Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 71625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Not that my ex-husband didn’t look appetizing. He did.
He’d always been attractive.
But the man standing beside him? Yeah, he was gorgeous.
Then again, anything would look good next to my ex at this point.
My ex who had left me when I’d needed him the most.
“Daddy!”
I groaned as I watched my son run toward his father, who scooped him up and acted like he’d seen him only hours ago instead of the three months it had stretched out to.
I gritted my teeth and handed the lady my card.
“I’m sorry, but it’s saying declined.”
I gritted my teeth, then looked at the pint of ice cream that I’d thought to get as a reward for my day.
“Put that back,” I murmured. “Oh, and this.”
I handed over my baby wipes. I could use the rags that I’d been using over the last week. It seemed to be working all right.
She did as instructed, looking at me with pity in her eyes, and I ignored it.
“Okay, it went through.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and started stacking my bags into the cart, pushing it stiffly out into the main aisle that would lead out of the store.
“Hello,” I murmured to the officer who was with my ex.
“Hi.” He smiled.
The smile didn’t meet his eyes.
I was sure he was wondering, just like everyone else, why I’d ‘left my husband.’
I hadn’t. He’d left me.
But no one knew that because he told them something totally different than what actually happened.
And, since this town was so fucking small, and it’d been the town I’d been transplanted into when I’d married my ex, I didn’t figure they’d believe me anyway.
My ex was a cop, the town heartthrob when he was growing up, and an all-around American hero.
An American hero to everyone but me.
“Let’s go,” I ordered softly to my daughter.
Conleigh walked over to her brother who was talking animatedly with his father and took him out of Matt’s arms. Then she placed him on his feet and led him out without a word to my ex.
Cody went, but he only had eyes for his daddy as he walked grudgingly out of the store.
I didn’t stop and talk to either of them as I passed, but I felt my ex’s eyes on me the entire way.
Then again, I also felt like someone else was looking, too.
I pretended it was the other cop.
At least in dreams, I could still attract a man with the fucked-up body of mine.
Chapter 2
I’ve had my patience tested. I’m negative.
-Steel’s secret thoughts
Steel
“Big Papa, seriously.” Aaron growled. “This isn’t going to work.”
I rolled my eyes and walked away, leaving him to argue with himself.
He’d already given me his best argument, and I wasn’t listening to the rest of the shit excuses he gave me.
I did not, under any circumstances, want to deal with that woman’s shit today. So yes, I was ignoring her phone calls. I was also avoiding her.
But she was seriously fucking annoying, and I couldn’t deal.
My phone rang, and I glanced at the screen, breathing a sigh of relief when I saw my son’s name pop up instead of my ex’s.
“Hey, boy,” I said.
“Hey, Dad,” Sean greeted. “Did you know that your ex is now calling my phone?”
I growled under my breath. “How does she even have your phone number?”
I knew for certain I hadn’t given it to her.
“Don’t know. But she calls and wakes up the baby again, I might very well have to contain my wife.”
I chuckled under my breath, my eyes automatically scanning the gas station around me as I backed into a corner to take the call.
My eyes lit on a young girl, maybe sixteen or seventeen, who was browsing the aisle of crap that every gas station had. Earphones, air fresheners, tiny travel packs of Tylenol and ibuprofen. Things of that nature that you might need on a road trip.
Though, this one also had a little bit more than most since the station was one of those super ones that the truckers all used right off the interstate.
“I’m sorry, Sean. I don’t know why Lizzibeth is calling. I’ve already spoken with her today and told her to stop calling everyone. I’ll take her call again tonight when I’m off shift and figure it out. In the meantime, just keep doing what you’re doing.”
Sean grunted. “I will.”
Then he hung up.
I shoved the phone into my pocket, continuing to keep my eyes on the girl.
Where I was, partially covered by a stack of Bud Light, meant that only my eyes and the top of my head were visible. Which had to be the reason why the girl, when she glanced around, didn’t see me. Otherwise, I knew that she wouldn’t have shoved two pairs of earphones into her jacket and then started to walk out the door.
I sighed and followed her out, gesturing to Aaron that I’d be outside.