Page 7 of Dagger

Elise was older and jaded. Life had made her as cold as the iceberg that sunk the Titanic. I was part of the suffering, which was fucked-up, but I also intended to be part of the healing process.

Thawing my Leesy out was gonna be a challenge.

One I was more than willing to take on.

Chapter Two

Elise

The door clicked open, and the pitter-patter of feet sounded over the tile, followed by a soft giggle.

“Granddaddy John said she was a duchess,” a sweet voice whispered. “I’s never seens a duchess before. I wonder if she’s pretty.”

“We’re princesses,” a different sweet voice exclaimed. “I wonder if we’re related to her ‘cause my pop says Granddaddy John’s king of the castle.”

The bed moved, and the mattress dipped, and more giggles filled the air.

Curiosity got the better of me. I cracked one eye open and let out a little squeak when I was confronted with a pair of beautiful, huge, grey eyes looming inches away from mine.

“Morning!” the little girl sang loudly. “I’m Sunshine Hope Stone. Are you a duchess?”

My wide-eyed gaze swung left to see an equally beautiful pair of cornflower-blue eyes studying mine curiously.

“Umm—” I began.

“Granddaddy John saids you knew my other Granddaddy Stevie,” Sunshine announced, turning to the tiny blonde girl beside her. “He’s in heaven.”

The other girl nodded understandingly.

Sunshine turned back to me. “Did you play with him?”

“Umm. He was my friend,” I confirmed, a little bewildered.

She beamed. “Kady’s my friend and Gabby and Kai. Willows and Baby Belle are my friends, too, and my mommy’s got my two little brothers in her belly. They’ll be my friends, but my daddy says they may be a pain in the butts when they’re babies ‘cause babies cry likeall the time. Kady and Gabby are my best friends.” She leaned closer and whispered, “Can you keeps a secret?”

I nodded.

“Libby at school thinks she’s my best friend, and I lets her ‘cause Mommy saids I should be kind, but she tried to kiss Kai, and Kai’s gonna be my ol’ man, not Libby’s,” she turned to the other girl, “isn’t he Kady?”

Kady nodded gravely again before tipping her chin up to look at me. “Do you like Taylor Swift?”

I blinked.

“Kai says I’m like the song, Trouble,” Sunshine said gravely. “It’ssoooooannoying. He said I was a pains in his ass, but don’t tell Uncle Kit ‘cause Kai will get in some bad books for cussing,” her little bottom lip wobbled, “I don’t wants Kai to get in bad books.”

Voices sounded from outside the door.

Sunny’s eyes went huge. “Oh my Gods!”

Kady made an ‘eek’ face as the door cracked open and a voice called, “Sunshine Hope Stone. I told you not to bother Elise.”

“She asked me to, Momma,” Sunshine blatantly lied.

Kady’s face twisted into more of an ‘eek’.

I couldn’t help but smile.

The door flew open, and a procession of beautiful women strutted in, all gorgeous in entirely different ways.

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