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“What are you doing? I was about to come!” Sawyer shouts at my back.
“Yeah, Lector, so was I until your fuckin’ disgusting dog decided to lick my ass and balls!” I turn down the hallway and head toward the front door, actually seeing her apartment with fresh eyes. The place is an absolute pigsty with trash littering every piece of furniture and surface in sight. I shudder in disgust as I open the door and step out into the hallway, narrowly missing the dog bone that Sawyer chucks at my head in her fit of rage.
I make it to my truck and bend at the waist, retching the contents of my stomach all over the gravel.
I climb into the cab and punch the steering wheel five or six times before I start the ignition and burn rubber against the pavement as I haul ass onto the highway.
With every passing mile marker, my anger brews to a boiling point. I’m tired, drunk, nauseous and pissed. And drowning my sorrows only made things worse. My emotions are rampant, thoughts all over the fuckin’ place, and I drive until I slam the gearshift in park. I unfold myself from the truck and make my way up the cobblestone path, my fist rattling the front door off the hinges. I don’t even know what time it is, but it’s time I get this shit off my chest and lay it at the feet where it belongs.
Carter opens the front door and looks at me in confusion. “Damn, brother. Are you shitfaced?”
I push past him and into the house. “Where the hell is Laney?”
“Right here.” I hear her before I see her, and I turn around so quickly I stagger. “Help him, Carter, before he hurts himself.”
Carter steadies me on my feet. “Come on, big man. Let’s get you some coffee. Sober you right up.” I don’t argue. I don’t think I’m really all that drunk. Just tipsy, maybe. But I’m pissed, so talking with friends over coffee ain’t gonna be so damn pleasant.
Carter plants my ass on a barstool while Laney makes quick work of brewing coffee.
“I’ll give you two some time to talk,” Carter says.
“Nah, pull up a seat. Witness me handin’ your wife’s ass to her.”
Laney laughs as she places a piping hot cup of coffee in front of me. “You pack a lunch, big boy?”
“You know how many hours of sleep I’ve had these last two weeks, Lan?”
Carter leans against the counter, cautiously watching.
Laney shrugs. “No idea, but I’m sure you’re gonna enlighten me, right?”
“About three hours a night. Why? Because Belle’s havin’ night terrors again. Every. Damn. Night. Screaming and thrashing in her sleep. No matter what I do to soothe her, the crying is relentless.”
“Why didn’t you tell me, Mad? Do you know what’s causing her to be so restless?” There’s concern in Laney’s voice, softness in her eyes, and damn it, I know she loves my kid, but this is all her fuckin’ fault.
“For two fuckin’ weeks, Lan.”
“Do you know what’s causing it?” Carter asks, concern written all over his face.
“Laney and her fuckin’ tea party.”
“You pissed you didn’t get an invite or some shit?” Carter chuckles, trying to lighten the mood. “Because you know it’s—”
“Mother and fuckin’ daughter, Carter,” I finish as realization dawns on him. He looks from me to Laney, whose face is stark white, her eyes wide in disbelief. She glares at me with a pitiful look of disdain as she searches for words that will fall on deaf ears.
“Mad, I…” Her chest rises and falls as she fights back the tears. “I didn’t consider the situation. I should have, but I…”
I shrug, uncaring that my words inflict pain or heartache. Why the hell should I? I’m the only advocate my daughter has. I’m her voice.
“You couldn’t bring that shit directly to me? I see you every day, Lan. You couldn’t skip her backpack when you handed out flyers? Pull her from class when you made the announcement to the other little girls? Do you not understand the damage you’ve done?”
Laney chokes back a sob as tears streak down her face. Carter, ever the peacemaker, steps in to appease the situation. “I’m sorry, Mad. You know Laney wouldn’t hurt Belle intentionally. Hell, she considers the kid her own.”
“But she’s not, is she, Carter? Belle’s my daughter.”
“Fuck, really? You think you’re the only one who’s raised that kid? You’re out of your damn mind if you believe that shit,” Carter spews.
Carter loves Belle as if she’s his own—their bond unbreakable. He was there when she was born. There when she took her first steps. There when I carried her out of…
