“Well, well, well … aren’t you lookin’ good enough to eat.”
I raised a brow at Dante Collins and rolled my eyes.
“Damien will lynch ye’ if he hears ye’ sayin’ stuff like that to me.”
“He can try.”
Dante’s grin told me that he was only teasing, but I still had to warn him to knock it off. The last thing I needed was for Damien and him to fight again. The last time resulted in bruises and sore egos, and I did not want to deal with either. Assuring Damien that my four-month fling with Dante was nothing for him to worry about took time, and Dante knew that, which was why he got a kick out of tormenting me. As I stared at Dante, I thought back to when I had a discussion with him on the phone a few months ago about how that day panned out.
“I want to apologise.”
“For what?”
“For how I spoke about you in the garage back when you and Damien got together a few weeks ago... and I’m also sorry for smackin’ your arse.”
I grunted as I adjusted my phone against my ears. “Continue.”
“I’m sick with meself for talkin’ about ye’ like ye’ were an object and treatin’ ye’ the way I did, and in front of the lads, too.”
“Why are ye’ bringin’ this up now?” I asked. “It’s been ages since that happened.”
“I know, but I never apologised for it.”
“I won’t lie. It did hurt me feelin’s.”
“I know … I just … me own feelin’s were hurt.”
I blinked. “Yours?”
“Yeah,” Dante continued. “I guess I was a little … jealous.”
“Jealous?”
“Of Damien.”
“Why?” I asked, shocked. “Why would you be jealous of ‘im?”
“Because he had you.”
My heart stopped. “Date.”
“Don’t freak out. I’m not in love with ye’ … I just could have been, ye’ know? I really liked ye’.”
This was entirely new information.
I sat down. “I never intended to lead ye’ on. I swear.”
“Babe, I know that. Ye’ were upfront with me. I just caught a few feelin’s, and that’s not your fault. Don’t worry, though, we’re square now. You’re happy, and I’m happy for ye’.”
“We have to get ye’ a girlfriend, so ye’ can be just as happy as me.”
“Leave me be, woman.” Dante laughed. “I have many women to tumble with under me bed sheets before I settle down. Not every woman can tame me like you can.”
“Ye’d be surprised.” I snorted. “It’s the quiet ones ye’ have to watch out for.”
I came back to the present and grinned at Dante.
“When ye’ get a girlfriend, I’m gonna tell ‘er all the things ye’ did to me just to piss ye’ off when ye’ have to calm ‘er down when she gets jealous.”
“Piss me off or turn me on?”
I swiped at him, but he jumped out of my reach, chuckling.
“I’m only jokin’, me and Damien are square … he knows we’re only mates.”
Damien hated that I was friends with Dante, and I understood why, so to avoid awkward run-ins, I rarely came by Damien’s job at the garage. I doubted Damien would ever fully relax around Dante until he had a girlfriend himself. Meetings like this couldn’t be avoided now that Dante lived in the same building as me and Damien. Along with Harley, JJ, Gavin, and his pregnant non-girlfriend, Kalin. Kane, being the landlord, hooked up Aideen’s brothers and was the reason they were my new neighbours.
“Did ye’ put sunscreen on?” Harley asked me, reminding me of his presence. “It’s hot as a motherfucker out there.”
“I put some on, and I’ve a bottle in me bag for top ups. Thanks, Da.”
Dante snickered, and Harley grinned.
“Smartarse.”
My lips twitched. “Why’re ye’ both ‘ere? Shouldn’t ye’ be in work?”
“We popped out for a minute,” Dante answered.
“And you came home instead of enjoyin’ that fine weather outside?”
“We’re checkin’ on Gavin,” Harley explained. “He called in sick to work, but Ryder could have sworn he heard a woman moan in pleasure in the background. Date thinks he was watchin’ porn, but I think little brother is mattress dancin’ with Kalin, and since we have to pick up his slack for not bein’ at work for the early shift, I wanna know how sick he is. I’m gonna deck ‘im if he’s anythin’ less than half dead with the flu.”
Gavin was in a bit of a pickle, to say the least.
I didn’t know the entire story, not yet anyway, but Gavin had gotten a woman pregnant, a woman who he had been having sex with on and off for months. Her name was Kalin Harris, and after some sort of family issues, she had nowhere to stay. Super landlord Kane came to the rescue and situated her in an apartment of her own … directly across the hall from Gavin’s apartment. She was currently seven and half months pregnant with the next Collins baby. I found out about her existence and her pregnancy when she was only six weeks into it. A lot had changed since then, and apparently so had her relationship with Gavin, if moans of pleasure were put on the table.
Gavin had sworn to me that things were platonic between he and Kalin, and that they were going to co-parent and raise their son together as best as they could. Aideen had taken Kalin under her wing since we all found out about her. We had all attended a gender reveal party, a baby shower, and many girls’ nights in to get to know one another. Kalin was kind of a part of our group at this point … but I couldn’t stand her. I backed her and Gavin one hundred percent in raising their son, but Kalin rubbed me the wrong way. She gave me, and only me, dirty looks whenever I was in her presence, and God forbid if I hugged Gavin or smiled at him when she was in viewing distance.
She didn’t like me, and that pissed me off because I had been nothing but nice to her and tried to make her feel welcome from the second I had met her. It didn’t help that I threw water in her face at her gender reveal party two weeks ago when she asked me to leave because I was the first person to hug Gavin when the blue balloons came out of the reveal box. I didn’t mean to hug him first, or steal her thunder, but I was right next to him, and he looked at me first when it was revealed he was going to have a son. We’re best friends, and we hugged because that was what we did … but Kalin hated it.
I hadn’t spoken to her or Gavin in the two weeks since. Of course, he sided with Kalin and so did nearly everyone else because, at the end of the day, all they saw was me throwing a water in a heavily pregnant woman’s face and ruining her gender reveal party. It was a shitty situation, one that I still couldn’t believe had taken place, but it was what it was, and I just had to roll with the punches and deal with the aftermath.
“If Kalin has Gavin in ‘er apartment, she won’t give ‘im back. She has claws, big claws.”