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“Jesus Christ, Blaire, I didn’t tell her to come.” he hisses, voice low but urgent. “I’ve been texting her this whole time trying to tell her not to show up here. She—”
Theo makes a small whimpering sound in my arms and we both freeze. I rub slow circles on his back, shushing him gently until his breathing evens out again.
Simon exhales hard and stands, dragging both hands through his hair. “I didn’t tell her to come. Let me go handle this. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
“Simon, we literally just had a talk about—”
“Ten minutes, Blaire. I swear. She will never be a problem again.”
I give him a long, skeptical look. Part of me wants to refuse on principle, to keep yelling, to demand he prove it right here and now. But Theo is sleeping against my chest with a broken wrist and a cut on his head, and the last thing he needs is more tension in the room.
“Fine,” I bite out. “Ten minutes.”
He nods once, sharp and determined, then slips out the door.
The second it closes behind him, the fight drains out of me. I’m left alone in the quiet room with my injured child, while the father of that child—the man I’ve never stopped loving—goes to deal with his girlfriend. The same girlfriend who just tried to insert herself into a situation that has nothing to do with her.
A few hot tears slip down my cheeks before I can stop them.
What the fuck are you doing, Blaire?
Chapter fifteen
Simon
It feels wrong to leave them. Blaire looks like she’s barely holding it together, and Theo is still fragile in her arms. But this needs to end—tonight. I can’t keep letting Veronica bleed into every part of my life, especially not when my son is lying in a hospital bed.
I spot her at the nurses’ station and call her name, low and sharp.
She turns, arms already crossed like she’s the one who’s been wronged. I don’t give her the chance to speak. I grab her by the arm and pull her down a side hallway, away from the main traffic. The second we’re out of earshot, I round on her.
“Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“Me?” she snaps, yanking her arm out of my grip. “You’re the one who left in the middle of sex because your ex called.”
I stare at her, disbelief turning quickly to disgust. “Are you actually stupid? Do you not see where we are right now? My son is in the fucking hospital. I wasn’t running off to see my ex—I was running to my son. And then you show up here lying about being his stepmom?”
“I’m your girlfriend,” she says, like the title should mean something.
The laugh that leaves me is cold. “You’re fucking delusional if you think you’re still my girlfriend after this.”
She takes a step back like I hit her. “You’re breaking up with me?”
“After all the bullshit you’ve pulled these past few weeks? Yeah. I’m breaking up with you.” I cross my arms, anchoring myself. “You’ve spent the last month trying to bulldoze every boundary I set about my son. I warned you. Over and over. And you still couldn’t respect it.”
“Simon, think this through. You’re emotional—”
“I’ve thought it through plenty,” I cut in. “I’m done. We’re done.”
She reaches for my arm, eyes softening like she can still talk her way out of this. “Simon—”
“Don’t fucking touch me.”
My voice comes out low and lethal. She freezes, hand hovering between us.
“Is there a problem here?” A security guard has appeared at the end of the hallway, watching us closely.
I take a slow breath before answering, forcing my voice to stay level so this doesn’t turn into a bigger scene.
