Page 19 of Bending The Rules

“Any news on the banners?”

“They’ll be ready tomorrow.”

“Cool. Everything else in line?”

“Yep.”

A few seconds later, my mother was back with Justin’s little girl, and my shoulders sank in relief, because that meant they were about to leave.

“We found them!” she declared, holding up several books in her hands.

“Yeah, I see,” Justin said. “Come here, let me introduce you to somebody.” She smiled big, and her glittery pink tennis shoes lit up with every step as she padded up to me, and my mother went back to handle the register. “Brielle, this is Ms. Toni. She used to be daddy’s best friend, in the whole world.”

Brielle’s eyes went wide, and mine narrowed at Justin.

“Used to be?” she asked, sounding devastated.

Justin squatted down to her level. “Yeah, muffin. She’s mad at me.”

“Why is she mad at you daddy?”

“Because daddy made a bad mistake.”

Bri gasped, then turned to me. “Did he promise to take you to the park, but forgot before it got too dark to go? He’s done that to metha-reetimes,” she said, holding up three short little fingers for emphasis.

“No, sweetheart,” I said, glaring at Justin. “He knows exactly what he did, and I hope he doesn’t think thatthishelps.” I actually turned to Bri then, and smiled. “But it was very nice to meet you, and I hope youloveyour books, okay?”

Her happy grin returned, and she nodded, running toward the front counter. I turned to go the other way, but Justin caught me around the arm.

“Hold up, Toni. We need to talk.”

I snatched away from him. “You keep saying that, and then nothing butbullshitcomes out of your mouth. Using the baby, Justin?Really?” I stormed to the back of the store, losing myself in the stacks of storage. I put a hand to my chest, trying to calm my racing heart.

“God he makes me so damn sick!” I fussed out loud, to no one but myself.

“Damn. And here I was hoping today would be the day I changed your mind.”

I rolled my eyes as I turned to see Justin standing on the other side of a stack of boxes, with his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. It annoyed me that I was cognizant of how good he looked, in a lightweight sweater that clung to biceps I didn’t remember him having. I crossed my arms and glared, hoping my expression was as pissed off as I felt.

“I don’t know why the hell you would think that.”

He took a few steps forward, so that the boxes were the only thing separating us. “Because today is the day we’re going to talk this shit out.”

“Funny, that you think there’s something totalkabout. The only thing you can do is kiss my ass, Justin.”

He smirked.

A sexy one.

“Will that make you listen?”

I huffed. “Sure, pucker up. Just make sure you aim for the spot right below where you stabbed me in the back, okay?”

We stared each other down, for several long moments before he spoke again.

“They were going to ruin you, Toni,” he said, without a single trace of humor. He was serious.

“Who isthey?”

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