Page 4 of Ashes of the Past
“Hey, gorgeous. I’m not going to be able to make it this weekend to see Olivia. I got a chance to ride, and I’m going to take it.”
I sigh inwardly and roll my eyes, counting to ten before I reply. I grab the floral arrangement out of my truck and start toward City Hall. It’s Friday and my last delivery of the day. I’ve got everything put together at the shop so that I can take the entire weekend off. Mostly because I assumed Clay would bail on our daughter, and I knew she’d need me.
Again.
“Of course. Do what you have to do.”
“Don’t be filling her head full of lies about why I can’t be there, either,” he growls out of nowhere.
“I never do, Clay,” I mumble.
“Bullshit. You’re always making up lies about me. You probably push her off on your dad so that you can—”
“We’re done here, Clay.” I calmly hang up the phone.
Inside, I want to scream and throw my damn phone. I used to think that Clay’s possessiveness was cute, but it turned out to be psychotic. He was incredibly abusive and controlling when we were together. Luckily, he left to join the rodeo circuit, and I don’t have to deal with him much when it comes to co-parenting.
He loves to pretend he’s a great dad when he probably hasn’t seen Olivia for more than ten minutes in the last four years.
Irritation rips through me, as well as anger.
How dare he accuse me of anything?
I immediately dial my best friend Rachel’s number. I need to vent about this idiot of a man, and she’s one of the few people who understands what a jerk he is. I start up the steps.
“I owe you twenty bucks,” I tell Rachel before she even says hello. “You knew he wouldn’t show again, and he just called to say that he isn’t.”
“Color me shocked,” she giggles.
I put my hand on the door of City Hall as it flies open, and a tall, brick wall of a man barrels into me, knocking my phone and the vase of flowers out of my hand.
“Watch where you’re going, sweetheart,” a deep, gravelly voice growls as I fly backward.
Sweetheart? Is he serious right now?
I look down at the shattered vase and the destroyed floral arrangement that I worked so hard to make for the mayor. Anger races through me as I look up at the man towering over me.
He is tall with a muscular body, rugged features, and sun-kissed skin framed by a scruffy beard. He exudes a dangerous energy, like a wild stallion that can’t be tamed. He’s lookingdown at the mess on the sidewalk, not making eye contact with me, but I’m so furious that I’m doing the same.
And he’s an asshole.
“Watch whereI’mgoing?” I hiss as I try to stand up.
I can feel the pain in the palms of my hands from scraping against the concrete. There’s a sharp twinge in my hips as I stand and take a step toward him.
“I amnotyour sweetheart,” I growl. “You just ran me over like a freight train, destroyed my floral arrangement, and you tell me to watch where I’m going?”
He glances at me, a dismissive smirk on his face. He looks me up and down with his deep brown eyes before he saunters off as if I’m still not standing there.
I know him, but how do I know him?
My chest tightens, and I suck in a breath. He saunters away as if I don’t exist.
His eyes are amazing.
Shit, get it together, Brynn.
All of that is replaced with fury quickly.
