Page 70 of Sunshine
I laugh because we’re not all that different when it comes to women. The difference? Mack likes his women sweet,obedientand calling himdaddy. Tessa doesn’t have an obedient bone in her body, and I fucking love it.
“Now where’s the fun in that, Mack?” My cell starts ringing in my pocket again, so I pull it out. “It’s so much sweeter if you’ve gotta fight for it, bro.”
Looking down at the screen, warmth spreads through me. Lulah’s calling and her ID is a picture of me, Reece, and Lulah. I was wrong. I’ve definitely floated before —the day I saw Reece for the first time.
Before I can answer it, the ringing stops and that’s when I notice it’s the third missed call from her. And there are four other missed calls from my brother-in-law and two from my sister. Fear fills my chest. Then I see the text notifications. The first’s from Lulah.
Lulah:
We need you home. I’m in pre-term labor.
I only glance at the second — it’s something about evidence that will jeopardize my custody case, but I’m already dialing Lulah’s number.
“What’s going on? Is the baby okay? Lulah?” I demand, not wasting time with pleasantries. Something’s wrong. I’m happy—mostly—and deep down I know I don’t deserve to be, so I know something’s wrong.
I catch the thought and pause. Since I left the Ransom and was basically hailed a hero and a traitor simultaneously, I’vebeen waiting for the other shoe to drop, but Tessa’s words from last night hit and I shove the thought aside. This isn’t about me or the universe’s cosmic karma.
I hear a groan in the background, and it ends in a loud curse.
“The baby is fine. They stopped Lulah’s labor but put her on bed rest, so other than being annoyed as hell, she’s fine too.”
“Jeff?”
“Keep up, Case.” I hear a muffled Lulah telling him to be nice and he sighs. “Did I hurt your girly feelings, Case?
“Nope.”
“Good. Your sister called me when you didn’t answer her. What the fuck is going on over there?”
“What are you talking about? House is only a few weeks behind?—”
“I’m not talking about the house, Case.” Lulah curses in the background. And Jeff moves the phone away from his mouth to warn her that the baby can hear now, and she’d better watch her mouth. When he returns to our conversation, he’s even more irritated. “Who’s the fucking woman, Case?”
“Jeff!” Lulah barks, indignantly.
“Do as I say, not as I do, little girl.”
I cock my head, ignoring their squabbling. “The woman? What woman? I?—”
He cuts me off with an irritated growl.
“Just check your goddamn email and phone your sister. I don’t know what the fu—zzyou’re up to but you better fix it, Case. And fast, because Reece is relying on you and if you break her heart over some chick you decided to fuck, I will kill you.” He hangs up before I can even respond.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
After listening to my phone messages, I plop down onto the playhouse porch and swear. Hanging up, I tap on my email app.Scrolling through several spam emails before finding the one from my brother-in-law’s firm, I open it.
All the air leaves my body. My parents had hired a private investigator to get dirt on me. The fucking guy across from Tessa’s when we had our little tussle and later at the beach, wasn’t a stalker, but he was spying. Onme.
Looking skyward, I smooth my beard before glancing back down at the pictures.
Tessa and I in her driveway, clearly having a physical altercation, and my expression? He must’ve taken a lot of shots in quick succession to get just the right one where I look the most volatile. I look like a monster; no, I look like…
Python Keller.
There’s another shot of the cops putting me in cuffs and more of us on the beach later that night. My shoulders fall. I’ve got Tessa over my lap, and there’s no denying I’m spanking her and in the next shot she’s sitting on my lap while my hand is between her legs. I scroll. And the final two pictures? Me naked outside my trailer. And then a fucking shot of Tessa tied to the cupboards, her shirt ripped open.
I hold my breath. The guy must have been right at the kitchen window. Rage surges in me. How dare he look at Tessa, how fucking dare he. And then my next thought hits. I’m going to lose Reece over this. Jesus. And she’ll grow up in a cold, loveless, house full of expectation and pressure to be perfect. Just like I did.
