I grit my teeth over and over, trying to keep feeding the anger that was helping me stay strong and thereby keeping her out of our plans. Her coup de grâce is too much, though. I’m powerless to stop this freight train of awful as she continues to spew words that are too pitiful to hear.
Her tone becomes suddenly very soft. Very clear. Very resigned. “The father of my child threw me away like a piece of trash. I need to know that I stand for something. That I am worth having around.”
The camel’s back? Yeah. It’s broken. That last straw was just a tad too heavy. I jump to my feet, pacing back and forth in front of the low table between us. “Fine. You want to go? Fine. You want to get in trouble, maybe get arrested and have your baby in jail? Fine. Fine! You’re the parent, not me! You’re the one who will be setting a terrible example for a brand new baby! You’re the one who will have a black mark on her life for all of eternity!”
She stands and smiles. “Yes. I agree to your terms.”
I stop and put my hands on my hips. “Those. Weren’t. Terms! They were dire warnings meant to scare you off.”
She tosses her pony tail over her shoulder. “I don’t scare off. Not anymore.”
I leave the room and go back out into the hallway because I don’t trust myself not to say the wrong thing.
“So, we ready to go?” Mick asks, his smile back full force.
I glare at him and say nothing. I’m five seconds away from slapping someone and his cheek is mighty tempting. Damn, he is too cute for words. Hey … maybe if I did that he’d grab me and push me into the wall and start kissing me all over …
My fantasy is interrupted by a nightmare on spindly yet swollen legs.
Alissa joins us in the hallway.
Mick raises his eyebrows at me and then follows me down the stairs into the garage. When we get outside a few seconds before Alissa and Colin, he leans in and whispers, “I thought you were going to handle her.”
“I did. She was in drama club forever. She can help us.” I can’t look him in the eye.
“She cried, didn’t she?”
I huff out an annoyed breath. “Yes. Fuck me, she cried all over the damn place.”
“And the fact that she bragged about her drama club membership didn’t make you at all suspicious of those tears?”
I watch her coming out the door, Colin behind her with a sick expression on his face.
Alissa is walking over to Mick’s car, her chin held up and her eyes full of determination. She’s acting tough and confident, but I’m seeing something else now.
“Nah,” I say, for the first time thinking maybe this was the right thing to do, to let her come along. “She’s not acting.”
“Okay, if you say so.” Mick chuckles. “Man, you are too easy.”
I freeze on my way over to the car. “You did not just call me easy.”
He turns around to walk backwards, his hands held up in front of him. “Who me? Never. That’s the dead last word I’d ever use to describe you, actually.”
I walk fast to catch up to him. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask, my heart picking up the pace a little. His expression is pure devilry and I love it.
He opens the door and gestures for me to get into the passenger seat. “You know exactly what I mean,” he says, waiting for me to get in.
I stop when we’re almost nose to nose, the door between us. “I’m not difficult.”
“You don’t think so?” he asks. His eyes are dancing with humor.
“No, I don’t.” I’m close enough that I can see sparse patches of beard stubble on his chin. I want to reach out and touch one of them and pet it, but I hold back. Touching him even once would be a mistake. I don’t think I’d ever come back from it.
“Well, you sure as hell ain’t easy,” he says, gesturing to the interior of the car with his chin. “Get in.”
Something about him makes me want to challenge everything he says. I should just do what he’s telling me to do, but instead, I give him some shit. “Make me.” A thrill shoots through me at my challenge.
I think he’s going to just say something back, give me some shit, but instead he moves. And he does it so quickly, it sends my heart into overdrive as I realize I just became prey.
I squeal as I leap sideways to get away from him, jumping into the passenger side of the car and sliding over the leather bench-seat away from him.
He leans in and grins. “That’s what I thought.” And then he’s gone and the door is shut between us. He smiles all the way around the front of the car, clearly proud of himself.