Chapter 25
Kennedy
“I’m not hungry, sugar.”
“You’re leaving. I’m eating and going to bed.”
Karlton stood in the middle of my kitchen, and I stepped around him to grab a pizza from the freezer. “Don’t you think you need to tell me what is going on?”
I shook my head and popped a cheese ball into my mouth. “There isn’t anything to tell. Dante lied. Dante and I are over.” I stabbed the pizza with a knife, cutting the plastic, and pulled it off.
“But what did Dante lie about? You’re missing the main part to your story, sugar. I need the damn why.”
“Do you know who Dante is?”
“He’s Silver Fox. Ninja. What does that have to do with anything?”
“Did you know he owns part of a rock climbing and smoothie place?”
“Smoothies?” he asked, perking up. I couldn’t really blame him, I was the same way when it came to smoothies.
I snapped my fingers at him. “Yes, smoothies, but try to focus. Did you know he owns those things?”
“Well no, because if I did, you know I would be all up in that smoothie place demanding free smoothies.” Karlton would totally do that. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was camped out there in the morning.
“Ever heard of Craig Real Estate?”
“Yes, sugar. They sell all of those mansions around the area. You can’t drive a mile without seeing one of their signs.” He propped his hands on his hips and shook his head. “You are all over the board on this. Get to the point,” he insisted.
“Craig Real Estate is Dante.”
Karlton’s jaw dropped. “You are shitting me. He has to be loaded!”
I think loaded was an understatement. Growing up, I had always heard about Craig Real Estate, and how the husband and wife had died tragically. After their death, no one really heard what happened to the company, but they knew it was still around.
I found out what happened to it.
“He lived in Underbridge before his parents passed away, Karlton. Loaded is just the beginning.”
“I still don’t see what the problem is.”
“The problem is he lied to me. He never told me who he was.”
“Did he say why he didn’t tell you?”
I slid the pizza into the oven and set the timer. “He said he didn’t tell me because he knew that I wouldn’t want to be with him if I knew he had money.”
Karlton propped his hands on his hips. “From what I see right now, the man was right.”
“But he lied to me. That’s what is pissing me off. I mean, yeah, the fact that he is insanely loaded doesn’t help, but the fact that he had time to tell me and he didn’t isn’t right, Karlton. He was making me fall in love with someone that he isn’t.”
Karlton shook her head. “Oh honey, I don’t know how to get through to you.”
“You don’t need to get through to me. You need to go, I need to eat pizza, and then I’m going to bed.” I had talked about this enough tonight. Between Dante, Vivian, and my father, I was done talking about this. “I can’t do this right now. I had seriously decided right before Dante picked me up that I was going to trust him, do the whole thing, and then this happens. If that isn’t a sign that I need to cut my losses and run, then I don’t know what is.”
Karlton sighed and held up his hands. “Sugar, I’m gonna let you be for right now, but I’ll be back. You’re stuck on what you think you know instead of actually seeing the truth.”
I scoffed and shoved a handful of cheese balls in my face. I saw the truth, and I didn’t fucking like it. “I don’t know when I’ll be around. I got some things to do.” Like getting my locks changed so Karlton couldn’t come and go whenever he pleased.
“Lord have mercy,” he mumbled. “I’m here when you need me, sugar. Maybe I’ll come over in a couple of days, and we can talk.”
Karlton gave me a tight hug and babbled about hearts or something, and I just tuned him out. The only heart that I was concerned about was mine, and at the moment, it was shattered.
Karlton left. I stared at the oven until the pizza was done, trying not to think about Dante. I ate, and then I went to bed.
Alone.
It was amazing how things changed in the blink of an eye. One second, I was blissfully happy, excited to go home and salvage what I could of the night with Dante and ice cream, and in the next second, I found out the man who I could possibly love was the exact thing I never wanted.
I closed my eyes, and a tear streaked down my cheek.
Who was I kidding?
I loved him, and that didn’t matter. He still hurt me.
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