Page 85 of The Rules of Dating

“No problem.”

I leaned forward. “You don’t even want custody of her, do you?”

“Like I said, I think it’s best if we keep emotions out of this conversation. Let’s just make it simple. I need something from you. You need something from me. Marry me, and as soon as I get my green card, we’ll divorce, and you will forever not have to worry about custody.”

I glared at her. “I’m not worried about it now. No judge in the world is going to give you custody.”

“You’re speaking from an emotional place because I’ve made you feel threatened.”

I lifted my chin. “Go fuck yourself.”

“Do your homework, Colby. Consult a family law attorney. Whoever you pick is going to tell you that I will get visitation once I file that paperwork. It may be limited at first. But courts like mothers in their children’s lives, especially a little girl. Eventually, when I do everything correctly and a little time passes, I’ll be awarded shared custody.”

“You’d uproot a little girl’s life to serve your own purposes without blinking twice? You already walked out on her, isn’t that enough damage?”

Maya picked imaginary lint off her pants.

I couldn’t take it anymore. Her nonchalance had my blood boiling. I stood, the bottom of the chair scraping loudly against the tile floor. “I’m done here.”

When I turned, Maya grabbed my wrist. “Go see a lawyer,” she said. “Confirm what I’ve told you. Then meet me back here one week from today at the same time. I’ll hold off filing the paperwork until then. I realize this is a lot for you to digest.”

I pulled my wrist from her grip and looked her in the eye. “Go fuck yourself.”

“Same time next week, Colby. I’ll see you then.”

CHAPTER 18

Billie

It was one of those days where it was so rainy that it almost looked like nighttime. The weather was an exact match for my mood. I’d also been dropping things all morning. Deek looked over at me curiously every time. It would be great if I could get through this workday without losing my mind. Thankfully, I hadn’t screwed up any tattoos yet, but the day was still young. All morning, I hadn’t been able to think of anything except Colby’s meeting with Saylor’s mother.

Maya. She now had a name and a face. A face I wanted to punch.

Things had been so much better when she was just a blurry ghost, someone I could pretend didn’t exist. Everything had happened so fast last night that I’d barely gotten a look at her. My priorities were elsewhere. Namely, protecting Saylor so she would never catch wind of what a terrible person her mother was.

Finally, Deek and I had a break between clients, which gave him the opportunity to corner me about my strange behavior. I’d yet to tell him what was going on.

He came up behind me and shook my shoulders. “What the hell is up with you today? Something going on with you and Colby?”

I let out a long sigh. “You could say that…”

“I knew I shouldn’t have trusted a guy without tats.” His eyes narrowed. “Do I need to go fuck him up?”

“Believe me, there is nothing you could do to make him more fucked up than he is right now.”

A look of concern crossed his face. “Uh-oh. That sounds ominous. Spill.”

I explained what had happened. Deek always had something to say about everything. But this time? He stood with his mouth hanging open for a long while.

“What do you think she wants?” he finally asked.

“I don’t know. She dangled the custody thing in his face to get him to meet with her. So there’s obviously more. He’s coming here later to fill me in.”

“Wow.” Deek stared off. “What an asshole this chick is… To be out of the picture this entire time and then come back out of the blue like this?”

I exhaled. “We’d had the best night together before she showed up. The three of us. It was like the first time I could really see…” My words trailed off.

“See yourself as part of their family?”