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Snacks littered the coffee table. Popcorn decorated the carpet on one side with cups of juice lined on the other. There were a bunch of cards that had fallen from their tower and plenty of movies stacked next to that. Dishes were piled in the sink in the kitchen. Though she couldn’t see that, I knew she could feel it. Those were just the vibes she gave me.
She should have been mad. And maybe she was mad for a second. But the gentle gaze she gave me after she spotted her kids sleeping soundly was something that just enhanced those weirdsomethingsfrom earlier.
I shut the door and bolted it. “You alright, Ginny darling?”
“Tired.”
“That means you’re thinking up a storm.”
She glared at me. “It means I’m tired, Slater.”
“From all that thinking.”
“We’re not dating,” she said through gritted teeth. “We’re not involved other than what we do in the dark while no one is around.” She marched quietly around the couch and scooped Adhara up. “You’re done for the night, Slater. Thanks. Now get out.”
I didn’t like how she passed me off. I didn’t appreciate how she snapped at me, or how she was keeping her thoughts from me. Lying wasn’t in her nature. Neither was that attitude. Though brattiness had always been her thing, this was beyond brattiness. This was getting into territorial territory—about her time, about her kids, abouther.
Something about that just made me plain mad.
Chapter 10 - Virginia
That man was insufferable. After that little debacle on Friday night when he had watched the twins, he’d come back every night since then, planted his ass on the porch, and watched the streets until dawn. Each minute I spent awake, I spied on him. I watched from the window. I checked the peephole. Sometimes he sat out front, but most times he sat in the back, checking his phone every so often, the screen lighting up his dumb face.
I tried to shake him off. Every time I went on thinking about something else, I went right back to thinking about him and everything we’d done since he’d exploded back into my life. Memories came and went—much like Slater in the evenings.
But tonight, it was different. Tonight was worse than insufferable—it was simply unbearable. He was sitting out on the back porch. And I knew because I could smell his scent wafting through the door, I could hear the creak of the hammock, and I could sense his growing agitation at the fact that I hadn’t gone outside to check on him.
All weekend had been like this. Yet all weekend had been irresistibly comforting. The fact that he was taking the time to stake out the yard was a thankless job, something he did of his own volition. I didn’t know why. I couldn’t even imagine why. Our families hated each other, and a lifelong resentment remained from something that had happened two generations removed.
My gods, what were we supposed to do about that now? It wasn’t like either of us had control over the situation. We had been pretty young adults then, and we were still technically young, but time seemed to have aged us both in irreparable ways. If that was the case and we shared that pain, then why did it matter if we were seeing each other?
Because he doesn’t know he’s a father, I reminded myself.Because seeing him with our kids made my heart ache in so many ways.
I went to the door. I swung it open. I stomped outside. “Listen—”
He caught my shoulders and yanked me into his arms, smashing me to his chest just like he always did when he hadn’t seen me in forever. And forever usually meant a few days, maybe even a few hours if he was really feeling romantic.
To feel such affection blasted the anger right out of me.
I hugged him back.
“I’m sorry, Ginny darling,” he whispered. “I know I did something stupid the other night. You were clear that you didn’t want the twins staying up, and I let them stay up. I’m sorry about that.”
I squeezed him hard once. “No, shut up. Don’t be sorry. It’s just—”
Nope, this wasn’t the right time. I couldn’t break the news to him now. Sheesh, it had been a week or so since we’d started sleeping together again. Time was just going to make it worse. Ihadto tell him now. I needed to—
He held me at arm’s length and bent to level his gaze with mine. “I know when you’re tired, and I know when you’re tired from thinking. That’s something I won’t apologize for. Do you understand, missy?”
I gulped and nodded.
Domination wavered from his countenance, a seriousness slithering along his fingers that transferred to me and commanded me to stay still. After all these years, he could still do that. How?
“Now, I have something for the kids,” he continued in a gravelly voice, “but you got to promise not to flip your shit or to get mad at them. Got it?”
Nodding was all I could do at this point.
And then he released my shoulders, taking with him that hot energy I wanted to claw right back into my arms. Desperation didn’t look good on a single mother. I had to reel it in before I lost myself all over again.
