Page 39 of The Secret

“Why would you want that?” Her voice hardened as the volume increased, and I half expected a colony of bats to rise up from the floor and attack me on her command.

“Dasha, he’s not a single dad. Now will you fuck off and stop ruining our brunch?” Penn snapped. “Go and find a new victim to sink your claws into. My boy is off the market.”

I stayed silent, while she waited for me to respond. When it became clear I wasn’t about to, the snarl on her lip would have made any Doberman proud as she turned on her heel and stalked off.

“Ker-ist. She’d probably murder you in your bed if you’re not careful.” Penn shook his head. “You should up security, or you’ll find she’s removed your balls in the night without anesthetic so she can wear them for earrings.”

Rafe laughed. “Yeah, she’d definitely do that. The guy she dated before you was into nasty shit, so she’s bound to have picked up some bad habits. I had to dig up some stuff on him last year for a case.”

I threw my hands in the air. “We didn’t date; we slept together until the novelty wore off. You can’t blame me, she looked fucking hot and she wasn’t walking around with a psycho warning strapped to her. You remember what that night was like? We were all wasted and if I recall, you went off with the Truman twins.” I pointed to Rafe, who shrugged with no shame, a smile slowly slanting on the left corner of his lip in memory. “Anyway, what’s done is done. It’s over and I made that very clear to her after she tried to throw a plate at me.”

Rafe scratched his fingers through his hair. “You know, I always thought Beulah Holmes was the most evil woman to walk the planet, but Dasha would wipe the floor with her.”

“Fuck, Beulah Holmes. Not heard her name in a while,” Penn whispered. Bell had fallen asleep in his arms. “There never used to be a day where you didn’t complain about her.”

“Yeah, I swear she’d drink the blood of the freshmen just so she could stay up all night to study and fuck with my grades.”

Beulah Holmes was a girl on Rafe’s law course, the only person who’d ever been able to raise him from his permanent insouciance. His favorite present we’d ever given him was a dart board made with her face printed on it. Every day he’d come back to the house, complaining about how much he hated her and throw some darts at her until he felt better. And the feeling was mutual. They made each other’s lives hell, but she was also why he graduated first in their class, because Hell would haveactuallyfrozen over before he’d let her beat him. Penn and I had a secret bet going that they’d fuck it out, but they just went their separate ways, hating each other from afar.

“Wonder what she’s up to now.”

“She’s out in Chicago reigning terror at a big firm, or was last time I checked.” He knocked back the last of his champagne. “But as long as she’s far away from me, I couldn’t give a fuck.”

I caught Penn’s eye, the glint matching mine, grinning at him.

“Can I get you gentlemen anything else?” asked Ally, as another server cleared our table of empty plates.

I looked at my watch. “No, I’m good thanks, Ally. I need to head off.”

“Shall I bring the check?”

“Yes, please, sweetheart. That would be good,” Rafe nodded, and looked at me. “What’re you doing now?”

“I’ve got some work to do this afternoon and I want to get Bell home for her next bottle, so she can sleep in her bed.”

Right on cue, Bell woke up and started crying, the universal signal for needing to get the fuck out. I took her from Penn, kissing her cheek as she grumbled.

“Come on, little one, time to go home.” I looked back over at Rafe. “What are you doing? You want to come with us?”

“Nah, I think I should go and supervise Pennington’s supervision. Especially as I’m his legal counsel, and the likelihood he’ll fuck it up somehow.”

Penn responded by flipping him off.

“Yeah, okay.” I stood up, loading myself up with Bell’s things and threw some cash on the table. “Right, fellas, we’re heading off.”

“What time is Kit home?”

“Seven, just before bedtime.”

“Your bedtime?” The idiots in front of me high fived as they laughed. “Is she going to tuck you in too?”

I ignored them as was standard. “Are you going to say goodbye to your goddaughter?”

They both got up and gave her a kiss.

“Gym in the morning?” Penn asked.

“Yeah, see you there at ten.”

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