Page 64 of Don't Lie to Me
It was all kind of fuzzy. Like I was replaying my drunken memories through a hazy tunnel with holes.
“A little bit,” I replied and began clearing my breakfast dishes. “We should probably get going soon.”
“Daddy said I could go to a baseball game today. Can I mommy, please?”
I looked at Marcus’s sheepish grin. His eyes lit up every time Logan called him dad or daddy. Guilt smacked me through my chest again.
“That’s fine,” I smiled at Logan and grabbed my purse. “Just bring him back to my place after?”
Marcus nodded and said a quick thanks before turning to Logan and told him to go get dressed.
“So how did everything go last night, besides the nightmare?” I asked, once we were alone.
He grinned, “You have no idea how awesome it was. To be able to have my son here, watching movies with me, and teaching me how to play Sorry.”
“He suckered you into a game, huh?”
“More like five,” he said and then his face turned more serious. “You get everything worked out with Jack?”
I rolled my eyes and blinked several times to keep tears from reappearing. “He fired me,” I whispered out and hung my head.
Whatever reaction I was thinking Marcus was going to give, his complete lack of one, was completely unexpected.
All I saw was red. It started at the outside of my vision and sparkled like firecrackers until an entire firework show was going off inside my eyes. “You knew?”
He licked his lips and pressed his mouth into a tight white line. “I’m one of his lawyers.”
Lawyers? What in the hell did he need his lawyers for?
“What’s that mean?” I narrowed my eyes and could feel my nerves on fire. Except I wasn’t nervous. I was full out pissed. I threw my chair back, grabbed my purse and stalked to the door. “You’re on his acquisition team. How in the hell does that have anything to do with me?”
Marcus followed me with a hesitant look in his eyes. “I can’t say. But just know he didn’t want to. He thinks he has to.”
“What am I supposed to do with that Marcus? I just lost the man….I just lost my damn job and I have Logan to take care of!” I cringed at my shouting, and that I had almost confessed to loving Jack. It made my headache split wide open and the last thing I wanted was for Logan to hear me yelling at his dad. I took a deep breathe, exhaling loudly, and tried to calm down before I strangled someone.
He looked down at the floor with his hands in his pockets and shook his head. “I can’t tell you anymore, I’m really sorry. But just know that I’ll be here to help with Logan in any way I can.”
“Screw you, Marcus,” I spat out as I opened the door and looked back. “Besides, I still have your daddy’s blood money. Logan and I will be just fine. Just bring him to my place after the game.”
I slammed the door in his face as soon as I saw his eyes widen in surprise.
TWENTY
I missed Jack like crazy. I was upset, and hurt, and cried myself to sleep almost every night, over the course of the next week, only managing to put a brave happy face on for Logan during the day. I had to act as if nothing was wrong, for his sake, but even he noticed the lack of Jack’s presence in his little life. I hated it. Seeing him miss a man who had been there for him since he was born, was almost like feeling he had lost another dad. I hated having to snuggle him and tell him we wouldn’t be seeing Jack anymore.
I resisted the urge to call Jack and scream at him for not only screwing me over, but my son as well. All his promises he gave me had been shot down the drain. Logan missed him. I missed him like crazy and I hated that Jack invaded my nightly dreams. They weren’t the nightmares I wanted, either. They were fantasies of his large hands on every inch of my body, pulling on my nipples and turning them into tight pink buds, and images of him entering me, pleasuring me like no man before him had ever done.
I woke up several times during the night and taken matters into my own hands, furious at myself for fantasizing about the same man who had taken my heart when I was hesitant to give it away and then stomped all over it.
It shocked me when on the following Thursday, I got a text from Martin asking me to meet him at Peet’s Coffee Shop, a local and delicious coffee house in Lincoln Park. Their coffee was better than Starbuck’s and it had a great little play table in the back for kids to sit at so I could take Logan with me.
I arrived before Martin so I settled Logan at the table with a coloring book and crayons, some metal die-cast cars, and took a seat at a spot a few tables away from the kiddie area. I could keep my eye on Logan, but have privacy to talk to Martin.
He showed up a few minutes later and I drank my caramel latte while I waited for him to get his drink and join me. He gave me a sad, half-smile when we greeted each other and pulled out the chair on the other side of the table.
“Jack wanted me to meet with you.”
I figured. I took a sip of my drink and arched an eyebrow. “Why’s that?”
