Page 83 of Faded Rhythm

Julian snickers behind me.

“That’s fine,” I say. “Eat them in the kitchen.”

As they disappear, Julian walks up behind me and whispers, “You only solved one problem.”

I whirl around, narrowing my eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Okay, you weren’t slobbing on your cousin, but it still looks like you’re cheating on their father.”

I slap a hand against my forehead. “I swear to God, in my head, he doesn’t even exist anymore.”

Julian raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, I was gonna talk to you about that tonight.”

And there it is. Back to reality.

We can’t get to forever until we kill my husband.

34

Julian

Sable cooked for me.

Well, she cooked for all of us, but I’m so fucking giddy about it, I tell myself it’s especially for me.

We’re all at the table together, laughing, talking, the girls arguing about unicorns, sable trying to play referee while I chew on my chicken parmesan and try not to pretend like this is my family. Even with the chaos, it’s peaceful. And I like it.

My phone buzzes.

It’s AJ calling.

“Sorry, I gotta take this,” I mumble as I leave the table.

I step into my office and close the door behind me.

“Yeah,” I answer.

“Just sent over the Black Lace paperwork,” AJ says. “I didn’t clean it up because I thought you’d wanna put eyes on it as soon as possible.”

“For sure,” I say as I wake up my laptop. “I appreciate you.”

AJ hesitates, then adds,” Before you dig in…and I’m just being nosy here…who the hell is Damario Simmons?”

My finger hovers over the touchpad.

“Sable’s cousin,” I say. “Nickname Dash.”

AJ is quiet, then, “Why are you interested in him? He died almost a decade ago.”

“Long story,” I say quickly, rubbing the back of my neck. “He’s connected to all this. Just covering all my bases, that’s all.”

“I see.” AJ clears his throat. “You good, brother?”

I squeeze my eyes shut, grimacing as the truth bubbles up and out of my mouth.

“Not really,” I admit. “I think I’m…lowkey…maybe falling for her. Hard.”

There’s a pause, then a quiet chuckle. “Yeah, I figured. You sound different.”

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