Page 154 of Property of Stone
He definitely wasn’t liking the direction thisconversation was headed. They had already discussed her staying so she could save more money. “From your ex, no.”
“I can go back to living my life as it should be. I can find a new place and a new school for Wren.”
Yeah, fuck that. She might still be bent about him being pissed earlier, but he’d had a damn good reason. “Nothin’ wrong with the school he’s in now.”
“I would have to remain in the district for him to stay in that school.”
“No point in movin’ him, then. He likes it there.” Wren also loved having a “sister.” And Sunny was starting to enjoy having a “brother.” She might try to hide it, but Stone could see right through his girl.
Taryn continued as if he hadn’t said shit. “I’m not sure where I want to settle yet. Now that the cooking channel is going strong and my online classes are bringing in a decent amount of money, I can move my business anywhere.”
For fuck’s sake!
Almost everything he suggested or did for her made it possible for her to leave.
Taking care of her threat. His suggestion about doing the online classes…
He’d cut his own damn throat. A throat that was getting tighter by the second with her talk of leaving. “No.”
She pulled in a breath and set her jaw. “Look—” She raised her palm to stop his nextno, then finished with, “I appreciate everything you’ve done, but?—”
“Fuck that shit. No buts.”
Again, she continued like he hadn’t even spoken. “I need to give my son a stable home and living with the VP of an outlaw motorcycle club isn’t it. He’s seen enough violence already and I don’t want him exposed to more.”
“Taryn,” he growled.
“This was supposed to be temporary, remember?”
“Fuckin’ know what we agreed to. You’re supposed to help me with Sunny.”
“Are you saying that you only want me to stay because of Sunny?”
Holy fuck, she just expertly backed him into a corner.
She outsmarted him.
She was trying to get him to admithewanted her to stay. That their “arrangement” was no longer that. It was a relationship.
Jesus.He could kill a man and not miss a second of sleep, but the idea of being in a committed relationship made him fucking sweat. His heart was racing and his palms were getting clammy.
What the actual fuck?
“You only want me here to help with Sunny?” she asked again.
“Want you here…”
“For Sunny,” she finished.
He squeezed his eyes shut. He should let her leave whenever she was ready. He didn’t need a ball and chain. He didn’t need to be tied down to one woman. A woman who would expect one hundred percent loyalty.
A soft “Got it” had him opening his eyes.
As she turned to head back to the house, he grabbed her arm and swung her back to face him. “No.”
Her eyebrows jumped to her hairline. “No? No what?”
“Don’t want you to go.”
