He shuts his phone off. The quick flick of his gaze causes my breath to falter.
Can he tell?
“The question is, why aren’tyouhere, Reese?”
I cross my arms defensively. “I was working.”
“Oh, really?” He raises an eyebrow. “Interesting.”
I was working–until Malaki convinced me to stay out with him. Convinced,paid, whatever.
The air in the stuffy hallway is so tense I’m afraid to move.
Benedict opens up his phone again, his movements slow and lazy.
“I wasn’t aware that Ubering had a double meaning, sweetheart.”
I cringe. I hate when he calls me that.
“The court is going to love seeing the footage of you dancing and having a good time while our baby is at home alone with a teenager.”
My nostrils flare. “Zoe is in college. She is perfectly capable of babysitting Charleigh while I work.”
Benedict smirks. “While you work?”
This is a disaster. An utter fucking disaster.
Before I can think, Benedict moves like a lion after its prey. One second, I’m standing with my arms crossed, and the next, my back is against the wall with his presence trapping me.
His hand digs into my hair, and I turn my head away to stare at my apartment door. Fear prickles my skin. He pulls on the strands hard enough to make me wince.
“Your hair is messy,” he hisses.
I push myself into the wall in an attempt to get away from him. He leans in close to rub his nose against my jaw. He sniffs twice and growls. “You smell like him.”
Blinding anger zips to my fingertips. I lift my hands and push against his chest to slip out from under him. Surprisingly, he lets me go with a gruff chuckle following close behind.
“I’m allowed to see other people,” I argue.
It doesn’t matter that I’m not dating Malaki or even considering seeing him again. Benedict needs a reality check.
“You think a court is going to side with you after they learn that you’re out whoring around with some random guy while our daughter is at home?”
The nerve.
Our daughter?
“And you think the court is going to side with you after they learn that you wanted me toend my pregnancyand have only held Charleigh a handful of times?” I scoff. “What happens if the court sides with you, Benedict?”
I’ve struck a chord. His eye twitches, and his jaw clenches.
His plan is to force me back into a relationship with him so we can act like one big happy family, but doesn’t he know that a broken home, filled with fear and hate, is much more damaging to a child than the one Charleigh currently has with me? She deserves to be surrounded by love and warmth, and that comes in all shapes, forms, and sizes.
Do I struggle to make ends meet? Sure.
But I’d rather work odd hours to pay the electric bill than live in a mansion where I’d have to turn my head every time Benedict came home late from the bar with the scent of perfume on his collar.
Benedict glares at me. “Who is he?”
