“Are you okay?” Dahlia asked, bringing my attention back to her. I hadn’t realized I’d stopped kissing her and was staring at the wall instead.
“Yeah, baby,” I muttered, leaning forward and gently placing my forehead on hers. “It’s just been a shitty week.”
“I’m sorry,” she replied, running the soft tips of her fingers down the side of my face, stroking my beard which was now in all its full volume bearded glory.
“I’m sorry that I couldn’t get in touch and let you know.”
“Luna called before you got here,” she told me, her eyes still focused on my facial hair. “She said that your new cell arrived and then told me what had happened, so I knew the truth before you arrived. I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
She sounded so guilty and pained over the fact she had, that I knew I had to try to draw a line under it now.
“We’re still new, Dahlia. Full trust comes with time. Even then, if one person disappeared without letting the other know where they were, doubts would happen along with worry. Add on what’s happened to you in the past, and it’s not surprising you would assume what you did.”
Her face softened with each word, and when I finished, she just sat still, not dropping eye contact with me once as if she was looking to see if I genuinely believed what I was saying. She could look all she wanted, my eyes wouldn’t show anything else other than that.
“You’re such a great guy, Madix Blue.”
“And you’re a great woman,” I replied, leaning in and kissing her softly. Pulling back, I lightened the mood. “But, baby, just saying – you and your best friend are crazy as hell.” Another shriek came from the kitchen at that moment, followed by the thud and sounds of skin hitting tile.
“Let go of it,” she yelled. “You’re the smallest here but you’re also the most uncivilized out of all of you. Let go, you little psycho!” The excited sounds of nails clapping off the floor was easy to hear. Jesus, how thin were these walls?
“She’s feeding them the steak,” Dahlia sighed, voicing what I already knew.
“I’ll get you another one,” I assured her, rubbing up and down her back gently, still listening to the drama in the kitchen.
“You really don’t have to,” Dahlia mumbled, face planting in my chest. “I don’t really like red meat.”
That stopped my hand moving on her back as I mulled this over. “You don’t like steak?” Who in their right minds didn’t like steak?
“It’s most red meat. It gives me indigestion, or a really upset stomach.”
Good to know!
“Figures!” Bonnie screamed from the kitchen. “Your dogs are almost as big a bitch as you are.” This was followed by the slamming off the back door.
“Is she always like that?”
“Yup,” she replied, nodding with her face still pressed between my pecs.
“She’s a pistol,” I chuckled.
I’d worried about meeting her after Dahlia had told me about her. If someone is important, you want the people who mean the most to her to like you. My biggest worries were Bonnie, her dad and her grandma. The latter two, I still hadn’t met, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t planned out what I would say when it happened.
“She’s an asshole,” Dahlia growled, pronouncing the ‘hol’ like it was the end of the word I’d used in my previous description of her best friend, pistol. “But she’s awesome, and one of the most beautiful people I know.”
I could see why she’d say that. She was fucking crazy crackers and every encounter with her was no doubt an adventure like with Dahlia, but I knew she hadn’t had it easy in life because of her skin color. Kids were cruel little bastards, and she’d been the focus of a lot of shit growing up. No surprise, the lady who had been giving the Townsends shit in the restaurant, Mrs. Crane, had also spewed vitriol at Bonnie and her family about it all. I didn’t know much about genetics, but I found the whole thing fascinating – she was one very special and unique person. I also knew from Dahlia that Bonnie was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside – ball crushing aside, obviously.
Focusing back onto the woman I’d missed more than I could put into words over the last week who was sitting with her legs either side of me at that moment, I breathed in her scent and felt everything that was gnawing at me settle for a moment.
I’d meant what I’d said to her. I didn’t know what we had, but I knew that it meant something to me in a way that I wanted it to grow between us. I also wanted to keep it for as long as was humanly possible.