Total pages in book: 190
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
She sure didn’t sound as though she found me ridiculous. No, there was a fair amount of spite there.
“I get a little maudlin during the holidays, so I was flicking through some old photos earlier of me and Gracie while I set about getting smashed.” Despair washed over her face, sweeping away every trace of smugness. “I found one of her and Dax looking so fucking happy. In that picture, ’cause of the angle and lighting and stuff … it actually looked more like me than her.”
And Mimi had seen exactly how she and Dax could have looked together as a loved-up couple if things were different.
“He never gave me the chance to make him that happy, because he doesn’t wanna be happy. But someone coulda changed that. Maybe not me, no, but somebody.” Her eyes blazed into mine. “You are in the way of that. By tyin’ him to you, you’ve taken away his shot at that future. And fuck, I got mad thinking about it.”
I snorted, all out of patience when it came to this woman. “You’re not mad that I took such a future from him. You’re mad that I took it from you. That’s how you see it, because that’s how you want to see it. Then you can tell yourself I’m to blame for why he’ll never commit to you; why there’ll never be a picture of the two of you looking like the besotted couple he and Gracie were. It hurts less that way, doesn’t it?”
“But it doesn’t hurt you, does it? You don’t care that the messed up reason he committed to you is that he doesn’t care for you. You’re wasting time outa his life.”
“And you’re wasting time out of yours by sniffing around a guy who’ll never want you.” When was that going to get through her head? “You came to the wrong person tonight. It’s Dax you should be talking to, because I’m sure the question on your mind is … If he was intent on marrying someone he didn’t care for, why didn’t he just marry you?”
Her face reddened. “Fuck you!” she shouted. “Fuck! You!”
The door opened a few inches, and several voices filtered into the room. Lowe. Sabrina. Grayden. Megan. A male voice I didn’t recognize.
I gritted my teeth. Oh, for shit’s sake.
Lowe entered first, talking over his shoulder to Grayden. No, arguing with him. Grayden was speaking in what I called his “lawyer voice,” attempting to convince the sheriff to leave.
Lowe didn’t.
Instead, he scanned the restroom, his eyes lighting up as they landed on me. “There you are.” He glanced from me to Mimi. “I knew I heard someone yelling.”
Fuck that bitch for practically leading him to us.
As he and Grayden went back to arguing, Sabrina threw me an apologetic look and mouthed, “I called Dax, he’s on his way.”
Good. He could end this scene with just a few words—well, threats. Using my headset, I told her, “Go wait for him.” Someone would need to tell him where to find us. “Have Megan hold the fort.”
Both women disappeared, closing the door behind them so no party guests would overhear anything.
Turning my attention back to the others in the room, I sighed.
This was probably what would be called a soap opera moment. I mean, I was standing in a ladies restroom … wearing a bridal gown … being smirked at by a woman who coveted my husband … while my ex-boyfriend and the local sheriff argued a few feet away.
Not that weirder things hadn’t happened in my life. Particularly in the past year. After all, it wasn’t every day that you legally bound yourself to an ex-lover as part of a fallback marriage pact.
I looked at Mimi. “We’ll talk again soon.” I waved my hand at the door.
Still smirking, the brunette folded her arms and gave a little head flick that made her chin-length layers dance around her face. “I’d prefer to stay. This looks like it might be fun.”
God, I needed to cut that bitch up at some point.
For now, I switched my attention back to the two men who were deep in an argument. A deputy sheriff looked on, seeming intent on not getting involved—well, most cops swerved getting on my husband’s bad side, and this little scene would sure piss him off.
“I’m only here to ask her some questions, Grayden,” the sheriff insisted, his large fists perched on his stout hips. “She doesn’t need a lawyer present. And if she did, you wouldn’t be able to act as one for her—it would be a conflict of interests, given your past history.”
“I’m not leaving, Lowe,” Grayden asserted, a stubborn upward tilt to his chin as he drew himself up to his full height, placing him a few inches over the sheriff.
Exasperation rippled across Lowe’s jowly face. “Has it occurred to you that she might not want you here? I have to say, taking into account the way everything played out between you two, I wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t.”