Page 86 of Fierce-Hyde

“I’m the lucky one that he wanted it,” she said. “I’m just as much to blame as him at times and can accept that.”

She hadn’t thought the conversation would go this way.

“Have we gotten all of this out of the way?” Hyde asked. “Can we just sit back and have a nice dinner now?”

“Your sister is going to stop now,” Brenda said. “Right, CeeCee?”

“Right,” CeeCee said, grinning. “I just wanted to get it in there. Hyde had a rough year. It’s hard to deal with what he had, and though he might have been a jerk, he should have a little wiggle room.”

Which she tried to remember.

“I agree,” Tori said. “Now that we know the rocky start to our relationship and that everything seems to be much smoother, what do you all think of the weather?”

There was some laughter at that statement. “I like you,” Brenda said. “Hyde told us about your job and background. I’m sure you’re used to calming situations or redirecting them.”

“I am,” she said. “But I also know that everyone needs to have an opportunity to speak their mind to help clear the air.”

“Which the two of us do,” Hyde said.

“We do,” she said. “I find Hyde very refreshing on a lot of levels. He has manners that a lot of people seem to lack.”

“Except with his phone,” Rodney said.

“Which I don’t do anymore,” he said. “Or not much.”

“We thank you for that,” CeeCee said. “It was annoying.”

“Glad to know I wasn’t the only one to see it, but I only saw it that once.”

“Trust me,” Brenda said. “Before you said that to him, we’d be sitting here at dinner and his face would be in his device more than he was talking to us.”

Tori pursed her lips. “That’s not right,” she said, nudging his arm.

“Nope,” he said. “But I’m a reformed man, thanks to you.”

She smiled softly. “I think you did it all on your own.”

26

STRUGGLING TO BREATHE

Hyde was drowning.

He was cold, wet, and running out of air.

Everything was dark as he went under again.

Where the hell was the water even coming from?

The last thing he remembered was going out to dinner with his family and Tori.

They returned to his place, landed in bed, and then fell asleep.

It was a successful night in his eyes.

Yet he felt as if every part of his body was dying and he couldn’t stop it.

He turned his head to see if Tori was with him.

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