Page 27 of Ride

“Because what?”

I glanced up at him, and my throat tightened. “I wanted to get away from my parents but never meant to hurt you in the process.”

“Not like you cared about me.”

I craved every inch of him. Blatantly lying, like I never loved him, was ridiculous and childish.

When that car drove off that night I felt remorse, something in my gut said to turn around, but my head and heart never aligned. “Laikin, you were my first everything. How can you say I never cared?”

He raised a hand to slap his chest. “Because you allowed them to break our bond. You were my fucking everything,” Laikin seethed, pointing to his heart. We started into each other’s eyes feeling each other’s pain.

“No amount of time could have stopped me from loving you, Laikin. I made a mistake and let myself get wrapped up in Virgil’s words. I am no longer that naive twenty-year-old.” Exhaustion poured through my veins. After the surprise visit, trying to work on my relationship with my family and raising my son was too much. I only wanted Kayne to be happy.

I watched my words pierce through him as he dragged a hand down the back of his head.

“Mommy,” Kayne whined from the bedroom.

Hearing Kayne, I walked off and left Laikin there alone.

I peeked in on Kayne, the covers were off the bed, his little body curled up on the edge. I pulled the covers back up and left the door slightly ajar, coming back into the living room to find it empty. The entire day had been draining. I was starting to clean up when the doorbell rang.

“Who could that be?” I yanked open the door, smiling at Winter holding a bottle of wine. I moved to the side and shut it. “I forgot you were coming tonight.”

Winter’s brows squinted together. “What’s wrong?”

“Girl, a lot. Please open that bottle.”

I had paper cups until I had a chance to get the dishes sorted. Winter poured a full cup for us each, kicked off her shoes, placed her purse on the top of the island.

“Talk to me.”

We headed to the balcony with the door open.

“Virgil came to try and take Kayne from me.” I drank some of the red wine, staring up at the night stars.

“Babe, you should have called me or the police.”

My body locked up with rage at Virgil going to these lengths to hurt me. “I know.”

She rested her chin on her palm, looking over the city night life. “Is he trying to fight for custody?”

I yawned, rubbing my strained eyes. “Hell, no! He’s using our son to get me back. He went to my parents’ house.”

“Virgil knows you’re rebuilding your relationship with you parents.”

Heavy silence filled our brief moment. “Exactly. The coldness in his eyes today told me I was right about leaving him.”

“What did your parents say?”

Remembering the look of hurt in their eyes made me want to call and explain everything. “Guilt probably ate them up, but they were on my side for once.”

“Well, that’s good—I mean, not about the guilt.”

I chuckled. “I know what you meant. Laikin was there and my brother.”

Lines of smoke swirled in the air. A few young celebrities lived in the building and I’d learned they threw parties all the time.

“Brett and Laikin kick his ass?”

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