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Implyinganyof Nicole’s talents are compliments of him is as disrespectful as it gets. His…jizzdidn’t give her the voice that stops you in your tracks and makes your hairs stand on end.
It didn’t make her vocal range unreachable for even the greats in the industry.
If anything, he’ll fuck it up with stupid choreography and compositions that should have been left in the eighties.
“A throat spasm will be the least of your worries if you let the public get hold of a single snippet of footage from her performance tonight. That shit was bad.Beyondbad. It looks like it came straight out of an eighties aerobic instruction video.”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
Knox grins like I’m playing when I warn, “Don’t make me dig through your old pornos to make a liar out of you. You masturbated to Susan Powter’s fitness video more than any other DVD in your stash.” I point to the door Nicole walked through only minutes ago. “She was wearing the same fucking outfit.”
“For a reason,” he says with a laugh, unable to deny my claim but for some stupid reason finding it humorous. “The eighties are making a comeback.”
“Since when?”
“I don’t know!” He throws his hands in the air, suddenly over our conversation. “Probably sometime between you bouncing on your obligations and waltzing back in like nothing’s changed.”
That’s a below-the-belt hit, and I refuse to let it slide.
Fuck him and his belief I owe him something.
It is the opposite. He owes me years—ten long fucking years—so he doesn’t get to speak to me like I’m a piece of shit his boot picked up while strolling through a dog park.
“You’ve always been a prick when things don’t go your way. Glad to see some things haven’t changed.” His expression alters when I say, “You can shove your job where the sun doesn’t shine. I’m out.”
He follows me in the direction of what I assume are the rooms since Nicole went that way. “Laken, man, I’m sorry.” He stops me from leaving by placing himself in front of me. I could push him out of the way, but his following words leave room for nothing but breathing. “She might be fucking pregnant, and I’m not handling it right, so I’m taking my shit out on the wrong person.”
“Nicole’s pregnant?”
“What?” His shock lasts for barely a second. “No.” His confession doesn’t let Nicole off the hook for straying while in a relationship, but it gives understanding as to why she did it. “It was someone I was fooling around with when we met.” He scrubs a hand down his tired face. “It was nothing serious, but it continued a couple of months into… you know…” He makes a rude gesture with his hand. “I can’t tell Nicole that, though. She’ll leave me.” For the first time tonight, the fret on his face is genuine. “I can’t live without her, Laken. She isitfor me.” He locks his eyes with mine. They’re wet with moisture. “I bought a ring. I just can’t give it to her until I clear this matter up first.” He sneers “matter” like he’s talking about a business proposal and not a child. “What do you think?”
The diamond ring he shows me is enormous, over the top, and gives off an aura of wealth, but I hate it on sight.
Even more so when Knox announces, “Your mom helped me pick it.”
“My mom?” I ask, shocked I can speak through the fury burning my throat.
First, he made me jealous. Then he brought my mother into our conversation like she spent our childhood baking us cookies and going to boy scout meetings.
This conversation couldn’t get worse.
Knox grimaces before he nods. “She’s been spending some time with River over the past six weeks.” Before I can warn him about his stupidity, he adds, “Not alone. I’m not that stupid.” He laughs at himself. “Says the guy panicked he got a hooker pregnant.” He stores away the hideous ring, places his hand on my shoulder, then squeezes it. “That’s why I need you here, watching my girl when I can’t. It is the only way I can ensure your mother doesn’t get her hooks into River again. If she goes for custody, and the judge is forced to pick between us, I’m reasonably sure he’ll go for the guardian with no criminal convictions.”
“She served time for driving under the influence.” I can’t believe I’m defending my mother. I just loathe that he’s making out her charges were as immoral as mine, so I spoke before thinking. “And what do you mean ‘us’? You said your father would sign over guardianship the instant I was paroled.”
“That was the—”
A singsong voice interrupts us. “Knox…”
It’s Nicole, and although she sounds as ball-breaking now as she did in the jet when she ripped him a new asshole, Knox acts oblivious. “I’ll be right with you, baby cakes.” He shifts his eyes back to me, waggles his brows like our conversation is nowhere near as serious as it is, and then asks, “We good?”
“I—”
“Are you really asking me to keepherwaiting?” When he nudges his head to Nicole, who is leaning against the doorjamb of her room, wearing a nightie identical to the one she wore last night, my jaw tightens. “You’d never be so cruel.”
I get cut off again. “Knox.”
“She’s impatient.” While raking his teeth over his lower lip, he waggles his brows again. “Can you blame her?” He drags his hand down his body, his smile picking up. “I’m like a fine wine. Only getting—”
