Page 44 of London Inked Boys: The Complete Trilogy
“You want me to hide? Are you ashamed of me being here?”
Frustrated panic fills me. “No, it’s nothing like that. Of course not. But this isn’t how I would plan for this to happen.”
“Holly?” Mike’s voice comes booming up the stairs. “You not up yet?”
I stare in horror at the shut bedroom door. Footsteps are approaching, and Kane still hasn’t moved.
“Please,” I beg him again, pointing at the adjoining bathroom door.
“Okay, okay.” He hops out of bed, heading towards the bathroom.
I don’t have time to appreciate his body or the patchwork of artwork across his skin. The bedroom door opens, and then my ex-husband and my son are both standing in the gap, gawping at the stranger I brought into our home.
Mike straightens, his eyes narrowing. “What the hell is this?”
I cast my gaze to our six-year-old son. “Dylan, honey, why don’t you go wait downstairs for a few minutes. I’ll be down in a sec, okay? Mummy was just ... showing her friend where the bathroom is.”
Dylan looks uncertainly between us all, and then, perhaps sensing this is an adult problem, nods and vanishes from the doorway.
Kane’s already picking up his clothes and shrugging them on. He looks at me and gives a small shake of the head, as though he’s disappointed in me. My stomach sinks. Shit. Fucking Mike.Why won’t he ever stick to our agreements? I should’ve known better.
Every muscle in my body tenses, my breath catching as Kane pushes past Mike to leave. For a moment, I’m worried they’ll ended up having a fight, but both men ignore each other, and Mike lets Kane go, though he shakes his head in much the same way Kane had.
I follow the thump of Kane’s footsteps going down the stairs, and then I jump as the front door slams shut. He has left. A wave of sadness sweeps over me. Yesterday had been one of the best days I’ve had for a long time, and now the reason for the best day has walked out of the door and will never want to see me again.
Mike turns his attention to me. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Holly, bringing a man like that into this house.”
I glare at him. “Don’t use language like that while Dylan is in the house.”
“I think the language I use is the least of his concerns right now. What were you thinking? You’re lucky you weren’t robbed while you were sleeping.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Kane is a nice guy.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “Nice guy? Have you seen the state of him? Long hair and tattoos. Honestly, Holly, I thought you had better taste than that.”
I arch my eyebrows in return. “What, like you, you mean?”
His lip lifts in a sneer. “Yeah, someone with a steady job and who looks like he’s washed once in a while. The thought of his hands all over you makes me sick to my stomach.”
“He has a steady job,” I snap back. “And you have no right to think of whose hands are going anywhere near me. You lost that right when you cheated, remember?”
“Well, I still don’t like the idea of you bringing strange men into my house.”
I gape at him. “Your house? This isn’t your house anymore.”
“While my name is still on the mortgage, I think you’ll find it is, and this kind of behaviour isn’t appropriate with a child around.”
“So that’s convenient. You get to tell me what to do, while you can bring as many floozies as you want into your brand-new apartment! And by the way, I wasn’t supposed to have a child around this weekend. You were supposed to have had Dylan until this evening, but instead you’ve brought him back early for some reason.”
“Something has come up at work,” he says. “I have to go in to the office today.”
My lip curls. “On a Sunday? Seriously?”
“Yes, on a Sunday. You know I have to work Sundays sometimes.”
“The only times you ever said you were working Sundays was when you were out doing something else entirely.”
“That’s not true.”
