What the hell, the great and perfect Kameron again.Right there, with that Clary bitch he slobbered over everywhere.
There were people at the table with Kameron.
Of course it was that fucker Calloway Grady.Calloway Grady owned what should have been Jacob’s.Should have beenKameron’s,too.Didn’t his brother care at all?
Kameron didn’t give a shit about their lost heritage at all.
Jacob set the jugs of oil down.Made a show of tightening the caps, as he looked through the door that had been propped open as the waitresses were filling the buffet.Jacob ignored the smell of the food and watched.Just long enough to see—Kameron.
Acting like he fuckingbelongedwith the people who thought they were so much better than everyone else.
Kameron was a traitor to his roots.
But his brother wouldn’t fucking care about that.
No.Kameron looked like he was the shit right there, that assistant of his sitting next to him.
Jacob recognized all of them there now—his brother, that girl, Calloway Grady, that Tyler bitch, Gil Tyler—and they were probably all laughing at men like Jacob.Men who worked with their hands, that kind of thing.What had they ever done besides be given everything, handed right to them?
Didn’t his brother get it?Kameron didn’t belong over there with them.He just didn’t.
His brother was going to get burned bad by those assholes someday.
His brother always had been a fucking idiot.
Jacob had fooled around long enough.Time to get out of there.Back to where he really belonged.
Kameron would get what was coming to him soon enough.
That was just the way the world worked.
Kameron should have learned that by now.
21
Auggie was leaning against him,her shoulder pressed to his.Cal suspected she didn’t realize she was doing it.Maeya was sound asleep on his shoulder.Somehow, Markie had ended up with his iPad, playing a free numbers game for preschoolers.That kid had the soul of an accountant in there now.He’d never seen a kid doing addition and subtraction at three, but she was.Kameron was telling her numbers to add up on the app.It would give a cartoon voice answer when Markie hit the right button.She’d just giggle like it was magic.It took a little while, but everyone was making Markie a part of the meeting.She was adorable, too.
Auggie was finally losing the tension that had been tensing her shoulders, as the meeting progressed.She was asking questions and taking notes.He’d have to ask if she’d share when he got a chance.He was a bit too distracted by the smell of her shampoo.The woman…tempted him.He suspected she knew it, too.
This was what he wanted.He wanted a woman who excited him, who tempted and teased.Who was intelligent and quick-witted and who loved driving him crazy.He wanted a family that made a man feel like he mattered.Like he was doing something worthwhile.He wanted to be there to see a little girl captivated by something as simple as math.He wanted tobelongto someone special.
He'd been lonely.
It had taken him too long to realize that.
His sister was in the dining room now.She stopped by their table after she finished her meal—she’d been eating with that goober Zach Lowell this time.“You look like you’ve been claimed.”
He spread his hand over the little back.She was drooling down his shirt.“I don’t mind.”
“Aunt Claudie, me do math.”
“Numbers again?Of course.”Claudia looked at his iPad dutifully.“You are so smart, Markie Tyler.Good job!Aug, I’m off the clock now.I can take these two back to Cal’s place.Clancy is already on her way home.You can pick them up there.”
“Me go with Aunt Claudie, see Clancy?”Markie asked, hopefully.
“A certain cartoon villain is reading a story book downstairs in five minutes, too,” Claudia said.“He does that occasionally, or so I have heard.”
“I would forever be in your debt,” Auggie said.
