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)
Excellent question. Not that I’d expected her to show up or anything.
Grayden rubbed the side of his face. “I asked her to stay home. I knew you’d be upset.”
“Upset? That’s what you think I am?” Dax took a deliberate step toward him, the move all the more menacing for how lazy it was. “Under no circumstances at all should your woman feel that she has any right to confront mine,” he stated, his voice still calm yet filled with thorns and barbs. “The fact that she would dare do that while under the impression that Addison’s pregnant makes the matter even worse. ‘Upset’ is a mild word for what I’m feeling.”
Grayden carved a jerky hand through his hair. “Like I said, she knows she messed up. She feels terrible about it.”
Dax raised a contemptuous brow. “I highly doubt that.”
Funny. So did I.
“Tell me, Grayden, why is it she believes she can cross my wife and, by extension, me? I warned her what the consequences would be. Is she under the impression that I was bluffing?”
“She wasn’t thinking.” Grayden nervously rubbed his finger along the edge of his collar. “She reacted on emotion.”
“What emotion? How could it possibly impact her that Addison might be pregnant?” Dax clipped, unfolding his arms. “What in the fuck does it have to do with Felicity? Explain that to me.”
Closing his eyes, Grayden pinched the bridge of his nose. “It has nothing to do with her,” he softly admitted. “Emotions aren’t always rational, though, are they?” His eyes snapped open as he lowered his hand to his side. “Me and Felicity are trying for another baby. We’ve been trying for months. So far, nothing has happened.”
“And, what, she’s been confronting every pregnant woman she sees as a result of how bitter and jealous their condition makes her feel?”
Grayden spluttered. “No.”
“Just Addison, then?” Dax cast him a scathing look. “You said you didn’t come here to make excuses. But that’s very much what you’re doing.”
Yup. It stung to a degree—I’d cared for this man a lot once upon a time. But I wouldn’t expect him not to side with his partner. I’d sure side with Dax.
Loosely balling up his hand, Grayden rubbed a knuckle against his brow. “I just want to keep the peace.”
“Then you should have done as I told you and insisted that she heed my warning,” said Dax with not an inch of mercy. I didn’t view it as cold, though. He simply wasn’t a man who overlooked if anyone wronged him or those under his protection. Everyone knew that.
In that sense, Felicity had made her bed with full knowledge of the repercussions. If she believed she had a chance of escaping them, she only had herself to blame for that. Particularly since he’d given her a verbal warning already.
Cursing beneath his breath, Grayden turned to me. “I’m sorry for what Felicity did. She’s sorry. It was petty and mean, but can we not let this go any further?”
Dax took another lurching step toward him. “Don’t think to get around me that way. And don’t for one minute think that Addison owes your woman anything, least of all a free pass for reproaching her whenever she feels like it. Felicity has done it too many times—it ends now.”
Grayden scraped a hand over his face. “Wouldn’t you try to fix this if you were in my position, Dax? She’s the mother of my children. What else am I supposed to do? Stand back while you hurt her?”
“I have no intention of physically harming her, Grayden. I don’t beat women—you know that. She won’t be touched, but she’ll pay for what she did. You can’t prevent that.”
“And you think I’d let it go? That I won’t have you prosecuted—” He stopped speaking as a breathy chuckle came out of Dax.
“You could certainly try. But you’d have no case. There will be nothing to link me with what comes next. Your claims would be thrown out of court, if they even got that far.” Dax dismissed him with a look. “Now get out of my house.”
Grayden’s posture stooped. He looked at me, the picture of defeat. “I really am sorry for what happened.”
I believed him. Believed it genuinely pained him that she had targeted me this way. But I also believed he had no way of stopping her from doing it again, and so maybe it was best for everyone that Dax stepped in.
Grayden left, his shoulders slumped. I watched through the large floor-to-ceiling window as he strode down the driveaway, got into his car, and then drove off.
“I’m pissed that he threatened you with legal action, but I also know it was a total bluff,” I said, turning to meet Dax’s entrancing mismatched eyes—a storm of dark emotion still brewed there. “He’s just feeling powerless, and that’s a feeling he’s not used to.”