Earning Yancy (NSFW #2)

by C. C. Wood

  Kathy’s eyes narrowed as she nodded. “You actually agreed to meet that jackass?” she asked incredulously.

  I grabbed a travel mug and set up the Keurig to brew the biggest serving possible. “Yeah. You know how Coop is. Until he has his say, he’ll beg, whine, harass, and humiliate. Plus, I spent part of the night contemplating throwing hot coffee in his lap since he insisted on the meet.”

  Kathy grinned. “That would serve him right.”

  After my cup finished brewing, I made a mug for Kathy while she got Carolena’s breakfast ready.

  “Okay, I have more important things to do today besides dealing with Cooper Stevens. I’ll be home no later than 6:30.” I walked over to Carolena’s high chair where she was banging on the tray for all her worth. “Bye, baby,” I murmured, leaning over to kiss her head.

  “Buh-bye!” she exclaimed, still banging her hands, but also adding her legs into the mix. The entire high chair shuddered under the enthusiasm of her blows.

  I shook my head and grabbed my coffee. “Bye, Kathy. See you later.”

  “Bye!” she called as I left the kitchen.

  I gathered my cell phone, purse, laptop bag, and travel mug, leaving my key ring dangling from my index finger. I managed to hit the golden time, traffic-wise, because the commute to work only took thirty minutes. I walked into my office at 7:45 and set about situating myself for the start of the workday.

  Five minutes later, I looked up when I heard my office door click shut. Charles stood in front of the door, leaning back against it, everything about him looking as calm and collected as usual. Except for his eyes.

  His eyes were more green than blue today and they were piercing in their intensity. “We need to talk,” he said in a very low voice.

  I swallowed hard and winced when I heard the lock on my door engage. Apparently, I wasn’t the only person in this office who was still angry.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I GAPED UP at Charles as he stalked across my office toward me. While it wasn’t a broom closet, the space seemed to shrink under the heat of his anger.

  He rounded the desk and I reflexively shoved my chair back, unsure whether it was so I could get to my feet in an effort to stand my ground or an instinctual retreat. I shrank back slightly when he lifted a hand.

  Charles hesitated then, his brows lowering further over his eyes. “I’m not going to hurt you, Yancy.”

  I got to my feet. “Excuse me for flinching because a large, angry man was coming at me.” Dammit, I hated getting worked up like this. There was just something about Charles that got completely under my skin when he and I were arguing.

  He sucked in a huge breath and blew it out slowly. “Look, I’m sorry. I just wanted to get a good look at your face and ask you how you were feeling.”

  I looked at him in disbelief. “Um, you looked more like you were suppressing the urge to wring my neck.”

  Charles’ lips twitched as though he were holding back a smile. “The thought did cross my mind.”

  My hands flew up in the air. “Why? I don’t understand why you are so angry with me. If anyone should be angry, it’s me.” I finished the statement by poking myself in the chest with my own thumb. “You got all bossy last night, telling me what to do, and then have the nerve to get pissed off and hang up on me because I won’t fall in line. I’m not your damn employee.”

  Our faces were close when I finished my tirade and I watched as the green in his eyes began to fade slightly.

  “I really want to kiss you right now,” Charles murmured, his gaze lowering to my mouth.

  I stepped back, bumping into my chair. “We shouldn’t be doing this in my office, or at work period. We agreed we would keep our relationship out of the office and keep things professional.”

  He sighed. “You’re right. But what about kissing in the stairwell?” he asked slyly.

  I glared at him. “We haven’t done that in a while.”

  He playfully nudged my chair with his foot. “But we might want to in the future.”

  I felt my own annoyance draining away as he smiled down at me. “How on earth can you make me so mad one minute then make me want to laugh the next?” I asked in a grouchy tone.

  Charles shrugged. “It’s a gift?”

  Since his answer was more of a question, I just shook my head and leaned it back against my chair. “We do need to talk,” I said quietly.

  Charles’ smile faded. “Yes, we do.”

  “Do you want to do it now or wait until lunch time?”

  “I can’t meet for lunch today,” he said, regret clear in his tone. “I have a meeting with another project manager and I’m going to have to grab something quick to eat at my desk so I can finish preparing.”

  I nodded. “It’s okay. Do you want me to bring you something?”

  His eyes brightened as he stared down at me. “Sure. That’d be great.”

  “I’ll text you before I leave to find out what you want.”

  He shrugged again. “Just surprise me.”

  I chuckled. “Okay, no bitching if you don’t like it.” The smile left my face. “We need to talk about last night.”

  Charles moved around my desk to one of the chairs on the other side and sat down, rubbing the back of his neck. “Okay.”

  I turned my chair to face him and folded my arms along the top of my desk. “I understand why you want to come with me to this meeting. You saw me lose my temper with him last week and I can tell you want to protect me from anything that might happen.”

  His face began to relax into relief. “Great. What time should I meet you in the lobby this afternoon?”

  I shook my head. “I’m going alone.”

  Charles’ brows snapped down over his eyes and I saw the green fire building in his eyes.

  Before he could argue, I lifted a hand. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Charles, but this is exactly why you can’t come with me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If you come with me when I meet Cooper, looking like you do right now, he’s only going to close up and run away. Then, when he knows I’m alone, he’ll call me, or text me, or email me. Probably all three. I’ll just be in this exact position again, dealing with his shit when you’re not around. He’s a coward like that. However, if I go to this meeting today, pretend to listen to what he has to say, then tell him to shove it up his ass, he’ll pout and maybe even make a scene, but he will go away.” That was his usual MO. Annoy the hell out of someone until things got intense, then scurry under a rock and hide.

  Charles studied me for a long moment, looking much calmer than he had just moments ago. “I can see you’ve got your mind set on this.”

  I barely resisted tearing my hands through my hair and screaming. He was making this seem like I was being unreasonable, however, he didn’t know a damn thing about Cooper and he didn’t know how bad it could get. Now that things were finally looking up for me, my ex had to magically appear and try to screw it all up. I just wanted him gone again.

  “How about a compromise?” he asked.

  I sighed, not at all eager to hear what he wanted to propose. “Okay.”

  He grinned at my less-than-enthusiastic response. “How about I follow you to the meeting place, stay in my car, and, if things look like they’re getting out of hand, you have my name already pulled up on your phone and call me. If I see you pop up on my Caller ID, I’ll come in, but only if you call me.”

  I thought about it for a moment before I gave one short, sharp nod. “Fine. We’ll play it your way. But, if I see you set foot in that Starbucks, I’m going to dump my hot coffee on your lap, not Coop’s.”

  Charles burst out laughing.

  “I don’t know why you think that’s funny,” I grumbled. “Because I’m not kidding.”

  He calmed long enough to level a look at me. “As if you would waste a caffeine hit.”

  As I watched him stand and head toward my office door, even I had to admit he had a point. No
thing was worth the loss of a decent cup of coffee, no matter how angry I was.

  “Fine, then I’ll order a cup of ice water and dump that on you.”

  He grinned at me as he unlocked my door. “I’d like to see you try.”

  The challenge in his eyes was intriguing, but also a little intimidating. This was a side of Charles I was unfamiliar with, the side that liked to be in charge. I should have expected it, the man was in management after all, but I hadn’t realized that it would be quite so attractive.

  I waved a hand at him and changed the subject. “Nice chatting with you, but some of us have work to do,” I said airily.

  Charles grinned at me. “True.” His expression grew serious. “I know you’re used to doing things, your way and on your own. We’ll probably butt heads from time to time, but I’m glad to know that you’re willing to listen to what I have to say.”

  Taken aback at his sincere words, I said the first thing that came to mind. “And I’m glad you understand who I am.”

  He nodded and winked at me before he left my office.

  For a long time, I stared blankly at my door. I felt as though something were moving inside of me, opening and stretching, and realized that I was on the precipice of falling head over heels for Charles Faulkner.

  Though I knew, without a doubt, that Charles would never be careless with my heart, this felt as though it were too fast, too much. I needed to get a grip on my emotions until I was sure of where we were headed. Even if it hurt.

  AT 5:27 P.M., I climbed out of my car at Starbucks. A cold front had moved in that afternoon, and the air was chilly. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Charles parked a few spaces down. I gave him a low wave to let him know that I saw him and headed into the warmth of the building. I immediately saw Coop sitting at a table with two cups in front of him.

  I moved toward him. When I reached the table, I was shocked when he stood and tried to embrace me. I stepped out of his reach, my hand sliding into my pocket to clasp my phone.

  “What are you doing?” I asked abruptly.

  Coop seemed to deflate in front of me, collapsing into the chair. “You really do hate me, don’t you?”

  My eyes bugged out at the dejected tone of his voice. Seriously? I sat down and tapped my fingers on the table. “Talk.”

  He eyed me speculatively, as though he were trying to figure out what was going on in my head. Finally, he licked his lips and straightened. Gesturing to the cup in front of me, he said, “I got you a caramel macchiato.”

  I glanced briefly at the cup before lifting my eyes back to his and raising an eyebrow, but I didn’t say anything.

  “So it’s going to be like that?” he asked in a sullen voice.

  “Yes. It has to be.” Coop reached a hand across the table toward me, but I jerked my fingers out of reach. “Don’t touch me,” I hissed.

  He looked at me with that same puppy dog expression he wore early in our marriage if we had a tiff. The one that once tugged on my heartstrings. Now, it only pissed me off because I knew he was trying to manipulate me.

  “Get to the point, Coop. You have one minute,” I said, looking pointedly at my watch.

  He blinked, an expression of anger flashing over his face so quickly that I had to wonder if I’d imagined it. “Yancy, can’t we just talk? Catch up?”

  I shook my head. “Fifty seconds.”

  He huffed out a breath and finally got to the damn point, and it was completely unexpected. “I want you back, Yancy. I made a terrible, terrible mistake and I’m incredibly sorry for everything.”

  I remained seated, immobilized by his words. The ability to breathe, blink, or speak disappeared due to the shock. The surprise was followed closely by rage that overwhelmed the anger I’d felt toward him last week. It burned through all my inhibitions, all my instincts to avoid an argument or a scene, and erupted in my gut. Then, when my muscles began to function again, I slammed a hand on the table, making the cups jump. “WHAT?!”

  Heads turned our way, but I didn’t give a damn. Of all the audacity, the gall. I envisioned, with incredible clarity, balling my right hand into a fist and landing a vicious right hook to Cooper’s jaw and I was always the first to preach that violence wasn’t the answer. The only explanation was that my ex had finally managed to drive me insane.

  Instead of taking a swing, I shot to my feet, grabbed my purse and marched toward the door, calling over my shoulder, “That’ll happen just as soon as Hell freezes over, Jesus returns to Earth, and the Cowboys win another Superbowl. Meaning, never!”

  I made it outside before Coop caught up with me. He snagged my arm. “Yancy, wait…”

  I jerked out of his grasp once again. “In case you didn’t get it the first or second time I pulled away from you, I don’t want you to fucking touch me, you sonuvabitch! I cannot believe you have the nerve to say those words to me after you abandoned me and your daughter when we needed you the most!” I took a deep breath and realized that screaming at him wasn’t going to solve this issue. When I could speak at a normal volume, I said, “The answer is no, Coop. And it will stay no. You lost your chance at ever regaining my trust when you disappeared all those months ago. Do you realize that your little girl wouldn’t even recognize you anymore?”

  Something that looked very much like pain sliced across his features. “Yancy…” He lifted his hand to touch my arm again. Obviously, he wasn’t listening when I told him to keep his hands to himself.

  Suddenly, I was yanked behind a wide set of shoulders that were cloaked in a black wool coat.

  “Don’t fucking touch her,” Charles growled.

  A small part of my brain stepped back and said, That’s hot! The rest of my mind was frozen in shock. I could feel the tension radiating from Charles’ frame.

  As soon as Cooper saw Charles, his eyes came to mine and grew hot with anger. “Really, Yance. You brought your new boyfriend? What happened to Ms. Independent, huh?”

  Charles snapped his fingers in Cooper’s face. “You look at me.” When Coop’s eyes returned to his, I thought for a split second he was going to try to hit Charles, but he didn’t. His jaw working, Charles stared him down. “I just watched you manhandle the woman I care for a great deal, then, when she tried to get away, you tried to put your hands on her again. Any man would step in to protect his woman, exactly like I’m doing now.”

  I ignored the flutter in my belly when Charles said the words, his woman, and laid a light hand on his rigid arm. “Forget it, Charles. We’re done here. Let’s just go home.”

  Cooper looked down to where my hand was on Charles’ arm before his eyes lifted to bore into mine. He laughed bitterly. “We’re not done by a long shot, sugar,” he spat. “You’ll be hearing from my lawyer very soon.”

  I stared at him. “Excuse me?”

  “I’m going to sue you for full custody of Carolena.”

  I gaped at him for a good ten seconds and watched as satisfaction crept across his face. Then I threw my head back and laughed hysterically. I leaned against Charles, gasping for breath as I giggled and pointed at Coop.

  I managed to calm myself and wiped my eyes. “Oh, thank you, Coop, for proving exactly what a manipulative piece of shit you are.”

  He was glaring at me, anger and confusion on his face. “We’ll see how long your laughing when the judge grants me sole custody.”

  In a flash, I was around Charles, rising on my toes and pointing a finger in Coop’s face. “You listen to me, and you listen good. You requested a divorce after our daughter was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, then you proceeded to disappear and stopped making child support payments within six months. I have documented every single damned thing you’ve done and even contacted the Attorney General’s office about this. You will never, ever get custody of my daughter.”

  I saw something in his eyes when I mentioned the Attorney General and immediately knew that his repentance and begging had something to do with that. Since I was tired of looking at his face, I didn�
��t say another word, but I decided I would follow up with my case worker. It had been almost two months since I’d checked on the progress of my legal action. I was done giving Cooper Stevens the power to hurt me.

  I turned and looked up at Charles. “Let’s go home. I’m hungry.” Without looking back, I walked to my car and climbed in.

  I watched as Charles stared down Cooper before walking to his own vehicle. When he got in, I started my car, waved for him to follow me, and drove away.

  Chapter Eighteen

  ON THE DRIVE home, I blasted the music. I decided to make an Angry Girl playlist on my phone. I had a feeling I would need it before I was done straightening out the mess that Cooper seemed intent on creating.

  Charles pulled into the driveway next to me and jumped out of his car. He rounded my hood as I opened my door. He crouched by my seat, his eyes studying my face.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  I blew out a breath and nodded. “I’m angry, but not like last week. When he insisted on talking to me in person, I suspected it would be something I wouldn’t like.” I lifted a hand and cupped his cheek. “Thanks for insisting on coming with me. I think things might have gotten a lot worse if you hadn’t intervened.”

  I leaned down and kissed him. He smiled slightly, but didn’t say I told you so, which I appreciated.

  “Do you want to stay for dinner?” I asked.

  Charles frowned. “I would love to, but my mom is having Family Dinner Night. She insists we all get together for dinner once or twice a month. If I back out, she’ll want to know why and she’ll insist that I bring you. If she does that, I guarantee she’ll have homemade cookies and bridal magazines waiting for you at the front door.

  I giggled. “Worried I’ll start picking out a wedding dress?”

  A strange look came over his face, but he didn’t get to respond because my front door opened and I heard the loud squeals of my daughter. I looked up to see Kathy standing on the porch, wearing a worried expression.