My Best Friend's Dad - Flora Ferrari Page 0,43

a step forward, and suddenly the man’s blubbering. It’s hard to make out his exact words through his broken jaw, but the general gist is clear enough as he whines out his apology.

Saul looks at me, as though if I gave the order my man – my warrior – would charge in there and finish him off.

“You better be sorry,” I can’t help but hiss. “Anybody who’d hurt an animal deserves worse than what Flame just gave you.”

Ah, crap. Flame. I called him Flame.

Saul takes a step forward. “Alright, then? We’re fucking done here. And by the way, this diner may be a little rundown, but it’s got security cameras, assholes. You just pulled a deadly weapon in public. And you’ve got criminal records. So, basically, you’re all fucked.”

Chapter Twenty

Saul

We all sit in the main living room, Jasper curled up in front of the crackling fire as our hot cocoas sit ignored on the table, there steam making wisps curl in the air. We’re all tired from the police station, from the long process of giving our statements, and now it’s late and we sit in an uneasy silence.

Fiona knows.

I can tell by the way she glances at us, a pinched expression on her face, that same hurt quality in her eyes I remember so well from when her mother walked out on us.

I exchange a look with Sadie, looking like a Viking queen swaddled in a blanket, only her head poking out of the top, her hair spilling down to her shoulders. But I can see her hands worrying at each other beneath the blanket.

“So,” I say at length, the first word spoken since we all sat down.

“So,” Fiona murmurs.

“I guess we need to talk this out,” I venture.

“Yeah,” Fiona says, glancing up at me briefly, and then at Sadie.

“The first thing I want you to know, Fi, jeez … Just that I’m sorry, okay? I’m so sorry for sneaking around behind your back. I didn’t expect any of this to happen. It just – I know how crazy this sounds – but it just happened. It was like we had no control over it. It was like fate or destiny—God, that sounds cheesy, doesn’t it?” Sadie says.

“But it’s the truth,” I say, unable to hide the passion in my voice. “I felt it the moment I saw her. But I’m sorry too, Fiona. We shouldn’t have gone behind your back.”

“So what happened, exactly?” she murmurs. “I mean, I don’t need all the details, but just the gist of it.”

I take a deep breath, wondering how I can put this into words. Then I tell her, as best I can, about laying eyes on Sadie and knowing that I had to claim her, about the closeness that erupted between us. I keep all the sexual aspects out of it, which does a disservice to the effect Sadie has on me, the potent sexuality that my princess possesses. But I can’t go into that with my daughter.

“And you’re happy?” she says. “Both of you?”

“Yes,” Sadie and I say at the same time, with so much conviction that Jasper snaps his head up, glancing between us.

Fiona laughs, the last thing I expected her to do.

The laughter goes on and on, taking on a shaky quality, almost manic, and for a dread-filled moment, I wonder if this has turned my daughter insane.

“I’m so glad,” she whispers.

“What!” Sadie and I say, again at the same time.

We exchange a glance at each other. She smiles for a beat, before remembering how serious this all is and wipes her expression clean.

“Glad?” I mutter a moment later.

“Well, I thought it might just be a hookup, and that would’ve been weird. I don’t know, maybe it’s crazy. But I think that would be way worse than this. The way you two are looking at each other right now, it’s so cute, it’s so real. I’ve never seen you like this before dad—either of you.”

“Wait a second,” I say.

“You knew?” Sadie says, getting in there before me.

“Sort of,” she says. “Well, I knew that something was going on.”

“When? How?”

“The night I came home drunk,” she says, taking a deep breath and leaning forward. “I didn’t accidentally set the alarm off that night. I found you two in the study. You were sitting in Dad’s lap, Sadie, and you didn’t exactly look like you were hating it, you know? I didn’t know what to do. I acted on instinct. I ran to the door and I put in the