Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 36691 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36691 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Aubrey stares. Not at me, but down the hall. I follow her gaze and start to laugh. “So, he’s here? Hiding in the bedroom, huh? Not man enough to come out to face me.”
“Nick, stop.”
“Stop? You’re serious right now? The only thing going through my mind is you’re hurting our kids to please your boyfriend and you want me to stop?”
She nods.
“Go get him. I want to meet him,” I tell her. “I want to meet the man you destroyed your family for. The man you’re willing to give up your children for.”
“I’m not giving up my children.”
“The hell you aren’t. Do you really think I’m going to let Amelie come back here after he made those veiled threats? You didn’t even deny them, Aubrey. You let some man tell you what to do with your daughter. She’s supposed to mean more than a piece of dick.”
“She does!” Aubrey screams and wipes at her tears. “I told him she’s not going anywhere. That we’re a package deal.”
“I’m taking her back to the states.”
“You can’t do that.”
“You know I can. I have full custody of the children, Aubrey. It’s not safe here for her. I’ve said this from the beginning. The only reason she’s here now is because I didn’t want you to kidnap her.”
“Nick,” she says my name quietly, almost as if she’s shocked, I would say something like that.
I shrug. “When you told me you wanted to move and take the kids that’s the first thing that went through my mind. Everything you’ve done, you’ve done so with your boyfriend in mind. You know damn well moving Amelie here wasn’t a good idea. You made a selfish decision for a man who doesn’t even want kids. Who isn’t even man enough to come out here and face me,” I say the last part loud enough for him to hear. “That’s what you want? A man who doesn’t even stand up for you?”
The door to the bedroom opens and the man walks out. Without cars and a busy street separating us, he’s a bit shorter than me, a little beefy with no hair. I can’t tell if he shaves it or if he’s bald.
I look from him to Aubrey, who looks absolutely horrified.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
She sighs heavily. “I don’t think you’ll like the irony of the situation,” she says quietly.
“I see. Should I guess?”
She shakes her head. The guy steps forward and I expect him to hold out his hand for me to shake, but he doesn’t, which is probably a good thing.
“I’m Liam,” he says in an accent so heavy it sounds like his name is lye-em.
Aubrey’s right. I don’t like the irony. “Really?”
“There’s more.”
“Can’t wait to hear it.”
“We were engaged before you came here,” she says, which is absolute news to me. “When I met you, I broke it off with him to be with you.”
“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Aubrey. Really? After everything I told you about what brought me here in the first place. You cheated on him with me?”
“And then you with me, it seems.”
I glare at Liam, Lye-em, however the hell he says his name. He’s no better than her, breaking up our family.
“I can’t believe you,” I say as I head down the hall.
“Where are you going?”
“To get Amelie’s stuff.”
“She’s not moving with you, Nick.”
I turn around and head back to where they’re standing and look him dead in the eyes. “Do you want children?”
“Not at all,” he says without missing a beat.
My eyes bore into Aubrey’s. “I’m going back to the states, and I’m taking Amelie with me. If you want to be her mother, you’ll figure things out on this end. I will not sit by and wonder if my daughter is going to make it to my next visitation because her mother’s boyfriend doesn’t want children. You should’ve thought about that when you rekindled your relationship with him.”
Then I turn to him. “Thanks,” I tell him.
“For what?”
“For making it easier to get the fuck out of here.”
I take what I can, while Aubrey sits on the couch crying. I fear she’s upset because she’s going to lose money, not that Amelie is leaving. I tell her I’ll be back for the rest of the stuff sometime this week and if she wants to see her daughter, she knows where to find her.
When I get back to the apartment, Amelie’s snuggled up with Talisa. I ask her to wait while I put Amelie to bed. “Your mom will come and see you here,” I tell her. “We can talk more about it in the morning. But for right now, you don’t have to go back to your mom’s if he’s there.”
“Thank you, Daddy.”
“I love you, Amelie.” I kiss her forehead and turn off her light. Talisa stands when I come into the living room.