"Daddy!" Julie screamed as Amanda tried to get her struggling body into her car. "You're bleeding. Daddy!"
With his attention diverted, Tina landed another sharp blow to his collarbone before he finally caught her hand.
"Stop this," he said. "You're upsetting Julie. What do you think hitting me will accomplish?"
"I want to hurt you as much as you've hurt me," Tina growled, yanking on her arm.
"I've never hit you," Jacob said. "Never."
"God, you're stupid."
Jacob stiffened as if she'd punched him again. Actually, he'd rather she punch him than call him stupid. "Don't call me that."
"Why? You're a fucking idiot. You don't understand anything."
"Maybe if you tried explaining it to me in small words," he said tersely. But he wasn't interested in what she had to say. He wanted to comfort his daughter, who was still screaming for him in the back of Amanda's car, not listen to more of Tina's bullshit.
"You never fought for me, Jacob," she said. "For us. We had-what?-one big argument about your infidelity before you left me."
"You accused me of cheating on you all the time, Tina. Even when I hadn't cheated."
"But you did cheat, Jake. You admitted it."
"Yeah, I admitted I wronged you and I left. That's what you said you wanted."
Tina shook her head, her eyes filling with tears. Jacob didn't feel the least bit sorry for her. She'd driven him away. Made his life so miserable he had to force himself to go home. If Julie hadn't been there, he'd have avoided going home at all.
"Maybe I wanted you to fight for me."
"Who the hell was I supposed to fight for you? Were you cheating on me with some guy?" He kind of hoped she had been. Then he wouldn't have to feel so low about his own infidelity. God knew the woman needed to get laid.
Tina blinked at him and shook her head. "You're so dense, Jake. There wasn't anyone else. Ever. There still isn't anyone else."
"I'm taking Julie home," Amanda interrupted. "I'll call Mom to come watch her, and I'll leave."
"You're goddamned right you'll leave," Tina spat. "I never want to see your whore face again."
"She's not a whore," Jacob said.
"Did you fuck her?" Tina asked. When Jacob didn't dignify her question with an answer, Tina snorted. "Then she's a whore."
"Go to hell, Tina," Amanda said before climbing into her car, starting the engine, and driving away.
"Somebody call the police," Tina screamed. "She's taking my child!"
"Will you just stop?" Jacob said, releasing both of Tina's wrists now that Julie and Amanda were gone and safe from her wrath. "Julie didn't need to see you blow up like that. She's probably scared to death. You know Amanda would never take her from you or harm her. Why don't you try acting like an adult for once in your life?"
"Like you can talk," she said.
Jesus. Why had he ever thought this woman was attractive? She was nasty. Rotten to the core. He hoped her influence didn't rub off on Julie, but he'd witnessed Tina's effect on Julie's thought processes more than once.
"I'd like to talk, not fight," he said, raising both hands in truce. "Just talk. Do you think you can calm down enough to do that?"
Jacob scowled at the sound of approaching sirens. "I think someone called the cops on us," he said. He wiped his bleeding temple with the neckband of his T-shirt. He wasn't surprised the neighbors had called the police. He just wished they'd arrived when he'd been trying to break up the fight and gotten knocked around by his ex-wife.
"You're not going to see Amanda again," Tina said.
"I plan to see her this evening, as a matter of fact."
"Then you'll never see Julie again."
Jacob's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"
"Promise you won't see Amanda again or I'll . . ." Her eyes narrowed maliciously. "I'll send the cops after her for kidnapping Julie. She'll go to jail, Jacob. Do you want that for her? How do you think that will affect her life? Her career? She's a teacher. They'll fire her over this for sure."
Tina's cold smile turned Jacob's blood icy in his veins.
"You wouldn't lie to the cops just to keep us apart," Jacob said. Hoped.
"It's not a lie. She took my daughter without my permission. That's kidnapping."
"Amanda had my permission to take Julie," Jacob reminded her. "She's my daughter too."