Page 29 of To Hate Adam Connor
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, and I watched her lips press into a straight line.
“I’m sorry for watching you, okay,” she grumbled. “It was the biggest mistake of my life. You’re not even that hot from this close. If I could take it back, trust me, I would. You are nothing like what I thought you’d be.”
“Thanks,” I drawled. “And here I was hoping you were in love with me.”
Another fake smile. “I don’t do love, and you’re not my type anyway, sorry.”
Like I’d believe that after I saw the pictures she’d taken of me half-naked. “My heart is fucking broken, sweetheart.”
“As it should be, and don’t call me sweetheart.”
I chuckled and shook my head. The nerve.
“Anyway,” she continued. “How long will you be gone?”
I ran a hand through my hair, thinking. “At least six hours.”
“And you can’t pick him up from his mother?”
“She is leaving the city tonight. We already talked; if I drop him off, she’s not gonna wait around for me to pick him up again.” And why was I so willingly giving her all this information again?
“There you go. He’ll stay here until you come back.”
My eyes found Aiden, and I caught him showing Jason his arm muscles. I smiled. I couldn’t leave him there, could I? I knew Jason from the few times we had talked, and I definitely didn’t know this mess of a woman who was standing in front of me with an impatient look. But, if I gave him back to Adeline, I wouldn’t get to see him for another whole week. I was already missing him too much, and sending him away with Adeline so he could miss school and sleep in trailers…well, it didn’t seem like the better choice at that moment.
“Aiden, come give me a hug,” I said.
His head jerked to me and his face lit up. “I get to stay?”
“You get to stay. Just this time.”
He came running. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
“I love you, buddy. Be nice, okay?”
“I love you, Daddy. You can go.”
With that he let go of me, turned his back, and grabbed Lucy’s hand, pulling her away from me.
When she looked at me over her shoulder with a smile stretching on her lips…for a moment I thought she looked beautiful.
***
When you have a kid, everything changes. Your social life, work life, even the dynamics of your family shift. There was a time where I used to go without sleep for days on end to get in the shots we needed, but lately, especially after the divorce, I had to plan everything around Aiden. Make him my priority. Be a better dad. Be fucking everywhere. Be fucking everything.
It took me seven hours to wrap everything up at the studio. Our director, Matthew, wanted me to stay for another ten hours so we could shoot some of the night scenes I had left with Jamie Wilson, but because of Aiden’s situation, I had them reschedule everything. The last thing I wanted was for him to spend the night in a strange home.
“I’m really sorry about this. I’m sure you guys had other plans today,” I said as I walked through the door and into the hallway of Jason’s home.
“It’s okay, man. Olive and I just got in a few hours ago. Your little guy was already tuckered out.”
“He fell asleep?”
“Woke up when he heard us come in—or more like when he heard Olive’s voice—but he fell asleep again a little while ago.”
We walked into the open living area and my eyes were searching for Aiden as I noticed Olive come in from the backyard. She hugged Jason’s waist as she greeted me. “Hi, Adam.”
“Hi. I hope Aiden didn’t cause too much trouble.”
