Page 5 of The B!tch List

I never cussed. When working with little kids it was a real bad idea. You have any idea how often those kids repeat stuff? Imagine them going home, they bang their toe and shout out ‘shit that fucking hurts’. What their parents say in front of them was one thing, but I was not going to be the one to sully those sweet innocent lips.

Bang, bang, bang.

“Nancy, I know you’re in there. I can smell your breath.”

Damn it. What the hell had I done to deserve this? I must have been a real bad person in a past life to have landed myself with Shaw Jackson. Lily was right, I really needed a distraction from his penis. I was kind of obsessed with it, even though I couldn’t stand the sight of him. Just hearing his voice on the other side of the door made my cooch sit up and beg.

Shaw Jackson was most definitely a Grandmaster of the Cooch. In fact, I was going to rename his penis and balls Grandmaster Schlong and the Furious Two. I bet they did an amazing cover of The Message!

Laughing quietly at my own stupidity, I dropped my feet to the floor and with a sigh pushed up from the couch. Catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I second guessed my thought process of answering the door. I had a bird’s nest on my head, coffee down my t-shirt, a huge spot on my chin while wearing the baggiest pair of sweats known to man. It was day two of my period and it was no better than day one.

“Doesn’t matter,” I hissed, as I turned the lock on the door. “Not like I care what he thinks of me anyway.”

“Shit,” Shaw groaned as I flung the door open. “Don’t you look pretty.”

“Not that I care what you think of me, Shaw, but I have my period.”

He visibly winced and then broke into a grin. “That means…”

I rolled my eyes. “Correct. You haven’t left me with the worst souvenir possible of the worst experience ever.”

“Bullshit,” he said as he pushed past me. “You loved every damn second of it.”

He was right, I had. Didn’t make me like him as a person any better though. The egotistical numbnut.

“Come in why don’t you,” I grumbled and pushed the door closed behind him.

“Official business not a booty call.” He turned and flashed me what I hated to admit was a sexy grin. He was actually sexy full stop with his tight ass, ripped stomach and eyes that sparkled like the most beautiful ocean. He even walked sexily. He was the blond-haired, blue-eyed boy every girl would want if he wasn’t such a… well, there weren’t any words bad enough to describe him. I think I’d exhausted every insult I could think of, and I liked to be innovative whenever possible. Maybe I’d spend the evening thinking up new ones.

“What official business could you have with me?” I asked, my attention back on Shaw as I watched him bend to take a chocolate from the box on my coffee table. “Please help yourself.”

He turned and shrugged, popping the chocolate into his mouth, and then opened his mouth to speak with it full—so disgusting. “Annie Baker has decided not to testify in the Ranger custody case.”

“She said she would.” I folded my arms over my coffee-stained chest, feeling a little pissed at the teacher I was the aide for. “She was the one who first mentioned to me that Eddie seemed uneasy when his dad picked him up from school. It was because of her that I kept an eye out.”

“Yeah well.” He sighed. “She’s decided her brother-in-law’s job with Brad Ranger is more important.”

I gasped. “She can’t do that. Her duty is to Eddie as his teacher.”

“My thoughts exactly, but we can’t force her to testify.”

“And now you want me to?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“That’s about the size of it, yeah.”

I shrugged. “Sure. Whatever I can do to help. I mean all I will be able to say is how excited he was when his mom picked him up, opposed to how he could get emotional and nervous when it was his dad. I don’t think he was being abused or anything like that,” I stressed. “I don’t want those words being put into my mouth.”

“No, we know that. There’s nothing to say he ever has been. We just know he prefers to be with his mom.” Shaw pushed his hands into the pockets of his charcoal-colored dress pants. I couldn’t help but gaze at his corded, tanned forearms which were on show under rolled back shirtsleeves. “Tate will just want you to say what you saw, nothing more nothing less.”

“I can do that.”

We watched each other in silence for a beat until I started to feel a little uncomfortable and cleared my throat.

“So, is that it?”

“Yep.” He flashed me a tight smile and then made for the door, pausing with his hand on the knob. . “You going to Kitty’s birthday party?”

Jefferson had arranged a forty-ninth birthday party for Kitty because, according to Lily, her mom was absolutely dreading being fifty the following year. Jefferson therefore wanted her to have a huge party this year so she could let her fiftieth cruise by without any fuss.

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