Page 37 of Restrictions

“Not just that. You’re complicated for so many fucking reasons.”

She moves out of my hold, walking over to her dresser and taking her earrings out of her lobes, looking at me through the reflection in the mirror over her dresser. “Just get out.”

I nod, moving slowly to the door, not wanting to leave, but forcing myself to do just that.

I know she’s pissed right now, but she’ll thank me tomorrow.

16

VIVIENNE

Ifeel like death. Drinking half a bottle of wine was probably not a great idea. I use my arm to shield my eyes from the sunlight peeking through my window and groan as I force myself to get out of bed.

I make my way to Sebastian’s room and see his bed is empty, but I hear him laughing from downstairs and know he’s probably with Asher.

Asher.

Jesus, did I actually hit on him last night? Try to convince him to sleep with me? Use me?

“I’ll spread my legs for you.”

Yeah, that came out of my mouth. I try to shake that off, but figuratively only because, my god, my head is killing me, and I don’t think shaking it would be a good idea right now. I didn’t bother to remove my makeup last night and just pulled my hair into a messy ponytail. I don’t even want to see a mirror. I changed out of my dress and into sweat shorts and a large t-shirt before climbing into my bed last night.

I walk down the stairs to the kitchen where I see Asher standing at the stove wearing a tank top and black joggers, flipping pancakes in a pan, and not just any pancakes—Mickey Mouse pancakes.

“Mommy!” Baz runs to me, wrapping his little arms around my leg, and I smile down at him, happy to see him.

“Good morning, sweetie! Did you have fun last night?”

He nods happily, going back to his plate of cut-up pancake, poking a fork through one of the pieces. “I did. Sawyer is funny.”

I laugh at the way he says Sawyer, it sounding more like “Swearer.” “Yeah, he’s something.”

My eyes meet Asher’s, who’s holding out a plate with a pancake on it. “You want one?”

I wave it off, trying to be polite and not completely humiliated by my actions last night. “No, thank you. I’m not hungry.”

He nods as if he already knew that would be the case. He places the plate on the counter, goes to the cabinet where we keep the medicine and hands me two ibuprofen pills instead. That I do take.

I grab a cup from the cabinet and fill it with water, taking the pills. “Thank you.”

“No problem.”

I can’t read him this morning. He seems to be cautious around me, and I suppose that makes sense after the way I acted last night.

I take a seat across from my son at the table as he stuffs his adorable little face. “So, you were okay last night? What did you do?”

He’s still chewing as he thinks about my question. “We watched Spiderman, and then Swearer had to go home because Uncle Asher has no balls.”

Baz starts cracking up, and I look over my shoulder at Asher, who’s fighting a laugh, shaking his head. “Sawyer still has no filter but actually did pretty well.”

I sigh and turn back to Sebastian. “That’s not something you should say.”

“Why? Balls are fun.” Sebastian looks confused now as I turn back to Asher.

He shrugs, turning off the burner and walking over to join us. “He’s not wrong.”

I decide to let it go and focus back on Baz. “So, what do you want to do today?”

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