Page 44 of Temptress

“Dude, if you had told me how bad this place was, I never would have offered to help you paint. Jesus. Every room.”

I chuckled and nudged him with my elbow. “Come on, man. I’ll get you a beer as a thank you for helping me out. I’ve been living with a constant migraine since moving in here. It’s nice not to be living in technicolor anymore.”

I grabbed a couple beers from the fridge and guided Marco out onto the back porch so we could relax, drink a couple cold ones and breath some fresh, nontoxic air for a bit.

I sat down and kicked my feet up, propping them on the railing. Marco took the patio chair beside mine and did the same, taking a pull of his beer. “Well, it was a pain in the ass, but it’s a nice house, I’ll give you that.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, my eyes trailing over to the fence separating my property from Sloane’s. “It’s not so bad.”

“How’s Darcy doing? She warmed up to the place yet?”

She had, and there was really only one person I could thank for that. Sloane had taken this small town and turned it into something great for Darcy. She’d taken an angry, emotional teenager who was pissed at the world and missed her mom terribly, and turned her into a happy, functioning,non-psychotic member of society.

“She’s actually doing pretty great. She tried out and made the cheerleading squad, so I’m seeing her a lot less, She’s actually at practice right now. But now that she’s making friends, she’s a lot less of a pain in the ass.”

He shook his head in commiseration. “Teenagers. You’re lucky you’ve only got the one. Shit.” He chuckled deep. “I can’t wait to be done with those years.”

“Yeah, but between all of Gypsy’s brothers and sisters, you’re looking at another decade, at least.”

“Don’t remind me,” he said with a pained groan. “And don’t get me started on dating.”

My stomach sank like a cinderblock being tossed into the ocean. The last goddamn thing I wanted to think about was Darcy dating some pimple-faced, chub-sporting little prick. Just the thought was enough to make my head pound. There wasn’t enough Tylenol in the world to get me through that shit.

“All I can do is pray I can get Kim on board with the whole no-dating-until-I’m-dead rule I’m trying to implement.”

“Don’t bother,” he warned. “In my experience, the females band together. I think it’s a conspiracy to torture us.”

“Fucking brilliant,” I grumbled.

My mood turned sour at the thought of my girl growing up more than she already had.

Speaking of my girl, the back door opened just then, and Darcy stepped out onto the back porch. “Hey Dad. I’m home,” she announced, then squealed loud enough I thought my ears were going to start bleeding when she saw who was sitting beside me, and I was all but forgotten. “Uncle Marco!” she shouted, throwing herself into his arms once he stood up. He’d been her favorite person ever since he used his connections to get her backstage passes to a Civil Corruption concert for her birthday the year before. Ass-kissing son of a bitch. She’d and her mother got to spend an hour hanging out back stage with the band members and their families, and to hear herandKim talk, that was the best day of both their lives.

“Hey there, sugarplum.” He lifted her feet off the ground and gave her a spin. “God, you’ve gotten so grown up! Let me get a better look at you.” He took her by the shoulders and held her at arm’s length. “Even more beautiful than the last time I saw you.”

She flushed pink and lowered her head on a giggle.

“Your dad told me you made the cheer team. Congrats, honey.”

“Thanks,” she said with an excited hop. “I wasn’t gonna do it, but then Sloane told me I couldn’t let fear stop me from doing the things I wanted to do, or I’d always miss out.”

Marco’s chin jerked back. “Wow. That’s pretty insightful for a high school kid.”

“Oh, no. Sloane’s not a kid. She’s our next-door neighbor.”

“You mean Sloane Chambers?”

My back went straight at the sound of my woman’s name on some other guy’s lips. “You know her?”

“Yeah. She’s really good friends with Gypsy, has been for years. Now that I know who you’re talking about it makes total sense. She’s a good woman. I can see her saying something like that.”

Marco was a friend. A really important one. And he was married to the love of his life, a woman who he cherished with everything he was, but for some insane, irrational reason, I felt a spark of jealousy lash through me when he talked about her.

Darcy preened, oblivious to the war raging inside of me. “She’s the best. She’s actually a friend of mine too,” she said with pride. “She’s teaching me to garden because my mom keeps killing all our plants.”

Marco laughed. “Well, sweetheart, as far as friends go, you could do a lot worse than Sloane. I’m really glad you’ve got someone like her in your corner.”

I knew it was insane, but it chafed to hear him talk like he knew her better than I did. I wanted to announce that I was the one taking her to bed, the one who got the privilege of touching and kissing her body. But I couldn’t say shit, not with Darcy standing right there. Sloane and I were in a really good place. Hell, agreatplace, as far as I was concerned. But our relationship was only a few weeks old. I wasn’t ready for my baby girl to find out yet. The thought that she’d feel betrayed, like I was choosing Sloane over her in some way, scared the hell out of me. I needed to be sure everything with the two women in my life was stable before letting the truth come out.

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