Page 27 of Bad & Bossy

I just needed to find the exit.

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Waking up at seven in the morning after not falling asleep until nearly one, waking up at two, making my way home by three, pumping, crawling into bed, and passing out would have meant I couldn’t function had it happened a year ago. But I’d grown used to surviving on barely any sleep after Drew was born. It wasn’t easy by any means, and if last night was anything to go off of, I was absolutely going insane.

But as I looked at myself in the mirror, taking in every little bruise and bite mark, soreness blooming between my thighs, I couldn’t help but not care. If anything, I was happy about it. Sex with Cole had been the best sex of my life the first time it happened and was only more so now. Maybe I could have my cake and eat it, too.

Pulling my satin robe tighter around my body, I turned the handle on the shower and it roared to life.

“Where were you last night?”

I glanced behind me as I stuck my hand into the stream of water, waiting for it to warm up. Veronica stood in the doorway, a giggling Drew on her hip, her hair wild and pajamas crooked. My lips tugged upward seeing Drew so happy in her arms. I stepped toward her and placed a little kiss on the top of his head as I did my daily smell check. Still smells like heaven.

“Dana.”

“I went out with some friends,” I lied, grinning as Drew’s little hand wrapped itself around my finger.

“Friends?” Vee asked, one brow raising. “Is it normal for your friends to give you hickeys?”

“What, yours don’t?”

Her glare pierced through me, her face stoic and dull. I wondered if Drew had kept her up late.

“Thank you for watching him,” I sighed, relinquishing my cheery mood. I could feel it slipping from my grasp the moment she appeared, dragging me back down to reality.

Sliding my hands under Drew’s arms, I hoisted him out of Vee’s grasp and into my own. He cooed happily, still a little sleepy. “You’re going to shower with him?” Vee asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got a little tub thing for him. He loves it.”

She eyed me warily and slowly backed out of the bathroom, mumbling something about Drew being the spawn of Satan. If only she knew the half of it.

————

Veronica hadn’t shut up since I’d walked out of the bathroom with a naked baby and my hair up in a twisted towel. Apparently, she’d met up with some friends she’d made online over the weekend and there was drama, but if I had to sit through another second of hearing what Kyle had said to Natalie and how crazy it had been, I might have kicked off worse than Drew does when he’s tired.

“You know, Mom thinks they need to just suck it up and get married,” she continued. That word, that single word, brought my entire body to a fucking halt.

Drew’s mouth searched for the bottle as it slipped from his lips. He glanced back and forth around his bouncer. My knife froze against the bagel, cream cheese half smeared, my mug of coffee burning the skin of my other hand. “You’ve been talking to Mom?” I breathed, slowly turning my gaze to her.

“Of course I’ve been talking to Mom,” Vee said, her brows knitting together. “She’s not happy you haven’t brought Drew around to see them.”

As carefully as I could manage, I set the mug and knife down before I broke something. Thought after thought raced through my mind, blurring into incoherent sentences, and all I could muster was a quiet, “You told them about Drew?”

“What? No. He’s all over your Instagram, they figured it out.”

“My page is private,” I snapped. I’d made sure it was seven million times before I posted a photo of Drew. I didn’t need my parents snooping, and even more than that, I didn’t need Cole snooping.

Vee shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe you accepted Mom by mistake. Either way, they have a right to meet their grandson?—”

“Fuck no, Mom does not have any rights.”

Drew’s babbles went quiet as he watched the two of us. I thanked my lucky stars that he had no idea what we were saying.

“I don’t want them around him. Or me, for that matter.”

“Dana. Come on. You can’t still be mad at them?—”

“I am!” I snapped, my hands seizing into fists as I tried to contain the irritation boiling inside of me. “You think just because Mom is blood she deserves to meet him? After everything we went through together as kids, do you honestly think I would feel comfortable with him around her?”

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