Page 50 of Recklessly You
Dominic groans. “Dammit, Liam, you’re so damn stuck into the past that you’ll miss the beautiful things in life. I could easily hide, terrified of cancer consuming me all over again, afraid of leaving Mila and my kids. But I won’t let the darkness take me again. I want to see my kids grow. I want to haveso manykids with Mila. I spent five years away from her, and fuck it, I will not make that mistake again—letting her go and not trying harder. I won’t.”
He takes a sip of his water and points at me angrily. He’s clearly a dad. He’s certainly acting like one.
“You’re sucked into this dark cloud, Liam. You don’t see yourself as a family man who can have everything. When you speak of your father, you speak of him as an honorable, amazing, loving father. When your mom speaks of him, she speaks of him as a man worth remembering—one-of-a-kind. And that is who you are, Liam—an honorable man. You just need to get your head out of your ass.” Dominic stands and taps the table. “I’m going to check on how things are going in the kitchen. Remember what I said, Liam.”
“Fuck, you sound like a dad already.”
He laughs. “You want to go to the house later and have some beers?”
“Nah, I have some shit to do,” I drawl.
“Of course. With Sophie.”
My eyes bulge.
“It’s only obvious, Liam, and no, Mila doesn’t know.” Just as he’s about to walk out, he turns to glance at me. “Don’t let this drag on. If you don’t want a relationship, then let her go. It will only make things more complicated. You’ll end up hurting her.” Then he leaves.
I stay right where I am, though. I’m not ready for the kind of change he spoke of. But I’m also not ready to let her go. Just a little longer…
* * *
After lunch,I head back to the station to finish my shift and review our new mission. It turns out we have an informant who ratted out the Serpents and who is willing to provide us with intel if we grant him and his family protection. The Serpents are planning on receiving crates full of drugs from the cartel next week. If everything goes smoothly, we should take them down. From what we heard, Pablo should be there, but I think the fucker will send his son.
Pulling into Sophie’s apartment, I park my car along the side of the street. After the shitty day I’ve had, all I want to do is get lost in Sophie and numb the pain this day brings me every year since my father’s passing. Every year, I relive that horrible night, the night I lost a part of myself.
I kissmy mamá and get into Papá’s car. Mamá stayed home to rest. On our way to the pizza place, Papá turns up the radio when a song he loves comes on.
“This song, I sang to your mamá years ago in high school. She’s my high school sweetheart.”
I’m not sure what it means, but it makes him smile. “What is the name of the song, Papá?”
“Driveby the Cars,” he says and sings each word.
I close my eyes and listen to each word.
“It’s about a man in love who’s willing to do anything for that one person.” Papá smiles brightly. He must be thinking of Mamá.
“I’m never getting married, Papá. Gross.”
Papá laughs so much his body shakes. He sings the last lyrics of the song as it ends.
“Someday, when you’re grown up and find the right girl, you’ll want that, Liam. You will want her by your side.”
I cross my arms and lean back in my seat as my stomach grumbles. Good thing we made it to the pizza place in time.
I shakeoff the memory when I make it to Sophie’s door, and I hear a man’s voice.
“Baby, please listen to me. I love you so much, Sophie. For months, I’ve been calling you. You blocked my damn calls. Soph, just hear me out, baby. I came all the way out here for you.” The fucker. It must be her ex.
“It’s too damn late, Eric. Tell me how long you’ve been sleeping with her, huh? How long? Because I thought she was my friend, and I thought you were my boyfriend, and you both made a fool out of me. So how long had you been screwing her?” Sophie’s voice booms.
So, the asshole cheated on her with her friend. Cocksucker.
It’s quiet for a split second.
“It was only that one-time, babe. I’ve never been with anyone else. I promise. I’ll move here. We can start over, Soph.”
Sophie huffs. “Just go, Eric. I can’t even look at you.”
