Page 36 of Reclaim Me

“Will do.”

Taurin waves Nate off and turns to me. “Want me to send this guy in?”

“Nah, I’ll come down.”

“Cool.”

We leave the office together, and when we get to the first floor, Taurin chucks his chin in the direction of the man in a suit standing awkwardly by the front desk. I recognize him instantly as Rae’s partner, Aaron. I don’t know how he’s here or why, but I can only assume it’s to tell me to stay away from his family. I mean, that’s what I would be doing if I were him, facing the problem head-on, setting boundaries and expectations with no remorse or concern for the other guy’s feelings.

His posture is rigid when I approach him, and I intentionally keep myself loose so I don’t appear to be on the defensive. The last thing I need is to end up beating this guy’s ass and having that held against me, used as another reason to keep me away from my daughter.

“Aaron.” I pause just a few feet away from him and tuck my hands into the pockets of my shorts. “Good to see you again.”

“Is it?” He asks, placing his hands in his pockets, too. We’re a wild juxtaposition. I look like I just stepped out of a ring; he looks like he spends his days behind a desk. I’m covered in tattoos, and, from what I can see, he has none. There’s a calm, calculated air to him, reflected in his flat, frigid expression, while there’s a wildness brewing in me that’s just waiting to be invited out. It’s not just in my eyes, either. It’s in my veins, crackling like static on a TV with fucked up settings.

Aaron doesn’t know me, so he doesn’t know that the still, stoic expression on my face and the forced politeness in my voice is an act, one I might have to drop if he keeps talking to me like he’s fucking crazy.

“Right now, it is, but I guess that could change depending on how you say what you came here to say.”

He nods and begins to glance around the gym. “This is a nice little place you’ve got here.”

“Thanks. Rae said the same thing when she stopped by a few weeks ago.”

That’s not exactly true, but I say it just to get a rise out of him. His eyes flash with an anger that tells me he didn’t know about the visit Rae paid me, which suggests that despite the fact that he’s trying to come here and act as her representative, she doesn’t tell him everything.

I would feel smug about that, considering that I can remember a time when there was nothing in this world I didn’t know about Rae, but in the wake of finding out about the biggest secret she’s ever kept from me, I don’t feel smug at all. I just feel lost.

Not as lost as Aaron is, though. He looks completely out of his depth in here. Not just because he’s wearing a suit in the middle of a gym on a Sunday afternoon but because his eyes are shifty and his posture is lined with uncertainty. Because he’s just now realizing that coming here to threaten me was a mistake.

“You need to stay away from her.”

Right. This old song and dance again.

“Is that what Rae told you to tell me?”

“Stop saying her name.” His jaw tenses, which is all the confirmation I need to know that Rae isn’t aware that he’s here. “You two had your time together, and it didn’t work out because you weren’t man enough to keep your nose clean.”

Even though he doesn’t come right out and say it, I hear the knowledge of my struggles with addiction wrapped up in between the lines of the insult, and it stings because the only way he could have that information is if Rae gave it to him. Funny that she felt so comfortable giving him my truths when she didn’t deem him worthy of holding hers.

“She’s moved on now,” Aaron continues. “We’re happy and building a life together, and one day soon, we’re going to start a family. I’m sure the last thing you want is to be the pathetic, druggie ex who doesn’t know when to let go.”

I bristle internally when he says he and Rae are going to start a family. What kind of shit is that to say when you’re with a woman who already has a kid? Does he not consider Riley his family? Does he not look at her as his child? What kind of fucking asshole is Rae dealing with?

“My only interest in Rae is the access she might allow me to my daughter,” I respond, catching us both off guard. The statement doesn’t feel completely true. I love Rae. I’ll always love her, but Riley is my priority.

Knowing her.

Loving her.

Showing up for her in all the ways the jackass in front of me probably hasn’t.

“Oh,” Aaron says, all the wind he’d been using to puff out his chest slipping out of him alongside the word. “She told you about Riley.”

Now, I’m really confused.

“You didn’t know?”

It takes a second for Aaron to recover and process my question. When he does, he chooses to lie, badly. “Of course, I knew. Rae and I talk about everything.”

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