Page 103 of Until I Have You

I grab at my shirt.Want to rip it off.Clothes feel too constricting for the building panic inside me.“For fuck’s sake, Edwin, I have considered it every moment that we’ve–”

Jack gasps.“So, the babysitting was a coverup for–”

“No!That’s all genuine.I promise, I–we –”

Nate emerges from the house.“What the hell is happening?”

I run my hands over my face.

“Oh,Bugger all.”I’ve got an angry father and two brothers closing in on me.

“Theo and Abigail–” Jack starts to explain.

But I won’t just stand here and be slandered like this.“Don’t!You know nothing about it!”

Nate and Jack stare at me like I’ve just admitted to a felony.

“None of you know anything about it and instead of being reasonable, you’re–”

Edwin jerks forward.“You want me to be reasonable when you’ve beenfucking my daughter?”

Nate pulls Edwin back.“Dad, easy!”

“Oh, bite me, Lyons,” I hiss at Edwin.“You’re not so innocent yourself, what with your wife being–”

“I didn’tknowSonia was Nate’s girlfriend!That’s the difference!”Edwin yells back.“YouknewAbigail was mine from the beginning.”

I laugh, dark and heavy.“She’s notyours,mate.She’s her own fucking person, and she made every one of her own decisions when it came to…to…” Fine.Out with it.“Us.”

Edwin shakes his head.“I can’t even look at you.”

“Feeling is mutual.”My gaze darts to Jack and then to Nate, both of them somewhere between incensed and bewildered.Still trying to catch up with the story.

I should get out of here before they catch on.

Without another word, I head back inside the house.“Bonnie!”I call out.“Bonnie, we’re leaving.”

Bonnie looks up from the puzzle, confusion amassed on her brow.“We just got here.”

I look at Sonia who is knelt beside her, working on the puzzle.

Sonia cannot hold my stare.Coward.

“Yes, well, something came up,” I say, going to her and grabbing her hand.

“Ow!”she yelps.

I mutter an apology for my grip being tight, dragging her through the house, past Laney and Camilla, past a groggy Bridget and Seth, not bothering to mutter goodbyes or congratulations.

By the time we get outside, Bonnie is in tears.“Why are you mad at me?”

“I’m not mad at you,” I say, unable to modulate my tone, still so on edge from my confrontation with Edwin.

Bonnie doesn’t deserve my fury, but I am only a man.I do all this fucking shit on my own.Take care of her, run a business, look out for everyone else.And the second I step out of line, the second I do something for me, I am a villain.

“Then why can’t I stay and play?”She sobs.

I pick her up off the ground, but she is obstinate, refusing to give in, thrashing her limbs and letting her cry turn into a wail.“Blimey, Bonnie–”

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