Fractured Freedom: A Brother’s Best Friend Second Chance Romance (Tarnished Empire)
Fractured Freedom: Chapter 6

Dante

I’d worked with the authorities to get Delilah out quickly. My clearance within the United States made them willing. Had they given me any trouble, I would have just called my family. They were the ones that really ran the United States, government be damned. Money was power, and the Armanellis had most of it.

Delilah didn’t know that side of the family, though. To her, my name was Dante Reid.

Not Armanelli. Not the mob.

And she wouldn’t be figuring it out today. I already knew our story was going to be too tough for her to handle. Anyone who learned their friend was working undercover with their sister was going to have a hard time.

Not that I’d call Delilah a friend at this point.

I don’t know if it was ever right to call her a friend. She was too bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for hanging around Izzy, me, and her brothers.

And then I’d fallen for her.

Hard.

My squad told me it was because we didn’t get enough pussy overseas and that I’d get over her Dear John-ing me when I got back. I knew it wasn’t true, though. Getting over Delilah was something that took years. Hell, I’d been tortured, beaten, waterboarded. Still, nothing compared to her silence when I sent an email and she didn’t respond.

And even after all that, I remembered how she smelled, how she felt, how she tasted. She’d infected me with a lifetime disease of my body responding to her, and when she walked out of that penitentiary building, the same thing happened.

“What the—” Those wide hazel eyes of hers grew when she saw me. The sun kissed her golden skin, and the dark waves of her hair blew around her face. “Where are my parents?”

Delilah Hardy, the girl who’d haunted every corner of my nightmares and dreams since the moment I’d met her years ago, was now a very hot, very fuckable, and very frustrated woman standing right in front of me.

I hated that I’d taken her virginity and hated even more that we’d swept the whole event under the rug like we could hide it forever, especially when my dick wanted to do nothing of the sort. I’d seen her only a handful of times after that week, and every time she’d practically run in the other direction. If I cornered her, she looked at me with embarrassment or sometimes even hurt. Like I’d defiled her that night.

I’d fucked that girl like it was the one job I had in the world to do right. I knew I hadn’t hurt her. I’d worshipped her.

And we’d exchanged emails. We’d been fine. For a minute, I’d wanted to make Delilah Hardy my damn wife.

And then, over the years, I’d dreamt about doing it again, only to have a follow-up nightmare of her looking at me the way she was right this second.

With visceral pain. Her chin even trembled like she might cry at the sight of me.

I rubbed my buzz-cut head. “Your mom called mine, Lilah.” It was an easy enough story that she’d believe.

She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest as she looked toward the sky and blinked rapidly. How had we gotten here? How had I lost even the cordial friendship we’d shared over the years in just one week?

“Okay,” she breathed out.

“Sorry, Lilah. I’m just here to pick you up,” I mumbled. I didn’t know why I was apologizing. I’d spent years in the military making people apologize to me. I didn’t say sorry. It wasn’t in my vocabulary until right that second.

Time had left her short, but her curves had filled out in all the right places. I wanted to explore each curve and see if she liked me sliding around them fast or slow. They’d given her clothing back when she was released, and I saw that she’d abandoned the sweaters she used to wear for something much more revealing: a white tank that barely covered her ample cleavage.

I’d tried to forget all this about her: the way my heart beat out of my chest, the way my dick twitched immediately, and even when she blinked away the pain in her eyes and met me with a sudden glare. She had fire there now, like she was ready for me all of a sudden.

“You came all this way because our parents told you to? Are you out of your mind? And my mother even asking you to do this …” She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes hard before she sighed. “That’s really ridiculous. You shouldn’t have come.”

She stomped past me toward the car and then stopped halfway there to turn and shut her eyes before she said, “Thank you. I’m really on edge right now. I’ve lost a lot of sleep, and I need to sit down or something while we wait for Izzy to get out.”

I nodded slowly and took a wide path around her, eating up the cement to get to my car rental. I opened the sleek black door for her and waved her in. “Just sit and relax, Delilah. Everything is going to be okay now.”

Running a hand through her chocolate-colored hair, she listened.

By the time I got to the driver’s side, though, she’d already started to fall apart. “My sister is coming out of there, right? I mean”—her leg jumped up and down— “it’s taking them a bit long to release her. They didn’t call her name with mine. Why do you think that is?”

I cleared my throat, ready for shit to hit the fan when I told her.

She continued without letting me say a word. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m asking you that. I always envision you running around like James Bond doing whatever you want and knowing everything. My family paints that picture, you know? Like maybe you know everything that’s going on right now when obviously you don’t.” She took a big breath that didn’t really do much to calm her. “And I’m rambling when I shouldn’t be.”

“It’s fine.” Her rapid breathing was starting to stir something in me that I couldn’t handle right now. I put my hand on my chest. “Delilah, seven breaths? Huh?”

She glanced at my hand, and her brow furrowed. Then she whispered, “Seven’ll bring heaven?”

I nodded and smiled. We breathed together. Synced for just a second. It was enough time to calm us both, though, to get us on the same page.

After seeing color return to her cheeks and how her shoulders relaxed, I said, “It’s good to see you, Lilah.”

She pursed her plump lips and then she chuckled. It was huskier than I remembered. “Not under these circumstances, though.”

“Still good to see you. You haven’t been back over the last couple of years when I was home from leave.”

“Yeah, life I guess.” She shrugged while she stared out at that building.

Damn, this was going to hurt.

I knew avoiding the truth and pain it brought never helped. I only waited when it would prolong the torture for some enemy I was dealing with. Now, with her, I needed to be honest.

I dropped the bomb as I pushed the car ignition. “Your sister’s staying in jail.”

“What?” The screech that rang through the car was full of fear, anger, and shock. When I didn’t reply and started to shift into drive. But that little hand of hers, so small I could break it, went right on top of mine and shoved the gear back into park. “Dante! What the fuck? What do you mean?”

I lifted a brow at her swearing. “I mean what I said.”

“You can’t just leave.” Her hand dug into mine harder, and I saw the pink on her cheeks deepen in anger rather than embarrassment. That pink was almost the same color as something else of hers I remembered, and fuck me, I did not need to be imagining it right now.

I had years of training. I went to great lengths to keep those around me calm, keep us focused on a mission, and complete objectives flawlessly.

Yet, most of those situations were life and death.

Here, I didn’t know how to act. I’d been with women and made them comfortable, understood their emotions. They understood mine too. Delilah and I were different.

She was so good that her mom once told my mom that she’d forgotten Lilah somewhere because she was so quiet and well-behaved that there was no way of knowing whether she was there or not.

It wasn’t like that for me. Today, and most every day, I knew when she was there.

Maybe I’d invested too much in hope, pictured our families merging with her taking my damn name. I realized I’d loved her for a long time. And when she didn’t write, I still held on to hope.

I wanted her to see me, thought the holidays would be better.

Instead, Christmas had been a shit show.

“Man, what the fuck you dressed up for? We going out to the bar after dinner?” Dom asked me as I searched the room for her.

Telling my best friend that I’d put my damn cologne on for his kid sister was not something I was about to do. “Well, I’m not going out looking like your ass. You wearing sweats to pick up Susie tonight?”

“I don’t need to wear anything to pick up Susie.” He waggled his eyebrows at me, and Dex elbowed him with a glare, probably because he was sweet on Susie at this point.

This was the normal cycle of the small town: we all flew back in, enjoyed our family, then went to the little bar in the village. High school flames were rekindled for a night, along with drama and petty bullshit.

I loved it.

It was comfort; it was home.

It’d been only two weeks earlier that I’d been overseas, on top of a building that was on fire, trying to snipe a terrorist. That year, I’d become ruthless in my missions, and when Lilah didn’t email me back, I’d pushed for more training within Special Ops. I’d taken contract work, I’d worked with the government, the mob, specific embassies. Hours of running, sleep deprivation, and fighting.

“What the hell are you trying so hard for anyway, Dante?” Dom asked. “You’re making us all look like pansies. Delta Force and dressed in some expensive jeans. How much did those cost anyway? I could make millions in tech, and every girl is still going to only want you.”

I chuckled. He wasn’t lying.

I only wanted one girl, though, and when she came down the steps, I heard her immediately. Her voice was like sex on a stick that I wanted to lap up. When I turned to look at her, the punch to my gut hit much harder than men in the military when we were scrapping. In ripped jeans and a black sweater that didn’t even do a mediocre job of hiding her curves, she looked more mature, like she’d grown up in only six months. Like I was missing moments with her. She went to hug my mom and let everyone fuss over her for a minute. She was the kid sister, and Izzy was out of juvie now but still hanging with the wrong crowd.

My mom immediately asked how school was going and if she’d made any good friends.

“School’s good. I’m sure you’ve heard that I’m going into nursing. And I’ve made friends. It’s been great.” She drifted off, and her eyes searched the room. When they landed on me, they froze. Hazel and gorgeous. They were rainbows of green and gold twisted up with fear and pain. Then, her cheeks blushed that familiar rosy pink and she continued, “It’s been busy, really busy.”

“I bet. I know college is full of booze and boys. You make sure you have some fun with both.” My mom nudged her and laughed. Delilah tore her stare from mine and giggled at my mother’s joke too.

She murmured that she was going to help with food and then floated out of the room just like she’d floated in, without a hello or a how are you. Without so much as an I miss you.

It didn’t take long for neighbors to stop by and for the Hardy Christmas to get into full swing. Alcohol was flowing, mistletoe was hung, and Mr. Hardy was at the piano trying his best to sing “Let it Snow” like he did every year. We ate ham and cheesy potatoes and probably a million different desserts, surrounded by family.

Izzy showed up with her crew. Mrs. Hardy rolled her eyes as they all beelined toward the punch bowl. “Izzy, don’t drink too much now. You know alcohol can be a gateway—”

“Mrs. Hardy.” I threw an arm over her shoulder and steered her away from Izzy, winking at her. “Let’s see if you and my mom can out-sing that husband of yours, huh?”

Mrs. Hardy laughed, and Izzy mouthed thank you like she couldn’t handle her family harping on her anymore.

I got it. She’d done her time in Juvie. She’d gotten clean. Except her family seemed to think she wasn’t really all that clean because of how she presented herself in front of them.

Still, my mother and Mrs. Hardy sang “White Christmas,” and they harmonized so well together, you would think they had been going door to door caroling their whole lives.

Joy flowed through us all.

But the rage in me grew and grew.

She wouldn’t look at me.

When she did, it was like a storm of misery passed over her features. She combed her hands through her hair when I held her gaze at the end of the night, right before Dom told me to get ready to go to Ray’s.

As she disappeared down the hall, I nodded to him. “Sure. Going to go to the bathroom and tell your mom thank you for the dinner. I’ll meet you guys there.”

He shrugged, not thinking anything of it, and filled his flask before Dex yelled at him to hurry up.

I was down the hall in half a second, following the girl of my dreams before anyone could see my real objective.

She turned and gasped when she saw me right behind her, but I didn’t give her time to object. I yanked her into the bathroom and shut the door.

When I turned the lock, her eyes bulged, and she poked me in the chest. “What are you doing? Someone might replace us in here!”

“Your brothers just left, and our parents are entertaining the neighbors. We’re fine,” I said, then leaned against the door to ensure she didn’t try to make a run for it.

“Well, I …” She twisted her dark curls, and then her hands were wringing themselves together. Her gaze jumped everywhere in that bathroom but never landed for one second on me. “I have to get back to my room.”

“Lilah,” I murmured while trying to get her attention, but she kept looking down. “Lilah. Look at me.”

She took a breath, and this time it was shaky, like she was pulling in air she could barely hold. “I don’t want to.”

“Why?” I croaked out and hated that it sounded so full of my own anguish. “I wrote you. I know it wasn’t much, but I was gone. I was doing a job. What happened between us?”

“What happened?” she whispered. “Nothing. Nothing happened. We slept together a few times, Dante. And then we were better off not together.”

“Is that so?” I asked and saw her bite her lip. She was struggling with something, but I was struggling with losing her. My pain wanted revenge, and even though I knew I should have kept digging to figure out what the real problem was, I wanted her pain even more. “Better off how? Better off with me going to fuck some random woman in this town tonight because I can’t have the one I want?”

She gasped, and then her eyes met mine with a fire that was bold, full of an emotion other than pain. “You don’t mean that.”

Finally, I saw life when she looked at me. I saw a reaction rather than regret. I pushed the envelope further. “Mean that I’ll fuck someone else or mean that I still want you? I mean both of those things. The latter more than the former. I’ve always wanted you, and I probably always will. And it’s your fault, Lilah. You dragged me down into that fucking hole, and now I can’t climb out.”

“It’s just better this way, Dante. You have the military. You’re doing so well. I heard you got into–”

“Don’t,” I cut her off. “Don’t make me feel good, Lilah. Unless you intend to make me feel good everywhere.”

My eyes raked over her body. Her breasts swelled as she breathed in, and then goosebumps popped up over her smooth skin. I couldn’t stop myself from stepping toward her and pulling her bottom lip from her mouth. She let me, even licked her lips as I stared at them. “Jesus Christ, I know you’re wet for me right now, pretty girl. I can practically smell it. I know the way it tastes too.”

“I can’t do this,” she whispered.

“You can’t or you don’t want to?”

“You know I want to, but I’m not strong enough. You’re gone and I’m here. It’s too much.”

“You knew I was in the military.” I pushed her. Something was off.

“I knew a lot.” She stepped back, and my hand fell from her chin. “I thought I knew so much. Until I didn’t know anything.”

“That doesn’t make sense, Lilah.”

“We don’t make sense,” she threw back. Then she shook her head. “I can’t with you. I just can’t. You’re my brother’s best friend, and I’ve already lost so much.”

“So much what?” I practically bellowed. The woman didn’t make any sense, and I’d been gone too long, away from civilian life, away from working through my emotions. She jumped back at my yelling, and I wanted to tell her that this wasn’t me, that I didn’t want to scream at her, but it was me.

I was trained in screaming at people now.

I was trained in assassination and torture and extracting information. Maybe that’s what this was. Or maybe she couldn’t handle the distance or the pressure.

It didn’t matter.

“You know what? It doesn’t matter.” I rubbed my head and looked toward the ceiling. “You’re right.”

“I know I am.” She nodded and stood tall like she was regaining confidence in her stupid argument. “We’re better off letting what we had die.”

I nodded. “Sure are.” But I wasn’t going to let her off that easy. She didn’t get to have all the confidence that she was doing everything right here. “Except that mouth of yours that’s spewing all this bullshit is going to miss mine. And you can deny that you want me all you want, but your pussy is going to regret that decision, Lilah.”

“I don’t think you’re the guy I thought you were.” She narrowed her eyes at me.

“No. I’m the guy you’ll always remember, though.” I took her mouth in mine. I bit down on the bottom lip that I wanted to brand as mine, and I pulled her thighs up around my waist before I shoved her ass back onto the counter. Her arm hooked around my neck, and she gave as good as she got.

I yanked at her hair and pulled it back so that her head tilted back enough for me to gain extra leverage and exposure. Consuming Lilah was my mission right then and I couldn’t see past it. She tasted like the only thing I wanted, and that was love and lust for her.

She moaned loud when my hands slid up her skirt and my thumb brushed over her panties.

“Soaked like I thought they would be. Jesus, why play with me, huh?”

“I’m not,” she whimpered, but now I was onto her games.

Still, I couldn’t stop myself. I wanted her to remember what we had between us, even if this was all a game to her, even if she wasn’t going to do anything past this night with me.

I told myself I didn’t want anything past this night either at this point.

When I pushed her panties to the side and traced my middle finger over her slit, her hips thrust forward. I pulled back, though. “You’re not getting off that quick, Little Lamb. You told me you don’t even want this.”

“I don’t. We can’t.” Her brow was furrowed; a sheen of sweat made her skin look like it glowed. Her chest was up against mine, rising and falling quickly. Instead of pushing me away, her arm around my neck tightened and her other hand went to my wrist, trying to push my hand farther into her core as I worked her.

“I think we can. I think you’ll beg me before we’re done here.”

“Dante, I can’t get off, okay? I’m broken or something.” She rolled her hips on my hand, but tears welled in her eyes as she said the words, like she knew she was chasing an unattainable dream.

“Lilah, what the fuck are you talking about?”

I started to pull my hand away, but her nails dug into my wrist. “Don’t you dare stop. I haven’t been able to get off since. Please.” Tears streamed down her face now. “I’ll beg, okay? Please. Please, please.”

She pulled me close, and when she kissed me this time, her tongue moved with love and pain, fast then slow, with a purpose to taste every part of my mouth. Suddenly, the love for me was back in her, how she spread her legs, how her body clung to me.

I didn’t stand a chance at denying her. Fuck, I’d been saving myself for her.

And her words cut pain and jealousy through me as my finger dove into her folds. Someone else must have touched her.

Someone else had tried to get her off while I’d waited for her.

I curled my finger inside her and hit the spot I knew she’d loved six months ago. She gasped, and both her hands flew to my shoulders like she needed to steady herself.

“You can always get off, Lilah,” I growled in her ear.

She shivered, and I pushed my thumb into her clit. “Oh, God.”

“Nope. God can’t get you there. No one can but me. I’m the one who rules this pussy, baby. You gave it to me, remember? And I didn’t give it back. I’m never going to.”

I slid another finger into her, and her wetness dripped down my wrist as she moaned and rode my hand faster and faster.

“Dante, Jesus, I missed you. I’m sorry I didn’t write you and I’m sorry I didn’t call you back after you left that voicemail. I—”

A knock on the door had her hips freezing and her eyes flying to it. She tried to shove me away as someone wiggled the doorknob.

“I’m in here. Just give me a …” She started, but her words tapered off as I kneeled down in front of her and sucked on the side of her thigh, my second finger sliding back and forth inside her with the first to the rhythm of my tongue on that plump thigh of hers. Maybe it was her trying to deny me now that someone was around, or maybe it was my need to be the only thing she remembered now that I was back in her life that night, but I wasn’t stopping for anything.

“Lilah, are you in there?” Her mom’s voice carried through the door.

Her hazel eyes widened on me, and she tried to yank me up by pulling at the fabric of my shirt.

I mouthed, “Get rid of her,” and then I pinched her clit as I removed my fingers to replace them with my mouth. Both of her hands hit the countertop, loud, and her mother must have heard her gasp.

“Lilah, is everything alright?”

“I … Yes, yes. Good. Everything is perfect.” She purred when she said it too, not pushing me away at all this time. Her legs wrapped around me and squeezed, like we were on the brink, like I was about to push her over the same edge that I was nearing.

“Well, I’m going outside by the fire if you need me. We should talk a bit more soon, Lilah. I want college to be good for you. I feel so far away, though, like maybe you should just move back home.”

“Oh my God, Mother. Please.” She moaned the word and smiled as my tongue lapped at her slit. “Please, I need a minute. We’ll talk later.”

As her mother’s footsteps grew distant and quiet, the sounds between us got louder. I let her give in and ride my face the way she needed to. Delilah wanted this as much as I did, and when her head fell back, ready to release everything she was holding in, I knew exactly what I needed from her.

“Look at me, Lamb. If I don’t see your pretty eyes, you don’t see stars.”

Her gaze snapped to mine, and I saw the vivid color before they dilated. We pushed the level we could be on in that moment; we moved the mountains of barriers, the silence over the last few months, and the pain that was somehow between us. The piece of my fucking heart that was missing was back in place for a second, and when she hit her high and convulsed around my tongue, I almost lost it right there.

She clawed at my head, and then her jaw dropped to let out a scream. My hand left her hair to muffle the sound as I milked the aftershocks from her.

As she breathed heavily into my hand and I licked up the last drops of her release, one of her hands went to my shoulders and the other to my wrist to pull it away from her mouth. “I’m sure everyone heard me.”

“Then maybe we should let them know what I wanted to tell them the first time I tasted you.”

“And what’s that?” she asked, biting her lip as she glanced down at me rising up to stand over her.

“That you might be a sweet innocent lamb, but you’re my lamb all the same.”

She sighed and scooted back as I said the words.

When I said her name again in question, she winced without looking at me.

“Why won’t you look at me, Lilah?”

“I can’t,” she whispered. The pain in her voice brought a storm of torture down upon my soul too. “If I do, I’ll end up ruining everything for both of us.”

“How can you say that?”

“We can’t be together. I— I’m sorry.” She combed her hands through her hair before glaring up at me. “You have to move on. I have to also. We should be friends like we were. We’re better off that way. If we date … Our families, Dante.”

“You knew that reason before.”

“It’s still a good reason. It just wasn’t one I made the right decision on in the past. And I’m sorry about that.”

“So what? You want me to forget this happened?”

“Yes.”

“Forget I took the most sacred thing from you?” I was whisper-yelling at her.

She bit her lip. “It won’t be that sacred once I’m with others, Dante. And you’ll move on too. There’s a line of women at the bar that’ll be more than happy to make you forget.”

I shook my head at her. “I don’t think you’ll forget. I won’t either.”

“We can try. Please. Let’s just be friends.”

Shit, a woman was begging me to forget her, but I was standing there like I couldn’t let her go. It wasn’t right. I’d tried. I’d damn near begged her on my knees to stay with me. “Fine, Lilah. Try. Try all you want. But if they can’t make you feel like I make you feel, you’ve got the wrong one.”

Her mother told mine that she thought Lilah was going through depression from being at college, that she’d get over it. She was the strongest of the bunch, plus they had to worry about Izzy.

Izzy, who’d been a little hellion growing up but had been right by Dom, Dex, Declan, and Dimitri when we ran amuck.

Izzy was close to death. Close enough that I feared for her life. Opioids could grab ahold of you like that, tear apart your life while destroying all the people in the way. And she was family. We were going to be in her damn way. We didn’t leave family behind. I’d stuck by my mom and her mom to scoop up the pieces of that girl. I took her under my wing, even though I wanted to do something totally different to her twin sister.

And Izzy made it. She was one of the lucky ones even if she was undercover in jail at the moment.

“Lilah, I care about Izzy too. You know she’s one of my best friends, okay? But you have to believe me when I say this is for the best.”

Her eyebrows slammed down as she scoffed at me and tried to kill me with a glare. “Oh, I know how good of a friend she is to you, Dante. Which is why I’m disgusted that you would even try to leave her here.”

Anger wasn’t the norm for her. Sadness, pain, embarrassment—that’s what I’d seen from her over the past five years. I’d never seen her this mad. I dealt with terrorists who were mad. I was fine handling that. I could waterboard a guy for so long he got over that anger real quick. I dealt with civilian women who were mad at me too, but normally I fucked their anger into submission.

I couldn’t do that with Delilah.

Even if I wanted to.

“Look, I think you should practice that breathing technique while I drive away from here. Idling in a place like this—”

“We’re not going anywhere without my sister.” She shoved my hand off the gear.

The spark came from our contact that time. The same spark I got when I wanted to have someone submit to me.

Fuck.

“Delilah, you’re like family to me, you know that. Izzy, too, but you know that Izzy has been in trouble for a long time. Opioid addiction–”

She cut me off as her voice cracked with emotion. “Don’t start. Do not even start with putting up an excuse from her past to justify what you’re about to do to her future. So what if she was addicted to something?” A new fire stirred in her eyes. “So what, Dante? I was there too. They don’t know whether I did it or she did. We’re both guilty. If I get out, she should too.”

Her loyalty to her sister, the willingness to defend, made her a lot stronger to me in that moment.

“We both know you wouldn’t do this,” I said softly, trying to lessen the blow. “I could only get you out for now, but—”

“Nope.” She basically shouted the word, then her head shook back and forth before she pounded her miniscule fist on the dashboard. “No, Dante. Don’t feed me bullshit and empty promises. We are not leaving her here alone. We leave this parking lot with her, or I go back in there to be with her.”

“Jesus, Delilah. She’s been in juvenile hall, she’ll be fine.” I winced at my words. To even my own ears they sounded callous.

“Oh my God. You know damn well this isn’t the same.” Before I could stop her, she flew out the door, jerking away from my reach. “There has to be something we can do.”

Oh, fuck me.

I was chasing her down, my dick in the wrong place all over again as I looked at her backside. I scrambled to grab her around the waist to haul her back toward the car. We didn’t have time to be bickering outside the correctional institution. It would cause unneeded attention.

She literally fought me the whole way. It was a forbidden feeling to hold a woman like that because I usually only indulged with those who wanted it. With Lilah, though, my dick was harder than a rock before I even made it to the car. I shouldn’t have lusted after her, kicking and screaming like a little wild animal in my arms.

“She’s getting out in a few weeks, woman. If she’d listened, I would have got her out today. She wants this. Not me. So stop fighting me before I do something about it,” I whispered into the nape of her neck.

The fight left her as I set her down near the car door. She looked at me with questions flying around behind her eyes. “Did you say she wants—”

“Get in and I’ll explain.” I cleared my throat and rubbed my hand over my head once, trying to keep my thoughts straight. “Just listen.”

“If you’re lying, I’ll replace a way to make you pay.”

“Even though I’ve told you time and time again that you’re as small as a lamb, I believe that, Delilah, I really do.”