Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 115706 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115706 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Chapter 7
Aubrey
Dinner is underway and going pretty well, surprisingly. For the past half hour or so, my parents, Caleb, and I have been eating together at the small table adjacent to the living room. Raine’s not here anymore. She started the meal with us, but she’s now lying on the carpet nearby, working on a new page in her coloring book.
Dad has dominated most of the dinner conversation thus far, by asking Caleb endless questions: about Red Card Riot, the art of drumming, the music industry in general. I’m grateful for Dad’s chattiness, since it’s given me the chance to stare at Caleb and assess him. Can I trust this man? What’s his real end game here?
Once again, my eyes rake over Caleb’s tattooed forearm as he lifts his fork to his mouth. And as he chews, my gaze remains, once again, fixated on the movement of his lips. Those are some damned fine lips, especially when framed by that beard. It’s a weird thought, since I don’t normally like beards. It’s a thought that makes me remind myself, yet again, that the physical attraction I’m feeling for this man isn’t something I could ever pursue. Obviously.
When Claudia told me about her shocking encounter with C-Bomb after his show in Seattle, she lamented that she never got to kiss those lips. Apparently, C-Bomb fucked her from behind while gripping her hips with those two, big, tattooed hands right there; and he did it without ever kissing Claudia or looking into her eyes. Claudia said the sex itself was super-hot. It was the hottest, most animalistic sex imaginable, she told me. Ten out of ten. But even so, she admitted she still felt a touch disappointed she didn’t get to taste the lips she’d been fantasizing about kissing since middle school.
Frankly, I’ve never understood Claudia’s fixation on C-Bomb. Truly, never.
But I get it now.
I still despise the man for the way he’s neglected Raine. Also, because he never asked for Claudia’s phone number after their encounter, which deeply disappointed her. But now that I’m seeing the guy in person, I can’t deny I finally get his worldwide appeal. At the very least, I can understand why hate sex is a thing. In a flash, I see Caleb gripping my hips from behind and having animalistic sex with me, while I shout epithets at him and swear I hate his guts for never once coming to meet Raine.
Dad laughs at something Caleb says, jerking me from my mortifyingly horrendous thoughts, and Mom and I exchange a withering look about his happy guffaw. We’d both normally be happy for Dad to get to meet the drummer from one of his favorite bands; but in this moment, we’re both far too wary about Caleb’s intentions to feel anything but unsettled and cautious. If Caleb gets custody of Raine, will he keep his word and always give us full access to her, or will he eventually ice us out, once we’re no longer useful to him?
In the kitchen earlier, when I rapidly explained Caleb’s unexpected presence in our house, I expected both my parents to express the same unadulterated indignance I felt. But even though both seemed highly protective of Raine, and even though they both expressed the need for us to always keep a skeptical, watchful eye on Caleb, they both also expressed deep joy about Raine finally getting to meet her daddy. My father, especially, was willing to help Caleb get to know Raine, for her own good, far more so than Mom and me.
“Would you forget he’s C-Bomb from Red Card Riot for a minute,” I whisper-shouted angrily at Dad in the kitchen earlier. “And focus on the fact that he’s an absentee father who’s shown up, out of the blue, to take our baby girl away from us?”
“Then why agree to stay in Prairie Springs for a month, if his only goal is to take her away?” Dad countered. “Look, honey, a child needs her father. Yes, C-Bomb’s made mistakes in the past, but he’s come to correct them. That’s a good thing. So, I vote we try to help him do that.”
When I grumbled, Mom said, “Even if we don’t trust him completely, the fact remains there’s no way we can defeat Ralph Beaumont on our own. So, what choice do we have but to align ourselves with Caleb, at least, at first? Your dad is right. We can pull a whammy on Caleb in court, if it comes to that. But for now, let’s help him with Raine, and get on his good side, so he’ll keep his promise and keep us in her life.”
“How’d you two meet?” Caleb asks my parents, drawing me back to the dinner table.
“I grew up in Prairie Springs,” Mom replies. “And Joe grew up two towns over. He played football for the rival team—”