Page 4 of Garden Daddy

“He might have apologized for the past—way too late, might I add—and said something about how he likes who I am now, which is such bullshit.Then he said he’s learned a lot since our divorce—way, way,waytoo late for that—and said he wants a second chance.”She glared at her glass.“Then when I slammed the door in his face, he said he’s not giving up and threatened that he’d see me later.”

“Uh huh.”Rita, who had been firmly on her side before, was now giving her one of ‘those’ looks.The problem with having besties was they could often read through the lines of what was being said to hear what wasn’t.“So, he apologized, maybe even groveled a little, and you’re still so mad that he didn’t change back when you were married and waited till after you left that you slammed the door in his face.”

Leaning back against her chair, Eden scowled at her friends as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“You’re supposed to be supporting me.”

“Absolutely,” Bree said immediately.“He’s an asshole and should have his dick cut off.”

“Well, that might be going a little far,” Rita murmured, though she grinned.Out of the three of them, Bree was the most patient and forgiving, which made the statement sound way more ludicrous than if Rita had said it.Rita, being the voice of reason, was also fairly ludicrous.

She was also right.That was going a little too far.It would be a waste of a very nice dick, and it wasn’t like he’d cheated or anything.

On the other hand, she didn’t love thinking about how other women had gotten to enjoy that very nice dick attached to the man who’d fuckingchanged into husband materialafter he was no longer married.

Ugh.

Men.

“I think the real question is what Eden is going to do,” Bree said, glancing at Rita, then focusing on Eden.She rested her chin on her hand, her eyes alight.Eden could practically see her thoughts.

Bree was a hopeless romantic, and she’d gotten even worse since hooking up with her Cheesy Daddy Dom.Owen was practically perfect, though.Both Bree and Rita had the good fortune of finding amazing Daddy Doms, who were ready to commit to a relationship and doted on them.Their only fault, as far as she could see, was being best friends with Marcus.

She couldn’t even really be mad at them because the Marcus he’d become was a much better friend than the Marcus he’d been.

The big jerk.

“Obviously, I’m going to avoid him as much as possible until he gets the message.”

“Does that mean you’re going to be avoiding us?”Bree asked hesitantly, as if she understood why the answer might be yes and she’d support Eden even if she didn’t like it.Eden seriously had the best friends.

“No, it just means I won’t be doing any more of that arguing with him or engaging with him while we’re all together.If that’s what he likes about me now, I’ll change it up.Eventually, he’ll get the message.”

“You think you can really do that?”Rita’s question was asked with no hesitation.She wasn’t one to mince words and tended to blurt out what she was thinking, so blunt questions were her style.Eden didn’t mind since they were her style, too.

Even if sometimes she didn’t like the question itself.

“Sure,” she said with a lot more confidence than she felt.She wasn’t completely lacking in self-awareness.She knew Marcus was great at getting under her skin, but ignoring him was a challenge, and she was also good at challenges.

Besides, she was rather looking forward to him trying hard to get her attention.

That way lies danger.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.Eden ignored the little warning voice in her head.Sometimes it was fun to live dangerously—as long as she didn’t fall into the actual trap.

“Well, good luck,” Rita said, shaking her head.Their food arrived just as she spoke, which gave Eden the excuse not to answer.It took a moment or two for everything to get settled once their plates were in front of them.When she looked up again, her friends were both on their phones, which was unusual.Normally, they all tried to stay off their phones when they were hanging out, unless they were looking something up.

“What are you doing?”

“Texting Andres,” Rita replied, while Bree just looked guilty and shrugged.“I want to know why he didn’t tell me that Marcus was going to try to get back together with you… Huh.”

“What?”Eden did her best not to squirm with impatience in her seat.

“It seems he didn’t know.”

“Neither did Owen.”Bree held up her phone with the screen turned toward Eden to prove it.“He’s going to text Marcus now.”

There was a little part of her that was hurt Marcus hadn’t told his friends.How serious could he be about pursuing her again if he hadn’t talked to them about it?Especially since their girlfriends were her best friends?Why had he kept it quiet?

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