Carter
“Tell me about him,” I insisted, as Michelle’s head laid on my chest, our bodies sweaty, breathing just barely returning to normal. I slowly stroked her hair, letting it glide over my fingers as I waited for her response.
She remained quiet for a moment. I was just about to sit up and demand she tell me when her head lifted and she looked up at me.
“Gabriel. You want to know about him?”
“He’s the son of a bitch that has you thinking you can leave me, right?”
She blinked before slowly nodding.
“Then yes.”
I watched as she bit the inside of her cheek, contemplating on how she was going to answer. Every instinct in me wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake the words out of her. But I wouldn’t do that. I forced myself to bite my tongue, reminding myself that she needed me to be persistent but patient with her right now.
“What do you want to know?” she finally asked.
“Everything.”
Her eyelids lowered. “Okay …” She sat up and leaned over the bed, picking up the shirt she’d worn earlier and pulling it over her exposed breasts. I wanted to tell her to leave the damn shirt right where it was, but I changed my mind when I saw that it readWilliamsport Fire Departmentjust above the left breast pocket. It was one of my old T-shirts. That was the only reason I let her keep it on.
“I met him when I was nineteen, working for a catering company and going to community college part time. He was a guest at one of the fancy events the company I was working for was catering. At first, I thought the extra attention he paid me was just a figment of my imagination. He was obviously somebody important to be invited to one of these exclusive events. I was just a caterer. We were most often ignored by those types. Anyway, he ended up cornering me as I was on one of my breaks and asked me for my phone number. I knew he was older, but I didn’t care. I gave him my number and, well …” She shrugged. “We got involved soon after that. He would come to my rundown apartment at the time and pick me up in stretch limos or town cars with a driver. He treated me to some of the most exclusive restaurants in the city. It was great, but what I enjoyed most of all was the attention, you know? He was really attentive despite his busy job. I thought I’d fallen in love and that he had, too. I just knew I’d marry him one day. It wasn’t until we were together going on three years that I found out he was married. I had started working for a temp agency by then but still catered part time. One night I happened to be catering an event that he attended with his wife. I confronted him the next day and he told me that they were separated. Still, I was pissed. We’d been together for three years. He’d spent the night at my home. I’d been to his home, or so I thought. Turns out, it was a home he owned but rented out, that just happened to be vacant of tenants at the time. I told him we were done. But it was a little too late by then. I’d found out the week before that I was pregnant.” She stopped talking to gauge my reaction thus far.
“How’d he react to your pregnancy?” I questioned.
She pushed out a breath. “He insisted I have the baby. Told me abortion was against his religion.” She snorted. “Can you believe that? He’d cheated on his wife and gotten another woman pregnant but then tried to bring up his Catholic upbringing to guilt me into having his child. I never considerednothaving Diego. I just didn’t want any parts of his father. When I made it clear to Gabriel that I would not continue to be his mistress, that’s when he changed for the worse. I’d seen him be mean or disrespectful to others before, waitstaff or concierge, but I never thought he’d turn that same animosity on me. I was young and stupid,” she stated, shame filling her voice. “For months he would go hot and cold. Sometimes he’d try to flirt his way back into my heart, doting on Diego and trying to get me back into bed. But when he saw that wasn’t working he’d start with the threats. Telling me that Diego would be better off living with him and his wife anyway. Saying that my mother was a piss poor example of what a mother should be so how could I be one to Diego.”
My hands twisted into fists when I saw the hurt in her eyes.
“After a year and a half of this, he saw me out on a date with another man. That’s when he finally realized I was done with him. The next day I had a law clerk from his firm drop off custody papers to my door. I was floored. The lawsuit alleged that I was an unfit mother and he wanted full custody. I went to him begging him not to do this. I’d just started working at Save the Date and wasn’t making enough money to hire a decent enough lawyer to fight the case. Gabriel is one of the top attorneys at his law firm. He could easily convince any judge in the city that I was an unfit parent. I never thought he’d go that far. But apparently he didn’t even care about his wife finding out about his infidelity. When I showed up at his office, he told me that the only way he would drop the suit was if I stopped seeing the man he’d seen me out with. Told me in no uncertain terms that if I were to date anyone, he would take full custody of Diego without thinking twice about it. I knew he wasn’t bluffing, so I agreed. I hadn’t dated since then.”
“Until me.”
Her eyes slowly rose to meet mine. “Until you,” she agreed just above a whisper.
I looked to stare out the window again. “I’m going to fucking kill him.” My voice was low, deathly low and calm. I turned back to Michelle when I heard her breath hitch.
“Carter, you can’t.”
My frown deepened.
“I’m serious.”
“I am too.”
“He’s Diego’s father.”
“He forfeited that title a long time ago.”
She closed her eyes. “I went to a lawyer this week. I’m done with Gabriel’s bullying tactics. It took me too long to learn to stand up for myself to him. But when he took Diego the other week … and then he made me tell you we were through … I just. I won’t sit by and let him run my life any longer.”
I gritted my teeth and then shook my head. “It’s too late for that. You won’t spend one goddamn dime paying for a lawyer to get out from under that fucker.”
“What are you going to do?”
I slow blinked. “Probably best if you don’t know.”
“Carter.” She moved so that she was now straddling my legs.
