“I need money to take her to a clinic to fix the situation—”
“Are you fucking kidding me? You knocked her up—”
“Hey!” he bellowed over me. “You have no room to judge me. Now, I know you’ve got money lying around if you bought this hellhole, and you know you owe me after all I’ve done for you—”
“I don’t owe you shit.” I planted the top of the baseball bat to his chest as I walked out of my house and pushed him backward. He stumbled off the two shitty steps, his eyes widening. For all the bullshit going on, there was a satisfaction in knowing I could still surprise him. I wasn’t some kid he could control anymore. “I don’t owe you a damn thing for being alive. You took care of me because you felt you fucking had to. Becauseyouneeded someone smaller than you to push around. Well, guess what? You don’t get to push me around anymore. I’m done. I’m done with you. I’m done being pushed around by you. I’m done.”
“You don’t get to be done—”
“Yeah, I do,” I cut him off. “Now, get the fuck out of here before I call the cops for trespassing because I will.”
“You’ll regret this,” Aidan snarled.
“No, I won’t,” I told him.Not by a long shot.“And if you go near Roxy or your kid ever again, I’ll beat your fucking brains out. I’m not kidding. I don’t care if I go back to jail. You’re not going to ruin them like you ruin everything else.”
Like he ruined me.
“You’ll regret this, Maverick.”
“No, I won’t!” Not a single part of me would regret kicking him out of my life. Honestly, I should’ve done it a long time ago. He started across my beaten-down lawn toward his car. I yelled after him, “If I see you again, I will file a restraining order. I mean it.”
“Sure you do,” Aidan called over his shoulder, “You should ask your little fuck boy what he’s been up to in the city. I don’t think you’d like the answer.”
I frowned. I wanted to let the words go—I should’ve let the words go—but they hit a nerve. One that was already rubbed raw by everything I had with Harley. We were complicated and convoluted. I was fully aware that he wasn’t telling me a lot. Why would he? It was clear life had been awful to him.
But I also wanted to believe that Harley wouldn’t hurt me. I didn’t think he’d do anything. At least, not in the capacity that Aidan would use against me.
Still, his words nagged at me.
“What do you know?” I demanded. I hated entertaining him. I hated giving him that kind of power. But I mostly just hated how I wanted to know what he was going on about. And I hated that he knew more than I did.
“No, you know what? I think I’m going to enjoy watching you crash out,” he retorted. Without another word, he got in his truck and drove away, leaving me standing there while the pit of my stomach dropped out.
CHAPTER 63
maverick
Why the hell does anyone want kids?” My head tilted slightly as I stared at the ridiculously graphic anatomical pregnant woman poster. “That baby is just so goddamn big to be coming out of something so… small.”
“It stretches,” Harley murmured from his spot next to me. His arms were crossed, his expression drawn and severe as he scrutinized the same poster.
“That can’t be pleasant,” I whispered.
“I’m pretty sure that’s why they get drugs,” he retorted.
“This is weird, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
We sat in the clinic’s waiting room while Roxy got checked out by a doctor. As soon as I was sure that Aidan was gone, I went on a town-wide hunt to find Roxy. I wasn’t about to let Aidan ruin that poor girl before she had a chance at life. As expected, she was in panic mode, and she hadn’t talked to her family. Aidan had told her that she had to get it taken care of and that he’d be back with money.What a fucking dick.
I didn’t have a clue what the hell I was doing, but taking her to the clinic seemed like a good start. At least then she could get an actual medical confirmation, other than five over-the-counter tests, and find out what her options were.
I’d called Harley to give him the simplified version of everything going on. It was supposed to be my way of telling him I wouldn’t be around. I hadn’t expected him to show up to sit with me. I wanted to be touched by the gesture—and initially I was—but the overwhelmed expression on his face made me feel bad.
“You can go home,” I said quietly, and he glanced at me. “I appreciate the thought, but you don’t need to be a part of my family drama.”
“You mean like you’ve been a part of mine?” Harley replied.
