“The kid, Ash.” Spinning on her, I yank my arm away. “She’s mine, right?” It comes out sharper than I’d like.
Her eyes soften. Pity. Not regret.
“Why?” My voice cracks.
She takes a step back. “I?—”
“You what? You just hid my own kid from me for six years, then forgot to mention it all goddamn summer?”
“It’s not like that.”
“No?”
She shakes her head, tears forming in her eyes. “I triedto tell you, but you ignored all my calls, and then I thought?—”
“She’s my fucking kid!”I ball my fists.
She rears back, the tears retreating and her brows furrowing. “I was trying to keep her safe.”
“You can’t possibly think I’d?—"
“What was I supposed to think! You broke up with me in a fucking text message! You made me think I was crazy for believing you loved me! You called me pathetic! Even then, I tried!” Her voice comes out shrill and her neck flushes. “You fucking blocked me!”
“Could’ve called Shane. You took years from me! Years!Andyou let someone else raise her!”
“No.” She shakes her head. “Youmade your choice the day you left us.”
Has she lost her goddamn mind?
“Us? I didn’t know!”
A crowd starts to form, watching this tiny woman scream at the big bad wolf.
“Ugh!” she shrieks, stomping her foot. “Are you even listening to me at all!”
“Enough!” Lily barrels toward me.
Where the hell’d she come from?
Ash rolls her eyes. Hard. “Don’t worry, you can have him back when I’m done.”
Lily blinks, her brows lifting. “Ash, that’s?—”
She turns her ire back on me.
“You’re done talking. Now you get to shut up and listen. You did this to yourself! Do you really think just because you showed up at my house and said sorry, you’re suddenly the good guy here?” she shouts, her fists clenched at her sides.
Fuck.
Her face turns a bright red, her eyes steel.
“I loved you!” she shouts, stepping toward me with that finger raised again. “I neveronceblamed you for what happened! But how dare you act like this is all my fault!”
Lily steps between us, pulling her phone from her pocket. “I’m calling Shane! Stop it!”
“Good. Call him! I’ve got some shit to say to that motherfucker too! Might as well air it all out!” Holding out my arms, I step back from her.
“You don’t get to blame him. You did this!” She lunges, but Lily catches her by the arm. “You have no fucking clue what I’ve been through! How horrible it was! How bad I wished I’d just died that night!” Her voice breaks and she shoves Lily off her and clumsily bats her hair from her face. “Don’t fucking touch me!”
