Nikolai: A Dark Mafia Romance (Dirty Dons Club Book 4) by Naomi West

Author:Naomi West [West, Naomi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-08-27T16:00:00+00:00

I have one of Nikolai’s men drive me to my dad’s place—my own old house—the next day. He asks me if I want him to come inside with me, and I say no, it’s just my dad. The truth is, I don’t want to think that I will need any backup, but I note with some disgust that the backup would be nice. I just … I wish Nikolai was here with me. My dad wouldn’t fuck with him the way he has fucked with me in the past.

My dad greets me at the door with a big smile, a kiss on the cheek, and a big hug. “Gabby!” he exclaims. “Look at me! Five days sober now. I may even go to one of those meetings. What do you think?”

“It’s great, Dad,” I say casually.

“Well, don’t just stand outside the door,” he says, ushering me through the barrier, “Come in! Come in!” We enter the house together, and I notice at once that it looks so much different. At first, I’m not sure why, but then it hits me: he has actually cleaned the place up. There aren’t dirty clothes strewn about everywhere, full ashtrays sitting on the end tables I bought (with my own money) from the Salvation Army, empty bags of chips and candy bar wrappers thrown every which way. No, the place looks … good, actually. I wonder when, in all his job searching and likely retching from getting over his alcoholism, he found time to clean all this up. But he did, and it’s a start. I have to be impressed with even the smallest baby steps, I suppose.

“So, can I get you something to drink?” he asks. “I have water, or … erm, well, water is about all I have. And it’s tap. I hope you don’t mind …”

“I’m good, Dad,” I say, flashing him an appreciative grin. “I have to say, the place looks … pretty tidy. I’m not used to seeing it like this.”

“Yeah,” he says, nodding, “I woke up yesterday morning and thought, Why the hell am I living in such a fucking sty? So I walked up to the convenience store, bought some garbage bags, and started pitching shit. And I did a load of laundry. Did you know we actually have a laundry machine in here? It’s not great, it’s probably about thirty years old, but it still works. So, there’s that.”

“Well, that’s great, Dad,” I answer him, sitting down at the kitchen table, which, to my surprise, isn’t sticky anymore. “You’re doing a good job.”

“Thanks, Gabby,” he says. “That means an awful lot.”

“So …” I offer awkwardly, “you wanted to talk?”

“Yeah, I did,” he says. “So, as I mentioned on the phone, I’m trying to put my life together. I’m cleaning up, as you can see, both inside and outside. And I’m going to try my best to find a job.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that,” I say. “Dad, I think that’s great. I want you to know you have my full support.

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