Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Madeline said nothing, and I took that as my cue to continue.
“I started dating Selena. She was good company. Checked all the boxes I was looking for in someone permanent. Maybe to even marry. Except …” I paused, not wanting to discuss how sex with her hadn’t been great and felt like a chore.
“She was bad at sex,” Madeline supplied.
I cleared my throat, uncomfortable talking about it. “Her younger sister needed a place to stay for a few weeks, and she let her stay with her. Imagine my shock when I saw the bartender I’d had a one-night stand with coming out of an upstairs bathroom in Selena’s house.”
Madeline’s hand flew to her mouth as her eyes went wide. “Nooo,” she said, sounding surprised.
“Blaise must have left that out.”
She laughed. “Yes, he did. I’ll deal with him later. Continue.”
“Selena said some things about Liberty, not knowing about us, and I believed her. I judged Liberty unfairly. She passed out, walking home from the bus station late one night. I thought she was drunk or on some drugs. I took her to Selena’s. Then …” I paused, realizing we hadn’t discussed this when she told me about her parents and Selena’s lies. The Liberty I knew wouldn’t have reacted the way Selena had said she did.
“She ended up leaving Selena’s house. I decided to stop by her place of work and check on her. Thinking I was helping out Selena. I caught Liberty outside, throwing up in some bushes. I confronted her about it. She admitted she was pregnant. Said it was mine. I didn’t know that I could trust that. Brought her here and kept her in my bedroom up here while we waited on the results of the paternity test.”
Madeline held up a hand, her eyebrows raised. “You mean to tell me, you brought her to a strip club? Seriously? You have a house. No woman should have to stay at this place—unless she works here, of course.”
“It’s not that bad,” I defended myself. “Your husband just doesn’t want you here. I understand it, but that doesn’t mean it’s some awful place to be. Speaking of which, when he finds out you came here, he’s not going to like it.”
Using her thumb, she pointed over her shoulder toward the door. “He’s right outside. Huck is at the back entrance. Six is at the main entrance,” she told me with a roll of her eyes.
“Surprised there is no one with the vehicle,” I drawled sarcastically.
“Trev,” she replied.
I chuckled. “Of course.”
“So, the paternity test came back, and it was yours,” she said, bringing us back on topic.
“Yeah. I took her to the clubhouse and left her there for a couple of weeks.”
“Please tell me you’re joking.” Her brows were drawn together in a frown.
“No. That way, she wasn’t alone. She was safe. Nina and Goldie loved her. She was fine. Got her set up with an OB-GYN, et cetera. Then, things happened, and I thought it was for the best that she move back here and just stay at my house. She’s good with landscaping and plants and flowers. She takes Ozzy out for me, so I don’t have to leave work to do it or send Tex over there. I’m letting her stay there and be the dog sitter and landscaper while she’s pregnant. Once the baby comes, we will figure things out.” Guilt was eating at me before I even said the words.
I’d known I was going to lie or make the situation sound like something else. Telling Madeline I was fucking Liberty like a feral animal and couldn’t stop would not help the way she saw me right now.
Madeline was frowning. “So, that’s all you want with her?”
No. It wasn’t.
I nodded. “She’s thirty-one. We are at two different points in our life. We don’t fit. Nothing in common.”
Madeline sighed. “Oh. Well, that’s not what I thought I’d hear. She’s young, sure. But she’s having your baby. You get to raise a child of your own. I get a sibling. It’s exciting. I guess I just thought maybe you’d found someone you wanted to have a family with. Grow old with.”
“You thought I would want to grow old with a woman sixteen years younger than me? I’d be old long before she got a gray hair, Madeline. You think a forty-five-year-old woman would want to be stuck with a sixty-one-year-old man? Hell, I’m a grandfather, having a baby.”
Madeline shrugged. “You’re a good-looking man, Dad. You don’t look forty-seven, and if she loved you, she wouldn’t care about age. Not now or in twenty years. But if you don’t love her, then I get that.”
Love her? I hadn’t even considered love. That wasn’t necessarily something I expected when I settled down with someone. Love was a strong emotion. I’d felt it with Etta, but I had also been young. I hadn’t seen how those who claimed to love one another often destroyed each other when it ended.