Chapter Five
Pee Wee
“Yeah. You’re right.” McKenna nodded, but I heard the doubt in her voice.
Fucking Diana.
She was working my last fucking nerve lately.
Titan had filled me in after church that the bitch had drained the accounts I’d been putting money in so my sons could go to college.
Seventeen years of putting up with her shit, and she was still finding new ways to piss me off.
More and more, I was second-guessing my decision to let the bitch keep breathing .
If it weren’t for her being the mother of my boys, she’d be gone.
Diana was trying to make McKenna doubt me, and I wasn’t going to allow that shit.
McKenna needed to learn to be strong and ignore the noise.
Fisting her hair, I tipped her chin up and pressed a kiss to her lips, pouring everything I felt for her into it.
Everything in my life was loud and moving at full throttle, but not McKenna. She was my breath. The only time I felt at peace was when I was with her or my boys.
Breaking the kiss, I whispered against her lips, “I gotta go.”
I felt the energy in the room change immediately.
McKenna stiffened in my arms, and I knew it was coming.
My woman was about to give me a taste of her attitude.
Usually I loved it, but it’d been a long fucking day, and I didn’t have the energy to fuck it out of her.
The clock was ticking. The boys would be wondering where I was.
I climbed out of bed and started getting dressed, my back to her .
“Are you fucking serious right now?” Her voice was ice cold.
I froze with my jeans halfway up my thighs. “What?”
“You come over here, fuck me, and then leave? Every. Single. Time.” She was sitting up in bed now, not bothering to cover her naked body. “News flash, I’m not your fucking whore, Brock.”
My jaw clenched so hard I thought my teeth might crack. “I never said you were.”
“You don’t have to say it. Your actions speak loud enough.”
I yanked my jeans the rest of the way up and zipped them. “That’s bullshit and you know it.”
“Do I?” She threw back the covers and stormed over to her dresser, pulling out a t-shirt and yanking it over her head. “Because from where I’m standing, I sure as hell feel like one. You show up when you want to fuck, and then you leave. Every. Time.”
“It’s not like that.” I shoved my arms into my shirt. “I’ve got obligations.”
“Oh, here we go again. The fucking obligations speech.” She mimicked my voice. “’I have to get home to check on my sons because Diana’s a lousy mother.’” She glared at me. “That line is getting really fucking old. ”
“It’s not a line. It’s the truth.” I felt my temper rising. “You knew the situation when we started this.”
“Yeah, I did. And maybe it’s time for things to change.”
I froze, one arm halfway through my cut. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I’m tired of being your afterthought, Pee Wee.” Her voice was hard, but I could see the hurt in her eyes. “I’m tired of always coming last. I want more.”
“More?” I spat the word. “What the fuck do you think this is?” I gestured around the house. “You think I’d take care of someone who was nothing but a quick fuck? You think I’ve ever bought another bitch a four-bedroom house and a fucking Camaro?”
She recoiled like I’d slapped her. “Wow. Thanks for making it clear that all I am to you is a ‘bitch’ you buy nice things for.”
My temper snapped.
Grabbing the lamp off her nightstand, I hurled it across the room. It shattered against the wall with a satisfying crash. “I don’t need this shit! And I sure as fuck don’t need your fucking ultimatums!”
McKenna stared at the broken lamp, wide-eyed, then back at me. Her face had gone pale.
Fuck .
I moved toward her, and she flinched.
Double fuck.
“I’d never hurt you,” I said, my voice dropping to a whisper. “Never.”
She nodded, but I wasn’t sure she believed me.
Goddamn it!
She was scared.
Of me.
I needed to get out of there before I made things worse.
Turning on my heel, I left without another word.
Feeling like the biggest asshole in Odin, I pulled my truck into the driveway behind Diana’s Range Rover and went inside.
Diana was sitting on the couch with a bottle of wine in her hand. Not a glass. The whole fucking bottle.
She looked up at me with glassy eyes. “Well, if it isn’t my husband. Finally decided to leave your whore and come home to your family?”
I ignored her and headed for the stairs. I wasn’t in the mood for her drunk ass .
“Don’t walk away from me!” she slurred, trying to get up from the couch.
I stopped and turned back, my hands clenching into fists. “What the fuck did you do with the boys’ college money?”
Her eyes widened for a split second before she schooled her features into a look of confusion. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Bullshit.” I took a step closer. “Titan showed me the withdrawal records. It was you.”
She laughed, a hollow, bitter sound that scraped against my nerves like sandpaper. “What, your little club pet dug through my private bank records? That’s illegal, you know.”
“Those weren’t your private accounts. They were for our sons.”
“Our sons,” she repeated, mocking me. “Funny how they’re only our sons when it’s convenient for you. The rest of the time, they’re just my problem while you’re off doing whatever the fuck it is you do and fucking your whore.”
My control snapped. “You don’t get to talk about her.”
Diana tried to stand again, swaying dangerously. “I’ll talk about whoever the fuck I?—“
Her legs gave out and she fell to the floor in a heap.
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered, running a hand over my face.
Diana was sobbing now, a pathetic, drunken mess on the living room floor. This was the mother of my children. The woman I’d promised to stay with forever.
What a fucking joke.
I sighed and moved toward her, bending down to help her up. “Come on. Let’s get you to bed.”
“Don’t touch me,” she spat, but made no real effort to push me away as I lifted her into my arms.
She weighed nothing.
Had she always been this small? I couldn’t remember the last time I’d touched her.
I carried her up the stairs to her bedroom and laid her on the bed.
As I started to straighten up, she grabbed the front of my cut and tried to pull me down for a kiss.
I turned my face away, her lips landing on my cheek instead.
“Why won’t you fuck me anymore?” she slurred. “Haven’t I suffered enough?”
“Stop,” I warned, pulling her hands off me. “You’re drunk.”
“I’m always drunk,” she said with a bitter laugh. “It’s the only way I can stand living this half-life with you.”
“Then leave,” I suggested, stepping back from the bed. “Take the Range Rover and whatever else you want and go.”
Her eyes widened. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Then you could play happy family with your whore.”
I leaned in close, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “Be careful, Diana.”
“Or what?” she challenged. “You’ll hit me? Go ahead. Give me a reason to take those boys and every penny you have.”
I straightened up, disgusted. She knew me better than that. I’d never put my hands on a woman. Ever. “You’re fucking pathetic.”
“And you’re a coward,” she shot back. “Too scared to leave, too scared to stay. Just stuck in this bullshit limbo, making everyone around you miserable.”
She wasn’t entirely wrong, and that just pissed me off more.
“I’m done with this conversation.” I headed for the door. “And if you want money, get a fucking job. You’re not getting another dime from me except what the boys need.”
“I’ll leave!” she shouted as I reached the doorway. “ I swear to God, I’ll take them and you’ll never see them again!”
I turned back, meeting her gaze. “Fucking go, then. I’m sick of your shit.” I wasn’t worried about my boys. They’d never go anywhere with her.
Slamming the door behind me, I stalked to my bedroom at the end of the hall.
The room I’d moved into when the twins were babies, and I couldn’t stand sleeping next to Diana anymore.
Stripping off my clothes, I stepped into the shower and let the hot water pound against my back.
I’d fucked up with McKenna. Big time.
I shouldn’t have yelled at her like that, and I sure as shit shouldn’t have thrown that lamp.
No wonder she’d looked at me like I was a monster.
Maybe I was.
I pressed my forehead against the cool tile, letting the water sluice over my shoulders.
Everything was falling apart. McGregor was in town. Diana was making threats. McKenna was pushing for more than I could give her.
Fuck.
Exhausted, I turned off the water and grabbed a towel, drying myself off quickly before heading to bed.
Tomorrow would be better.
Tomorrow I’d smooth things over with McKenna and make things right.
The alarm clock on the bedside table started blaring and I groaned, slapping at it blindly.
The mornings came way too damn early.
Dragging myself out of bed and into the shower, I went through the motions on autopilot.
By the time I made it downstairs, the boys were already in the kitchen, dressed for school and shoveling Cap’n Crunch into their mouths like they hadn’t eaten in days.
“Morning,” I grunted, heading straight for the coffee pot.
“Hey, Dad,” they replied at the same time, in the same tone, not even bothering to look up from their breakfast.
I studied them as I poured my coffee.
My boys were sixteen years old and already taller than Diana, though not quite as tall as me. They were built just like their old man and had my eyes, too. Their nose and mouth they got from their momma .
“How’s football?” I asked, leaning against the counter.
“Good,” Bentley replied through a mouthful of cereal. “Coach says I’ll start next week.”
“That’s great, son,” I said, pride warming my chest. My son was a running back for his high school team. He’d had to sit out for the last couple of weeks after tweaking his ankle.
“Hopefully, sitting out hasn’t made me slow.”
I shook my head. “You’ve always been fast. Nothing will change that.”
Brody snorted. “He’s fast, alright. You should see him when it comes to chasing Amanda Peterson.”
“Shut up, asshole,” Bentley punched his brother’s arm.
“Jesus,” I said under my breath.
“Whatever,” Brody grinned. “You should see him, Dad. He follows her around like a lost puppy.”
“I do not!”
“Do too. It’s embarrassing.”
I hid my smile behind my coffee mug. “This Amanda, is she worth chasing?”
Bentley’s face flushed red. “She’s just... She’s cool, that’s all.”
“She’s hot,” Brody corrected. “And way out of his league. ”
“Fuck you,” Bentley growled, throwing a piece of cereal at his brother.
“Enough,” I said, setting my mug down. “Where’s your mother?”
The mood in the kitchen immediately shifted.
“Probably passed out again,” Brody muttered, suddenly very interested in the bottom of his cereal bowl.
I raised an eyebrow. “Again?”
The boys exchanged a look.
“She’s always drunk, Dad,” Bentley said, keeping his voice low. “Like, all the time now.”
“She was wasted when we got home yesterday,” Brody added.
My jaw clenched. I’d suspected Diana’s drinking was getting worse, but I didn’t realize it had gotten this bad.
“Why didn’t you call me?” I asked.
Brody shrugged. “What would you have done?”
“I—” My lips snapped closed. What would I have done? Come home? Yelled at Diana? It wouldn’t have done any good. She was going to do whatever she wanted, and to hell with everyone else. She’s always been that way.
“I’ll talk to her,” I promised .
Both boys rolled their eyes in perfect sync. It was a little creepy.
“Good luck with that,” Bentley said, picking up his bowl and taking it over to the sink.
“Yeah,” Brody agreed, doing the same, then adding, “We’ve gotta get to school.”
I pulled them both in for a quick hug. “I love you guys. You know that, right?”
They nodded.
“Love you too, Dad,” Brody said.
“Even if you are never around,” Bentley added with a smirk that told me he was joking.
Mostly.
They bumped their fist against mine and headed out the door.
Shifting my gaze toward the stairs, I sighed.
Fucking Diana.