Page 134 of Oblivion

I shoved at his shoulder before turning my attention to Mei. “I’ll make you breakfast, Mei; it’s the least I can do.”

Her warm brown eyes locked on me. “No, you won’t. Chen will make us both breakfast, andyouwill sit down and tell me what the fuck you were thinking screwing around with Sadie again when you’re obviously in love with Penny.”

I gulped. Literally gulped as my balls retreated in fear.

Chen’s expression looked as bewildered as mine felt. I nodded and obeyed the pint-sized voodoo doll, and as I moved past Chen, I heard the whispered curse under his breath.

Mei’s eyes never left mine as I approached and sat adjacent to her.

“This is like facing the jury in a court martial all over again,” I joked.

“Don’t be silly, Dante,” she admonished. “I’m not going to make you stand to attention.”

“Fuck,” I hissed to myself, at precisely the same time Chen’s matching curse was heard from the stove.

CHAPTERFIFTY-ONE

Dante

The little disciplinarian chat with Mei three days ago was nothing compared to the mind fuck of Forrest’s funeral.

In Mei terms, she’d been gentle with me, but she’d sure as hell held me accountable for my actions. She refused to accept the bullshit excuses and all but nailed my ass to the wall each time another left my mouth. Mei had the ability to strip away layer upon layer until the root of the problem became exposed.

In her words, and certainly not mine, I was scared of what I felt for Penny and was self-sabotaging so I didn’t risk my heart being broken again. I was blue in the face, and wasted an entire ten minutes trying to tell her that Sadie didn’t break my heart, but Mei wasn’t having it.

In the end, after she’d whittled me down to within an inch of my life, I sighed and threw up my hands.

“Fine! I love Penny, okay! Happy now?”

She’d slapped the table. “Finally, he admits it! And yes, I’m happy. Now we can eat.Cheny,”Mei sweetly called. “We’ve had our breakthrough and are ready for breakfast.”

The look on Jenny’s face had me cracking up at his own expense. He was so fucking whipped it was comical.

The memory created a ghost of a smile to briefly cross my mouth. Having just endured the hardest and lowest day of my life, I took refuge in the recollection.

Today had fucked me. Fucked us. Fucked everyone who was at Forrest’s funeral. After standing united with my Green Beret brothers for over two hours, we’d taken the edge off our grief at the bar on Camp before converging on Mei and Chen’s house for dinner and more drinks.

Out back in their backyard, a pregnant pause silenced the air as we all took a long swig of our beers. Even Tucker, who was a reformed alcoholic, allowed himself to drown his sorrows tonight.

The late afternoon chill brought promises of winter soon to come. The fire in the brazier crackled quietly under its breath, and I watched the flames find life on the freshly lit kindling.

There were seven of us here so far tonight: me, Jenny and Mei, Tucker and his wife Naiomi, Pittsy, and Doughboy. It felt eerily empty without Forrest. We all knew it, though no one was willing to voice it.

“Cheny,” Mei called from inside. “Someone’s at the front door.”

He deftly pushed out of the deck chair. “That’ll be Jackson.”

I remained seated. Chen could welcome him and show him around without me holding his hand. Jackson arrived late last night for the funeral today, and I had to admit, it was really fucking good having him there.

“Ah, Lote? You might wanna take this one,” Jenny called from inside. His voice held a waver of uncertainty.

Fuck that. I didn’t need round two with Sadie in front of the guys.

“Not interested, bro,” I shouted, tipping the bottle to my lips again.

“You should be.”

I let out a growl of irritation, set my beer on the deck, and pushed to my feet. Stepping into the living room with Mei watching me closely gave an odd feeling of disconnect. She sent me an inquisitive look. I held it while walking past, then broke away, redirecting my attention toward the front door.

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