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)
Without warning, Caleb unfastens his seatbelt and swings his car door open with a kind of ferocious, alpha-dog energy that makes it clear he’s not planning to invite Trent for a friendly beer.
“Where are you going?” I blurt, causing Caleb to lower his face into the opened door frame.
“I’m going to teach our buddy Trent a much-needed lesson about karma.” With that, he slams the door and marches across the street, while I inch up higher in my seat, enough to peek over the dashboard and watch whatever’s going to happen next.
With my heart going a mile a minute, I watch Caleb, a man on a mission, stride over to Trent. When Caleb reaches his destination, he says something that makes Trent look up from his phone and instantly go wide-eyed. It wouldn’t surprise me if Trent has instantly recognized Caleb. He’s a musician himself who loves music and music pop culture; and I know for a fact Red Card Riot is one of his all-time favorite—
Holy fuck! Out of nowhere, Caleb just slapped Trent, hard, across the cheek, making him recoil, stumble back, and drop his phone!
I yelp in shock. But only a fraction of a second later, my shock morphs into glee, which prompts me to laugh out loud, involuntarily, at the sheer absurdity of the delicious moment. Seriously, if I’d taken a sip of water immediately before that slap, I would have done a spit-take.
Without another word being exchanged, Caleb trots back to the truck with a wicked grin on his face that makes me guffaw again. This time, he comes around to my side of the truck. After opening the door, he leans his full head into the opening and flashes me a beaming smile that takes my breath away. “You’re welcome.” He winks.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” I blurt, even though I’m elated he did. I peek toward the scene of the crime again, and thankfully, Trent is scurrying away at a hurried clip, rather than coming over here to do God knows what in retaliation. “Caleb, you can’t walk around slapping people on the street.” I don’t know why I’m flogging him, when all I want to do is high-five him. But that’s what my knee-jerk reaction is, so I guess I’m committed now.
Caleb looks at me like I’ve got two heads. “That douchebag slapped you, Aubrey. He deserved that and more.”
I can’t suppress my smile, even though I don’t want to give Caleb a free pass for what he did. Was it delightful? Yes. But it was also a totally unhinged thing for him to do, especially considering his celebrity status. Has he forgotten about Ralph Beaumont and the custody hearing in a month? “What if Trent sues you?”
“He won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do, because suing me would require him to admit what he did to you. And I assure you, he doesn’t want to do that.” Caleb smirks. “Either way, it was totally worth it. If he sues me, I’ll pay him off, like all the rest.”
“All the rest? How many people have you slapped on the street like that?”
“Nobody. Not like that. But over the span of my life, I’ve definitely beaten the shit out of more than a couple people who totally deserved it.”
I hate myself for it, but my body is having a tingling, physical reaction to that revelation. I’m never attracted to bad boys. Loose cannons. Men with anger management issues. But, damn, I’m finding it difficult not to be attracted to this one.
I bite my lower lip, trying to stifle my satisfied smile. “What’d you say to Trent, right before you slapped him?”
Caleb chuckles at the memory. “I said, ‘Hey, Trent.’ And he goes, ‘C-Bomb? Whoa!’”
Caleb mimics Trent’s starstruck facial expression, and there’s no doubt in my mind Trent’s brain melted into a puddle of goo in that moment.
With a snicker, Caleb continues, “When he put out his hand to shake mine, I said, ‘This is for Aubrey Capshaw, you little bitch.’ And then, I bitch-slapped him.”
I burst out laughing, along with Caleb. What must Trent have been thinking in that shockingly outrageous moment? I’m sure he felt thoroughly disoriented and confused.
“Man, I wish you could have seen the look on his face when I slapped him,” Caleb says with a chuckle. “It was . . .” He makes a classic “chef’s kiss” gesture.
On a personal level, I’m feeling nothing but delighted by this unexpected gift of sweet revenge. But in the context of the impending custody hearing, his behavior was totally unacceptable. “Sorry to seem ungrateful,” I say. “But with Ralph coming after Raine, you can’t do that kind of thing. In a month, you have to convince the judge you’re a fit father, remember?”
“Don’t you think a fit father would defend his daughter, if some guy smacked the shit out of her?”