Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 157032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
“The hell I won’t.” I shake my head. “If you want to get dirty, Cameron, you won’t fucking see him at all.”
He narrows his eyes in contempt. “I dare you to try and stop me.”
I sit back in my seat as a fission of fear crosses over me. For the first time in Owen’s life, someone else is fighting for him.
I don’t like it.
I don’t like it at all.
I think on it for a moment as we sit in silence. “You can come to my house tomorrow and spend time with him.”
He glares at me.
“You don’t have a backseat in your car, so you can’t drive him anywhere, anyway.” I sigh.
“I’m telling him,” he says.
“Telling him what?” I ask.
“That I’m his father.”
“What?” I snap. “He thinks he has a father.”
“That’s a man you dated. It’s not his fucking father.” He sneers.
I sit back in my seat and blow out a breath. God, what a mess?
“Fine. Tell him, but I want to be there.”
My phone rings and I glance at the screen to see it’s Owen’s preschool.
“Hang on a minute. It’s Owen’s preschool,” I murmur as I answer. “Hello.”
“Hello, Ashley, it’s Katrina from the Preschool.”
“Hello, Katrina. Is something wrong?” I ask.
“No, everything is fine.”
I put my hand on my chest in relief as Cameron watches on.
“I just noticed this morning that when you filled out your emergency contacts, you only put yourself and Jenna.”
“Yes, is that okay?” My eyes look up at Cameron and he frowns.
“We need four emergency contacts. It’s accreditation policy.”
Shit. “You need four emergency contacts?” My eyes are still on Cameron. “Can you hang on a minute, Katrina? I will just grab the numbers.”
I put the phone down and cover it. “I need two emergency contacts for the preschool. Who will I put? I only know Jenna in town,” I whisper.
“Me.”
I watch him think for a moment.
“And Adrian,” he adds.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” he snaps, annoyed. He brings the numbers up on his phone and passes it to me. I blow out a breath and go back to Katrina.
“Um, can I add Cameron Stanton, please?” I ask.
“Yes, sure. What is his relationship to the child?”
I close my eyes as my stomach turns. “He’s his father.”
Cameron sits back in his chair as the enormity of that statement hits us both, and my eyes rise to the ceiling.
“Next one?” she asks.
“Um.” I pause for a moment. “Adrian...” Shit, what’s his last name?
“Murphy,” Cameron whispers.
“Murphy,” I add.
“And what’s his relationship to the child?”
I close my eyes and blow out a deflated breath. “Family friend,” I reply meekly.
I give her the numbers and then hang up.
I feel like I just lost a round with Mike Tyson. I have effectively lost control of this situation and I feel like packing up and running away in the middle of the night.
I sit and eat my cake in silence and Cameron seems deep in thought, just like me.
“When is his birthday?” Cameron asks.
I smile softly. “January fifth.”
His eyes hold mine. “He’s turning five?”
I nod.
“He starts school next year?”
“Yes.”
He frowns. “He’s not enrolled in school yet?”
“There’s plenty of time for that. It’s only June.” I reply as I sip my coffee.
“Not the school that he will be going to. He should have been enrolled at birth.”
“He’s going to a public school, Cameron.” I frown.
His face drops in horror. “No, he’s not. Over my dead body is he going to a public school.”
“Why not?”
“I’m paying for it, so what’s it to you where he goes?”
“I don’t want a spoiled brat of a kid.”
“It’s an education, Ashley.”
“With a bad fucking attitude if his father is anything to go by.”
He glares at me as his jaw ticks. “Listen to me, Ashley, and listen good. This is a warning. Do not go back to that club. You are bringing up my child. The fathers of Owen’s future friends go to that club, and I will not have you disgrace our family.”
I sit back, shocked at his audacity. I watch him for a moment and finally reply, “You go there, Cameron.”
He glares at me.
Tears fill my eyes. “This is why I don’t want my son anywhere near your rich boy culture. In my world, you stay loyal to your wife,” I whisper. “You love your wife with your whole heart.”
His eyes hold mine. “When I meet her, that’s what I intend to do.”
Pain slices through my heart.
If he hit me with an axe, it would have hurt less. I stare at his blurred face through tears.
I’ve got nothing.
I stand and push my chair in. “Let’s go.” I murmur sadly.
There’s no comeback for that, there’s nothing I can say that makes that comment from him hurt less.
I need to get away from him.
He’s destroying me blow by low blow.
I walk nervously out into the sunny courtyard of Zooms; the place I have arranged to meet Natasha. I don’t know if she comes in peace or with a weapon, but I’m hoping since she asked me not to tell Cameron, it may be in peace.