Page 120 of The Bonus

His eyes drop down my body and back up to my face. “You’re not going out dressed like that.”

I look down at myself, have I got something spilled on me or something? “Like what?”

“You’re wearing gym clothes out in public?” He frowns.

“Yes, Gabriel. I am not a catwalk model like your fiancée, nor would I want to be. Go home to her.”

He narrows his eyes.

The sky has turned red, this man is the most infuriating sexist pig of all time. I stomp out and dive into the car and start the engine and he knocks on the window.

Adrenaline is pumping through my body and I glare at him through the window.

He knocks again.

“Mom…” Lucy says from the back seat. “What are you doing?”

Be the adult.

“Nothing.” I fake a smile and wind down the window as I act calm. “Yes, Gabriel.”

“I will come to the game before I leave this afternoon.”

“Okay.” I grip the steering wheel with white-knuckle force and widen my eyes at him.

Don’t push me, fucker…I am about to end you.

“So I will see you all later this afternoon, okay?” he says over me to the children in the backseat.

“Okay.” Lucy smiles.

Gabriel turns his attention to Dom. “I’ll see you this afternoon, Dominic?”

Dominic shrugs.

Gabriel’s cold eyes roam over to me and from the look on his face it’s obvious he blames me for Dominic’s hatred.

“This has nothing to do with me.”

He glares at me and I glare right back.

Screw you.

I pull out and drive down the road before I say something nasty and horrible in front of my children.

I need to be a better person…for them.

The crowd cheers and I sit in the stands and stare into space. I’m here in body, but mentally, I’m a million miles away.

Saturday afternoon at Little League, it’s mid-afternoon and the weight of the world is on my shoulders. As the adrenaline from our fight this morning left my body, it’s been replaced by a sense of melancholy.

I get a vision of him in his boxers last night, his bare chest and his hard dick…

Ugh…

As impossible as Gabriel is, I cannot deny the physical attraction I have for him. It’s deep in my soul and I now know for certain that I will never be rid of this curse.

I hate it, and damn it, I just need him to leave and go and get married.

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