Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 89145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
I stared at him, utterly dumbfounded. I didn’t know this man. Who the hell was he?
It killed me as much as it brought me relief, because maybe, just maybe, I could move on after all. Maybe I could mourn him as if he were dead, because clearly, the man I’d fallen for was nowhere to be found.
Maybe he saw it too. He flashed me a self-deprecating smirk, one that screamed of pain he didn’t want me to see. “Good thing I told you I’m outta your life, huh? You don’t wanna be near me anymore anyway.”
I swallowed.
My chest hurt. My face felt hot and itchy. I didn’t know what the fuck I wanted. I didn’t know what to think at all. I was a mess of temporary and extreme reactions and emotions.
“I should go home,” I heard myself say.
His expression shuttered, and he nodded once. “Aight.”
CHAPTER 8
Alfie Scott
West was gonna kill me, and maybe I was asking for it.
As I drove the kids out toward Ardmore, I had about a dozen voices yelling at me in my head. Go to Villanova instead! Emilia will happily watch them! Don’t give West another reason to look at you the way he did earlier! Take the next motherfucking exit! But I didn’t. I didn’t text Emilia—or Finn, for that matter.
Kellan and I were handling this, and we didn’t involve the boss.
I eyed the kids in the rearview, both decked out in new PJs we’d bought after the festival today, and both tuckered out. But ready for this late-night adventure to Daddy’s.
Ellie’s new pajamas had a bunch of bunnies on them. She’d picked them at the store and shot me her best Veruca Salt look, along with, “I want a bunny, Daddy.”
Her confident, half-spoiled approach didn’t work with me. She didn’t get that way often, so I wasn’t too worried. But every now and then, she tried to demand things, and fuck that. I’d laughed and patted her on the head.
She’d been pissy for half an hour, before retreating back to her usual negotiator personality. Trust, I’d shot that down too, but at least it was cute and bearable.
She wasn’t getting no fucking bunny.
If Trip wanted something, West and I at least considered it. With Ellie, we had another strategy. She changed her hobbies and passions so often that West and I didn’t buy her Christmas presents until right before Christmas. That girl updated her wish list a minimum of twenty times in between Thanksgiving and December 15th.
Something like a pet, a living thing…? She’d need to ask for it for at least four or five months.
We all knew what’d happened with the hamster.
“Daddy?” Ellie yawned. “Are we sleeping at Daddy’s?”
“That’s up to you, baby girl,” I replied. “It might be easier if I come pick you up in the morning, but if you want me to swing by in a few hours, I can do that too. It’ll be in the middle of the night, though.”
Every now and then, she did look to Trip for his input. Like now.
“I think you should swing by,” he said thoughtfully. “Then we can see.”
Then we can see.
That would be quite the fucking detour, but no matter. If they wanted me to come back just to see if they’d made up their minds, so be it.
“You got it, buddy,” I said.
When we reached West’s street, I brought out my work phone and rested it on my thigh. No message from Kellan yet, which meant he hadn’t left home.
I pulled in next to West’s car, and the kids unbuckled their seat belts and climbed out with their stuffed animals.
I followed them to the door and rang the doorbell.
Ellie tested the door. “Poop, it’s locked.”
“As it’s supposed to be, am I right?” I combed down her hair a little with my fingers.
They’d been ready to doze off on the couch when I’d gotten the text from Kellan about a problem in Camden. Three low-men were scheduled to accept a shipment in roughly an hour, and Colm had forwarded a report to Kellan about one of the three saying the other two were shit-faced. Now, none of them was answering their phone.
West opened the door in his fancy dark-blue pajamas, and the look of surprise was no surprise. The pajamas were the surprise, to be honest. He’d had bottoms and a shirt when we’d first started going out, though they’d quickly disappeared when I’d let him know I slept naked.
“Hi, Daddy! We’re on an adventure!” Ellie rushed forward to hug West’s middle, whereas Trip was busy playing a game on his phone. He walked forward too, gave West an absent-minded hug, then walked inside the house.
“What, uh—what kind of adventure?” West looked to me.
I cleared my throat, mildly nervous. But I’d chosen this. “Yeah, I understand this won’t help my case in tryna look like a good parent, but can you watch them for a few hours?”