Page 63 of Always You
“You have a son; it’s amazing, Mila; I’m so fucking sorry for all you went through these past years. I wish… you would have called me.” He sighs. There’s a deflation on his shoulder with sadness. “I missed you so much, Mila, when you left. I won’t lie. I was angry. I thought you left him.” I see the sorrow in his eyes.
“I did go looking for you, Liam. I asked around since we didn’t go to the same school; it was hard getting a hold of you. I bumped into Skylar the day I was leaving for Manhattan. I asked her for your number; she said she didn’t have it. I also informed her I was moving to Manhattan. I never told her why—”
He cuts me off. His eyes bulge out the size of a golf ball. “Wait a minute, she knew where you were this whole time?” he asks. Okay, he’s acting strange about this.
“Yes, she would call me and ask how I was doing.”
His expression is confused and angry. He rubs the stubble on his chin. I’m about to ask him what he means by this and why it makes him disoriented and angry when Sophie walks in.
“Hey, Chica, I’m going to grab food from one of the food trucks out there; want something?” she says, walking toward me. She does a double take on Liam.
I know my best friend, and she’s drooling at him with hungry eyes. I’ve never seen her look at Ryder this way or any man. She takes a long breath as if she was holding it too long. She glances at me clearing her throat.
“You want something?” she repeats.
I look over at Liam; he’s taking a long brush over her body, staring with a cocky grin. That asshole knows he’s hot, especially with his uniform on. “Liam, my best friend Sophie,” I introduce the two, who keep eye fucking each other. “Sophie, this is Liam, Dominic’s best friend.”
“Hey,” she squeals.
This is strange she has never acted this way with a guy. She’s never shy, always upfront. The way he’s ogling her, you’d think he’d never seen a woman like Sophie before. She is one of a kind and absolutely beautiful.
“I’ll have some teriyaki chicken,” I answer, as her blue eyes brush his profile.
“Ugh, okay, nice to meet you, Liam.” She walks out, glancing to take another quick look at him.
Liam is in a drunken daze. This was interesting. Maybe I should play matchmaker. I glance back at Liam. “So, what was it you were saying?”
He shakes off the haze he was in. “Oh yeah…” Just then a call comes in through his radio. “Shit, I have to go. It was nice seeing you again. Glade to have back.” He envelops me in a hug, just before he walks out saying something in his radio.
* * *
The place is buzzing with people. The music is blasting, and people are laughing. I drum my fingers on the table nervously.
“Baby, relax,” Dominic whispers in my ear.
We are at his restaurant tonight having dinner, waiting on his brothers to get here. They asked if they could meet Dante. My headache throbs as if a hostile squatter occupies it. A tightness in my chest burns with the thought of seeing Dominic’s brothers. Wounded by how easily they ignored me when I tried to reach out to them five years ago. If they had only listened to me then, things could've been different. I know I shouldn’t dwell on it.
“Hey, brother.”
I look to see Santiago and Mark—a beautiful blond, slender girl attached to Mark’s arm. Dominic stands up to hug his brothers. I stand next to Dominic to greet his brothers. Dominic rubs my back, comforting me. Santiago scans me up and down. It only makes me more nervous.
“Hot. Damn, Mila, you turned into a bombshell.”
Dominic grinds his teeth. “Watch it, brother.”
Santiago grins.
Yup, he still knows how to irk his brother.
“Still so possessive over her.” Santiago was always a womanizer. He never did relationships. I wonder if he’s still the same.
“Hey, Santiago.”
He envelops me a hug, so does Mark. He introduces me to his girlfriend, April. Mark was always sweet and quiet, the complete opposite of his brothers. He was in his early teens when I met him. He’s grown into a beautiful man.
Dante is beyond ecstatic to meet his uncles. Dominic swells with pride as he reaches for Dante lifting him into his arms.
“I want you to meet my brothers, your uncles.”
