Page 37 of Skating Towards Danger

When she disappears, I say, “Dad, you still there?” He doesn’t say anything for a moment, and I repeat, “Dad?” before checking the screen to see if it’s still connected.

I open my mouth again but soon move the phone from my ear as he shouts, “You little shit, you better not be using that girl Dante Damian Marino!”

I wince at the use of my whole name before I say, “Dad shut the fuck up,” making him growl, but I continue, “I am not using Paige, and the fact you’re accusing me of that shit is out of line!”

“Dante, that’s not what I meant, I-I,” he starts, then sighs, “she’s just been through so much, and after certain shit happened when she was seventeen, she admitted to Tyra that she’s gone celibate.”

I swallow hard, look at my bedroom door, and remind my father, “She’s twenty-two, Dad, an adult.”

He hums, “Yeah, I know,” then reminds me, “And she is also in the dark about who we all are, son.”

“I know, Dad, you don’t need to fucking remind me that I’m keeping a big part of me from her. Why do you think I didn’t want anything to do with her after I met her to begin with, huh?”I snap, then wince, and look towards the door but sigh when I hear the shower running.

“Fuck me, she’s your one,” Dad mutters, and I shake my head.

“I didn’t want her to be Dad, fuck, I pushed her away, I treated her like shit, but…” My words trail off, and he finishes, “One thing led to another.”

I huff, “I thought friends with benefits would be alright, get her out of my system.”

Dad chuckles, “And I’m guessing that plan failed within a day.”

“More like a few hours,” I grumble, and he laughs. I sigh and look at the door, and I admit, “I don’t know how this is going to work. I don’t know how I’m going to keep who we are away from her like Rocco wants, especially when I will be taking over from David in the next few years maybe sooner depending on how my career pans out. I-I fuck, I can’t let her go, Dad.”

Dad’s quiet for a moment before he finally speaks and says, “I’m proud of you, son. I’m proud of how you stepped up for your brother over the years, ensuring he got what he wanted. I’m proud that you took on Rocco’s request despite Roman and I being idiots just to make David happy when in theory, David does fuck all unless he’s called which isn’t a lot. You’re already going on outings with Roman, have been since he took over despite your training and games,” I swallow hard, his words hitting me right in the chest. Dad states, “When the time comes, I’ll help you tell her the truth about everything. I’ll be your support while cheering you on when you kick ass this season, next season, and for however many seasons you’ll play, and I’ll put Rocco in his place when he loses it over you dating his niece because honestly, that girl deserves the world. I know you’ll give it to her, besides, your mother will love this.”

Emotions fill me, and I am grateful that he’s backing me, the past still hurts, but I am grateful he’s being there for me.

“It’s more than dating, Dad,” I admit, and he hums.

“I know, son,” he replies, “Look, I want my son back before I fucked up and I think this is probably a good start and I’d love to keep talking, but I’ll let you get to Paige and Dante when she opens up to you when she tells you her past, don’t judge her, hold her and after your game in a few days, we’re going out for drinks.”

He hangs up so I can’t protest, and I drop my phone on the kitchen counter.

I know we have to talk. I know I can’t keep dodging home, and that will happen, I’ll do as he wants and we’ll go for a drink, but right now, I have a girl to join before I find a fucker that tried to rape her, and then I’ll demand to know what else has happened that I’m not aware of to my girl.

With a pep in my step, I walk into my room and, follow the sounds of the shower and enter my large bathroom, Paige’s naked body hitting my eyes instantly, her hair down making me want to wrap it in my fist and I smile while removing my boxers then walk over to the marble black walk-in shower.

I climb in, and Paige turns and looks at me, and she smiles wide as I gain on her, and as soon as I’m in front of her, I grab her ass and lift her.

She wraps her legs around my waist, and I blindly find her entrance with my cock, then thrust forward, entering her.

She gasps and wraps her arms around my neck as I press her against the wall, and we lock eyes.

Mine race between hers before I look at her arm, the tattoo just in sight and I look at her again and say, “I know you don’t want to talk about your past, and I’ll honor that, but” she furrows her brows when I pause and I take a deep breath and demand gently, “What I need to know is that the tattoo on your arm isn’t an ex’s name you got while you were high.”

Chapter 14

Paige

“You haven’t come to see me for a while, Paige,” Ellen says from a cross from me, and I hum nonchalantly as I watch the traffic of New York out of the third-floor window not denying her words.

Ellen Chambers was my therapist after my parents passed and throughout the time that I was messing up, but I decided to stop seeing her when I was eighteen and realized I wasn’t going to come out of my funk, out of my depression despite Ellen, my aunt and uncle all begging me to continue.

As far as I was concerned, my parents and brother were dead, so I was never going to be happy and in my mind at that point in my life – a hormonal teenager – I thought I didn’t deserve to live and those thoughts have come into adulthood with me. Dante has slowly changed that, even when he was an ass after we met,I knew he’d become more to me. I didn’t want to accept it but he dug deep inside of me.

Things have certainly changed.

The thought of losing him sends me into a panic. I know we’re supposed to be getting each other out of our systems like he suggested a month ago, but after last night and then again this morning, it’s cemented to me that I don’t want to let him go. I don’t want him to walk away from me.

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