"Fuck off out of here," Bryce grunts, scrunching his face as though the very sight of me repulses him. Though, it clearly mustn't repulse him too much as he was willing to climb in between the sheets with me on more than a few occasions.
I scoff at his bad attitude and turn back to my babies. I drop down in front of Ryan and push that beautiful blonde hair back behind her ear. "Be a good girl for Daddy, okay? And watch your sister so that she doesn’t get up to any mischief."
"Okay, Mommy," she grumbles, pouting out her bottom lip and letting it wobble just enough to break my heart.
"Love you, Hurricane." I straighten myself up, finding my little Coby, and giving her a bright beaming smile that I'm definitely not feeling on the inside. "And I love you, too," I tell her, leaning in and pressing a kiss to her temple. "You be a good girl too."
With that, I start backing away, hoping to watch them as long as I can, but the dead-beat steps inside before I've even walked off the porch. He slams the door as though he doesn’t hold my whole world in his hands right now, and the second I hear my girls’ cries, my whole heart shatters.
Fucking prick. I hate him so much.
One day my babies will be old enough to tell me they don't want him in their lives, but until then, I won't be the asshole denying them a chance to get to know their daddy. No matter how badly it sucks. I’m pretty sure he only takes them to spite me. He's never been interested in forming a relationship with our girls. He more than proved that the day he left.
Feeling the sting in my eyes, I hurry to my car and drop down in the seat. I will not allow him to see me as weak. I jam the key in the ignition and back out of there like my ass is on fire.
I get halfway down the road before the floodgates open, and I pull over to the side to allow the tears to flow. Like I said, I hate every second Saturday.
Sitting in the car like this makes me feel nothing short of pathetic, and that's not me. I'm strong. I'm raising two beautiful babies on my own despite all the shit the world has thrown at me. I won’t let something like this break me.
I pull myself together and decide that while I have a day to myself, I might as well make it count. But where do I start?
Hmm … I’ve always wanted to paint the girls’ bedrooms. What better time than now? Hell, maybe I’ll grab a few bottles of wine while I’m at it. I’m sure I couldn’t possibly screw it up that much.
Paint and wine? I can’t remember a single time ever hearing someone say that they don’t mix.
Done. I pull back out into the traffic and get my ass to the hardware store.
This will be a piece of cake.CHAPTER 2BULLI pull up at Avalon Lake Hardware store and gawk at the fucking angel walking through the door. The sun streams through the window, lighting up her hair like a fucking halo, and my heart races. Who the fuck is this? I’ve never seen this chick around here before, but one thing is for sure; I won’t be leaving here today without her number stored safely in my phone and a date for tonight.
She’s fucking radiant. Simply stunning and beautiful. I’ve never seen a woman like her. She walks with a broken confidence that somehow holds my attention like never before.
Those ripped jeans sit perfectly around her fine ass, her messy blonde hair, looking like she doesn’t have a single fuck to give, and add that to the face that looks like every man’s wet dream, and my world comes to a standstill.
She’s a fucking angel.
I scramble out of the truck before she can get too far, but when a car comes screeching through the lot, I have no choice but to stop to avoid becoming roadkill.
I groan, watching as the girl disappears inside the store, knowing it’s only going to make it that much harder trying to catch up to her, but I have the stamina, I could chase a girl like that all fucking day and never get tired.
I’ve never met her before, but damn I want to. I’m almost certain I’ve never seen her around either, as there’s no way in hell I’d forget a face like that. Call me a cocky bastard, but she’s a fucking game changer.
Once the car is out of my way, I jog across the lot, trying to remember why the fuck I came here in the first place. Right, I needed rope after the boys’ stupid prank yesterday ended up with mine burned to a crisp. It’s a good thing we’re all firefighters, but fuck, you’d think after the shit they’ve seen, playing with fire wouldn’t exactly be a game they’d like to dabble in.