“It’s not what it looks like,” I muttered, my eyes lifting to Rosie. “I promise it wasn’t anything. She was so wasted that Ihad to call her a cab. I was holding her hand to stop her from falling off the damned stool.”
“You don’t have to explain,” she reassured me.
“I do, Ro,” I insisted, flicking over to the next image where I was walking through the Shamrock with my arm slung over the girl’s shoulders. “Here I was taking her outside to put her in her cab. Her two friends were right behind us.” I waved the photograph between us. “I know it looks bad, Posy, but it was nothing.”
Rosie’s jaw set, and her hand came to rest on my knee. “Stop,” she breathed, her eyes filling with tears. “Atlas was at the bar Saturday night for Lucie’s birthday, remember? Do you think he wouldn’t have told me if you’d left with another woman? He already explained how you helped that girl. He said she was so drunk that you were worried somebody had put something in her drink. You and my brother had a whole conversation about it. I know you wouldn’t fuck around behind my back, honey.I trust you.”
The sight of her tears made my heart swoop. My hand went to her cheek to brush away a lone tear with my thumb. “Then why are you crying?”
“Because never in my life have I been so fucking angry with someone.” Rosie’s tear-filled eyes met mine, and her tone turned from soft to biting as she continued, “And never in my life have I ever wanted to go home, get my gun, and blow someone’s dick off as much as I do right now. Even when I found out he was fucking every woman who was desperate enough to go with him, I brushed it off. It didn’t matter to me because by that point, I’d already stopped caring about his sorry ass. But right now, if that motherfucker was standing in front of me, I’d rip out every hair on his lying, cheating, underhanded, snaky head.” She stood from her chair and immediately began to pace. “How fuckingdare he? How fuckingdarehe pay some old creeper to followmy boyfriend around and take pictures of him doinghis joband helping some poor, drunk girl, just to try to use them against him and ultimately,me. I’ve always known he’s a nasty, petty little prick, but this is a bitch move even for him. This isun-fucking-believable.”
Rosie’s outburst made the entire room heat up. Kennedy and I exchanged glances, and I could tell she was taken aback. If you could bottle Rosie’s fury, it would probably power a small town for a week. She was pacing the room like a caged tigress, her face blooming and her body vibrating with pure rage.
As weird as it sounded, I had never, in the entirety of my existence, been so fucking turned on by such sheer fury. My eyes fell on Rosie’s balled fists and then up to her shoulders that were squared like she was ready to march out, get in her car, drive to Idaho, and throttle her ex-husband with her bare hands.
For a split second, I wondered if it would be too weird if I pulled Rosie onto my lap and made out with her in front of Kennedy. After deciding that it would for sure border on inappropriate, I settled for shooting my woman a look that said,You’re fucking gorgeous when you’re mad,before getting to my feet, catching her around the waist, and pulling her toward me.
My hand went to her face, and my thumb stroked across her bottom lip. “Let’s not get mad, baby,” I said huskily. “Let’s get even.”
Her gaze settled on mine, and her lip curled as she hissed, “I hate him.”
I dropped my forehead until it rested on hers. “We’ll get him. We’ve got Colt on it, remember? If Evan’s got any skeletons, he’ll find them.”
“Donovan’s right, Rosie,” Kennedy interjected. “My PI’s the best in the area, too. If there’s anything to be discovered, he’ll find it, and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that when somebody tries hard to take someone else down, there’s usually a level offear behind it. Evan knows he’s no angel, so he’s trying to get shit on you before you do him. We’ve got this covered.”
Taking Rosie’s hand, I guided her back to her seat before moving my chair closer to hers, parking my ass in it, and pressing my thigh to hers.
Still holding her hand in mine, I turned back to Kennedy and asked, “What else is there? Give it all to us and don’t hold back.”
She sucked air in through her nose before releasing it slowly. “Remember, you’re not on trial here. Anything that asshole can do, we can do better.” She picked up the rest of the photographs and handed them over, eyeing Rosie nervously.
I took them again to prepare myself because if these were anything like the last ones, Rosie was gonna flip the fuck out, and I needed to be ready to talk her down.
Slowly, I flicked through them, my lips thinning at the images of me and Rosie in a hot and heavy clinch outside her house. Then I cursed under my breath as I came across a couple of Rosie sunbathing out the back by her pool in a bikini while the kids were fucking around with their friends.
“Is that PI a pervert?” I asked, handing them over to Rosie.
“That’s what I thought,” Kennedy replied. “I think his point was to try and prove that Rosie dresses inappropriately around the kids, but you could see more on a public beach, so I don’t know what he was thinking there. He’s definitely reaching, except it’s actually given me ammunition because I can dress it up that Evan has sent somebody to invade Rosie’s privacy, and it’s giving pervert vibes. I’m surprised the lawyer didn’t object to it for those reasons.”
Rosie flicked through the pictures, shaking her head at them. “At least my tits look good in that swimsuit.”
I gave her The Smirk and muttered, “Baby. Your tits look good in everything.”
She rolled her eyes and went back to the photographs.
Kennedy snorted just as I flipped over to the next photograph and froze.
Rosie must have sensed something was up because she glanced over and asked, “You okay?”
My eyes lifted to meet hers, then I turned them on Rosie. “That motherfucker’s taken photographs of the kids.”
Ro closed her eyes slowly and sighed.
I held them out to her. “DJ’s in a clinch with some girl, which isn’t innocent seeing as they’ve got their tongues down each other’s throats, and it looks like Gabby’s gotten a little too close to Kai, but I’m pretty sure that one’s innocent seeing as Gabs is shy as fuck and would probably run a mile if a boy tried anything with her.”
“Ahh,” Kennedy murmured. “I wondered when you’d get to that one. I haven’t said anything to Kai because I agree with you. Although they look a little too close for comfort, I’m confident it was entirely innocent. Kai wouldn’t go there. Gabby’s too young and he knows it; plus, she’s his best friend’s sister, and he wouldn’t risk his bromance with DJ or his job with Donovan. And if you look at the picture, their faces are close, but they’re not actually kissing. It was probably an innocent hug caught at a weird angle.”
Rosie took the pictures and studied them intently, her face twisting. “I’ll never understand Evan. What kind of father uses his kids like this?”
