Page 56 of Somebody's Watching Me
“No, that’smybusiness.“ Annoyed with the way the conversation was going, Ben stabbed the table with his index finger. “Anything involving Selah, or Simone, also involves me.”
“Simone is no longer yours.”
“And she never was,” Ben snapped. “Let me make one thing clear, Selah is the result of one lonely night where a couple of friends drank too much wine. I love my children more than my own life, but Selah was —“
“A mistake?”
When those two little words slipped past his lips, Devon quickly came to the realization that the whispers were true. The man in front of him was capable of every single horrible act people claimed he and his family committed. Terrifying things, which Ben Fairweather was likely planning to do to him once their meeting was over.
“If I ever hear you call my son a mistake again,” Ben took a breath, his nostrils flaring as he kept himself in check, “I’ll rip your goddamn tongue out.”
“Understood.” Devon grabbed his drink and gulped it down. The hot burn threatened to gag him, but he refused to allow his body to show any weakness. “Selah is smart, you know? Test scores are off the chart.”
And just like that, the rage in Ben Fairweather’s darkening eyes dissipated, his entire demeanor softening in a matter of seconds. “Yeah?”
“Highest entry placement scores in the school’s history.”
Ben examined his glass, the faint smile of pride dimming. “He likes you.”
And there it was. Benjamin Fairweather might be a mean, arrogant son of a bitch, but he knew he should be scared. Another man was entering his son’s life, one that could potentially become a father figure.
“You’ve got yourself a good kid, Fairweather.”
Reclining in the chair, Ben leveled his gaze at him. “Alright, you can have her, but these are the rules…”
Devon let him talk, respectfully keeping quiet as two hours and a bottle of scotch vanished. “They’re safe with me,” he promised once Ben’s speech ended. “And yes, I want to marry her. I’m going to marry her. I’m not looking for your permission when it comes to Simone. With your son, yes, but Simone is mine.”
Ben barked out a laugh. “Is that so?”
“I’m aware of what your family is capable of, and I’m willing to keep this farce up for Selah’s sake, but when it comes to Simone, I owe you nothing.”
“I appreciate your candor,” Ben said. “And you’ll be pleased to know that Simone’s happiness is of my utmost concern.”
“Because she could take Selah from you.”
An unnatural stillness came over Ben. “Nothing on earth can keep me from my children.”
There were limits to every man’s patience, and Devon relaxed as he decided to slam into Ben Fairweather’s. “You can’t expect her to stay hidden in that house forever.”
“I fucking know that, just as I know SiSi is…” Ben waved a hand in the air as if exasperated. Like he’d attempted to craft an explanation for Simone’s behavior at least a thousand times but had yet to come up with an adequate enough phrase or word to fit the woman, “a force unto herself.”
A force unto herself? Devon’s smile widened. The description fit Simone perfectly. Maybe Fairweather really knew her after all, and she wasn’t just some woman he knocked up at random.
“If she wanted to take Selah and run, she wouldn’t hesitate. SiSi is smart enough to move mountains if so inclined and could easily hide from a handful of Fairweathers,” Ben continued. “Hell, how do you think we’ve managed this scheme for so long? Most of our strategy comes from her because she knows a win for me is a win for her and Selah.”
Impressed by the respect he was hearing, Devon nodded. “Her happiness really does matter to you, doesn’t it? And not just because she’s the mother of your child.”
“Of course, I want her to be happy. Before anyone else, SiSi and Ty were my first real friends, and authentic people in the life of a man like me is a rare commodity I don’t mean to squander.”
Devon gave himself a pause to think it through, but after a minute, offered Ben his hand. “I’ll have your back. We’ll do the co-parenting thing, and I’ll try not to step on your toes with Selah if you don’t get between me and Simone.”
“Then I guess we have a deal, Mr. Howard.” Ben shook his hand. “Welcome to the family.”
Chapter 15
Scrunching her wet hair with a towel, Jamison stared at the foggy image she created in the bathroom mirror. It was close to midnight, and exhaustion was nibbling away at her from the inside out.
Claudia had been found disoriented and wandering a Georgia county road in her pajamas. For the most part, she was unharmed and claimed two men had snuck into the house, surprising her as she left Madison’s room. The reports Liam received from police stated the men had injected her with something, and she blacked out, only to awaken in the back of a van. After begging them to let her go, the men began to argue until they ended up dumping her at a random gas station. As of an hour ago, Claudia was home safe.
