Tied Bond (Holly Woods Files, #4) (36 page)
Read Tied Bond (Holly Woods Files, #4) Online
Authors: Emma Hart
Gianna hesitates and runs her tongue over her top lip. “It was the first time in maybe five years. He asked about you, and me, and we ended up going for coffee.”
Uh oh.
“He had to leave to go to work, so we exchanged numbers and agreed to meet for dinner.”
Another pause.
Hellooooo, awkward silence.
I cut my eyes to Drake. His jaw is twitching. Gianna should probably consider running right now. Like, now. Right now. Go. Like The Flash. Immediately.
“We’ve been seeing each other regularly since.”
“And that’s what you and Wally fought about?” Drake grinds out.
“Yes. He thought it was a bad idea and, at the very least, I should be discussing it with you.”
“It is a bad idea, but what you do is none of my business.” Drake sits up and drops his hand to his lap. His fingers find mine and wrap around them.
I squeeze.
“When you say seeing each other,” he says, “you mean...”
“We’re spending time together,” she responds. “I don’t feel like it’s appropriate to label our relationship, as it’s hardly simple.”
“No shit, Mom. The guy disappeared and came in and out of our lives whenever he could be bothered.”
“I know. But he’s still your father.”
“And he’s a shit one too.” Drake lets my hand go and turns around to the coffee machine.
I know he doesn’t want it—he’s just doing it so he doesn’t lose his temper at her. Even now, with this bombshell, he respects her too much to do that.
“I can’t tell you what to do. I can’t even comment on it. You do what you want with him, but don’t damn well expect me to even look at the man.”
“Drake...”
“Antonio has been more of a father to me in the last eight months than that man has been in thirty-three years,” Drake says, slamming a mug down on the counter. “It’s that simple. He’s not my family. I love you, Mom, but it’s best if you leave right now.”
I smile sadly at Gianna when she looks at me. Slowly, I nod. She needs to go because he needs to get this emotion out, and I know he’s too angry to do it with her around.
“I’m sorry, Drake,” she says quietly. “Call me when you’re ready to talk about this, okay?”
Drake nods once, tightly, then doesn’t move until she’s gone through the front door. “Fuck.” His voice cracks halfway through the word. “She’s made some shit-ass decisions in her life, but this takes the cake and the fucking cherry.”
My chair screeches against the floor as I push it back to stand. I wrap my arms around his waist and lay my cheek on his back, holding him tight from behind. “I don’t know what to say to you.”
“Don’t say anything.” He turns, taking me in his arms and pressing his face into my hair. “It doesn’t matter. He’s no more a father than I am—the only difference is that his sperm has actually created a person.”
“You really don’t want anything to do with him?”
He shakes his head. “Right now? No. But I’m not sure how to process the fact that she’s been seeing him in secret. All I want to do in this second is get some boxes, go to my house, pack up my shit, and bring it here.”
“Whoa, buddy. You’ve gotta build me a shoe rack in one of the spare rooms before you start hauling your shirts alone over here.”
“Noelle...”
“I know, I know. Shut up.” I smile, leaning back, and cup the side of his face with my hand. “It’ll be okay. Whatever happens. With your mom...your dad...everyone. You’re going back to work tomorrow, and I’m being a total grown-up by not freaking over the fact that I may have to make my bedroom a little less girly for you. What your mom does is something we can’t control, but we can control what we do, so let’s do that instead.”
“Are you saying get some moving boxes?” He raises an eyebrow. “Because I’m gonna file that bullshit away for another day if so.”
“No.” I step back from him and grab my purse from the counter. “I’m saying get your ass in the truck, because we’re headed to the hardware store so you can get some stuff for a shoe closet, and then we’re gonna get some packing boxes.”
“Really?” he asks, following me out. “Is that a condition of my moving in?”
I cast a coy glance over my shoulder. “Do you want your shirts on the floor?”
He grabs his keys. “Let’s go build you some shoe shelves.”
TWIRLED BOND, book five of the Holly Woods Files series, will release June 16
th
, 2016.
For exclusive looks into the series and my upcoming books, exclusive giveaways, and early reveals, you’re invited to join my reader group on
Facebook
.
Emma Hart is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over twenty novels and has been translated into four different languages. She first put fingers to keys at the age of eighteen after her husband told her she read too much and should write her own.
Four years later, she’s still figuring out what he meant when he said she ‘read too much.’
Living in the middle of nowhere on the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales, with cows and sheep for neighbours and next door’s ducks and chickens as regular visitors, Emma’s inspiration comes from watching the sun rise over the Snowdonia mountain range and set over the Irish sea. She prides herself on being a ‘smut peddler’ that’s filled with dry wit, snappy, sarcastic comebacks, but lots of heart... And sex. She likes writing sex. Just don’t tell her husband, or he’ll get ideas.
She’s fuelled mostly by wine, nachos, and pepperoni pizza, and believes the reason her pants no longer fit is because demonic calories are nibbling away at her waistbands every night. She tries to think about the treadmill occasionally, but unlike her committed relationship with carbs (she expects them to propose any day now,) her relationship with the treadmill is very much a ‘friends with benefits’ situation. She’s still figuring out the benefits part of it... and the friends.
You can find her online at:
