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“Cut me off,” I said, sliding my hands into my pockets. “I dare you.”
Because bring it on. I was done playing nice or political. Muriel was off at her retreat or spa or whatever the hell it was she’d checked herself into, in order to cater to her mental and emotional breakdown, or pills and alcohol addiction, I’d lost track. At this point, I’d also lost the effort to care.
Muriel Standish remained in miserable marriage because she could. Maybe it was to punish Edward. Maybe it was because she refused to lose. Or maybe, just maybe, she couldn’t be bothered to separate herself from the Standish fortune. Not that she didn’t have her own money.
I no longer had it in me to give a damn.
The pair was a sperm and egg donor only. Beyond that, I needed to have nothing else to do with them.
“Hell, kick me out. That could be fun.” I half-lived at Frankie’s right now, anyway. I somehow didn’t think Jeremy would go along with his plans, regardless of the circumstances. “Oh wait, you really can’t. The house belongs to Muriel.”
His jaw tightened, and his eyes went flat. “That’s enough, Archie.”
“Oh, I’m just getting started,Eddie.” I hated that nickname and all it implied. I locked gazes with myfatherand raised my brows. “Stay away from Frankie. She doesn’t want anything to do with this farce you and your mistress are putting on, and neither do I.”
He actually took a threatening step toward me, but I didn’t flinch. Unlike Frankie’s piece of work for a mother, Edward had never raised a fist to me. He threatened. He bullied. He yanked credits cards and privileges. But a guy who was never around didn’t have a lot to work with. For the most part, he got ugly, then he left.
Like that was a burden.
If it weren’t for the way he’d looked at Frankie or that damn dress he bought her, I’d ignore him in this game. Now he’d shown up at the fucking high school to get her. I didn’t care that her mother was with him. Edward edged too close to the line, and it wasn’t ever happening.
“Don’t push me,” Edward warned. “You’re putting ideas in her head and making this far more difficult than it needs to be.”
“You know what, you’re a bitch.” Bubba’s voice cut into our conversation. “And I say that without any due respect. You can’t even be bothered tocarewhy a hospital called you here. Not to mention, you never bothered to call anyone back about why she ended up in a hospital to begin with. Frankie’s right. Leave her alone. You don’t deserve her.”
Edward jerked around at the rising accusation in Bubba’s voice. I braced to move. I’d never seen him actually start a fight, but he wasn’t going to get the chance to blindside Bubba either.
“How dare you,” Ms. Curtis said, her voice a little warbly. It bugged me that she looked like Frankie. Different eyes. Older, sure. As much as I hated to admit it, she was a good-looking woman. Frankie took after her in a lot of ways.
That made it worse, in my opinion, because the surface similarities was where it ended.
If Frankie possessed a selfish bone in her body, I’d yet to encounter it. In fact, I wish she had more.
“I dare because, unlike you, I care about her.” Bubba’s uncompromising tone had my eyebrows rising.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Right, and I’ve only known her for close to seven years. How would I know that you abandon her regularly, you can’t be bothered to show up, or that you have left her to fend for herself so often, she doesn’t even see it as unusual? I have real parents. I know what a parent issupposedto be like.”
Damn, Bubba. My admiration climbed a notch. From the corner of my eye, I caught Jake’s SUV leaving the high school lot again. Not a minute later, Coop exited driving the Lexus.
Instead of responding, Ms. Curtis stared at Bubba, her mouth agape and her face flushed red. She looked almost ill.
“Yeah, I didn’t really think you’d have anything to say. Bullies usually don’t. Frankie was right. You don’t get to just decide you want to be a parent because you’re in a mood.”
“Bubba.” Edward said his name almost distastefully. “This is really none of your business, and you should have more care in your tone for how you address my fiancée.”
I couldn’t help it, I snorted. “You’re still married, Edward. Makes it hard to have respect for what is potentially leading to an illegal relationship.”
Instead of glaring at me or even responding, Edward simply said, “Maddy, come. You tried.”
For a moment, just a split second, Ms. Curtis hesitated. If I hadn’t been watching her, I doubt I would have seen it. But her expression, far from hostile, turned worried. “I still don’t know what happened. The hospital wouldn’t release her information to me.”
Good.
Technically, the woman was still her mother. But there were laws, and the advocate had stressed that she was there for Frankie and no one else. Maybe they’d blocked it somehow? Course, I wasn’t sure how the cops hadn’t reached out to them, but then again, Frankie wasn’t the perpetrator.
“Not our problem,” I said before Bubba could respond. “C’mon, Bubba. We have things to do.”
