Dade straightened from his chair. “Lucas, I was under the false impression –”

“That I was fucking your wife,” Brock finished for him. “Yeah, Dade, I know. Your PI sucks. I clocked him five minutes into my first nightmare meal with Olivia so I obviously clocked him five seconds into my second one. What you obviously don’t get is that in a healthy relationship, a man doesn’t keep shit from his woman or vice versa.”

Ouch!

“Lucas, I –” Dade started but Brock cut him off again.

“If you got something to say, say it to me. Do not land your shit on Tess’s door.”

“He’s a little protective,” I defended Brock to Dade then I turned back to Brock. “Honey, I think you might want to get over being pissed and sit down and talk with Dade.”

Brock’s eyes narrowed on his ex-wife’s husband.

Then he asked, “You gonna tell me why my boys are jumpy as shit?”

“Yes,” Dade answered but said no more or at least he didn’t speak fast enough.

“So…” Brock started, “spit it out.”

“She’s fragile,” Dade stated.

Brock let out an entirely unamused, short bark of laughter before he declared, “Man, Olivia’s made of stone, figuratively and I assume you’ve fucked her so you know also literally.”

Ouch again!

“Brock, honey,” I whispered as Dade’s mouth got tight again.

“No, Lucas,” he bit out, “what I mean is, this is what she communicates to the boys.”

Brock’s entire body went still.

Then he asked softly, “She’s playin’ my boys? ”

“With every breath she takes,” Dade answered.

I froze and stared at Dade.

Oh my God.

“Why the fuck would she do that?” Brock asked what I thought was a very good question.

“I would assume, since you’ve known her longer than I, you understand that she’s careful to acquire important allies. And I would assume, as you divorced her, that your reasons for this were at least partly what mine are going to be.” I heard Brock pull in a sharp breath through his nose at learning this news but Dade went on. “And she simply is who she is. So, I would assume that you understand that she would need as much attention as possible as this is as necessary to her as breath but also to force affection she is not capable of obtaining in natural ways should, for instance, she need to battle me or…” his eyes slid to me then back to Brock, “you.”

“Fuckin’ piece of work,” Brock clipped under his breath, looking away while lifting a hand and tearing it through his wet hair.

“They’re exceedingly cautious around her because she dissolves into tantrums or tears often and at random. They have no idea what will set her off so they’re careful with everything,” Dade continued sharing and he looked at me. “She was not like this prior to us being married or, at least, not that I knew.”


“Let me guess,” Broke put in and Dade’s eyes moved back to him, “it happened, what? An hour after she signed the marriage certificate?”

“Upon return from our honeymoon,” Dade corrected.

“Terrific. At least you got the honeymoon,” Brock returned and Dade’s eyes widened.

“No,” he said quietly.

“Uh… yeah,” Brock replied.

“My Lord,” Dade whispered.

“So, you’re divorcin’ her ass?” Brock asked.

“Indeed,” Dade answered.

“Shit, fuck, fuck, ” Brock muttered harshly to the floor.

I would guess there were several reasons for Brock cursing at the floor. One of them would be that, without Dade, Olivia would be on her own again to drain him dry financially.

The other was that she would have the time to put more effort into making him miserable.

Damn.

Dade looked at him. Then he looked at me.

Then he looked back to Brock and said softly, “Whatever move you’re going to make,”

Brock’s head came up and his eyes locked with Dade’s, “make it soon. I will delay for a few weeks so the boys will have some stability, a roof over their heads, familiar things around them. But only a few weeks, Lucas. I cannot take much more.”

I felt my heart beating hard and I felt Brock’s body still beside mine.

“And,” he went on, studying Brock closely, “if it comes to that, I will do what I can to help you.” He paused. “For Joey and Rex.”

Wow.

Whatever they said about a woman scorned, when a man was… whoa.

When Brock said not a word and continued staring at Dade, I waded in.

“Dade, that… that’s very kind. Very kind. The boys may never understand but if they did, they’d appreciate it and, um…” my head jerked to Brock and I finished, “we do too.”

Dade nodded then said quietly, “This gives you only weeks to make that heart-to-heart cake, Tess.”

“I miss the deadline, I’ll bring a full one by your house and leave it on the doorstep,” I offered.

“My dear,” he replied, moving toward us and stopping in front of me, “ring the bell anytime.” He turned his head and his eyes went up to Brock before he said softly, “I started with a good one. Lucky for you that you’re ending with one.”

Wow. That was sweet.

Then he nodded to me and muttered, “Pleasure, Tess, thank you for the coffee. I’ll let myself out.”

Then he waited for my smile, skirted us and let himself out.

I turned to Brock.

“If you want, I’ll gather all the things I don’t mind you smashing and put them on the coffee table or, an alternate option, I can go grab you a bottle of beer,” I offered.

He looked down at me. Then he stalked to my armchair, sat down, bent forward, put his elbows to his knees and both hands to the back of his head.

I hurried to him and crouched down beside him, my fingers curling around his thigh.

“Seriously, Brock, let this out,” I whispered.

“Fucked up,” he muttered to his knees.

“Brock –”

“Knew I shouldn’t’ve but left them to her for a year. A fuckin’ year, ” he bit off.

“Honey –”

“She’s playin’ my boys,” he said still talking to his knees.


I squeezed his thigh. “Honey –”

“With every breath she takes.”

I squeezed his thigh again but kept my fingers tensed into his flesh and also kept silent.

“Fuck! ” he exploded then threw himself back against the chair.

I straightened, moved and climbed in, putting a knee in the seat on either side of his hips so I was astride him. Then I leaned forward, hands on the fast-drying material of his running shirt and put my face in his face, feeling his hands curve around my hips.

“This, too, shall pass,” I whispered.

“Yeah, babe, but it needed to pass yesterday or, say, two fuckin’ years ago,” Brock responded.

“Okay, it didn’t. You can’t turn back time, honey. Just talk to them.”

“And say what, Tess? That their Mom is a miserable, scheming cunt and their Dad is an asshole who put his job before them and left them to that bullshit?” Brock asked angrily.

“I would shy away from the c-word,” I advised on a whisper, sliding my hands up to his neck and holding tight. “And, also, maybe the a-word too.”

He sucked in breath through his nose and looked over my shoulder as his fingers dug into my hips.

Then his eyes came back to mine. “I want you over tonight.”

I shook my head and squeezed his neck. “You should be with your boys and Martha came by earlier, I’m meeting her and some friends at Club.”

“You didn’t hear me, Tess, I want you over tonight.”

“Brock, they need their Dad and me being around is just confusing them and making them feel torn and maybe even guilt.”

“Babe, you are not gonna disappear every time I have them especially when I have full custody of them. Eventually, this two house bullshit we got goin’ is gonna be done, we’re gonna be livin’ together and they’re gonna be with us.”

My fingers spasmed on his neck at this news, news it appeared Brock took for granted, news that was news to me.

Happy news.

He kept talking, cutting into the tingles I was experiencing due to receiving this happy news.

“They gotta learn her games just like the rest of us and they also gotta learn that a woman who’ll work twelve hour days and still break her neck to give them a fuckin’ good Christmas, smilin’ bright even though she’s got fatigue in her eyes is not someone they need to be confused about and feel torn and guilty about likin’.”

Okay, he wasn’t wrong about that.

“Okay, honey, but I have to go out with Martha. She came over and had a drama about how she never sees me. I need to give her some time.”

He stared at me and I could tell this wasn’t going over very well.

I leaned closer. “You have your talk with your boys, dinner, guy time. I’ll have my girl time and come over later. And tomorrow, I’ll make something fabulous for breakfast.”

“Tess –”

“Payback, Brock,” I cut him off and his eyebrows shot together. “They asked me to go to the mall with them; I declined but traded free baked goods if they found a nightie that a bad boy hot guy would appreciate being given for Valentine’s Day. I’m sworn off the mall until March. For you to have a happy Valentine’s Day, you owe them.”

He stared at me again for a few seconds then his lips twitched and he shook his head.

“My sweet Tess,” he muttered before he leaned in and touched his mouth to mine.

When he leaned back, I whispered, “It’s all gonna be okay.”

“Yeah,” he whispered back.


I smiled at him then informed him, “You need a shower.”

“So do you,” he replied.

“I took one this morning,” I reminded him.