Page 106 of Unleashed

“I don’t care. As long as we can pay our bills, then whatever.”

“My daughter will not be okay as the breadwinner, Mr. Rodwell. Your career will most likely become a sticking point with her once the newlywed novelty passes.” This guy claims to know Simone? Hardly.

“Simone doesn’t care about what I do. As long as I’m happy.” I stuff another bite into my mouth, so I don’t tell the jackass to hit the road. He doesn’t deserve Simone for a daughter.

“I hope she’d aspire to be financially secure.”

“Why can’t she do that on her own?”

“It looks like she’ll have to.” Oh, he didn’t.

“Damn. It bothers you I’m a lowly gasoline slinger more than it bothers my wife.”

“It very well may, but she’s young. She’ll soon realize that mere love does not make a marriage.” Obnoxious bastard.

“Why? Because I’m not a lawyer? Who cares? I still take care of Simone.”

“Mm-hmm.” He stares at me, eating my Cheerios, not feeling cheery at all, and thinks he knows me. “That remains to be seen.” If I were married to Simone, I’d put a hit out on her father. Ferrera has to know some people.

“To be honest, you may have your little side deal with Simone, but our marriage is none of your business.”

“My daughter will always be my business.”

I laugh and shake my head as I finish the last bite. With a mouthful, just to piss him off a little extra, I say, “You can’t stand that I’m the number one man in Simone’s life.” Holy hell.

His sour frown as I chew with my mouth open is a chef’s kiss. “For now.” And he had to ruin it.

I swallow with a nod. “Right. Until we have a son.” Was our baby a boy? I think about it every day. I glare at Dr. Nope. I hope Simone doesn’t mind when I tie up her father and leave him in the middle of Interstate 64.

“Simone is not ready for children.”

“You have zero say in that. If we want to try tonight, we will make last night sound like story time at the library.” Take that shit. Wait. What am I saying?

“If Simone has read the contract, she’d know that having a child before the age of twenty-seven is grounds for suspension of her tuition, and before the age of thirty, she’ll lose her monthly stipend too.” And what the fuck?

“You can’t do that.”

“She signed the contract and readily accepts my payments. It seems I can do it.”

“You’d really stop paying for her schooling if she and her husband—that’s me—conceive a baby?”

He shrugs. “If she follows through with it, she knows the deal.”

“So, if Simone gets pregnant and wants to stay in school, she can’t give birth. You’re fucking revolting.”

“Young man, you’re making me reconsider paying for any of her schooling now.”

“You have a contract.”

“Yes, but I also have an escape clause built into it. I have better lawyers than Simone, apparently.” And I bet Simone did not consult an attorney before signing. At the very least, Amos, for Christ’s sake?

“I made this contract with Simone because she is, how shall I say? Flakey. Did she tell you she took off with her friend Sharla to travel the country, deferring college for over a year?”

“So?”

“She then failed the first semester of her freshman year. I was paying for her partying.”

“How do you know that’s what she did?”

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