Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
I spun around and went to turn the water back on before stepping under the weak water pressure that I was accustomed to. The shower at work had spoiled me. The water was always hot, and the massage option was amazing.
Yep, I needed to leave. No point in getting spoiled.
Gypsi had gone to sleep right after we got back from the movie. She had been working too much, and I hated it. She had no time for a life. I wanted her to have a chance at college, but at this rate, that wasn’t going to happen. I stared down into my glass of cheap red wine and sighed.
So many dreams I had built for her since the day the doctor had laid her in my arms. I felt like a failure. I hadn’t been able to give her any of them. Here she was, at nineteen, working a job at a coffee shop to help pay the bills and living in a camper with her mother. I needed more than this wine to ease my guilt and shame. She was such a good girl, and she deserved the world. How I could give that to her, living this life, I didn’t know.
I put the glass to my lips and downed the rest of it. I wished I had cookies to go with my pity party. I started to stand up and go see what we did have in the pantry as far as sweets when headlights outside caught my attention. I put my glass in the sink and went to the window to see the Bentley pull in beside my car.
Crap! What was Kye back here with at this hour? More stuff I didn’t need or want.
I slipped on flip-flops and glanced back at the bedroom to make sure the door was closed before I stepped outside. I did not want Gypsi seeing any of Garrett’s people. She’d start asking questions again.
Wrapping my arms around my chest, I walked down the steps and toward the Bentley. The back door opened instead of the driver’s door, and I stopped. Garrett stepped out and closed the door behind him. I stood there, watching as he made his way toward me, carrying the bag that Kye had brought this morning.
I did not care that I wasn’t wearing makeup and my hair was in a messy bun. I also didn’t care that I was in a pair of cutoff sweatpants and a tank top. It was what I slept in. No need for pretending I was something or someone else.
Garrett stopped in front of me and held the bag up, letting it dangle from one finger. “I’d like to know the reason you refused these,” he stated.
Not an explanation as to why he had been avoiding me. Just a demand to know why I hadn’t taken his parting gift like a good girl. Well, screw him and his money.
“I don’t want anything from you,” I replied, glaring back at him.
His brows drew together. “I told you I’d replace the panties I ripped.”
So, that was a new pair of panties. Great. He’d sent Kye to give me some panties. If I hadn’t felt like a cheap whore before, I sure did now.
“I don’t want them,” I replied through clenched teeth. “Now, if you could, please leave before you wake up my daughter,” I added before turning around to go back to the safety of my camper.
I didn’t get anywhere though because Garrett’s hand wrapped around my arm and jerked me back forcefully. I stiffened as he held me against his chest.
“It’s been a long three days, pretty baby. I’m not in the mood for one of your fits.”
I struggled to get free of him, but it was pointless. “I’m not having a fit. I am going inside and to bed.”
Garrett’s breath was against my cheek now. “Not until you tell me what is wrong.”
Was he joking?
I let out a hard, unamused laugh. “Let’s see, Garrett. You fucked me, dropped me off, avoided me, then sent one of your men to give me panties. Does it get any more insulting?”
I heard him sigh, and the scent of his cinnamon and cigar breath tickled my skin.
“I wasn’t avoiding you. I had business out of town, and if you’d opened the fucking bag this morning, you’d have seen the note I left for you inside of it, explaining my absence.”
Note? Okay, maybe I had overreacted.
“You could have called.”
“I was unaware you had replaced your phone.”
Oh. I was running out of reasons to be mad. Instead, I felt my cheeks heat from embarrassment. I’d acted like a crazy girlfriend. A clingy female who relied on a man for happiness and self-worth. I was not that woman. I never had been. Garrett was making me act like this.
I took the bag from his hand. “Thank you for the panties. But I need to get to bed.”