Page 48 of Single Mom's Mountain Men
Charlie follows my gaze, and his face heats when he sees it. He immediately stands to grab the panties off the floor.
I stand too, the suppressed anger surging back to the surface. "Are those Patty's?"
He doesn't respond, tucking the panties into his pocket. The implication of what I just found rips through my mind, and I piece it together with his locked door this afternoon and Patty's sudden appearance at Mitch's shed.
"Oh, you bastard," I snarl and then launch myself at my brother.
CHAPTER 17
Patty
Ihave a dream about Keegan for the first time in a long time.
I know it’s a dream because the twisted memory is of the first time Keegan ever hit me.
He was agitated that morning, searching around for the expensive watch that he always wore for important business meetings. I didn't know the name of the watch and was too much of a simpleton to really tell one shiny watch from another, but I knew it cost ten thousand dollars because Keegan said as much.
“Maybe you left it at the office,” I suggested as I ironed his shirt, trying to be helpful. “Didn’t you tell me that sometimes you like to take it off when the cops come snooping around?’
“It's not at the office. I already had Eva search the whole place and she said it wasn’t there.”
I tightened my lips against the words that threaten to burst forth.And how much do you trust Eva to tell you the truth?I wanted to remind him that Eva had sticky fingers back in high school and I wouldn’t put it past her to take this chanceto snag that watch and sell it for however much she could get for it.
But of course, I didn't say what I was thinking because Keegan wouldn't believe me anyway. He'd just accuse me of being jealous of Eva because she’s younger and prettier than me. And to be fair, she was, but I didn't see why he kept bringing it up every time I raised my concerns about the woman.
“Damn it, where the fuck is it?” He tossed the throw pillows that I spent ages deep cleaning to the floor and tore off the rest of the sectional cushions.
“My love, you’re making a mess,” I said, coming up behind him.
“That's not the fucking problem. The problem is that I can’t find my damn watch."
I sighed. "Alright, I'll help you look." I tried to retrace his steps from when he came in last night, leading me into the kitchen and close to the backdoor.
He'd come in, kissed me, and then rushed upstairs while taking off his clothes, insisting he needed a shower desperately for a meeting he'd had.
I now walked up the stairs to the bathroom, and immediately spotted it, glinting on the floor by the sink.
I leaned down and picked it up, groaning at the cracked surface.
He's not going to like that.
“I found it," I announced and in two seconds, Keegan was at my shoulder. I flinched a little as he grabbed the watch roughly, his thumb running over the screen reverently.
“It’s broken,” he said, sounding so horrified you would have thought someone died. “Did you break it?”
“Of course not,” I said. "That’s how I found it.”
"What do you fucking mean that's how you found it? Itwasn't broken last night. Did you drop it when you were cleaning or something?"
"No," I responded defensively. "Maybe you dropped it when you rushed out of here last night on whatever secret meeting you were having."
His eyes sparked but I was too young and naive to tell the danger then. I thought we were simply having a disagreement, one that we could easily resolve. I rolled my eyes and reached for the watch. “Don’t worry. I know someone who can get this fixed in a jiff."
My hand had barely touched the surface of the watch when a blow landed on my cheek, throwing my back hard against the porcelain of the sink. I braced myself against it as pain exploded in my head, stinging on my skin. My ears rang for seconds, but I could still hear Keegan rage in my face. "You know a guy? This is a ten thousand dollar watch and you think some guy you know can fix it?”
Tears sprang to my eyes, mostly from the shock than the pain in all honesty.Keegan just slapped me.The words were singing in my mind, but they didn't feel real yet. Nothing felt real. I felt like I was stuck in a nightmare where Keegan, the love of my life, the father of the baby I was carrying, had just slapped me.
Suddenly hands were on my shoulders then a finger on my chin.
