Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 78760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
I got there just in time to hear the woman’s whispered reply.
“We’ll fuckin’ move and file this in a different court so that your daddy and his cronies won’t screw us over like they did last time.” She poked Tally in the chest with one long, manicured finger. “What do you think about that?”
“I think that you can go fuck yourself,” Tally replied smoothly. “Now please leave. I’m at work, and this wasn’t the place to have this discussion.”
“I tried to do it at your parents’ house, but they said that you were at work,” she sneered. “Why, if you’re at work, can’t we have Lula…”
“Don’t call her that God-awful name!”
The woman huffed and Russell showed that he actually had some brains behind that pretty package.
“Let’s go,” Russell ordered, taking a hold of the woman’s arm and pulling lightly. “This isn’t getting us anywhere.”
The woman harrumphed.
“Fine,” the woman sniffed. “But this isn’t over, bitch.”
Tally moved forward to reach for the woman’s hair, but I caught her before she could get even a footstep into her advance.
“Tally,” I murmured quietly so the oglers couldn’t overhear what I was saying. “There’s a time and place, and this isn’t it.”
She huffed.
“You were doing really well until she called her Lula,” I murmured. “Wow, you really don’t like it. What is it about that name? Is it synonymous for anti-Christ or something?”
Tally’s lip curled in distaste, then she practically wilted in my arms.
“It’s not really that bad of a name,” Tally admitted softly. “The only reason I hate it is because that woman uses it.”
“And who exactly is that woman?”
“Sheena Morton.”
I blinked. “I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”
Tally’s mouth kicked up into a grin. “I am most certainly not. That woman may be a joke, but her name’s not.”
I let go of her once I realized that she was calm enough to answer coherently.
“What did she want?” I asked, glaring at a boy who came up, offering Tally a pen.
She took the pen and nodded at the boy—who was more like nineteen so not really a boy—and shoved the pen in her pocket before answering.
“She wanted to breastfeed my child.”
I blinked, then blinked some more, until a furrow appeared on my brow.
“What?” I grunted, completely stunned that someone would offer that for another woman’s child. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“No,” she growled in frustration. “I’m not.”
I didn’t even know what to say to her. There was nothing I even could say that would make this situation better.
“She can’t feed your kid without your consent while she has her,” I finally decided on. “That’s just… I can’t even believe they would suggest something so outrageous.”
“Then he says, ‘they used to have wet nurses in the old days. What’s so different about this?’ I’m pretty sure he’s contacting his attorney tomorrow.”
“He can try to bring this to court,” I said. “But he’ll be laughed right out of it. No judge is going to tell a father that it’s okay for his new wife to breastfeed his kid against the mother’s wishes, especially if she is not having milk production or delivery issues,” I told her. “It’s nice that he’s trying to think of ways to be more involved in the life of his kid, and let me assure you, it could be worse. But this is completely ridiculous. I mean, offering your new wife’s tits up to breastfeed so your kid can stay overnight with you? That’s just weird.”
“That’s what I started telling her the moment she brought up the asinine idea,” she snapped her fingers together. “What’s with that look on your face.”
I froze, trying to figure out what was on my face for her to demand an explanation.
“What look?” I raised a brow.
She sighed and started walking away from me, and I had a decision.
Either I stayed mad at her and continued on with my miserable day, or I talk to her and tell her that her words sucked ass and hurt.
“Stop,” I ordered, calling out to her.
She stopped and looked at me over her shoulder. “What?”
I walked over to the down room and unlocked it, urging her in with a sweep of my hand.
She looked at me skeptically, but nonetheless followed me into the room and turned once she was all the way inside.
“Yes?”
I locked the door securely behind me, and then turned so I could see all of her before starting.
“I don’t care if you want to keep this a secret,” I told her honestly. “You have a couple weeks left, and I completely understand that you would want to keep something like this a secret until you’ve graduated.”
“But…”
“But, the guys in my club, they’re trustworthy,” I promised her. “They’re all overprotective big brothers who would have my back no matter what I did, murder included.”
Her eyes sharpened. “Murder isn’t a good thing to have your back on,” she informed me, a lazy smile taking over her face.