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“How long have you been doing this?” Law pushed.
“It started about nine months ago. At first, he didn’t give me as much money as he was supposed to. He had excuses. Then he stopped paying me at all and informed me the kids were no longer on his policy, that I’d have to find a way to cover them. I know he’s only doing it to force me to take him back, but I won’t. I don’t care how many jobs I have to take on or if I only sleep an hour a night. He’s not getting back in our lives that way.”
Swearing bursts out of all of them. Law seemed to be the loudest. His fists were clenched like he wanted to pound on something, or maybe someone. A thrill went through me at the image of Dan being the one on the receiving end of those fists, which was stupid. Law was a cop. He wouldn’t do that.
“Get her a piece of paper. Write down his information. As soon as you’re done, let’s get you to the guesthouse. Terror, is it alright if I get started on this now?” Law asked his president.
“Sure, go for it. I don’t think you’d listen even if I did say no,” Terror said with a smirk on his face.
I didn’t know why he was looking like that, like he knew something Law didn’t. The next couple of minutes were a whirl as I jotted down Dan’s information and gave it to Law, then let Terror escort me to his house to get my kids. Tonight wasn’t turning out like I imagined, but I wasn’t complaining. Hopefully, by telling the Warriors and Law about Dan, I hadn’t brought more problems to my doorstep than I already had. I didn’t think I could handle much more.
It was after ten-thirty by the time we’d been taken to the guesthouse and shown around. The kids were drooping with fatigue and so was I. Although, I knew that I wouldn’t be going to sleep yet. I had work to do. Once Harlow and Terror left, I got the kids bathed and put them in bed. They went out like lights. I sat my laptop up on the small kitchen table and got down to work. I had accounts that clients were expecting me to have done by morning.
By the time I was done, it was three in the morning. I stumbled blindly to bed and barely had enough energy to change into my pajamas before closing my eyes. A shower would have to wait until I got up or maybe until tonight.
??????
The kids must have been exhausted. They didn’t wake up until almost eight o’clock, which was unheard of for them. I wasn’t complaining. Those two extra hours had felt amazing, although they put me two hours behind on a new day’s worth of work.
I hurried to fix them some breakfast. The house didn’t have much in the way of quick and convenient items to cook in the fridge or freezer. Mostly it was things that would keep in the pantry. Harlow had promised we’d fill the fridge and freezer today. I told her not to bother, that they didn’t need to go to that much trouble. I didn’t want them spending unnecessary money on us. She’d rolled her eyes and told me it wasn’t going to be a problem, whatever that meant.
While the kids played after breakfast, I took a quick shower and got dressed for the day. I threw my wet hair up in a ponytail. Since it was still cool, I put on jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. Besides, I didn’t want the kids to see my bruises. I was going through my head, trying to think of what I had at our apartment that I could bring over to eat, so it wouldn’t go to waste, when there was a knock at the door. I hurried to see who it was.
I was taken aback to find Law on the doorstep. He was in regular clothes, wearing the prospect cut he had on last night. I guess he wasn’t working at the station today, or at least not this morning. I gave him a tentative smile.
“Morning, Law. Come in. How’re you this morning? Can I get you a cup of coffee?” I swept my hand to the side as I moved out of his way. Seeing him was having a weird effect on my body again. I felt all jittery inside. Without thought, my hand went to my messy ponytail. It wasn’t until I tried to smooth it, that I realized what I was doing. I jerked my hand down. What in the world? Why would I care if he thought I was a hot mess or not?
“Mornin’, Tonya. Thank you, I would love a cup of coffee. Black is fine. How did you and the kids get along last night?”
We wandered into the kitchen. I got busy preparing his coffee as he took a seat at the table. The kids were in the living room watching a cartoon, or I should say the twins were. Dylan had fallen back to sleep after eating breakfast. He was in the playpen in one of the bedrooms.
“They slept well. In fact, they slept late for once. Did Terror ask you to come check on us?”
I sat his coffee in front of him. As he went to pick it up, our hands grazed each other. A sizzle of something tingled up my fingers. I jerked them away hoping he hadn’t felt that. I sat down with my coffee.
“No, he didn’t. I came on my own. I wanted to let you know that I took the information you gave us last night and wrote up a complaint against Dan. You’ll have to sign it for it to be official, but it’s ready. Also, we’ve sent cops to pick him up, however, we haven’t found him yet. It appears the address you had isn’t where he lives anymore.”
“Really? Hmm, I wonder when he moved. That’s where he went not long after the divorce was final. He took half of our furnishings and was gone.”
“So the judge awarded him half even though you were going to be the one caring for the kids?” He sounded upset at that idea.
“He did. I didn’t care, as long as I got the divorce. If I had my way, he wouldn’t have been allowed to see the kids. I didn’t want them around his dishonorable behavior, especially Daniel and later Dylan, as they got older. How their dad acted with me isn’t how I want my sons to treat women.”
“How he treated you was despicable. He’s not a real man. Hopefully, you don’t think all men are like him?” He watched me intently when he asked that. I shrugged and stared down at my hands.
“Tonya, look at me,” he commanded. He didn’t raise his voice, but the order was there. I reluctantly raised my head. His mouth was tight with displeasure. There was something in his eyes I couldn’t explain. I reluctantly shared my thoughts with him. I wasn’t sure why. I might tell Soleil them but not anyone else. She tried to tell me I was wrong.
“I think there are more men like Dan than there aren’t. I was a fool when I married him, thinking he was honorable. I saw how women threw themselves at him at those races. He always waved off my dislike of it and said he had to have fans. He assured me over and over they didn’t attract him at all. I found out that the woman he was having an affair with had met him at a race. One of the ones away from home that I couldn’t go to because of the kids.”
I didn’t know why I was giving away more of my humiliating secrets. The only ones who knew all the details were Soleil and Falcon. Falcon had been so pissed off at Dan, he’d offered to hunt him down and beat the hell out of him. It had been tempting, but I told him not to. Some days, I wish I hadn’t. A tiny smile creased my face thinking of it.
“What’s that smile for?”
“Oh, it’s silly, really. I was remembering Falcon offering to beat the hell out of Dan after he found out about the affair. I told him no, but I was thinking what if I hadn’t?”
He threw back his head and laughed before he said, “Darlin’, if you want his ass beat, just say the word and it’s done. Hell, I don’t see any way he’s going to come out of this without getting his ass whipped.”
“Law, you can’t touch him. You’re a cop. You’ll get in trouble for doing that!”
