Page 22 of The P Arrangement

Preston spread his hand wide and rubbed his temples before dropping it with a large sigh. “Mom, I ran into Delaney at the restaurant. She came to see Paxton.”

Rebecca looked at the clock on the oven and back to her son. “It’s almost ten o’clock.” Her eyes narrowed. “I set you up with a perfectly respectable lady tonight, Preston. One who wouldn’t come home with you for relations.” Her scornful gaze swung in my direction. “Unlike this harlot—”

“Enough.” Preston’s voice was firm.

My eyes widened at her blatant rudeness. My ex-mother-in-law might have always made it clear she didn’t like me, but she had never called me names before.

Preston glanced my way and gave me a polite smile that had nothing to do with happiness. “Give me a minute.”

“Sure. Take your time.”

At this point, I was not feeling sexy in the least. As soon as his mom left, I might literally go see Paxton, then escape home. I was pretty immune to Rebecca and her open disdain, but it was still a mood killer.

Preston grabbed his mother’s elbow like she was a child. She tried to shake him off, but he directed her to the front of the house at a fast clip, leaving her to follow or possibly lose an arm.

This was new.

He’d never manhandled her before.

As soon as they were out of sight, I sprinted after them. I stopped at the edge of the dining room so they couldn’t see me, but I made sure to stay within hearing range. Partly because I was curious and partly because I didn’t know if I would have to intervene. But mostly because I was curious.

“I think it’s time for you to leave,” Preston said.

Rebecca huffed. “I can’t believe you did that,” she said, completely ignoring what her son had just said to her.

“Me? I can’t believe you. You have no right to talk about Delaney like that.”

“Did you not bring her home to do something inappropriate?”

“Whatever I brought Delaney home for is none of your fucking business.”

I silently gasped. Prestonneverswore in front of his mother, much less when speakingtoher.

He was pissed.

Rebecca let out a horrified gasp. “Preston Charles—”

“Save it. That woman in there is my wife and the mother of your grandchild, and she deserves respect.”

My heart swelled at his words as heavy footsteps pounded across the floor and the front door was opened.

“Now, get out of my house until you can learn to behave yourself.” Preston’s voice was level but full of bite.

“Well, I cannot believe you are speaking—”

I rolled my eyes. The woman didn’t know when to give up.

“Get the fuck out of my house.”

Holding my breath, I waited to see if his mother argued again. If she did, I was going in there before Preston blew a blood vessel.

But after several beats, I heard the clicking of the high heels she always wore on the hardwood of the entryway and then the concrete on the front stoop.

“You’re going to regret this—”

The door slammed closed.

“I doubt that.” He muttered it so low that I almost didn’t hear him.

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