It was downright ridiculous. The audacity of the man practically had steam coming out of my ears.
Despite all the stuff that had gone down between us way back then, this was still a new low. Even for him.
After he caused her injury, I’d at least have expected a phone call. God forbid he actually offer to help me pay the medical bills—an expense we wouldn’t have had if not for him.
The bills might have been lower than I’d expected, but that didn’t change the facts. He hadn’t even asked how much it’d been. Besides, surely, he should’ve at least offered to chip in.
I’d learned my lesson with Craig a long time ago when it came to money, though. I hadn’t asked him for help with the medical bills, and I wouldn’t do so now.
Knowing that he wouldn’t help and that I was the silly one for even thinking about how he should’ve chipped in didn’t make me any less angry about the situation. If he’d come to me to ask about Adi’s therapy, I would’ve told him how it was going.
I might not have made it easy on him, but I wouldn’t have withheld the information either. Well, not a lot of it.
For him to go to Chris when he was doing us a favor by treating her, and then to threaten him? That was beyond what I would’ve expected even from Craig.
I didn’t even want to think about him still referring to me as his wife. It had been almost a damn decade since our divorce. He was so far over me it was like we’d never been together sometimes.
An endless parade of women had been on his arm all these years. My only response had been to wish them luck, and I never even did that out loud.
I’d never done anything to him to have him treat me the way he had—not that there would’ve been any excuse for what he’d done—but for him to keep trying to mess up my life was preposterous. And frankly, I was over it.
Fuck him and fuck the poor high horse he was riding in on. I’d had enough.
“Adi baby? Grab your backpack. We’re going to Aunt Katie’s.” I tossed my phone in my purse and tried taking deep breaths to regain my composure.
No matter what, I couldn’t let Adi see how upset I was.
She popped her head into the kitchen a couple of minutes later with her backpack over her shoulders. “I thought we were going to build that puzzle?”
“We will. Later.”
I plucked up my keys and made my way to the door, making sure to lock it behind us. With our damn neighbors leaving the gate open all the time, there was no guarantee Craig couldn’t get in here.
If he’d gone to see Chris, there was no telling what else he would do. Or what he was really up to.
I texted Katie to ask if she could watch Adi for me for an hour or so. Then we made our way to her place as fast as we could get there. Katie widened her eyes in a silent question when Adi breezed past her.
“I need to run a few errands,” I lied. “I’ll be back in a bit. I just need to take care of something.”
“April,” she warned. “I know when you’re lying to me and I know when you’re pissed. What’s going on?”
“Like I said, I just have something I need to take care of. See you later.”
If I stayed with Katie for even another minute to explain, she would talk me out of what I was about to do. I’d always been the impulsive hothead between the two of us. That was what had landed me with Craig in the first place.
For all of Katie’s faults and convictions, she was a lot more like Luna in that regard. They were patient, measured in their reactions. For every thought, they had two more before they acted on them.
Me? Except for when it came to Chris, I didn’t overthink things.
I embraced being an impulsive hothead. I was even fucking proud of it. Someone needed to stand up and tell people what they really thought, and I was happy to be that someone.
Craig was done fucking with me and he was done fucking with Adi. That manipulating son of a bitch wouldn’t bulldoze me again, and I sure as hell wasn’t about to let him screw up the first good thing that had come into our lives just because he was a controlling, jealous prick.
He had no right to be.
Not with me.
Not anymore.
When I left Katie’s building, I went straight to Craig’s mother’s house. He was living here now. I’d heard through the grapevine that he’d lost his job—again—and had gotten kicked out by his last girlfriend.
Serves you right, asshole. The guy was a total freeloader. Just ask the girl who worked to put him through school only to be cheated on and dumped a couple of months after he graduated.
I pounded on the front door of the suburban shack and felt sorry for his mother that she was shackled to him for life. Apart from the fact that she indulged every whim and bought every excuse her darling boy told her, I didn’t have any issue with the woman.
As long as she didn’t try to get in my way today, it would stay that way. Thankfully, it didn’t come to that.
The tattered door swung open to reveal none other than my stinking ex himself. He smirked when he saw me and grabbed his pathetic junk, making a disgusting thrusting movement with his hips.
“Finally came back for more, huh?”
“You wish,” I sneered, planting my hands on my hips. “I’m here to tell you to back the fuck off. You stay away from us, and you stay the fuck away from the hospital.”
“Why would I do that?” He let go of his stupid crotch and reached up to grip the top of the doorframe. “You don’t want me near your precious pretty boy boyfriend? Is that it?”
“I don’t want you near my daughter,” I yelled, feeling heat rushing to my cheeks. “You could’ve killed her the last time you took a supposed interest in her, you dumb dildo. I don’t know why you’re suddenly sniffing around the hospital, but just stay the fuck away.”
“Or what?” He lowered his voice, dropping his chin and scowling when he met my gaze. “What are you going to do about it, bitch? She’s my daughter, too.”
“You donated sperm for her conception. That’s about it.” I didn’t step back or avert my eyes. “You’re no father to her. You never have been and you never will be. Stop harassing us or I’ll call the cops.”
“Well, if you don’t, sweetheart, I will.” He flicked his hand to indicate the neighbors’ houses. “This is going to be great for the custody battle. There I was, just sitting at home and minding my own business when the crazy mother of my child came to yell at me in the middle of the day.”
My heart nearly stopped at the mention of a custody battle, and my blood ran cold. But I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing the fear those words caused me.
I decided to call his bluff instead.
“You don’t have any money, Craig.” I laughed. “No money and no knowledge about legal proceedings. You’ll never take her away from me. No judge would let that happen.”
He smirked again, shoving his hands into his pockets. “You’re wrong, darlin’. I got a lawyer. He thinks I’ve got a good case.”
“You’ve got a good case?” My eyebrows went all the way up. “Your lawyer must be as dumb as you are.”
He cocked his head before he doubled over laughing. “The only dumb one here is you. Did you really think I’d ever let my little girl stay with a mentally unstable woman who got her injured?”
“You got her injured, asshole.” Unlike some other people, the angrier I got, the softer my voice became. “There are hospital records and staff who will testify for me.”
He laughed some more before straightening up to wipe his eyes. “You mean your boyfriend and his bodyguard? I got it on good authority that no judge will believe them. They got a conflict of interest.”
“No, they don’t. Neither do the paramedics or dozens of others who were working at the hospital that day.” My mind was racing now. Every bit of jargon I’d learned from legal dramas came flying out of my mouth. “I have years’ worth of records from her schools as evidence. I’ll get statements from every person who saw you at th
e hospital and the staff who treated her there. I’ll bury you in documentary proof that you’re a useless shitbag who wouldn’t know a good father if one hit you in the face.”
I was breathing so heavily that I was practically panting, and I could feel the heat from my cheeks all over my face now. My heart was frozen and my fingers had gone numb. At least half my vision had faded to red.
Craig, however, looked perfectly unaffected—just like the fucking psychopath he was. “Tell yourself whatever you need to if it’ll help you sleep better at night, but you’ll be hearing from my lawyer. I’m going to take full custody of Adi and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
A strangled scream died in my throat. I itched to smack him right through his smug face, but on the off chance that he really had hired a lawyer, I knew it wouldn’t help my case.
Still, I couldn’t think straight. I couldn’t even breathe properly. But somehow, I managed to take a step closer to him to get in his face.
“Keep dreaming, asshole.” I narrowed my eyes and stood up to my full, albeit not very imposing, height. “Just know that if you get so much as one day with her, I’ll kill you. Or worse, I’ll publish the pictures I still have of your tiny dick on every website from here to Timbuktu. You’ll never live that down. I’ve got your face in some of them, darlin’.”
Without another word but feeling somewhat vindicated at the horrified expression on his face, I spun around and stormed away from the douchebag. Come what may, I had the truth on my side.
That had to count for something.
Chapter 23
CHRIS
Dinner with April earlier this week had been good. It had been nice to get to spend some time with her alone. As much as I knew Adi was a part of the package if our relationship was to get serious and as much as I truly enjoyed getting to know the little girl, building a relationship with April meant wanting and having to spend time with her sometimes too.
Almost a week had passed since our dinner date, and I still caught myself grinning every so often at some of the jokes she’d made. When I’d arrived at her place, I’d still been worried about Craig having come to the hospital and what he might be planning.
April had waved my concerns off and told me she had it under control. I couldn’t get it out of her how she had it under control but she’d assured me everything would be fine. We’d done some talking about him and how shitty he’d been to her, but eventually, we’d decided to stop wasting our time on him.
What followed had been a discovery of April in a different light to how I’d seen her before. I’d caught glimpses of her lighter, more carefree side, but I’d finally gotten a chance to experience it when it was her being that comfortable with only me.
As I lay in my bed on Friday morning with the sun barely peeking over the horizon, I let my mind wander to what had happened after dinner. April and I had a few drinks and had ended up necking on her couch, which had quickly turned to heavy petting but nothing more.
Fooling around without taking that final step was underrated, if anyone asked me. It didn’t always have to be about the rush to the finish line. Just thinking about her moans and her sighs as she straddled me while grinding against my cock was making me hard all over again.
I ran my hand down the length of my torso and got comfortable on the bed, about to reach into my underwear when my phone buzzed. With a frustrated sigh, I flipped over onto my side to check the caller ID.
Hunter’s name flashed on my screen, and the phone stopped buzzing only to start again. Fuck.
“What?” I snapped when I answered.
He chuckled. “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Jesus.”
I shoved my hand through my hair and rolled onto my back again, sending a piercing glare at the white ceiling above my head. “What do you want?”
“For you to meet me at the corner of Crescent and Cliff in an hour. No questions asked. Just come.”
“Fine. I’ll meet you there.” I would’ve said pretty much anything to get him off the phone as soon as possible, but Hunter and I had a no questions asked policy. Which meant I had to be there.
But I had an hour.
My mind kept conjuring up images of April with her lips parted and her eyes half-lidded, her skirt ridden up and her head dropped back. It wouldn’t take me long at all.
Hunter thankfully hung up after I agreed to meet him, and I got down to business before getting up to take a shower. I ended up getting to the address he’d sent me exactly one minute late and found him standing in front of an abandoned warehouse.
It was in an up-and-coming district with tons of warehouses just like this one that had been renovated already and tons more just waiting for someone to restore them. Hunter grinned when I approached him, spreading his arms wide open as he turned in a slow circle.
“What do you think?” he asked.
I pulled my sunglasses off and dipped my head back to survey the wrecked building in front of me. The windows were blown out, the small garden overgrown, and there was probably an entire short story’s worth of graffiti on the walls, but it looked structurally sound at least.
“I like the neighborhood and I think the building could be a real investment once it’s fixed up. You looking at moving in?”
“We’re looking at moving in.” His grin grew even wider. “This is the new home of Hunter and Chris’s Building for Fixing People.”
I blinked back my surprise and took a step forward, seeing the building in an entirely new light. “We’ll keep working on the name, but this location could definitely work.”
“I knew it.” He punched the air and dangled a set of keys. “Want to take the grand tour?”
“In a minute.” I turned to him, frowning as I locked my gaze with his. “Did you buy this place?”
“Yes.” He gave me a guilty smile. “I was meeting with the realtor the other day when I left early.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Mentally trying to calculate how much a building like this would have set him back, a deep sense of guilt came over me. “We could’ve bought it together.”
Hunter’s ginger curls bounced from the force with which he shook his head. “No. Look, I know you’ve got a lot of money but I also wanted to contribute something to the business.”
“Your skills weren’t enough?”
He sighed. “My skills aren’t what’s going to bring in the patients. Yours will. Plus, we’ll have to buy all the equipment and office supplies. I knew you wouldn’t let me chip in for those. This place needs some work, but we can do it ourselves. If you don’t like it—”
“No, I love it.” I grinned at my friend and held out my hand for him to shake. “We’ll do the work ourselves, but whatever materials we need are on me. Deal?”
He slapped his beefy palm against mine and nodded. “Deal. I’m pretty tapped out now anyway.”
“Yeah, we’re also going to talk about that.” Releasing his hand as I took a step back, I gestured toward the cracked concrete path that led to the front doors. “How about that tour?”
“I’ll lead the way.”
I fell into step behind him, already trying to picture what the outside of the building would look like once we were done with it. Thousands of ideas raced through my head, but first, we needed to figure out what to do about our patients.
“I’ve been thinking about making a deal with the hospital to outsource the physical therapy department to us,” I said. “They’ve been complaining about all the space we take up for ages. I just need to set a meeting with the board to discuss it.”
“You think they’ll go for it?” He twisted around to glance at me while turning the key in the lock. “I’ve been trying to come up with ways for us to take our patients with us, but I’ve come up dry so far. Once I saw this place though, I couldn’t get it out of my head. I figured since it needs so much work, we have months before we’d be able to move in anyway.”
“It sure won’t happen overnight,” I agreed, narrow
ing my eyes as I thought. “I’ll have to get right onto making that deal. We might need months to get this place in shape, but it’s also going to take some time negotiating with them.”
“I knew you’d figure something out.” Hunter stepped inside and gave me a stupid little bow as I followed. “Welcome to your new humble abode, doctor. I hope you’ll be happy here.”
I punched him in the shoulder and rolled my eyes. “Our humble abode. If we’re really doing this, we’re going to be fifty-fifty partners.”
He raised both of his eyebrows. “That hardly seems fair to you.”
“It’s more than fair,” I said firmly, planting my feet and looking at him expectantly. “Are we in agreement because, if not, the tour will have to wait until we are.”
His eyes darted from one of mine to the other, and he suddenly barreled forward and enveloped me in a giant, backslapping hug. “I never expected it, but yes, we’re in agreement.”
“Great.” I gave him a final thud before I stepped away. “Let’s get this show on the road then. Tell me what I’m looking at.”
The ground level was one massive, cavernous space. An industrial-looking walkway ran around two thirds of the top with doors leading off it at odd intervals. There was a single set of steel stairs to the far left. Piles of discarded rubble, machinery in various states of disrepair, and dirt covered the floor.
All things considered, it could have been a lot worse. Windows high up in the walls let in some natural light, and once the place was cleaned up, I could see how well it would work for our purposes.
Hunter took about ten large paces forward and swung his arms out. “I was thinking we could install some sort of divider here to have the reception area facing the street and the therapy floor behind it.”
“That’s a good idea. We wouldn’t want people from the street being able to see our patients in the middle of their sessions.” I walked toward him and stopped about three paces away. “There could be a reception desk around here somewhere with security on either side of it, as well as at the front doors.”
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