Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 132031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Furrowing his brow, he suppressed the growl threatening to erupt as Keyes edged closer to the pavilion.
He couldn’t explain why he’d moved his bitch of an ex-wife, Tena, and their two daughters, Abi and Mae, to Sunnyvale. Hell, he’d bought a house there. A badass house because, per his ex-wife, every person in the house needed two thousand square feet to move around freely on their own.
He’d also put security on them—an emotional, gut driven decision. Not due to any real credible threat. The only reason he could come up with for such a move was that he’d liked watching his girls thrive in an ordinary life during his brief stint at normalcy while living with Holly.
Holly… Dev almost snorted. She’d turned into a psycho bitch herself. He hadn’t told Keyes that one yet.
Then again…he’d been involved with both Tena and Holly. So maybe he was the common denominator?
Nah, he refused to take credit for Tena. True bitch to her core. Always had been. At a particular time in his life, those qualities had been attractive to Dev. Tena was tough, abrasive, and barely wore any clothes. The ones she wore were only because she had to.
She’d made her banging body an open canvas to Dev while he learned his craft. She was possibly a showcase of his very best artwork. She had a colorful inked body that she loved to show off.
But her attributes ended there. Tena drank too much, smoked too much, and had an intense pill problem. She liked the high-dollar shit. She was becoming too fucking expensive, refusing to put a single dime of the money she made into paying bills. As far as he was concerned, she had no redeeming qualities. While she allowed a nanny to care for their girls, she made even that a battle. She had to stop firing the caregivers, because no matter who filled the nanny role, she was at natural odds with them.
“What do you want?” Dev shot out when Tena finally took a breath from her ranting.
“I’m going out. Your stupid nanny’s off tonight. I need money and I need you to get your ass over here and take care of your children for once in your stupid life.”
Her argument struck a nerve…hard…just as she intended. Yeah, there’d been a time he wasn’t a good father, but that was only in the beginning. Shit changed fast by the time Abi started crawling. Now, he spent more nights with his girls than anywhere else. He’d even proudly worn the Girl Dad T-shirt they’d given him for Father’s Day.
Every dime he made went to her and the girls. No matter how many different ways he explained the club’s current financial problems, she just kept spending money.
He dragged a hand over his face. His attempt at resisting the fight didn’t work. He took her bait, saying what he felt deep inside his heart. “Goddamn, Tena. I fuckin’ hate you.”
“I’m not fucking you anymore for free so stop trying,” Tena countered. “You need to get the girls from school today and drop me some money on Venmo.”
She always took his insults as flirtation. That was the main reason they had ended up in this situation in the first place.
“I can’t be there until after eight tonight. You’re gonna have to wait.”
The way she screamed into the phone pierced his brain, making him jerk the cell from his ear. Keyes watched him, parking many feet away to keep the roar of his pipes from overpowering his conversation.
The only thing Dev said before ending the call was to yell, “I better not get a fuckin’ call they weren’t picked up from school. Got shit I gotta do to pay for your fuckin’ life.”
He refused to listen to another word of the litany of hate she had about her life, his life, his career choices, or lack of a substantial income, and ended the call.
Keyes stalked toward him. His buddy’s gait mimicked that of a predator. The king of the jungle who was on a casual stroll through his lands. Every muscle worked in a symphony, each prepared to tense after being forced to flex. The questions in his gaze made Dev lower his eyes and silence the ringer, so they weren’t interrupted again. She’d stalker call and text him until she got her way. They didn’t need her to ruin their lunch.
Dev rolled his tight shoulder muscles, attempting to change his mood. “Fuckin’ Tena. Who we fuck at fifteen shouldn’t hang over our heads for the rest of our lives.”
Keyes, who towered over Dev in both bulk and height, chuckled and reached out a hand, initiating their standard dap-slap greeting.
How Keyes could stay so fundamentally good after living the life he had was beyond Dev. But he respected it and matched his buddy’s laugh.
“Maybe because you fucked her without a condom for ten more years. Look at the bright side, you could’ve had twenty kids with her by now.”