Page 124 of Sloane

“Good. My lawyer said it should be an easy enough matter to settle then. He can have someone out here by tomorrow to take a cheek swab.”

I suddenly understood the mama bear reference, because my bear was ready to tear his good leg off.

“Fuck you. Over my dead body will anyone touch my daughter without my permission.”

With shaky legs, I went around the island so I wouldn’t have any contact with him as I made my way toward the stairs. Crash and Stu had paused their game and were watching our exchange with wide eyes.

“I can get a court order…” he called after me.

“You go ahead and do that, Captain Davidson.”

How did I ever think I could be in love with this guy? Two minutes with him, and I wanted to throat-punch him. I’m pretty sure there was something in the VA’s handbook about not punching patients.

As I reached the top of the stairs, I heard Ryan say in an incredulous tone, “Dude, what part of groveling did you not understand?”

****

Sloane

“Are you a fucking moron?” Stu hissed as he rose from the couch once Ashley slammed the door to her apartment.

I knew I had been an utter asshole, yet like an out-of-control freight train, I’d felt helpless to stop it.

“I was trying to call her bluff.”

“By bulldozing her with bullshit about talking to a lawyer?” Ryan asked, shaking his head. “You were supposed to grovel, jackass. Grrrrrooovel. That was not groveling! That was the opposite of groveling!”

The upstairs door opened, and I looked up, half-expecting to see Ashley with Millie at the top of the stairs. Instead, Tammy came bounding out with daggers shooting from her eyes, and they were aimed directly at me.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I—”

The little spitfire charged at me.

“Who the hell do you think you are? You shit all over Ashley, send her back her letters, and basically tell her you don’t want anything to do with her. Then she finds out she’s pregnant and even after how you treated her, she still finds the balls to try to tell you. Because she’s a good person and she thought it was the right thing to do. And you still shit all over her and ghosted her. And now you’re threatening her with a lawyer? I didn’t think you could be a bigger asshole before today, but apparently, I was wrong.”

Aw fuck.

I closed my eyes and hung my head.

“I handled this all wrong. I heard her talking to Ryan and thought I’d come out to try to apologize. Then she said seeing Millie was out of the question, and it just unraveled from there. I was just trying to call her bluff. You and I both know Millie is mine, and she’s just making that shit up.”

“Because you backed her into a corner!”

“Look, I just want to meet Millie. For ten minutes. I promise that’s all I want.”

“Well, that might be kind of hard because Ashley’s upstairs packing her shit, getting ready to bolt.” Tammy jabbed her finger at me. “I swear to God, if my friend disappears, I will make it my mission to make your life a living hell.”

I huffed out a laugh. “Too late.”

She finally seemed to take in my appearance and that settled her down a little.

“Just ten minutes,” Ryan reiterated.

“And you’ll drop all this lawyer talk and apologize?”

I covered my pinky with my thumb and held up my three middle fingers. “Scout’s honor.”

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