Damaged: The Dillon Sisters Layla Frost (ebook reader with highlighter .txt) 📖

you need to be careful, okay? He doesn’t seem himself. And since himself was already a bastard, this could be bad.”

“Did you tell him where I live?”

“God, no.” Thanks to the camera, I could hear and see her outrage. “He found me because my office is listed. There’s no way in hell I’d tell him that.”

“Then there’s no way in hell he’ll find me.”

Especially since, for all intents and purposes, I don’t live there anymore.

“Are you okay?” She glanced from Brand back to the door. “You’re taking this well.”

Translation: I’m not absolutely losing my shit.

“I’m fine, promise,” I said.

Alexander would keep me safe. But if, by some incredible feat, my father did find me, it wouldn’t matter. I wasn’t giving him an ounce of my attention, much less money. He had no power over me.

I was in control.

Hanging up with Aria—after promising we’d get together soon so I could tell her everything—I sat back and grabbed the remote. “Ready?”

“Flower.” Alexander’s voice was filled with warning, and it filled me with something completely different and far more enjoyable.

“Hmm?”

“I thought you said your parents are dead.”

“They are.”

“Then I think you should be a little more concerned your father is out to find you, seeing as he’s a zombie and all.”

I couldn’t hold back a smile. Since he loved my smile, I was also hoping it’d get me out of the doghouse—or, in my case, the chicken coop—for lying to him. “If you insist on getting into semantics, he’s not dead in the strictest of terms.”

“So he’s alive.”

“Technically. But he’s dead to me. He has been for years.” I twisted the ends of my hair around my fingers. “My mother was overbearing and cruel. My father wasn’t. He was negligent and dismissive. He didn’t care about me. I wasn’t even sure he remembered I existed most of the time.”

“That sounds like shit.”

“Trust me, I lucked out. Aria had it way worse. She was his pet project.” At his silence, my lips quirked. “Now that you know the Dillons put the D in drama, are you having second thoughts about being with me?”

I’d meant to keep it light, but an undercurrent of worry threaded my tone.

Fisting my hair, Alexander tugged so my face was pointed up, making a delicious sting travel across my scalp. “Never. I’m thinking it’s a wonder you’re even functioning after all you’ve been through. I’m also thinking about how strong you are.”

I opened my mouth, and his mouth set in a line, waiting for me to argue.

Partially to keep him on his toes—but mostly because he was kinda right—I said, “I have to be strong to lead my chick army.”

I may not have been normal like Aria, but I was still there. Still trying.

Still functioning.

That had to count for something.

I got a closeup view of his honey eyes warming just before he kissed me. It was as hot as ever, but also loaded with love and tenderness.

Settling in with his arm wrapped around my shoulders, I grabbed the remote, determined to finish the movie. Before I could press play, I was interrupted—again. Only that time, it was Alexander.

“So about making a habit of big gifts…”

A sense of foreboding—or maybe it was anticipation—washed over me. “Yes?”

“Does that mean Briar Isle is a no-go?” he joked.

At least, I hoped it was a joke.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Shatter

Briar

For precise technology

“ARE YOU SURE about this?”

Alexander wasn’t annoyed or snarky or pissed—though I’d be all three if I were him. I’d asked the same question at least twenty times during our short drive. Instead, he was reassuring and patient. “Positive.”

“It’s a big decision. I don’t want you to make it impulsively.”

“You’re almost completely moved in. This is nothing.”

“It’s not nothing.” I wrapped my arms around Mr. Worldwide—the pit bull, not the Pitbull. “Pet adoption should never be taken lightly.”

“We already have seven pets at home in their coop,” he pointed out.

“Those don’t count. They’re not technically pets.” He didn’t have to point out the obvious with that one. My stomach soured at my own words. “Never mind, they are. But a dog is different.”

“And you will be just as amazing with him as you are with the chicks.”

He always knew what to say to make me feel better. I needed the reassurance because it wasn’t him I was worried about.

It was me.

Adopting Mister was a huge step. One of many I’d been taking. I worried I wouldn’t be good enough. I was a good auntie to Muppet, but he went back to Aria at the end of the day. I would be completely responsible for Mister.

What if I left chocolate out?

What if I left raisins out?

I didn’t buy raisins because they were the devil’s chocolate chips, but what if I lost my mind, bought them, and then left them out?

He pulled into his garage and turned off the car. When I didn’t get out, he put his hand on my thigh and squeezed. Mister went nuts, licking his hand and snarfling, but Alexander’s attention was all for me. “He already loves you, so you’ve been doing this right a lot longer than you realize. Only now, he gets to love you in a big house with a lot of land instead of in a small cage.”

As far as pep talks went, that was pretty much the best I’d heard.

“Thank you.” I got out, keeping a tight hold on Mister’s leash in case he went running.

He didn’t.

He sat at my feet and licked his crotch.

Typical dude.

My cell began ringing, the high tone making Mister whine.

Pulling it from my purse, my brows lowered when I saw the center’s number. I hadn’t missed an appointment or anything.

“Hello?” I answered.

Someone on the other end began talking, and once my brain processed their frantic words, the foundation of my world was rocked so hard, I worried it would shatter.

That I would shatter.

Happiness.

So fleeting.

Alexander

SHIT.

Briar had just fallen asleep when my cell began vibrating on the table. I was tempted to let it go to voicemail, but with the way shit had hit the