Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 68576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
When I was against him, panting for an altogether different reason, he studied my face.
“How did you get that scar?” he pushed.
My stomach fluttered.
“I don’t think you’re ready for the truth yet, officer.”
It was the one thing I hadn’t told him about when it came to Sage.
He could handle the truth now.
I just… I felt like I didn’t want to give him everything just yet.
I held back.
Once I knew that he was mine, once I knew that he wouldn’t toss me aside, then I’d tell him the last.
But until then…
“I want to know,” he grumbled, rolling over onto his back, eyes facing the ceiling. “You need to tell me. Now.”
I didn’t answer.
Instead, I got up, dressed, and put on my shoes.
“You can boss me around in sexual situations,” I said as I pulled on my clothes. “But don’t think that extends to regular life, Atlas Eugene Carter.”
“Douglas,” he corrected.
“Douglas what?” I wondered absently as I reached for my shoes.
“My middle name. It’s Douglas. Not Eugene.”
“Whatever,” I grumbled. “You can keep the car. I borrowed it from Maven this morning because my car’s back in the shop with some more sliced tires. Can you give me a ride to the hotel, or should I call a cab?”
“If you give me a couple of hours to catch some sleep, I can drop you off on my way to the hospital,” he offered.
That absolutely wouldn’t work.
I was not spending the night with the man and giving him any sort of impression that I liked him, let alone wanted to spend more time with him.
Let’s not mention the fact that I did like him and did want to spend all the time with him that he would allow me to.
I pulled out my phone and texted Maven.
Me:
Hey, do you mind if I stay in the apartment above the bakery for the night?
Maven answered instantly.
Maven:
Of course you can. You can stay there permanently, you know that.
She had offered, but there was no way I’d take her up on it.
Being that close to him was a bad idea.
Right?
Ain’t no man driving me crazy. I’m the driver now. Buckle up.
—Pepper to Atlas
ATLAS
It’d been a week, but he was finally able to come home.
His new home.
My home.
Forest was coming home to my house, with his father.
His father that he liked but was still kind of wary of.
He loved Pepper, though.
Not that I’d seen that in real life.
I’d seen it in videos that Maven had shared with me.
She’d gone out of her way to avoid me this last week.
Not that I blamed her.
I’d used her.
I’d been so caught up with wanting to feel anything but rage, pain, and frustration that I’d taken advantage of Pepper, and I owed her an apology.
The only problem was I couldn’t get her to stop long enough for me to do that.
“Where ya goin’ first?” the social worker, Nancy, asked.
I looked from the sandals I was putting on my little boy to Nancy.
“Well,” I said, “I need to run to the store and get some necessities. I got the diapers, and wipes, and big stuff like a car seat and a bed. My family helped me out with the clothes. But I need some snacks and stuff like that. Groceries. Or we’re gonna be heading to the closest fast-food joint for dinner.”
Nancy grinned. “Just sayin’, but chicken nuggets are a hit with my grandson.”
“I think chicken nuggets are a hit with anyone,” I pointed out, offering her my hand.
She took it, shook it softly, then said, “If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.”
I got down on my haunches and spoke to Forest.
“Are you ready to go home?” I asked.
His eyes widened, and the beautiful brown eyes so much like my own started to well with tears.
“No go home.” He shook his head furiously.
I patted his leg. “Not your old home, buddy. Your new home. My place.”
He tilted his head.
“I can stop by the bakery, too. We can go see Pepper.”
His eyes lit up. “Peppa?”
God, this kid was fucking cute.
I hated that I’d had help making him with the woman who was now trying to turn my life into a living hell.
In the past week, Emory had been released from jail.
What she had not gotten back was custody of Forest.
She’d tried.
She’d tried hella hard, actually. Much harder than I’d expected considering she’d left her own kid in the car… on purpose.
However, the hearing for custody, as well as the hearing for her child endangerment, had been set for three weeks from now. In the meantime, as the father—the confirmed father as of four days ago—I would have sole emergency custody of my son.
“You want to go see Peppa?” I asked, reaching for him.
He came willingly, although a bit hesitantly. “Yes.”
The whispered words hurt.
Fuck, but he was hesitant with everyone. What had his life been like?