Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 87967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“I can’t believe you’re seriously looking down your nose at everyone,” I said, surprised at him, but I shouldn’t have been. Daimon was raised differently than me, so I should have known he’d be this way.
“Forget it; let’s go where you want to go.” I gave up and started to get out of the line.
“Shut up and get your sexy ass back here.” He grabbed my arm and yanked me back. He slid his hand down my arm to my palm and intertwined our fingers. “I’ve taken you places; now, it’s your turn,” he said, looking down at me.
We finally sat down at a booth by the windows. A classic Italian New York pizzeria, red was splashed everywhere, the red brick walls, with its red pleather booths and checkered red and white tablecloths. I loved it. It felt so much like home.
“Why are you smiling like that?” Daimon asked.
“Just remembering the early years of the restaurant, when I worked with my mom and dad. It was packed just like this. The line goes right out to the corner. The sounds of plates hitting each other and the hustle and bustle of everyone trying to get their work done; it was crazy stressful and we all loved it. This place just reminds me of it,” I shrugged, reminiscing.
A waiter wearing black pants and a white, well what used to be white, shirt came to ask us our drink orders. Poor guy must have been working all day; red stains were all over him.
“I’ll have the sparkling water,” I said to him.
“Make it two.” Daimon held up two fingers.
“Sure. Do you guys know what you want?” he asked before leaving.
“Actually, yeah. One small original pizza and your Grandma’s Meatballs,” I ordered. Daimon narrowed his eyes at me. “What? You said I'm supposed to take you out.”
“Okay, coming right up,” the waiter said. Daimon continued to look at me suspiciously.
“Sofia and I used to come here when we were younger. My mom and dad didn’t know, since they worked all the time. It was kind of easy to get out of the house without them knowing. Plus staying at home with Sofia would sometimes drive me crazy,” I admitted.
“So Addie was a little bit of a bad girl.” He smiled all sexy like.
“Addie was bored babysitting all the time,” I challenged.
“Your parents worked all day?”
“All day and all night, until nine o’clock that is. They usually got home by ten,” I noted.
“Then who took care of you?” Daimon asked.
“Me. Look, Daimon, this was my reality. Yours was different,” I said earnestly.
“Yeah, I had nannies and butlers,” Daimon said annoyed.
“Well, I was the butler and the nanny.”
The waiter came back with our sparkling waters and placed them down onto the table. “Here you go, guys,” he said, rushing off to his next table that was waiting.
“It’s pretty busy,” Daimon noted.
“It’s always this busy,” I said, cracking open the first bottle of sparking water and pouring for both of us.
A runner came right after and dropped off the meatballs.
“You’ll like them.” I smiled as I put meatballs on a white small plate and placed it in front of him.
“They’re huge,” he stated, looking down at his plate.
“Yeah, I know. You’re used to fine dining with small, elegant portions made to look like art. Here you eat like everyone one else,” I joked.
I cut into the first meatball; faint aromas of herbs and spices hit my nose. My mouth watered anticipating the first bite. To say that I scoffed the whole meatball down would have been understatement. Daimon sat across from me watching in horror.
“Remind me that blow jobs are out of the question,” he said, shaking his head, but the ass was grinning.
“I'm hungry, you ass,” I said, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
“Okay then. That’s fine. I'm still scared of you though,” he said warily, through his smile.
“Screw you, Daimon.” I pushed my plate to the side, angry at his behavior.
“No, it’s true, Addie. Had I known you ate like that I might have not fallen in love with you,” he teased. “If I remember correctly, you didn’t eat like that in high school.”
“Of course not. You made me feel anxious. I was too tense to eat. You sat across from me taunting me,” I said sadly, not wanting to remember that.
“Look, Addie—”
“And here’s your pizza,” the waiter interrupted and placed the pizza in the middle of the table.
“Thanks.” I faintly smiled at the waiter.
“Do you guys need anything else?” he asked.
“No, it’s all good.” I began cutting up the slices of pizza and placing it on our plates.
“Addie…”
“Don’t! Not today at least,” I said under my breath.
“I didn’t know what they were doing to you in high school. I mean I stopped most of it before it happened,” he said regretfully.
It was true; he did. Every time someone tried to pick on me and didn’t see Daimon, he shelled out some heavy bullying to that person. But what he didn’t know was he couldn’t protect me all the time. To them, I was the one way to get back at him and all the shit he did. I was his personal play toy and no matter how much I hated the limelight, no matter how much I didn’t want any attention, it wouldn’t stop.