Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
“I really thought we’d be able to talk like adults, but your hostility is making that impossible.”
“Do you blame me?” I question.
“I did nothing wrong,” she seethes, stepping closer as she narrows her eyes at me. “Stop looking at me like I’m personally to blame for my brother’s fucked-up decisions. I’m not him. You don’t have the right to treat me like shit. My brother’s life is hanging in the balance because of you.”
“Because of me?” I scoff, appalled by her audacity. “He came to us. He was the one who had the knife. He was the one who stabbed Addison in the bathroom and tried to rape her, again. He was the one who punctured my cousin’s liver. And he was the one who made sure the fucking love of my life nearly bled out in the grass. I did what I had to do to protect the people I love,” I growl, spitting each word through my teeth. “Tell me he didn’t fucking deserve it. Tell me after drugging and raping my sister, wrapping Bri’s car around a fucking tree, attacking Addison in the hospital, and everything he did at the fucking track that he didn’t deserve it. If that asshole dies, then consider it a favor.”
Tears well in her eyes, but she’s too angry to let them fall and she desperately tries to blink them back, not wanting to appear weak in front of me. She just doesn’t realize I haven’t held high opinions of her since the moment I heard about her using me to cheat on her boyfriend when I was sixteen. If she wants respect from me, that ship has sailed.
She doesn’t respond and so I step into her, getting a fucked-up thrill out of the way she retreats, not stopping until her back is pressed up against the wall and she’s got nowhere to go, trapped like a rabid bunny. “I’m going to ask you one more time. Why the fuck are you here in my house?”
Rachael watches me for a moment, her brows furrowing as she stares back at me. “You really have no idea, do you?”
“The fuck are you talking about?”
Something comes over her, and the fear fades into something sinister and crude. “Our son, Tanner. Congratulations, Daddy. It’s a boy.”
I shake my head, not believing her one bit. I saw her at the courthouse, saw the way she looked at me. It’s as though I could see the pieces of her fucked-up little game falling together. “You’re full of shit,” I tell her. “That kid ain’t mine and you know it.”
“Deny it all you want, Tanner Morgan, but I know the truth, and after what you’ve put my family through, it’s time we finally get what we deserve.”
I scoff. “Money? Is that what you want? You’re going to throw your kid to the wolves for a fucking payday?”
“Don’t act like you know me,” she seethes. “I’m not asking you to care for him. I’m not asking you to be his father, just pay the child support you owe, and you won’t have to hear from me ever again.”
I laugh. “You’re fucked in the head. No wonder your family sent you away.”
This time she steps into me, trying to appear menacing, but she really can’t pull it off. “You saw him at the courthouse. Don’t be stupid about this, Tanner. I know you saw the resemblance. He looks just like you. He’s got your eyes and everything, and what scares you most is that you know I’m right. I saw the way you were looking at him, saw the fear in your eyes. You know it just as well as I do. He’s your son, so do the right thing and—”
“Get your little manipulative hoe-bag ass away from my son,” Mom seethes, storming into the foyer, clearly having overheard every last word of our conversation. I gape at her, feeling as though some kind of alien life form has taken over my mother. She never speaks like that. Hell, maybe Bri is starting to rub off on her.
Mom barges past me, shoulder charging me on her path to push Rachael away from me. Seeing the anger in Mom’s eyes, Rachael hastily backs up, going awfully quiet for someone who had so much to say. “Don’t you for one second think you can extort money out of my son. I will bring the law down on your entire family so hard, you won’t even see it coming.”
“But it’s true. Tanner is my son’s father.”
“Forgive me for not believing a single word that comes out of your mouth,” Mom tells her. “We will be doing our own private paternity test through reputable lawyers, not the dirty ones your family uses. If the test comes back as a match, then Tanner will happily pay what he owes in child support, but you better be prepared to give up your son fifty percent of the time. We will be fighting for equal custody.”