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“How long?” Silver demands. “Don’t even try to lie and tell me it was only the one time. How long have you been fucking him?”
She shakes her head. “I’m sorry. You don’t understand. I love him.” Silver glares at her until she answers her question. “Six months.”
“You’re a sorry piece of shit and so is he. Get the fuck out of my face. Tell him his shit is in the yard and whatever is still here by tomorrow will be ashes.”
Sandra’s tearful attitude shifts and she glares back. “You knocked out his front tooth!”
“Good,” she snorts, while Calli covers a smile.
“Maybe if you’d paid more attention to him instead of spending all your time at the diner, he wouldn’t have needed to look somewhere else.”
Oh, this is about to get ugly. Calli’s glare is as fiery as Silver’s.
Silver puts a little space between them, her restraint clear in her action. “You’re lucky I can’t afford to pay bail again.”
“I can,” Calli declares and abruptly punches Sandra in the eye.
The shock on Sandra’s face rips a laugh from me as I rush to get between them because I sure didn’t see that coming either. Calli calmly watches from my side as blood wells from a split in Sandra’s eyebrow. She doesn’t try to go after her again, and Sandra doesn’t retaliate. She’s too busy holding her eye and backing away.
“Don’t you eventhinkabout calling the police again,” Silver warns her. “I have screenshots of all the dirty sexts you sent him. If you press charges on Calli, I’ll print flyers and pass them out at church. You fuckingknowI will.”
Bursting into tears, Sandra turns and rushes to her car while Silver shouts after her. “I hope he whistles through that gap in his teeth every time he bends your skanky ass over!”
Lee glances over at me. “This was definitely more entertaining than fishing.”
CHAPTER 12
CALLIOPE
Arlow taps onmy door shortly after Silver drops me off. He and Lee left after Silver’s brothers showed up, but I didn’t want to leave her when she was so upset. It’s been a long day and it’s not nearly over since I’m supposed to work tonight. I see a lot of coffee in my future.
“I’m sorry you guys got dragged into that earlier,” I tell him, as soon as he’s inside.
“No need to apologize. I’m glad to see you aren’t locked up.”
He follows me to my kitchen while I retrieve an ice pack from my freezer. I’ve ignored my aching hand until now since no skin was broken but my swollen fingers have developed their own heartbeat. “I think she knew Silver was serious about her threat.”
“Did you hurt your hand?” he asks with concern.
“It turns out that eye sockets are not soft.”
He takes a seat beside me at my little kitchen table, turning the chair to face mine and pulls the ice pack away from my hand. “Is anything broken? Can you move your fingers?”
“I’m okay. Nothing’s broken. I think I jammed them.”
The ice pack is set aside, and he slides his hand beneath mine, letting my fingers extend over his large palm. He takeshold of my pinky and gently bends, then straightens it. His hands are warm, and his touch is tender as he repeats the action for each of my fingers. It feels so intimate. I’m caught up in his gaze, those gorgeous brown eyes the rich color of autumn leaves. It takes me a moment to realize he asked me a question.
“Hmm?”
“Can you bend them all?”
Slowly, I make a fist then open it with a wince. His lips press together, and he takes my hand again, running his thumb softly over my knuckles. “You bruised it good.”
The deep timbre of his soft words and the simple touch shoves everything else away. Someone could hammer my other hand right now and I’d barely notice. My mouth dries out and when our gazes meet again, I can see I’m not the only one affected.
His eyes darken as his pupils grow, and my attention falls to the way his tongue slips out to wet his lips. The memory of our kiss is still fresh in my mind and there’s nothing I want more than to lean over and feel those lips on mine again.
The air thickens around us. He’s so close to me. I’m suddenly aware of his knee touching my outer thigh as I breathe in the clean scent of him combined with the faint undertone of wood smoke from his jacket.
