I have two choices here: show Lyndsey my arm and stop a catfight I know will break out, or let Jas look embarrassed for trying to claim me as punishment.
“Don’t do it,” my dad coughs behind his hand seeing my dilemma, and I sigh because yeah, I can’t do it and I won’t hurt her that way. That, and she’ll never let me near her body again if I did.
I drop my arms and turn my left, causing Lyndsey to suck in a breath eyeing each letter before she stands up straight and looks at me, determination showing in her eyes.
Fuck me, she’s going to make me kill her, isn’t she?
Before Lyndsey can even say anything though, Jas shakes her head at the woman and mutters, “Pathetic, old cougar,” which has my dad full-out laughing before she turns around and locks eyes with me, hers showing anger and heartbreak, and that has me standing straighter because what the fuck has her looking at me like that?
“I honestly thought you were screwing the nurse, but I guess you're screwing both,” she whispers, and I blink.
Nurse? What fucking…?
Shit, Nell.
I slightly groan as she goes to walk past me, knowing I won’t open my mouth and put her out of her misery, but fuck, when she stops and says, “At least I stayed true to myself where you were concerned, you just can’t say the same,” I nearly fucking cave and I have to fist my hands to stop myself from grabbing her.
I watch as she walks to the stairs, and I can’t help but be glad that she’s hurting right now, that she thinks I’ve been with these women when I fucking haven’t.
For six years, she has been all I have ever wanted, and even when I said I needed to move on, deep down I knew it was bullshit because I can’t move on, not where she’s concerned.
I haven’t touched Lyndsey since I met Jas, and as for Nell, the encounter I fucking knew she saw because I felt her eyes on me, I was telling the woman to fuck off and leave me alone after she tried to corner me before I walked into my daughter’s hospital room.
Jasmine Williams is the only girl I have been with since we met.
Jas stops on the bottom step, and I tilt my head as I watch her take a breath before she demands, “And put your damn cut back on, you look weird!” then she stomps back upstairs without another word.
Should have seen that one coming.
“I like her,” Dad mutters, and I roll my eyes and turn back to Lyndsey, only to tense seeing her coat is wide open, and yep, cliché, she’s naked.
“Fucking hell,” Dad grunts, looking away, shocked she’s actually opened her coat with him here, her best friend’s husband, and I growl with anger, though the smirk on her face, I think she believes is with lust.
She opens her mouth, but words escape her as we hear, “Daddy, daddy….” and she freezes with shock.
When she doesn’t move to close her coat as Aislings steps get louder, I snap, “Close that fucking coat—my daughter’s coming, you stupid bitch!”
She snaps out of her head and quickly closes her coat and I scoff, “Honestly, Lyndsey, this is pathetic. You’re nearly fifty. Go find a man your own age who isn’t taken and has a family!”
“A-fucking-men,” Dad mutters as the stomping of little feet echoes.
“Daddy!” Aisling squeals with delight, and I turn and catch her as she throws herself at me, making me chuckle as I put her on my hip, my love for this girl blowing my mind.
“Hey, sweetheart, what are you doing awake, huh?” I ask, and she squishes my cheeks together while Dad and Lyndsey, who is clearly still in shock, watch on.
“Mama woke me,” she whispers, “she says we have to go back home.”
Mother fucker.
“Is that so, huh?” I ask as Dad mumbles, “Uh oh,” already seeing where this is going.
I’m about to tie my girl to the bed and ensure she doesn’t fucking leave, I mean, for fuck’s sake, at least give me more than a few weeks to come to terms with the fact she fucking left me and kept my kid from me!
Let me be fucking mad goddammit!
Aisling nods, her eyes wide in an innocent way, eyes just like mine, and I kiss her head and mutter, “You’re not going anywhere, baby girl,” and I put her down and say, “Run into the kitchen and grab a glass of milk, you need to get back to bed.”
“Okay Daddy,” she says and skips towards the kitchen making me smile and as soon as Aisling is out of earshot, I point at Lyndsey, “Get off my property before I shoot you for trespassing,” then I say to Dad “If you want a relationship with your granddaughter, keep Mama away. She’s not welcome.”
