Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“I know, Olivia. I’m glad she has you here,” he responded, finally sounding a bit more normal. “I know you being here is what’s helped her the most.”
It warmed my heart to hear him say that. We had our differences, but at least we could both agree that we loved Dahlia. At that moment, I almost thought about bringing up the blackmail to see if I could convince him to just delete the picture, but something inside me told me it wasn’t the right time, not while he was drunk and still slightly volatile.
Instead, we continued to talk about Dahlia and how we were going to help ensure she had a great time over these next several months. Before I knew it, my tea was gone, and I could finally head back to my room. I found that our discussion had helped ease my heart more than the tea had.
“Alright, I’ve got to get to bed,” I told him and got up to put my tea cup away. “It’s been nice talking to you.”
As I walked past, he grabbed my arm… not ungently, but still with some urgency. I froze, my heart speeding up. It suddenly occurred to me that it was very late at night, and everyone else was probably asleep.
“Olivia, have you ever thought of me as more than just Dahlia’s brother?” he asked quietly. There was something like hope shining in his drunken eyes.
“You know I haven’t, Alessandro,” I responded firmly, yanking my arm from his grasp. We’d been over this. Had he forgotten in his drunken stupor? I was relieved when he let me go and took a step backward to keep him from grabbing me again.
He grinned, but it wasn’t a sweet grin. There was a mean glint to his smile that made my already thudding heart go even faster. He stood up, and I continued to back away. I desperately wished that Giovani would somehow appear around the corner.
“Aw, come on, baby. You aren’t even a little bit curious about what I’ve got going on under here?” He tugged at the waistband of his pants, and my throat went dry.
I backed up further and felt the counter behind me digging into my back. What could he possibly want from me? Surely he wasn’t going to force himself on me. That would be suicide. He had to know that if he ever did something like that, Giovani would hunt him down and kill him.
The thought of Gio caused something inside me to snap. The fear that had been gathering in my chest suddenly switched to anger. How fucking dare he try to come onto me after trying to destroy me and Giovani?!
“I’ve never been less curious about anything in my entire life,” I told him, the rage in my chest making my voice cold and heartless.
“I just don’t get why you’d want to be with a washed-up old man when you could get with me. He’s a fucking skeleton, a pile of dust. And I’m gonna be the one that pushes his old ass out the door and takes over. Why wouldn’t you want to be at my side when that happens?”
His ridiculous statements hit me exactly as hard as he meant them to, and I saw red. My fists involuntarily clenched at my sides as a burning fury ripped its way through my body. I wanted to pummel him, but I knew that wouldn’t get me anywhere. Before I could think too much, I pushed past him and rushed back to my room, shoulder-checking him on the way.
When I was finally safe in my warm bed, I could think of nothing other than what I was going to do. Alessandro had created a disaster, and now I was going to have to figure out a way to mitigate the damage.
One thing I knew for sure. I would never be stupid enough to trust him again.
*Olivia*
I didn’t sleep well at all. I kept tossing and turning, weird dreams waking me in the oddest of moments as my heavy thoughts plagued me like a bad aftertaste. I woke up late for the second morning in a row, and I was not happy about it.
Really, I just wanted to go back to bed and bury my face in my pillow for a good few hours, but I didn’t have the heart. Despite all the drama with Alessandro and Giovani, Dahlia was still my best friend, and she still needed me.
Plus, Tallon was there too.
I suppressed a yawn with the back of my hand as I climbed down the stairs and headed straight for the kitchen. I could hear shuffling across the floors, and I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
I halted in my tracks right in the middle of the entrance, blinking in surprise a few times before my eyes connected back to my brain. The foggy signals cleared up, and I realized there were only two people in the kitchen.
Dahlia sat at the island, drinking a glass of what looked like orange juice through a swirly straw. She grinned as she spotted me, waving me over, and I glanced at the maid who had taken over cooking duty.
It was an older woman, one I hadn’t seen before, and she hummed in a very thick accent as she fluttered around the kitchen. She was multi-tasking like she had been on one of those master cooking shows we used to watch.
I was in sheer awe of her ability to flip a pancake and scramble some eggs at the same time.
“What’s going on?” I whispered to Dahlia, a bit dazed.
“Ah.” Dahlia glanced at the unknown woman and then smiled. “That’s Maria. Mom and Dad sent her to take care of me since I am now apparently a crippled woman.”
She rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her orange juice.
“Does she need any help?” I asked with a frown.
She looked awfully busy as she went back and forth between the hot sizzling pans, cooking up varying dishes in a flash.
“I doubt it.” Dahlia shrugged. “I tried to touch a pan, and she acted as if I had sworn at a nun. Plus, I don’t think she speaks English… or Italian.”
“Wait, what? Then what does she speak?” I asked just as Maria turned to the two of us with a huge smile and carried a plate packed to the brim with food–pancakes and scrambled eggs and bacon and sausage and every piece of breakfast food you could ever want.
My eyes widened as I spotted the homemade donuts she’d stuck on the side.
“Ah, Olivia, si?” Maria grinned, but that was the only thing I understood as she began to ramble on in Spanish. She grabbed my face, turning it this way and that as she scoffed, then grabbed one of the donuts and stuck it into my mouth.
I could only bite down on it, stunned as she turned around, still firing off rapid Spanish. Dahlia sent me an amused grin as I chewed silently on the donut.
It was really fucking delicious.
A plate landed in front of me, and Maria winked at me as she put a silver fork in my hand and patted my head with a “Vamanos.”
And then she was gone, humming as she walked straight out of the door. The kitchen fell into silence, and I stared at Dahlia, who only stared back. Her eyes were dancing with mirth as she waited for my brain to catch up.
“What just happened?” I asked, bewildered.
“I believe,” Dahlia chuckled, “that she told you to eat because you’re too skinny, but my Spanish is a bit rusty, so I could be wrong.”
I glanced down at my stomach, a bit worried now. Was I really that skinny? I poked at my arms, finding not even a hint of muscle there.
Well, damn. She was right.
“Where is everybody else?” I asked as I dug into the pile of scrambled eggs on my plate. They looked cheesy and so delicious as I stuck them in my mouth. I moaned in happiness at the taste, shutting my eyes in sheer bliss at the taste.
I’d had some good food… but Jesus, this was some really good food.
“Is she a goddess?” I asked, only half-joking as I shoveled another bite of the cheesy, scrambled goodness into my mouth.
“No clue,” Dahlia said as she took a bite of the pancakes, which I noticed with delight were buttermilk blueberry. She smiled, looking just as pleased as I was.
“Hey, Maria!” Dahlia called out.
It had to only be a few seconds, before Maria stuck her head back in, beaming as she held a basket of laundry in her hands. I noticed with a growing smirk that they were varying colors of panties and bras–matching sets to be precise.
Dahlia said something in Spanish, and I was beginning to regret taking French over Spanish when Maria happily answered.
“Apparently they all left this morning–some kind of business to take care of,” Dahlia translated for me.
Maria pointed to the food, speaking rapidly again, and Dahlia grinned, nodding her head. Maria laughed happily, turning on her heel to walk away.
“Did you tell her the food was delicious?” I smiled.
“I told her it tasted like crack cocaine,” Dahlia winked at me.
