Page 119 of Beating Heart
I’ll happily hide the body.
Easton
Let’s not put that incriminating evidence in a group chat. Save it for Sunday dinner.
I rolled my eyes and laughed because they’d always been this way.
I grabbed my weekender bag and packed up Winnie’s food and treats, and we were in the car, heading to the hangar.
Going home usually comforted me.
But for whatever reason, it didn’t feel like I was going home.
It felt like I was leaving home.
thirty-one
. . .
Nash
You never wanted a paternity test after I gave birth.
Those ten words had literally flipped my life on its ass. I hadn’t slept at all, and I was reeling.
This kid was my world.
Well, he and Emerson.
I couldn’t stand the thought of losing either of them. No fucking way. And right now, I needed to fight like hell and make sure there was nothing Tara could do to take him away from me.
She’d woken up and tried to act like she hadn’t dropped a bomb on me. Offering to push Cutler out on the swings, like she had a clue how to be a mother at this point. She was here because she and her boyfriend were going through something. She wanted to play house, and I was done with her games.
She’d come back inside, acting like we were one big happy family. We weren’t. Not even fucking close.
I’d told her to get in her car and go grab her own breakfast. That hadn’t gone over well, and I didn’t give a shit. I had River meeting me at his office, and I’d dropped Cutler at my dad’s house.
This had been my wake-up call.
She’d showed me her cards. She was going to hang this over my head to get her way, and I needed to establish boundaries with this woman. She couldn’t stroll in and out of my son’s life whenever her life fell apart.
River was right. We should have done this a long time ago.
I walked inside his office, and he was already behind his desk. Cassie, his receptionist, was off today because it was the weekend.
I dropped into the chair across from him, just as a loud ruckus had us turning, and Kingston, Romeo, and Hayes came strolling through the door. They were holding coffees and bagels.
“You didn’t all need to come,” I said.
“Ride or die, motherfucker. We always come,” Hayes grumped.
Kingston and Romeo passed out the drinks, and Hayes gave us each an individual bag with a bagel.
“Thank you, guys. I’m losing my fucking mind.”
“Okay, I’ve been looking at our options,” River said, taking a sip from his coffee before setting the cup back down. “She hasn’t paid one dime of child support, nor been involved in his life whatsoever.”
“Correct.” I let out a long breath.
