My eyes kept darting for the clock on the dash as I sped through town. I beat a path in the direction of the small private school that sat smack dab in the middle of it, really fucking late and still not a word from Eden.
My hands curled tight around the steering wheel. I was doing my best to get the bitterness under control, the regret and the shame, before I got to my kid. Last thing he needed was to see me like this.
The ghosts writhing beneath my skin.
Teeth gritting around the bullshit that bitch always tried to cram down my throat.
No question in my mind that Juna Lamb’s favorite game was manipulating me. Hell, I bet she got off on it. Knowing she had me by the balls and all she had to do was squeeze. One year she’d show up making demands, threatening, next sweet as pie and full of feigned regret.
But Gage was worth it.
One love.
One loyalty.
One reason.
All I had to do was keep throwing cash at that bloodsucker to keep her out of our lives and pray to God she didn’t bleed me dry.
That I could believe her now after she’d committed the ultimate disloyalty.
Tires squealed as I took a right onto Oak View. Gunning it, I came up fast on the entrance to the school. I downshifted, barely slowing as I skidded into the student pick-up circle.
Circle that was completely empty considering how late I was.
School had been over for almost an hour.
Fuck.
My guts clenched when Eden jerked her attention from where she was out on the playground by the slide, she and Gage its lone occupants. Rest of the children were long gone.
Hell, half the staff parking lot was vacant, too.
Even from the confines of my car, I could feel it.
The crash of energy.
Confusion and need.
But it was different this afternoon. The air was hot with anger.
She and I had been tiptoeing since the night I’d followed her home. Skirting each other, our interactions nothing but restraint and civility after our boundaries had been set in stone.
I was her boss at the bar, and she was my son’s teacher here at the school, and it ended at that.
Except that was a farse, wasn’t it? With the way those autumn eyes flared and flashed. Way that golden color sparked beneath the glittering rays of sunlight that burned through the sky, lighting her up in a fiery show of disappointment.
Protectiveness bled out as she straightened herself in front of my son.
Yeah, I was a twisted fuck because my dick went hard at the sight.
Thirsting for something sweet.
For something innocent.
Something far too good.
The monster who wanted to dirty it. Dirty her. Delve into the sanctuary of who she was.
Get a taste of the light when my entire life had been lived in the shadows.
Her jaw was clenched.
Her demeanor stone.
The tires squealed to a stop, and I jerked the car into neutral and jammed at the button for the brake. I was out in a second flat, doing my best to quiet the disturbance rattling my ribs.
The way I was struck with two different emotions at once.
Disenchantment and a straight up thrill.
Gage whirled around at the sound of my approach, that golden hair bouncing around his cherub face, kid the perfect mix of Juna and me.
Only good thing either of us had ever created.
He looked at me with this huge-ass smile on his face that cut right through the middle of my spirit.
One reason.
One reason.
He pointed my way. “See, there he is. Told you, Miss Murphy, told you he was gonna come and we didn’t have nothin’ to worry about. My dad is the best.” He started jumping, waving his hand in the air like I didn’t notice him standing there. “Hey, Dad! Over here, Dad. Where ya been? Miss Murphy thought you mighta forgot me, but I told her never, no way. Not my dad. Right, Dad, right?”
He grabbed her hand and started to haul her my direction as my boots ate up the ground in a desperate bid to make it to the gate as fast as I could.
Fuck the signs posted every two feet.
Wasn’t anyone around, anyway.
Eden glowered at me. Fucking gorgeous, sweet Eden who was watching me like I was the devil.
She wouldn’t be wrong.
Fire and disgust flooded from her spirit.
Made me a damned fool that in spite of it, I couldn’t help but drink her in. Her body and that face and those eyes. I’d gladly drown in her wrath if it meant getting washed in who she was.
One time.
One time, I wanted to make her mine.
Take what couldn’t be.
She wore a modest sundress, this creamy soft thing with a touch of lace at the neckline, fabric swishing just below the knees. Still did crazy-ass things to me.
Eden tightened her hold on Gage’s hand and lifted that chin in a clear warning.