Page 466 of Hell Hath No Fury
He reared back like he’d been hit. “The man fuckin’ raised his voice at you while you were breastfeedin’ your kid?”
I nearly burst into tears.
“Shit, Bryn, I’m sorry,” he rushed to say. “Didn’t mean to—”
“Don’t apologize,” I rasped. “Look, the short story is this. Bryce is the senior pastor of a mega church. He had been sleeping with his secretary for six years,sixyears, and I had no idea because I was overworked and quite frankly, undersexed. The powers that be worked overtime to keep his transgressions from me, but my best friend knew something was up and she’s afucking bulldog and went digging. That was four years ago. I’m two years past my divorce now. My kids are good. I’m good. I’m probably still working too much, but because Bryce’s money isn’t taxable, I’m pretty sure he was able to hide a lot of it, so I have to work. My dad left me some money so I was able to buy a nice house after my divorce was final, and it was something Bryce couldn’t touch, but I still have to pay the mortgage. Briggs leaves for school in a few weeks, Baylor’s already gone, so I will be totally alone in my giant house, and I’m freaking out a little bit.” I took a deep breath. “I plan to work a little extra, spend more time with my mom, and lunch like a fucking desperate housewife if it kills me.”
“All your names start with ‘B’?”
“Yeah.” I blinked at him. “Bryce’s idea.”
“Not to insult your kids or anything, but Bryce’s a fuckin’ douche.”
I suddenly burst into giggles, probably brought on by the wine. “Bryce isabsolutelya douche.”
Our server arrived. “Can I refill your drinks?”
“Yes,” Harm said.
“I better not,” I countered. “I have to drive home.”
“I’ll get you home,” he offered.
“My car’s here.”
“Got that covered,” he said, nodding to the server who walked away.
“What do you mean, you have that covered?” I asked.
“Texted a couple of recruits. They’ll follow us back to your place, so you can drink,” he said. “Unless you don’t feel comfortable with me knowin’ where you live.”
I bit my lip. “Let’s see how the night goes. I’ll call Avery if I need a ride. She’s my best friend.”
“Fair enough.”
The server returned with another glass of wine, and I decided it was too good to waste.
CHAPTER THREE
Brynley
Three hours and two more glasses of wine later (maybe it was three), I decided I better get home. I wasn’t going to tell Harm this, but Bryce had been blowing up my phone for the last hour, and I’d ignored him for as long as I could. I needed to get home and find out what the hell was so urgent.
“I’ll wait for you to call your friend,” Harm offered.
Maybe it was the wine talking, but I just wasn’t ready to say goodnight. “Actually, if that offer’s still on the table to drive me home…?”
“Yeah, of course it is.” He grinned.
He paid the bill and we headed outside.
“Don’t we need to wait for your friends?” I asked.
“They’re already here.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, I took a chance just in case. Figured I’d be prepared either way.”
