Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 93698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 468(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 468(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
“Whatcha doin’ here? Thought you hated me.”
She stopped at the end of the bar with her expression completely blank. “Is there somewhere we can talk?”
He glanced around. “This ain’t good enough?”
“Somewhere more private, like your room?”
Oh fuck! “Room smells like shit. Got a mountain of dirty laundry up there. Safer down here and nobody’s around to hear us.”
“But anyone can walk through.” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, drawing his attention to that mouth. The one that used to be his. The one he wrecked many times with his dick.
“They do, we’ll go out to the courtyard.”
She finally released her bottom lip. “Fine. What I have to say won’t take long, anyway.”
“Last I checked, fuck off’s just two words.”
“Two words you’d ignore, regardless.”
She wasn’t wrong.
“I talked to Vi.”
No surprise since they used to be tight. “You give her shit for givin’ me your info?”
“That was the plan.”
“Sounds like your plan didn’t go the way you fuckin’ wanted.”
“It didn’t.”
Her carefully blank expression was not helping the acid bubbling up from deep down in his gut. “And?” Neither was the deep breath she took.
“And she convinced me to do the right thing.”
He grabbed his whiskey and stepped closer, searching her face. “What right thing?” He held out the glass to her.
Was she going to admit the truth?
While he wanted to hear it, his brain started to spin. His life might fucking change in the next pounding heartbeat.
Though, he wasn’t expecting her to grab the glass and knock it back as fast as he had.
She hissed out a breath, set the empty glass on the bar, and swiped the back of her wrist over her mouth.
She opened her mouth, but shut it just as quickly.
She did it again.
And again.
Holy fuck! He was about to have a goddamn heart attack if she didn’t just spit it the fuck out!
No reason to extend the torture. “Ledger’s mine, ain’t he?”
She closed her eyes and whispered, “Yes.”
Zeke grabbed the edge of the bar so his knees wouldn’t give out. He had already known, but hearing it confirmed… “That why you left?”
“The truth is, I didn’t know I was pregnant when I left. I only planned to be gone for a short while because I needed to get over you and I figured staying in Shadow Valley surrounded by the DAMC, as well as everyone else who knew us both, would make that more difficult. I needed a clean break to eradicate you from my system.”
“But you didn’t say shit after findin’ out.”
“No. I considered it, but I also thought carefully about how you lived your life, Zeke. How reckless you could be. Your lifestyle is not a way to raise a well-adjusted child. Ledger was my priority, then, and still is.”
He wasn’t sure if he was pissed off, disappointed, or both.
He lost years with his own fucking kid.
His fucking son! His blood.
He stared at the woman he’d now be tied to for the rest of his life.
Again, if it had to be someone, Kyra wasn’t a bad choice. At least she put their kid first.
Even if it was over her son’s father.
Chapter Ten
Zeke jerked awake when the door crashed against the wall.
“Jesus, Zeke! You’re pathetic!”
A flip of a switch had him wincing and slapping a hand over his eyes to block out the sudden bright light from the bare bulb hanging over the bed.
He really needed to do something about that. But just then, he agreed with Vi. Even though his plan to stop being a pathetic asshole was starting tomorrow.
“If you’re trying to get back with Kyra, this isn’t the way to do it.”
As if he had a chance. “She don’t want me.”
He peered through his fingers to see Violet digging a finger into her cheek and twisting it back and forth. “Gee, I wonder why? Maybe it’s because you’re a damn man-ho. What woman in their right mind wants to be with someone who can’t keep their damn dick in their pants? Worse, one who keeps sticking it in sweet butts. I hope you had your rabies shot.”
For fuck’s sake, he wasn’t the only asshole in the room. “Fuck you, Vi.”
“No thanks, cuz,”—she shuddered—“that would be incest.”
He propped himself up on his elbows, dislodging an either passed out or sleeping Cherry, groaned loudly, and flopped back down. “Whatya doin’ here?”
“Not inspecting you for crabs, that’s for damn sure. Do you have another blanket to throw over you once Cherry stops being your current one? I really don’t want to see your junk. Again.”
Cherry lifted her head and cleared her throat. The one he came down once. Or twice. He wasn’t sure. Things got a little hazy after finishing off the bottle of Jack. “Hey, Violet.” She sounded like a fucking frog.
“Cherry, get dressed and get lost.”
With a grumble, the sweet butt extracted herself from their tangle of limbs and, without caring Vi stood in the open doorway, got up and moved around the room completely naked while gathering her clothes. “Do I have time to—”