Page 34 of Hired By My Rich Baby Daddy 3

They backed up a couple of steps, not all the way out of the room, just enough so we could talk without them breathing down our necks, but close enough that they could get to her quickly if they needed to. I understood why they weren’t trying to go too far. None of us was sure what the hell we were dealing with tonight.

Paisley and I glared at each other. I still couldn’t wrap my head around what had just happened. My ears were still ringing a lil’ bit.

“What the fuck were you thinking, Paisley?” I finally asked, keeping my voice low. “After all the shit I’ve done for you, you decide to come shoot at me? And how the fuck did you even find me?”

She rolled her eyes like I was the one who had done something wrong.

“Aye, answer the fucking question.”

“I left my second phone in your car and tracked it. When we pulled up and saw the black truck, that was a dead giveaway. Then I saw one of your security guards standing out front.” She laughed. “I told him you were expecting me, so he let me through. Then you had another one standing right outside her damn door. Another giveaway.”

I shook my head. “And you did all that for fucking what, Pais?”

“Because!” she snapped. “First, you had that bitch at your honors ceremony, and then…”

“There’s definitely something wrong with yo’ ass. You keep changing shit around in your head to fit whatever fucked-up story you done created. Yeah, I took her, but that don’t mean shit when it comes to you. If it wasn’t her, it still would’ve never been you!”

Her face twisted. “So, you really choosing that bitch over me?”

“Ain’t nobody choosing between y’all because there was never a choice to make!”

She stared at me, her lips parting. “But you fucked me.”

“One fucking time! And I already admitted that shit was a mistake. You took one night and turned it into some whole imaginary-ass life in your head.”

She looked away, but I wasn’t finished.

“And this how you repay me? By tracking me down and shooting at me because I won’t play house with you?”

Her eyes filled with more tears, but I didn’t give a damn. Not after what she had just done.

I shook my head. There wasn’t anything left to say.

“You know what? I’m done. Figure it the fuck out.” I turned and walked off.

She hopped up off that couch so fast. “Figure it out? Did you just tell me to figure it the fuck out?”

I turned back around. “Yeah. That’s what the fuck I just said.” My voice was climbing now, and I didn’t even try to bring it back down. “Why would I keep breaking my back to make sure you’re taken care of when this is the shit you do? I don’t give a fuck how pissed off you make me, I would never, ever shoot at you, ’cause the thought of taking you away from your kids would be the first thing that popped in my head. Too bad you weren’t thinking the same shit.”

She sucked her teeth and looked off to the side. “Okay. I was wrong. I know I was wrong.” Then her eyes came back to mine, and I already knew what was coming before it left her mouth. “But are you saying you’re fully cutting me off?”

I laughed, but it wasn’t funny. None of it was funny to me.

“That’s all you worried about.” I shook my head slowly. “That’s all you’ve ever been worried about, huh?”

I stepped in closer, closing that space between us, and I saw Jacob take a step forward out the corner of my eye, ready if he needed to be.

“You can stay here a couple days, but after that, you can’t stay in my house or any of my private properties,” I said. “I’ll have the movers bring your shit here. Me offering to move you and the kids into a spot with me, that was some shit I did out of the kindness of my own fucking heart because you had all them complications with Summer and almost didn’t make it through that delivery. I appreciate the fuck out of you for having my child, but you ain’t gon’ use me no more, Paisley. I don’t deserve that shit. And now I see you for what the fuck you really are.”

Her chin lifted, defensive. “And what’s that?”

“A snake.” I let that sit in the air for a second. “You can go run back to your other baby daddy for all I give a fuck. Let him knock your head between the fucking washer and muthafuckin’ dryer, bitch.”

Her mouth dropped open, and for a second, she didn’t even have anything to come back with.

I turned to walk off. That’s when she started swinging on my back, hitting me anywhere she could reach, screaming something I couldn’t even make sense of anymore. Jacob stepped in quickly, wrapped her up from behind, and pulled her off me before she could do any real damage.

I just kept walking toward the door.