Page 37 of Falling for the Single Daddy

“I’ll be checking,” I growl. “Every single mention of Callie gets wiped. Tonight. Or I’ll make sure it does. Do you fucking understand me?”

He stares up at me. Realization drains into his drunk eyes. It’s as if this has all been a game up until now. But he can see that I’m not playing anymore. “Yes,” he whispers.

“And you owe Callie an apology,” I growl.

“I’m sorry,” he says instantly, looking at Callie. “Seriously. I’ll delete it. You’ll never see me again.”

“It’s time for you both to go. Now,” I bark.

Sloane rolls her eyes, seeming incapable of understanding why I’m reacting this way. It’s like she fully believes I’m going too far. Not for the first time; I wonder if she’s a sociopath. It’s the only explanation for her and Wes being raised the same way but her ending up like this.

“You might be hearing from my lawyer,” Sloane says as I hound them through the house, not giving her a chance to say goodbye to Emery. I don’t want my baby anywhere near her.

“What does that mean?” I growl.

“Seeing Emery tonight has reawakened my maternal instinct,” she replies. “It’s made me understand how much I’m missing. I was suffering from some mental health concerns, but those have passed now, and I finally feel capable of being a mother.”

She speaks as if rehearsing what she would say in a court of law.

I grit my teeth but say nothing, ignoring the look of victory on her face. They climb into the car.

“You need to get a cab,” I tell them. “You were both drunk or high when you got here, and you’ve drunk even more.”

Sloane giggles in a twisted way. “Aw, are you worried about me?”

“Notyou,” I snap. “I don’t want you hurting anybody.”

“Oh, relax.”

“I’m serious.” I put my hand on the car door. “Park the car outside the gate. Get it tomorrow. You need a cab. Or walk into town and get a hotel room for the night. I’m not letting you drive out of here.”

“We’re so impressed by you,” Sloane says sarcastically as I lead them to the gate. “You’re such an honorable, upstanding person. We’re in awe of your morality.”

I ignore her jabs. There’s no point rising—rather, falling—to her level. At least Jorge has shut his goddamn mouth. He’s like a cowed schoolboy as he gives me his car keys so I can park his vehicle outside the gates. After giving him the keys back, they walk toward town, some distance between them. My head hurts as I replay Sloane’s words about the court.

Emery deserves so much better. I shouldn’t be thinking like this. We only met recently. But screw it. It’s the truth. Emery deserves Callie.

Chapter Eighteen

Callie

I stare down at the forum posts. All I had to do was search my name with the wordnanny, and they came right up. He lies about me being late for work, about me demanding more money in the middle of family trips.She said if we didn’t pay her, she’d leave me then and there, knowing full well it was too late for me to make alternative arrangements.

Gray returns to the back porch. His eyes have that same intensity as earlier, that same readiness to protect me. Even though I told him not to, warmth rose in me when he picked up Jorge. That big bad wolf, who took so much joy in bullying me, was suddenly reduced to the pathetic nobody I always knew he was.

I refresh the forum page. Whoa. Grayreallyput the fear of God into him. The post is gone, replaced with a message.This post has been deleted.

“What’s that?” Gray asks, walking up behind me and placing his hand on my shoulder.

So much for being good, but after what has just happened, I feel a physical ache for comfort. And not just any comfort.Hiscomfort. I squeeze his hand and press down to feel his warmth against my shoulder. “It’s the forum post. He’s already deleted it. You must’ve freaked him out.”

“Good,” Gray snaps, pulls up a chair, and sits next to me, our legs touching. “I can’t believe she did that. And yet, no, I can. It’s her all over. She’s sick in the head.” After a pause, he says, “I know.”

“You know what?”

“The way you’re looking at me, you’re wondering how I was ever with a woman like that.”

“It does seem strange,” I murmur. “But I get it. Maybe she wasn’t already like that. Or your feelings for her blinded you to her bad parts.”

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