Page 95 of Dirty Puck

Istill had the task of getting him home without some Copperhead fan feeling entitled to his time and getting stupid when he couldn’t give it. The best I could come up with were those red-eye tickets that’d helped us bring his mom back to Charleston without too much peopling. The next night after the funeral, I got Reece into the car, locked up Char’s place, and drove us to the airport.

And I felt like a complete moocher when I had to use his credit card to purchase our tickets, but first-class seemed like the only way to keep the lowest profile, even on a red-eye. First-class, however, was out of my price range, especially now that I found myself without any job at all.

For the most part, the people that were around that time of night kept their heads down, eyes locked on their phone screens, trying to ward off the rest of humanity just like us. Still, I kept a baseball hat pulled down over Reece’s brow to keep his anonymity. A man noticed him and started over toward us, but I shot the guy a death glare, shaking my head. The man stopped abruptly, took in the state of Reece, nodded once and left us alone. At least there was some empathy left in the world.

The morning after we got back, Reece started pulling away. Not physically leaving the house—he slept the day away, which he needed, so I didn’t take offense—but emotionally? He became this ghost drifting through the rooms. He stopped coming down for dinner. He only went to the bathroom or got a drink when he thought I was sleeping and the rest of the house was quiet.

We’d officially overstayed our welcome. Now I had to tell Claudia.

All of it.

The proposition.

Benny’s school.

The sole reason we moved in here in the first place.

How. Humiliating.

That night, I cried in the bathtub—biting the washcloth so Benny wouldn’t hear me. Claudia had taken him out for ice cream after school, and I stayed at the house, pretending to fold laundry, though all I wanted to do was to curl into a ball and disappear.

I missed Reece. God, I hated that I missed him.

My phone buzzed again. Dane. Deleted without a glance. If he had something to say, he could go through the court like he was supposed to. But no, he kept calling. Leaving voicemails full of venom. You’d think he’d want to shake things up a bit instead of leaving the same three over and over again. Today he went with:

“You’ve got Reece now. What do you need my money for?”

But I didn’t have Reece. And no matter how ‘broken’ he thought my son, my Benny made me a better person.

Five years of therapy payments covered. I could figure out how to make the sixth and beyond when that time got here. For now, I needed to think about covering my rent. Well, that was an easy fix. I’d make rent no problem if I went back to Slits.

In the morning, I caught Claudia while making coffee. Itwas now or never for our talk and under the circumstances, it couldn’t be never.

“Claudia, there’s something I haven’t told you.”

Her eyes searched mine, gentle but steady. “What is it?”

“It’s about me and Reece. I… This is so hard.”

She pulled me over to the table. Why were things like this always easier to get through while sitting down?

Claudia pressed a hand to my cheek, giving me the courage to keep going. “Baker and I… What people saw? It wasn’t real. Not really. We had an arrangement. He needed me to help make things easier for Char. She wanted him settled. We gave her settled. In return for my help, he opened a trust to pay for Benny’s school for the next five years.”

“I can understand why you’d agree to that. But are you so sure you’re faking,he’sfaking?”

The stupid, hot tears started spilling. “I stopped being fake a while ago but Reece is ready for us to leave now.”

“I wish you’d told me.”

“Please don’t be mad. I couldn’t. The agreement had to stay between us. And it was a really good arrangement. We agreed there wouldn’t be feelings, because he didn’t do relationships and after Dane, I didn’t need another man messing up my life. I couldn’t do that to Benny. But Baker offered a whole lot of money that I needed for my boy. I thought it would be easy. I was wrong. He treated Benny like his own. He accepted you as a part of the family without question. He treated me like I mattered.” My throat felt thick. “I fell for him, Claudia.”

She blinked, surprise flickering across her face before it softened indulgently. “I know that.”

“I broke the agreement and I hate myself for it. Do you have any idea what it’s like to fall for a man who couldn’t—orwouldn’t—love you back?”

“Gladly, no. I lived a carefree life until Mr. Grazia. He was the love of my life.”

“Well, it sucks. So I kept it all inside. Doing what I had to do. Pretended it was just business.”

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