Page 49 of Reclaim Me

“Got anything else to add, Nugget?”

She shakes her head. “Nope.”

He holds out his fist and she bumps it with her own. “Alright then, let’s go win a science fair.”

18

HUNTER

Now

Riley’s first-place trophy sits in the center of the table, gleaming under the dim lights in the restaurant and upstaging the dry excuse for bread sticks Aaron ordered when we sat down.

He doesn’t want me here.

That much is clear from the way he glares at me every time Rae and I share a laugh over my interaction with Pierre. We’re laughing about it right now, and while I’m tuned into the way Rae’s lips curve every time she smiles, I’m also painfully aware of the daggers he’s sending me from across the table.

“I don’t think there’s anything funny about threatening someone else’s child,” he says, plucking a bread stick from the basket and breaking a piece off. “You know Riley could get kicked out of school for the stunt you pulled.”

Rae’s smile falters. I watch her hide the crack in her joy behind a sip of water and find myself wondering for the millionth time why she’s with this guy. I don’t think I’ve seen them share a genuine moment of affection since we sat down at the table, and everything about Rae’s posture suggests that they’re not quite as solid as Aaron’s arm draped over the back of her chair makes them seem.

“Don’t say that, Aaron,” she says through clenched teeth with her eyes on Riley to see if she heard what was said. Luckily, she’s too caught up in solving the word search on the back of her kid’s menu to notice.

“It’s true,” Aaron insists, unaware or unconcerned with the growing tension in Rae’s shoulders. “All that kid would have to do is tell his parents about Hunter’s brutish behavior, and they’d go to the headmaster?—”

“Mistress,” I correct.

The veins in both of his temples bulge at the same time. “Either way, all the parents would have to do is file a complaint, and then that’d be the end of that. They don’t give refunds on tuition either, so in addition to the embarrassment of being dismissed from the school, we’d be out tens of thousands of dollars.”

“That won’t happen, Aaron.”

“And what are you going to do if it does, Hunter? March up to the school and threaten the headmistress until she agrees to let Riley stay?”

One day, very, very soon, I’m going to give in to my urge to punch this asshole in the face, but today I settle for the satisfaction of blowing his mind by showing him that I have more than strength and good looks on my side.

“No, I’d probably just call up my good friend, Sorel Hartwick, and explain the situation, making sure she’s aware that I was acting from a place of pure concern for my daughter. Since her name is on the door, and she sits on the Board of Directors for the school, I’m sure she’d be able to smooth over any bumps in the road my brutish approach might have caused.”

“You know a Hartwick?” Rae asks, impressed even though she doesn’t want to be.

“Sorel was a friend of Legacy’s,” I say, toying with my napkin. “We’ve stayed in touch over the years. She comes to the gym sometimes for goat yoga.”

At the mention of Legacy, Rae’s features soften. She holds my gaze and that thing that happens every time we look at each other in the eye for too long starts to happen. Threads of fate unravel between us. One end of each string is attached to my heart while the other roots around, trying to find a home in hers. Seconds pass in the form of memories only we can see, moving so slowly they create a new path for time. One where only Rae and I exist.

“Goat yoga?!” Riley exclaims, pulling us out of our bubble. “Who would want to do yoga with goats?”

Riley is the only person I’d never resent for interrupting a moment with Rae, so I turn an indulgent smile on her. “A lot of people.”

“You?” she asks, brows furrowed together.

“I tried it once,” I admit, which makes Riley and her mom laugh. “I had to see what it was about.”

Even though I’ve managed to lighten the mood, Aaron seems determined to make it turn dim again. He doesn’t share in our laughter, which causes Rae to pull back, too. She tries to make her fading humor look natural, so Riley or I don’t notice.

But I do notice, and it pisses me the fuck off.

“Maybe you could ask her to give us a friend’s and family discount on the outrageous tuition the next time you two are doing downward facing dog with a goat on your back,” Aaron says, infusing false levity into his voice to make it sound like a joke even though every adult at the table knows it’s not.

“Aaron.”

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