Page 142 of Property of Stone
“You set the bar high.”
“No one else should be tryin’ to jump that fuckin’ bar.”
A ribbon of warmth weaved its way through her. “I won’t be here forever. This was a temporary arrangement, right?”
He grunted but didn’t deny it. Instead, he secured the condom at his root, slipped free, and rolled off the bed to dispose of it in the trash can they now kept by the bed for that purpose. They also now stocked baby wipes and towels in his room, too. She preferred the kids didn’t find full condoms in the bathroom garbage and start asking questions.
Taryn wasn’t ready to explain “the birds and the bees” to her six-year-old son. Of course, Sunny had learned about sex by hanging out at The Castle since she was a baby. It was unavoidable there.
Luckily, whenever Wren was hanging out in the cafeteria while she worked, the club members took it elsewhere. Stone must have said something to them.
He settled in next to her and tucked his bent arm under his head. “Now that your house is sold, you got thoughts on where you go next?”
Just as she thought, he didn’t want her to stay. For him, this was strictly an arrangement. Any concern over her moving had to do with Sunny, not him.
That was no longer true for her and she’d hoped he had felt the same. Clearly, she was wrong. She was simply another woman in his bed. The only difference was that she had been a steady presence for the last couple of months.
Convenient and close.
“No, not yet. I’ve been too busy building my online business. You suggested I stay for a few more months and I figured it would help you out when it came to Sunny. Speaking of, have you looked for someone else to take my place when it comes to her?”
“Like you, been too busy.”
The man didn’t have any official employment. He occasionally was busy with a “job.” He had plenty of time to start putting out feelers.
It was weird that he hadn’t.
“Do you need help with that?”
“Nope.”
“Well, I only have a few more months here.” Staying longer would help her financially settle elsewhere. It might help her with a down payment on another home since it turned out she had zero equity from the sale of the house last month. She was just glad to have that monkey off her back.
“Stay as long as you need, babe. Know that you bein’ here benefits you as well as me. Ain’t kickin’ your ass to the curb.”
“I’m both relieved but also worried that I haven’t heard from Vic at all. Not even to argue over getting Wren for visitation.”
“Maybe it was never ‘bout the kid in the first place and more ‘bout the scratch.”
Of course it was and that made her heart hurt for Wren. Her son still loved his father, despite what he’d witnessed. “My concern is he’s quietly planning something with his lawyer.”
“He ain’t gonna get custody. Not with what he did to you.”
She wished that were true. But the justice system wasn’t always just. “I don’t know. With the right lawyer…”
“Judge’ll see it differently.”
She chewed on her bottom lip as she considered his words. “I hope so.”
Unfortunately, she couldn’t afford another legal battle. It would wipe out the little bit of savings she had accumulated.
She didn’t mind staying longer, especially now that the kids were getting along a lot better, but she was afraid she might continue down a slippery slope of wanting a different kind of arrangement with Stone.
One that didn’t have anything to do with financial stability or with her safety.
It was finallyher turn in line. If Stone couldn’t pick the kids up from school, then Taryn paused whatever she was working on to do so since the school wasn’t far from The Castle.
After putting her Honda in Park, she watched a herd of children race out the front doors and either head toward the school buses or toward a vehicle waiting in line to pick them up.
