Page 56 of Cruel Love

“Beautiful women you never ever have a chance with?”

He twists in my direction. “Says who?”

“Uh, me,” I answer. “Her husband.”

“You think I don’t have a chance with your wife?”

I pause my stride and look into his joking eyes. “Archer, I have a better chance of stealing Lilah from you than you have of ever sleeping with Caleb.”

“Bullshit.”

“You wanna bet?”

He squints. “No. I don’t much care for taking candy from babies.”

“Good, because I have a pretty ironclad policy against sticking my dick in crazy.”

Archer shakes his head as we start forward again. “Lilah ain’t crazy, mate. She’s just misunderstood.”

“Aren’t we all?” I exhale, turning serious. “How’s she doing?”

He hesitates, his eyes wandering along the crowd passing us by. “Hell, I don’t know…” he says. “How would you be if your twin were gunned down in front of you?”

“Not good.”

Archer nods. “Just when I think she might be dealing with it, she pushes it a little further down.”

“Kinky,” I joke.

He glares at me but his lips curl.

“I know. I’m an ass.” We pause at a crosswalk. “I’m sorry,” I tell him. “Elijah wasn’t exactly high on the list of people I’m cool with, but… I can empathize with her. That’s rough.”

“Thank you,” he says. “And how’s Caleb?” His hand twitches downward. “How’s she dealing with the whole, you know, being a mum?”

The light changes and we continue across the street.

“Well…” I say. “She’s not happy about being benched because of it, that’s for sure.”

“Honestly, I half-expected you to stay home, too.”

“Really?”

“I would have,” he says. “If there were even a small chance I’d leave my child fatherless, I would piss right off.”

I taste bile in my throat. “Wow. Thanks, Arch.”

“Just being honest.”

“Anything else you want me to feel like crap about today?”

He pats my shoulder. “Boxcar, you’re doing what you feel is best for your wife and child. Fuck all what anybody else thinks. Furthermore, I admire your choice. It was the stronger decision, one that I could never make myself.”

I let it sink in. “Oh.”

He smiles. “So, where are we headed?” he asks as he looks around.

“He’s usually parked around the corner here,” I say, pointing straight ahead.

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