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“For the last time, Keith, do not call me Hardy. I couldn’t stand the nickname back when I actually liked you, and I like it even less now.”
“All I’m sayin’ is Hazel could have been seriously hurt.”
I stabbed my finger in his face. “No.Youaren’t saying anything. For some reason, you’re letting Hayley control the narrative. And I don’t know what her obsession is with my daughter, but I’m not okay with it.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he attempted to defend, but I wasn’t having it.
“Do you know what Hazel asked me the day Hayley showed up as a PTA volunteer at her school?”
His eyes went wide. “I—I didn’t know she did that.”
“Yeah,” I clipped. “She did, and it wigged Hazel out. She asked me if I could please tell you that she doesn’t ever want to go shopping alone, just her and Hayley.” His mouth fell open in surprise, but I wasn’t nearly done yet. “Your own daughter doesn’t want to be alone with her because it seems weird how hard Hayley’s trying to be her best friend. Hazel’sseven,Keith! Things like that shouldn’t factor in her mind yet.”
He clamped his mouth shut, and I could see him struggling to regain his composure before my very eyes. “Yeah, Hardin. Like you said, she’sseven, and kids that age are prone to dramatics. Hayley hasn’t done anything inappropriate. She wants us to be a family. And given the danger Hazel was in, if you won’t consider sitting down to talk about a fifty-fifty split custody, I don’t see any of other choice but to contact a lawyer.”
He couldn’t have sounded more pathetic if he’d tried, his threat coming out downright timid, like he was scared to actually say the words. But the damage they’d caused was done, even if he acted like a chickenshit while bringing down his proverbial hammer.
“You know what, Keith? I think that’s a fantastic idea. Get a lawyer. You’re going to need one. Because my kindness and charitable spirit when it came to you being a waste of space as a father is over.”
“Hardin—”
“I’m not an idiot, Keith. I know every word that came out of your mouth just now might have been spoken by you, but seeing as your girlfriend’s got your balls in a jar on her bedside table, she’d the one pulling your strings. Unfortunately,you’rethe one who’s going to pay for her empty threats. Because I’m coming for you.”
I leaned over, bracing my palms on the table and pressing by fingertips against the wood so hard my knuckles turned as white as Keith’s face looked. “And I’m going to takeeverything. This is what you get for thinking with your dick, you stupid son of a bitch, and I’m going to have so much fun watching your ass get dragged over the coals for it. Now you go back to the hole you crawled out of and tell that venomous bitch that the game is on. And I hope she comes from money, because I have a fucking shark on retainer.”
Keith stood from his chair, his hands shaking slightly as he held them out in front of himself. “Now, hold on a minute. I don’t see why we can’t come to a more reasonable understanding.”
“Because you threw the first punch. It’s unlucky for you that you missed. Because I won’t. Now, I’ve told you once already to get the hell out of my house, and I won’t say it again. Next time, it’ll be the police doing it.”
That threat was enough to get him moving.
The door shut behind him with a resounding thud, and it took everything I had not to launch my coffee mug across the room and into the wall.
I was still fighting to find my calm when the front door opened again and Asher called out, “All right, I’m here, and I have donuts, coffee and all the stuff we need for mimosas. What do you want to start with—uh, what’s going on?” She drew to a sudden stop just inside the kitchen. “Your face is saying you want to murder someone, but only after you torture them for a very long period of time.”
“I just had a visit from Keith,” I hissed.
Asher bugged her eyes out. “Uh-oh. That can’t be good.”
“It wasn’t. He came to inform me that due to my irresponsibility that resulted in the fire last night, he’s getting a lawyer to fight for custody of Hazel.”
Her mouth dropped open so fast it was a wonder it didn’t crack against the tiled floor. “We’re definitely going to need something stronger than champagne.”
24
HARDIN
By the time I finished relaying my early morning conversation with Keith, all the champagne and orange juice was gone, and all that was left in the donut box were a few spare crumbs and a glazed cake donut that neither of us had room for.
It had helped to talk it out, especially with Asher, but I was still pissed.
“Who the hell is this woman?” Asher asked with consternation.
“I went to high school with her,” I explained, lifting my coffee cup, having switched over when the mimosas ran dry. “Back then she went by Rebecca and was this shy, quiet blonde. I don’t know where to start with this new version of her.”
“I know I don’t know her, but I kind of want to track her down and punch her in the throat.”
I snorted, nearly spewing the sip of coffee I’d just taken everywhere. “Save that pent-up rage for Keith. I mean, sure, this woman is all kinds of weird, and I can say with certainty I don’t like her, but Hazel is his daughter. At the end of the day, he’s the one screwing up by letting her lead him around by his dick.”
