Page 118 of To Hate Adam Connor

“Tell him,” Aiden pressed.

“I’m sure they missed you, buddy.”

“See, Daddy? Even Dan missed me when he didn’t see me for a whole day. Dan got to see me, we should let them see me too.”

“Aren’t you forgetting someone else?”

He looked at me silently, eyes still begging.

“Your mom? She missed you too, buddy.”

“She did?”

Such an innocent question.

I caught Dan’s eyes again as he took a left turn, getting closer to Adeline’s house.

“Of course, little man,” I replied to Aiden.

He nodded solemnly and turned his head to look outside, hugging his iPad to his chest.

“I’ll stay with Aiden,” Dan interrupted my bleak thoughts. “You take the car and go to your meeting with the agent. I’ll drive Adeline wherever she wants to go in her car.”

“Thank you. I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.”

“When will you come back to take me?” Aiden asked, his fingers swiping the screen of his iPad even though the thing was out of battery.

I ruffled his hair. “Your mom gets to have you for one week, buddy, remember? Then I’ll come and take you home.”

Nothing but a quick nod.

Everything was set in motion, but it would take time to get full custody, which was why I had to adhere to the rules we had set before, after the divorce. Until it happened, until Aiden stayed with me full time, I’d come and check on him more often. If that meant I had to come face to face with Adeline more, or share a dinner or two in that timeframe, I’d be okay with that.

After dropping Aiden and Dan off at Adeline’s and watching her give Aiden a quick hug, for the life of me I couldn’t understand how she couldn’t bond with him like a mother was supposed to bond with their kid. At the time she had wanted him more than I did. She fought for him more than I did. He was the perfect boy.

He was perfect, and he was mine.

***

Adam: Why are you hiding from me?

Lucy: Who says I’m hiding?

Adam: You don’t take my calls.

Lucy: I’m texting back, aren’t I? Maybe I don’t want to hear your voice. Maybe I don’t like it. Be a little humble.

Adam: You love my voice, Lucy. You loved it when you were begging me to talk to you so you could come around my cock. And you came so gloriously.

Lucy: I hate you.

Adam: We need to talk.

***

“How is she doing?” I asked Jason as he met me in their backyard. It was late at night, the lights in their pool dim, the house completely dark.

“She is okay,” he said after a moment of hesitation. “She is handling everything okay. But, that’s Lucy for you. She won’t cry and scream about it.”

---