Page 54 of Under My Skin

My stomach started churning with unease and my heart felt like it was going to pound its way out of my chest as I stared at that message. Why the hell did he needmefor anything involving his lawyer?

He had to be taking me to court. Trying to get custody of Isaac. Maybe even suing me for emotional distress for keeping this from him. He probably wanted me there so he could serve me with the papers himself in a neutral location. I’d only just started to accept my feelings for him, and nowhehatedme. The way I used to wish I could hate him.

And the worst part was, I deserved it. I’d had choices every single step of the way, and time and again, I’d made the wrong ones – the ones that had ended up causing him the most pain – just to makemypain easier to live with. I didn’t deserve a second chance.

I didn’t want to meet him on Monday. I didn’t want to face the harsh reality that I’d lost him for good. But after what I’d put him through last night, I knew I owed him this much. And I owed him a real apology to his face, not just a halfhearted text. No matter what the outcome was.

Me

Sure. See you then.

CHAPTER TWENTY

BRADEN

My whole bodywas vibrating with nervous energy and simmering anger as I walked into the offices of Garman and Garman Public Relations with Malachi on one side and my attorney, Glenn, on the other. My hands were clenched into fists at my sides, I could hear my heart beating in my ears, and it felt like someone had my entire chest in a vise grip.

How the fuck was I supposed to share breathing space with Vicki fucking Preston without jumping across the table and strangling her? How was I supposed to act calm and professional when this woman had done so many evil, heartless, and unforgivable things not just to me, but to my infant son andbothof his mothers?

“Mr. Hicks, Mr. Houston, Mr. Salinger,” Becky, the secretary at the front desk, greeted us. “Come with me. Everyone’s waiting for you in the conference room.”

My heartrate – which was already dangerously high – kicked up another few notches as we followed this chick through the office. If I couldn’t find some way to calm the fuck down, I’d end up turning desks over and punching holes in walls.

I just needed to hold my shit together for twenty fucking minutes so I could do what I’d come here to do, and then I’dnever have to see any of these assholes ever again. I could go pound on my punching bag until my knuckles bled after this was over. At least until I had to meet Dani at Glenn’s office to have him rip up that fucking contract and NDA, and to let her know that I was going to have him help me set up a trust for her and Isaac. Even if she didn’t want anything to do with me from here on out, I wanted to make sure they would be taken care of.

“Becky, give us just a second,” Glenn said just as she was reaching for the doorknob of the conference room. “We can show ourselves in if you need to get back to the desk.”

Becky nodded. “I’ll leave you here, then.”

As soon as she was out of earshot, Malachi turned to me and put a hand on my arm.

“You ready for this?” he asked.

“No,” I bit out. “You might have to bodily restrain me the second I see the bitch.”

“That’s why I’m here,” he said with a humorless chuckle. “Well, that and to get these assholes out ofmycareer too.”

“Both of you, take a deep breath,” Glenn said, ever the consummate professional. “I want you to let me do the talking, at least at first. Got it?”

I gave him a tense nod and took a long, controlled inhale. “Got it.”

“Mal?” He cocked an eyebrow at my friend.

“Understood.”

“Good.” Glenn turned the doorknob and pushed the door to the conference room open, gesturing for me and Malachi to walk in first.

The second I caught a glimpse of the bottle-blonde hair and too-tight black dress that I wassurewent against the dress code in this office, I saw red. My temples started pounding and I could feel my jugular throbbing as my heart started to hammer so hardthat I thought it might actually fly out of my chest and splatter against the wall.

“Braden!” the snake exclaimed, looking almost elated, as she stood up and started to walk over to me with a serpentine smile pasted on her face. “Honey, I’m?—”

“Sit. Down. Vicki,” I clipped out, low and deadly.

A stupid confused expression replaced the slimy grin, and it took every ounce of energy in my entire body to just quickly walk to a chair and sit down next to Malachi instead of throttling her with my bare hands. Under normal circumstances, I wouldneverhave hit a woman. Not in a million years. But for this evil bitch, I was a mere millimeter away from making an exception. I kept my eyes down, staring at the ugly-ass faux mahogany conference table and fidgeting with one of those stupid little black plastic hole covers that you could stick computer cords through just to give my handssomethingto keep them occupied.

“Lloyd. Louis. Bob. Vicki. I appreciate you making time for us this morning,” Glenn said as he set his briefcase on the table.

“Of course,” Lloyd Garman, the elder of the two brothers who co-owned this firm, said from behind his laptop screen. “It sounded urgent when we spoke on the phone.”

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