I stood there with my mouth open in shock, staring at her because she’d just argued with her dad for me, she’d just told him that she was crazy about me and was fighting my corner. Part of me wanted to point at him and shout, ‘Ha! In your face, old man!’ The other part of me wanted to grab her and hold her so tightly that she wouldn’t be able to breathe. I loved those words coming out of her mouth, because I was totally crazy about her too. A smile pulled at the corners of George’s mouth as he shrugged. “Just checking.” “Just checking what?” she huffed. He laughed. “I was just checking if you were serious about him. It appears your mom was right.” What the hell? Was he testing her? Her mouth dropped open in shock. “You mean you were just trying to get to me say all that stuff about Jace, just to see if this was serious or not? Why didn’t you just ask me if it was serious, instead of making me blurt all of that out in front of him, probably making myself look li
“And you’re sure you can’t come with me somehow?” I checked for the hundredth time. “I’ll be there in spirit,” Ashley replied, shrugging sadly. I sighed dramatically. This was all Josh again. He had failed to pick up DJ this weekend, ruining our plans to go out with friends tonight. My sister, Paige, and her best friend Coraline were in LA for the weekend, so we were supposed to meet them out for a drink. But no, Josh had to go and cancel a couple of hours ago, saying he was ‘too sick with the flu’ to come and get his son. Too sick my ass, we both knew he was lying but no one said anything about it. The great dad routine had lasted a grand total of five weeks after I gave him the money for DJ’s ticket. Exactly three weeks after Cameron’s christening, Josh ‘forgot’ to turn up when he was supposed to. He left DJ and Ashley sitting there on a Friday night, waiting for him to arrive, with not even a phone call to explain. She had called him after an hour, and it turned out
When I woke in the morning, I squeezed my eyes shut again, wanting more sleep. The trouble was, the little thing that was jumping on the foot of the bed, singing Hotdog Hotdog Hot-diggedy-dog, had no intention of letting me sleep more. I groaned a little and turned my head, looking for Jace’s handsome face. Immediately, disappointment settled in the pit of my stomach because his side of the bed was empty. I sighed when I remembered that he’d gone out with his friends and sister last night. He was working today too, so I wouldn’t even get to see him until tomorrow. I pushed myself up to sitting, smiling at DJ. “Morning, Baby,” I mumbled, yawning. I was tired because Jace had called me during the night, drunk off his face, singing down the phone that I was the best girlfriend ever, and that he couldn’t wait to see me. He’d then proceeded to list all the dirty things that he would do to my body next time he saw me, which, of course, made it hard for me to fall back to sleep b
I didn’t know how to answer that, so I said nothing, deciding to change the subject quickly. “Come on then, Baby. Let’s get to the park before it gets too busy and you can’t scoot,” I suggested, grabbing my purse and keys and opening the door to leave. That afternoon Anna came over with Cameron for a visit and girlie catch up. While we had coffee, DJ was busy sorting through his car collection, trying to find one that didn’t have any loose pieces so that Cam could play with him. I was sitting on the sofa, just fussing over the cutest little baby I had seen since DJ was born. Cameron was beautiful; his big hazel eyes just seemed to take everything in as he looked at me and smiled at the funny faces I was pulling. “So, Bryson’s still grumbling about that boys’ golf day from weeks ago,” Anna said, shaking her head, laughing. “I’ll warn you now that he’s planning a rematch in the very near future, so tell your dad and Jace to expect a call.” I laughed at that statement
This had to be a mistake. Jace wouldn’t do that to me. All the times that I’d thought about us breaking up, it was never because he’d cheated; it was always because he just had enough of me and wanted someone better. I always thought he would have the decency to break it off with me first. Josh was lying, trying to split us up. He’d never liked Jace, that much was obvious from his attitude towards him, so maybe he was just trying to make me doubt my boyfriend. But if he was lying, then why was he still holding out his phone to me with a smug smile? “I don’t need to look at whatever you have on there. Jace wouldn’t cheat on me. He’s nothing like you,” I rebutted, shaking my head, praying that my words were right. I didn’t want to doubt Jace, but there was always that memory of Josh in the back of my mind, forcing that little bit of doubt there even though I was trying to be confident. “Bunny, I saw it! He was all over this girl, then he took another to the bathroom. The
“I work!” he shouted, slamming his hand down on the side table, making aloud bang. I laughed bitterly because he always blamed work. “Why didn’t you come and pick up DJ last night?” I asked, raising one eyebrow at him, letting him know that he’d been caught out. He swallowed. “I was sick.” I pointed to his phone in his hand. “Those photos took themselves then, huh? Or did you just feel like going out instead of being home with your son for the weekend? Boys night again was it?” I smirked at him as his jaw tightened, I could see him desperately scrambling to come up with some excuse as to why he was at the same bar as Jace last night when he told me he was sick with the flu. “Don’t be such a bitch.” I smiled at that. He was just going to change the subject so we’d argue about something else. That always used to be his tactic – diversion. “You have no money so you can’t pay my child support, yet you can afford to go out drinking with friends when you’re suppo
The following Monday I asked at the school for a cleaning job, but the Principal was a little reluctant to let me clean because apparently it ‘wasn’t a teacher’s place to be seen doing that’. However, he did offer to give me an extra hour and a half work each day. Instead of cleaning, I was helping in one of the after school clubs. It worked out perfectly because I was allowed to have DJ there for free, so I didn’t need to arrange additional childcare. Everything was great again. Josh hadn’t called me for the last two weeks, so I was a little unsure where we stood but, from what he’d said, he still wanted to see DJ. Today was Friday, and this was his custody weekend, so I’d just have to wait and see if he turned up to collect his son or not. Jace was less than happy with him; well, ‘less than happy’ seemed to the understatement of the century. He’d insisted on being there tonight in case Josh came. I had visions of their being a stand-off and threats of decapitation if Jos
Jace’s hand trailed under my shirt, caressing my stomach as he pressed his chest against my back, trapping me against the counter. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the attention and the feel of his body pressed against mine. I was seriously going to miss him in the bed tonight. When Jace wrapped his body around mine, I slept like a baby every time. We watched TV for a little while, flicking through channels, not really settling on anything. I didn’t care what we did, to be honest, I was just happy to sit on the sofa in silence and hold his hand. At nine o’clock, he sighed dramatically. “I’d better go,” he grumbled. One of his hands moved to cup my face, guiding my mouth to his gently. He kissed me softly then groaned as he pulled away. “I hate the night shift.” Me too. “I’ll tell you what, tomorrow night I’ll make up for two nights in one,” I promised, looking at him suggestively as I licked my lips slowly. His body stiffened as he sucked in a breath through his t