Page 25 of The Alpha's Assistant & The Dom Next Door
She goes from purple to white and back again. “Don’t you fucking talk to me about therapy, Miss Depressed! I’m fine! It’s not my fault you could never handle someone with a stronger personality thanyours!”
“Being a pushy bitch doesn’t make you strong, Shayla. If you were strong, you’d be enjoying what you have instead of coming after what’s mine.” My eyes are locked with hers, while inside I marvel at my own unexpectedcourage.
“It’s all mine!” she shrieks suddenly, and lunges for me, making me freeze with shock. But she doesn’t even touch me before a heavy, insistent knock at the door startles usboth.
I turn, but Shayla, her anger redirected as quickly as a mad dog’s, darts past me and yanks the door open. “Who are you? Fuckoff!”
Carl is standing there, arms folded, a thunderous scowl on his face as he stares atShayla.
I freeze, stunned, unable to understand why in the hell he’s on my doorstep when he’s taken no interest in me for months. That I know of, anyway. But suddenly, here he is like a white knight, giving her such a forbidding look that all the bluster goes out of her atonce.
“W—what are you doing here?” she challenges shakily. She folds her skinny arms and lifts her chin, as if it’s her house and he just interrupted something sane and normal. But he’s not buying it, and she can tell—and that scares her,too.
Good.
“I heard screaming over here,” he rumbles, his voice so unlike the kind tone he uses with his daughter that it sends a small chill down my spine. “I wanted to make sure that Miss Emmeline was not in danger from some …intruder.”
Shayla switches gears, going all fluttery and flustered, half of it a smokescreen, but some of it appearing genuine. “Oh no, no, no, I’m actually Emmeline’s older sister. We were just having a … private … familydiscussion—”
“Private? If you wanted to have a private discussion, why could I hear every word from inside mykitchen?”
That seems to get through to Shayla, finally. That’s always been her way, to thrive on the uncomfortable silence of a family that is forced to tolerate her. Shocked comments from the neighbors, from a visiting friend, from her own boyfriend … all of them break that silence, and throw a spotlight on herbehaviour.
I’m still mortified that he felt the need to step in, and that this is how we’re meeting for the first time: me fighting tears and nausea, with my heartless nut of a sister standing between us. But as Shayla rubs her face convulsively in response, Carl looks past her and stares right at me … and his whole facechanges.
He gives me a sympathetic look, with the tiniest apologetic smile. As if he’s been there, dealing with irrational people who teeter at all times on the edge of becoming dangerous. And I realize—with a surge of gratitude and relief—that he didn’t come here to yell at me. He came here to save me from the person who was yelling atme.
I bite my lip and nod back, forcing a tiny smile even as my eyes start to sting dangerously. I’ve become unaccustomed to kindness now that Mom and Dad are gone. It feels good and hurts at the same time. The feeling mixes with my anguish at dealing with Shayla like an antidote, destroying it and restoring some of mystrength.
Shayla puts her hand over her mouth and mumbles, all fake modesty, “Oh, I-I-I didn’t realize.I…”
“Shayla,” I sigh suddenly, my voice stony and exasperated. “Just go away already. You’ve already embarrassed us both, and you’re not four. You’re not going to get your way by throwing atantrum.”
She shoots me a look of pure hatred and frustration, and then suddenly scuttles out, shoving the screen door open and shouldering rudely past Carl. He steps aside to let her go, watching her flee down the walk with a bemused look on hisface.
We watch silently until she roars off in her gold Mercedes, as if we’re both wary of what she’ll do until we can see she’s gone for good. Then Carl turns back to me, and his sympathetic look returns. “You okay?” he asks verygently.
I draw in a shivery breath and let my heartbeat slow a little before trying to speak. “Yeah,” I murmur, giving him the bravest smile I can manage. “I am now. Thank you.” I’m so embarrassed that this is how we are finally meeting that I feel like I have to explain myself. “She’s … not veryrational.”
“I noticed.” He offers an enormous hand. “We only met briefly at that block party last month, but uh … I’ve noticed you around. Thought about saying hello, but you seem like a pretty privateperson.”
I hesitate, then clasp his hand with my own as best I can. His enormous hand closes over mine and surrounds it in brief, leathery warmth. It’s all I can do not to whimper at his comfortingtouch.
“Y-yeah, sorry, I left early that day. I was going to introduce myself but the crowd got kind of overwhelming after a while.” I blame Shayla. I was afraid of running into her in that crowd, after a week of obsessive phone calls out of nowhere. If that hadn’t happened, maybe I could have spent a little more time at the block party, and become friends with the neighbors I still don’t reallyknow.
LikeCarl.
The warmth of his hand sinks into mine, and for a long moment, I linger, wishing I could keep holding hands with him without seeming like a weirdo. Finally, I let him go. “I wish the circumstances were better, but I’m glad we’ve finally introduced ourselvesproperly.”
His smile goes a touch cheerier. Then he points over his shoulder at his house. “Hey, uh, I can’t leave my kid. You want to come over for somecocoa?”
I blink at him, the homey offer sounding strange coming out of a gigantic tough guy like him. He seems to know it and chuckles sheepishly, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Can’t break out the booze until after my kid’s in bed. It’s arule.”
“Oh, that’s all right. I could really use some chocolate right now, actually.” I step out onto the porch, fishing in my pocket for my keys. Shayla is gone, but until the smell of her perfume dissipates from the rooms of my house, I don’t want to bethere.
And as for Carl … he could ask me o go to the garbage dump with him, and I would probably sayyes
“So does she hassle you like that a lot?” he asks quietly as I finish locking up and turn to follow him back to hishouse.
