Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 132892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
“Sounds like a real prince.”
She snorted. “You have no idea. It’s worth mentioning that he cheated on me at least once, with another attorney who worked in his office. May have happened more than that, now that I look back. I’d stopped caring at that point.”
“Why the hell didn’t you leave him?” I asked, confused. “Life’s short—why waste it on someone like that?”
She shrugged. “Habit? I don’t know. In retrospect, it’s crazy, but when you’re in the moment . . . I think a part of me hoped that having a baby together would fix things. I don’t know. None of it matters, because when I was eight months along I started having trouble. Spotting. Cramps. A lot of that happens late in pregnancy anyway, but one morning the bleeding started and it wouldn’t stop. I lost the baby.”
I’d half expected something like this. I mean, either she’d lost the kid or had given it up for adoption. I’d known that from the minute I saw the stretch marks. Still, hearing the words made it real.
“I’m really sorry, Tinker.”
She blinked rapidly, and I watched as a tear ran down her face. She ignored it, staring straight ahead.
“She was a little girl. I hadn’t found out ahead of time. I wanted it to be a surprise. I named her Tricia, after my mom. Brandon was in court that day and he didn’t ask for a continuance or anything. He could’ve, you know. There’s no judge on earth who wouldn’t have let him go to the hospital, but Brandon didn’t care enough about our daughter to be there.”
“Fucking asshole.”
“Yeah, you could say that,” she replied. “But good riddance, you know? He finally showed up at the hospital late that night. After they’d taken her. I got to hold her, and a photographer shot some pictures, but her own father couldn’t be bothered. That’s when I decided I couldn’t be bothered with him any more, either. Threw his rings right at him in the hospital room.”
Tears ran down her face openly now. I reached for her, pulling her into my arms. She resisted at first, stiffening against me, but fuck that.
“He’s a piece of shit,” I told her, rubbing her back as she relaxed into my hold. “Tricia deserved better and so do you. I’m so sorry, baby. So incredibly sorry.”
“I wanted her so much,” Tinker whispered, starting to sob. Usually crying women freak me out, but this was different. This wasn’t some bitch whining about her boyfriend. I’d never had a kid—never even considered it—but I’d seen my brothers with their children. Losing one would destroy them.
“I kicked him out,” Tinker continued. “He moved in with his folks or rented something. I don’t know. Didn’t care. Then I hired a lawyer to take care of the divorce, but things were complicated because we owned a house and a business, and the finances were always impossible to follow. His family has money, but I didn’t know how much and never understood how it works. Anyway, he still wants me to give him another chance.”
No fucking way.
“You tell him to fuck off?” I asked, bristling.
She pulled back, giving me a small, hard smile. “I’ve made sure the situation is clear.”
“I’ll bet you did,” I replied, reaching over to catch a piece of hair glued to her cheek with her tears, tucking it back behind her ear. “You want me to kill him for you?”
She gave a short burst of laughter, shaking her head, obviously under the impression that I was joking.
I wasn’t. Not even a little.
“No, Carrie and Margarita have claimed that honor,” she said. “I really miss her. Tricia, I mean. You wouldn’t think you’d miss a child you only got to hold once, but I loved her from the minute I got pregnant. You have no idea how much I loved that girl . . . And now she’s gone. I’d give anything to have her back. Then you came along, and made up having a family like it was a joke.”
Reaching out, I caught the back of her head, sliding my fingers into her hair as I held her eyes.
“I will never lie to you again,” I said slowly. “I was trying to look normal. To fit in. I needed to learn what was happening in town, and that seemed like the best way to do it. If I’d had any clue . . . Well, I wish to hell I could go back in time and change how I did things, but I can’t.”
She blinked rapidly. “I’m not sure I can live with that. You should probably leave, Gage. I’m . . . I’m not ready for anything real. I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready again.”
Fuck, I was in over my head here.
Usually I took what I wanted.
Demanded it.
I lived in a hard world, a world where the only way to win was refusing to back down, but Tinker was fragile. More fragile than I could’ve imagined. She was also stronger, though, too. No wonder the sex tape hadn’t destroyed her life. Who gives a damn about a sex tape when your baby is dead?