Page 115 of Somebody's Watching Me
It wasn’t his fault her body was useless.
Nor was it his fault that he was obviously great at being a father. The love he had for the kids was so unfamiliar, and while he didn’t always know how to handle it, he tried, thinking it made him a better man. Sometimes he fantasized that they belonged to Viv and not Becca.Especially Livy. If he ever told Viv the truth, he just knew it would be Livy who she would grow to love, and then maybe his daughter could come to live with them.
Sitting back against the headboard, he ignored Becca’s pouting. It usually only took him a minute or two to rebound, but after doing a few lines, there would be a wait.
Which always pissed her off.
Gone was the skinny girl he’d fucked in the parking lot of the Blue 42. A little fuller in the hips, a little rounder in the belly, Becca had become more woman than girl as the years went on, and Charlie really couldn’t say that he cared for the change.
She straddled him. “Hurry up.”
“Easy,” he ordered when she rolled her hips and the headboard banged against the wall. “I don’t want the kids in here.”
“Tonight was supposed to be fun.”
The headboard continued to make noise, and he shoved her off him. “I said stop.”
“It’s not me.”
They went quiet and realized someone was knocking on the front door. Charlie shot off the bed, angry at the interruption. “It’s probably Devon, wondering why the kids didn’t come back to the main house.”
Pulling on his pants, he stormed to the front door, fully ready to give Devon a piece of his mind. But when he opened it, the last person he ever expected to see was standing on the other side.
“Get dressed and go home.” Ben glared at him from the darkened porch. “Vivian’s plane is landing in an hour.”
The color drained from Charlie’s face. “What?”
“Yeah, she apparently missed her husband so much that she rebooked her flight to come home early,” his brother said sarcastically. “The only reason I know is because Hillary found out.”
That bitch assistant of Ben’s came in handy sometimes. Hillary had saved all their asses on more than one occasion. “Give me a minute.”
Rushing to the bedroom, he dressed as fast as he could while Becca silently watched. Only when he slipped on his shoes did she finally speak. “I’m guessing you’re done with us, which is a shame since Livy was excited to have breakfast with her dad.”
Making all these women happy was becoming a full-time job. “Come here.” When she settled in his lap, Charlie nuzzled her neck. “Viv is coming home early.”
Becca’s lips twisted to the side, but she nodded, knowing there was no argument to be had.
“I love you, Becca.”
“I love you, too.”
She sounded so resigned. As if loving him was a death sentence. These long stretches of time apart weren’t helping, and disappointment struck. This night had been for him as much as her, but Viv coming home wasn’t something he could control.
Taking a few minutes to remind Becca why this struggle was worth it, he left her happy, knowing he would definitely need to shower the stench of sex off his skin when he got home.
Charlie found Ben still waiting on the porch. “What part about me saying, go home, did you not understand?”
“Unlike you, I know not to leave a woman unsatisfied.” He hated that his little brother could always get under his skin. “I’m assuming you wouldn’t understand since you’re no longer sleeping with your wife.”
Ben mumbled something, and they started across the lawn. “Nice to hear you’re talking to Mom again. Tell the bitch I said to fuck off and stop bribing Parkland’s staff for information.”
Helen was forever looking for a chink in Ben’s armor, wanting revenge on her son. It shocked no one when he threw their mother out of Parkland Grounds. Charlie had tried to talk him out of it, or at leasttried to convince him not to make such a spectacle out of the ordeal, but his brother was always going to do whatever he wanted, and publicly unloading their mother had been goal number one.
“Why did you drive all the way out here to tell me about Viv?” Charlie asked as they walked. At least it had stopped raining, with only the mist and fog rolling in off the bayou remaining. “A phone call would have worked.”
“Not that it’s your business, but I’ve been staying at the beach house while the towers are completed and wanted to stop in to see Selah.”
Under Ben’s rule, Fairweather Holdings was quickly becoming almost unrecognizable. The problem was that not only did that success guarantee them all comfortable lives, but it also kept investors like his father-in-law wanting more, leaving them constantly fighting for control of the company.
