His condescending tone is quickly becoming a thing I despise. He’s always treated me as some anti-social loner, a homebody, someone who couldn’t make friends without his help. He forgets sometimes that I was more popular than him back in high school, and that I can get along with just about anyone I meet. I proved that last night.
“Why do you want to know, Adrian?”
“I’m just curious to know what kind of people you’ve been spending your time with lately, and whether I have any reason to be concerned about who you let around our son.”
I scoff. “That’s rich coming from someone who has a new woman in his bed each week.”
“Hey, I’ve never introduced any of them to Zac. I’ve been very careful about who gets to meet him.”
The fact that he didn’t deny having a string of women in his bed makes me sick to my core. He doesn’t even care that he’s making me look like a fool. It hasn’t even been a year since our divorce, and already, he’s slept with half the female population.
Who the fuck is this man?
“Do you honestly think I’d ever put Zac at risk? The only people I’ve introduced him to are those I genuinely trust. I would never put him in harm’s way,” I say honestly.
“Are any of them men?”
I open my mouth, ready to tell him to go fuck himself, when there’s a knock at the door—again.
I groan in frustration. “Are you fucking kidding me?! What’s with everyone just showing up unannounced today?”
Adrian merely shrugs, as if none of it concerns him, and I turn away before I do something I’ll regret—like hurling the boiling kettle at his head.
I yank the front door open, already irritated with whoever’s on the other side, but the moment I do, I gasp.
“Kaden! What are you doing here?”
“Hey… um, sorry for just showing up like this. I was going to call, but… um…” He raises his hand, and in his palm rests my phone. “You left this in my car last night. It must’ve slipped out of your purse when you placed it down.”
Well, I guess that explains why I couldn’t find my phone when I woke up.
“Oh my god! I was wondering where that had gone,” I say, taking the phone from him. “I really appreciate you bringing it over.”
“No, it was no bother at all. I think you may have a few missed calls and texts because it kept going off while I was driving. That’s how I knew it was there.”
I switch on the screen, and it immediately lights up with missed calls and messages from my mother, my sister-in-law, Claire… and, sure enough, Adrian, who did try to call me this morning. There’s even a text from Kaden asking how I’m feeling this morning.
“To answer your question,” I murmur, holding up the phone and giving it a little shake to show I’ve read his message, “I feel like a zombie. I overslept, but it’s like I haven’t slept at all, and the worst part? I haven’t had my cup of coffee yet.”
He chuckles, gripping the back of his neck. He looks far too good for this time of day, and for someone who was out until late. If he looks like that, I don’t even want to imagine what I look like right now.
Flashes from last night come flooding back—me getting wasted and dancing all over Kaden, him carrying me to the car after we left Chris and Gemma’s, tucking me into bed, and a brief conversation about something I can’t quite remember.Everything is still hazy, and I do tend to get a bit loose-lipped after one too many drinks, so I just hope I didn’t say anything embarrassing.
“Well, if you’re not too busy right now, maybe we could grab a coffee somewhere, and have a chat. There’s something I actually need to talk to you about.”
“Oh?” I furrow my brows, intrigued. “Is this about something I said last night? Because I can’t, for the life of me, remember what we were even talking about.”
“No, it’s some—”
“Hope, what’s taking you so long?” Adrian’s voice cuts in before Kaden can finish. I glare at my ex-husband for the intrusion, but he pays no attention, moving around me to see who’s at the door.
I watch nervously as the two men face each other for the first time.
One angles his head, assessing the other, while the other stands rigid, fists clenched, the storm behind his green eyes enough to warn me that this encounter is not going to be a pleasantly warm one.
Chapter 32
Kaden
