I told myself it was all just a lot, that we’d make things right when she got back home. I worked. Or pretended to. Paperwork had never been my thing. I did what I had to do and left the paperwork for the government and official personnel to figure out.
Izzy was the first who called the day Delilah got released. “You don’t have to call, Izzy.”
“I told her our kiss was nothing, that she saw it wrong. She thought you engaged with me when obviously you pushed me away. I told her how you feel. She’s just not really responding. And I know I don’t have to call you. Quite frankly, giving the guy I thought I might love updates on the girl he loves isn’t my idea of fun, but it’s for her. She’s got to get through this. She’s not trying right now. She’s talking herself into something terrible, Dante. I can feel her retreating, can feel my sister not moving forward but backward, and it’s freaking painful. I can’t stop it, so I’m calling you to tell you that you need to.”
“I should give her space.”
“Get your ass here. My family babies the shit out of her, and when she said she didn’t want to talk to anyone, they listened and practically barricaded the door for her. My mom is scared she’s back to college days, and honestly, she might be right. It’s that bad.”
It’d been three days. The minutes felt like hours. And then the hours felt like days.
“Has she gotten my flowers?”
“She doesn’t read the notes. She barely looks at the flowers.”
I took a deep breath. “Get ready for me to rip apart your family.”
“You’ll make it stronger, but it might hurt a little first.”
“No shit,” I muttered, but I was already heading toward my car as I hung up the phone.
“Dude, you sent a shit ton of flowers already. She doesn’t need fucking bouquets from you.” My best friend stood in the doorway, not asking me to come in or opening the door any farther.
“I’m coming in one way or another, Dom.” I ticked my head toward the door.
“You got a lot of nerve showing up here after we’ve asked you to stay away. She’s healing, and shit, I’m healing from your fuckup too. You put my kid sisters in danger, man.”
“I’ll apologize. We’ll get over it. I know it’s a lot, Dom.”
His jaw worked, and his fist closed and opened. I waited for a swing or a lunge, but he sighed and opened the door instead. “Mom, Dad. Dante’s here. Should we grill his ass some more?”
My friend crossed his arms and glared at me. Izzy and I had hidden a secret for a long time. We’d broken a lot of people’s trust.
Their dad ambled in, a big round teddy bear with his button-up flannels and worn jeans. He’d worked for a beer company most of his life and retired when the kids had all graduated. “Dante, she’s not going to want to see you. She doesn’t want to see anyone. She wants to sleep.” He rubbed his large belly, a normal gesture, though it was usually one he did with a smile.
Her mom, with her wavy dark hair, came in and wrung her hands in front of her maxi dress, just the way Lilah did. “I think she’s tired. Or I don’t know. We need her to stop all this nonsense of traveling the world after this. Can you believe she was even nursing away from home?”
“Oh, she was just bored, honey,” Mr. Hardy replied.
“She shouldn’t be bored. She should be going back to medical school, for God’s sake. And if she had been, she wouldn’t ever have had this happen.”
“Not true, Mom.” Izzy walked in and bit into an apple as she plopped down on their leather sofa by the TV. She clicked the remote and shrugged at me while she lifted a brow. “Dante and I sort of threw her into the mix.”
“That one’s on you, Izzy,” I grumbled, not really wanting to take all the responsibility.
“How chivalrous of you,” she shot back.
Dom didn’t find any of our jokes funny, though. He stared at us both like we were enemies, menaces, monsters. “Want to explain exactly what the hell you’re both doing for the government, anyway?”
“Confidential,” we both said in unison.
Or so we wanted it to be, until another knock landed on the door. Dom had left it open, so I could already see the visitor. When I turned, my eyes bugged out, and I almost shut the door in his face.
“Surprise.” Cade quirked his head and smiled a fucking shark smile at me. It was calculating and intended to cause havoc. “News from the underground. Seems like our job isn’t quite done. Iago’s boss is Albanian, and he just went missing. So he’s probably plotting against us, and that means we need to plot faster than him.”