Dustin flinched, and some of the hate seemed to leave his expression. Some, not all. “I didn’t do that.”
“Oh, come on, Dustin. Seriously? I might be a whore, but I’m not an idiot. You expect me to believe you started all this and someone else just took over where you left off?”
“Randall, I’m serious.” And he looked it. “I never did any of that. I would never. I’d never say anything so horrible about you. I hate that Bailey loves you more than me, but I would never do that to her. You think that that won’t devastate her later when she learns about all of this?”
I stared at him. Into his blue eyes. Eyes that must have matched his mother’s. He looked completely genuine. Sincere.
Stewart wasn’t lying. I couldn’t stand the man, but I knew him. Better than I knew my own brother, at any rate. “I don’t believe you.”
Dustin lifted his hand, like he was beseeching, then turned toward Kayla instead. “Babe, I’m serious. I didn’t do that. I swear. I would never do anything like that.”
I almost forgot Kayla was there. I looked at her. She was staring at Dustin, horror in her eyes. She shook her head in disbelief. Though she was still crying and her voice trembled, there was finality in her words. “Get out.”
Dustin flinched. “What?”
“I said get out. You have to leave.”
He sounded panicked. “Kayla, please. I—”
She smacked her hand on the counter between them. “I said get out!”
He stared at her, and then he stood. After a second, he turned and headed toward the family room.
Kayla called after him. “Leave Bailey alone.”
He turned around slowly and wiped a tear from his eye. “I’m going to tell her bye, that I am going on a business trip or something. I’m not just leaving her without a word. And you are not going to tell me I can’t speak to my daughter.” Without waiting, he turned back around and left the kitchen.
Kayla didn’t follow him. She just looked at me and then crumbled.
Chapter Thirty-One
“HOLY SHIT.”
I almost laughed. That was probably the tenth time Noah had said those words as I replayed the night’s events for him. And they pretty much summed it up.
“Is Kayla going to be okay? You don’t think she needs a doctor?”
I smiled at him.
“What?”
“No wonder I love you. The first thing you ask about is if Kayla is okay.”
Noah flushed. “Well, makes sense to me. And poor Bailey.”
Yes. Poor Bailey. I couldn’t think much about her or I’d start to cry again. She’d been in tears as I left. Afraid I wasn’t going to come back. “I think Kayla’s okay. I checked her cut when Bailey was in the other room. It wasn’t deep, just a bleeder.”
“Still, she might have a concussion.”
“True. She might. But I don’t think there’s another option. What doctor is going to believe she fell backward and hit her head that way? She doesn’t want to get Dustin in trouble.”
He gave me a look.
“Well, he didn’t really push her. At least he didn’t mean to.”
“You can defend him after all he’s put you through?”
I couldn’t answer. If I did, I’d tell him I wanted to hunt Dustin down and beat him to a bloody pulp. I’d never seen that side of myself before, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to show it to Noah.
