Page 509 of Savage Bosses

She steps closer and pats my cheek, and I grab her hand, tightening my grip on her wrist. “Jealousy doesn’t become you at all, Ambrose.”

“I need you to be a more responsible mother, Lyndsey! Cee-Cee told me that Garrett Rhodes and Van Lyons spent the night at your house. You know what she said? ‘Mom has all the coolest friends, Dad. They get to spend the night with us, too!’ Why the fuck does my thirteen-year-old daughter think it’s okay that different men are parading in and out of her home?”

“What I do in my personal time is none of your business, Ambrose! You left the marriage! You divorced me not the other way around so you don’t get to say anything about who I spend my free time with.”

“That’s the problem. It’s not yourfreetime. It’s time that you should be spending with our daughter. It would be different if there was one steady person you were exposing her to.”

“Maybe if you were more worried about your personal life the way you are mine, you would have one.”

My fists clench at my side as I work hard to control my temper. My daughter is my world, and I want nothing more than to protect her from Lyndsey’s whorish, manipulative ways, but she has me in a box where Cee-Cee’s concerned. She always uses my love against me, and there’s not much I can do about that. If she needs me, I’m right there.

“This is the last time that you pull this off, Lyndsey. The next time, I’m returning to court and pursuing full custody.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” she hisses at me.

“Just try me,” I snarl.

She jerks away and walks towards the door. “I’ll be back next weekend.”

I close my eyes as she jerks the door open only to hear the voice that now haunts my dreams.

“I was just…hello,” Brynlee greets as my eyes fly open.

“Hello. Pretty little secretary, Ambrose,” Lyndsey says sassily, chuckling as she walks away.

The bitch. She knows exactly who Brynlee is just as the look on Brynlee’s face confirms she remembers Lyndsey.

“Daddy, the vending machine broke,” Cee-Cee says.

Brynlee presses her lips together in a tight smile and holds a pack of cookies in the air, shaking them.

“Miss Brynlee to the rescue,” she says in a choked voice, holding up the cookies. “I found this one assaulting the vending machine. I wasn’t aware she belonged to you until she started storming this way. These belong to you,” she says, handing the cookies to Cee-Cee.

“Thanks.”

Brynlee nods and turns to walk out the door.

“Wait,” I say.

She pauses but doesn’t turn to look at me.

“Bryn,” I say softly.

“Yes.”

“Um…I want you to formally meet my daughter, Camryn Hope Charles.”

“Dad,” Cee-Cee whines. “It’s Cee-Cee,” my daughter says, rolling her eyes.

In her peach-colored, form-fitting dress, Brynlee turns and extends her hand. “It’s a pleasure to formally meet you, Miss Cee-Cee.”

Cee-Cee eyes Brynlee carefully and then me before turning back to Brynlee. “Are you my dad’s new girlfriend?”

“Cee-Cee!” I warn.

“No, sweetheart. Your dad is my brother’s best friend and now my boss,” she says simply.

“Oh,” Cee-Cee says, and I wonder at the disappointment in her voice.

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