Lucky in Love (Southern Bride 4)

“Ex-husband. Who cheated on me. Signed his parental rights to his daughter away. The man who only cares about himself. You’re that guy, nothing else.”

His cocky smile faded. “Rumors are going around town, saying you’re dating someone.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t believe that would be any of your concern.”

“It is when you’re raising my kid.”

“Oh, she’s your kid now? Should I expect child support checks to be coming in soon, then? I heard you just had a windfall.”

Tim took a step back, a look of pure horror on his face. The thought that he might actually have to pay for his child seemed to be a painful thought. What a prick.

“What do you want, Tim?”

“Are you seeing Truitt Carter?”

My eyes widened in shock. Holy hells bells.

Boerne wasn’t exactly a small town anymore, but clearly the rumor mill still worked like it had in the good ol’ days.

“Excuse me?”

“You know he’s a player, right? He wanted you back in high school. Bragged that he could get you to fuck him.”

I glanced back into the house to make sure Liliana was still playing with Lucy. Then I stepped out onto the porch and shut the door.

“My daughter is inside, and I don’t want her hearing the filth that comes out of your mouth.”

He smirked. “It’s true. Why do you think I even asked you out in the first place? I thought you were a nice girl. I was saving you from that manwhore.”

My mouth nearly dropped to the ground. “What? You saved me? From Truitt?”

With a scoff, he said, “Yes, I did. Heard he was starting to sniff around you like the dog he is, so I moved in on you instead. I’m sure your brother was happy about that, saved you from his best friend who likes pussy too much.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. That was when I smelled the alcohol on his breath. He’d been drinking. Tim only had a mouth on him when he was two sheets to the wind.

“Why don’t you take your drunk ass and get off my property,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. His eyes moved down to my breasts and caused me to drop my arms to my side. How had I ever been married to this guy? He made my skin crawl.

Tim lifted his hands up in defense. “I’m only trying to save you from making a mistake, that’s all.”

“The only mistake I ever made, Tim, was marrying you to try and get over Truitt in the first place.”

That gave him a shot to his ego. “So you are dating him?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Heard he’s making our daughter one of his fancy overpriced playgrounds. How are you paying for it? By sleeping with him?”

Anger rumbled up inside of me, to the point where I really wanted to kick him in the balls. “She is my daughter, and yes, he is. My parents are giving it to her as a Christmas gift, if it’s any of your business. Now, I’m going to ask you one more time, get off of my property before I call the cops.”

From the corner of my eye I saw my daddy walking over. Oh, Lord, please don’t have a rifle.

“I don’t want him around you,” Tim said, taking a step closer to me. I didn’t move. Tim wasn’t a threat to me, drunk or not. I could probably punch him right now and he’d run home crying to his momma.

“You don’t get to have a say in who I date and who I don’t date. Leave, Tim, now. Before something happens that you’ll regret.”

“You heard her, Tim. It’s time for you to get on outta here,” my father said. He didn’t have a rifle, but he was holding a stick. I shook my head at him, and he gave me one nod, as if he knew as well as I did that Tim was mostly harmless.

“Mr. Night. Good seeing you, sir.”

My father gave Tim a once-over before he spoke. “I wish I could same the same. Son, I’m giving you thirty seconds to get your ass back in that truck and get the hell off of my property before I give you the beating I’ve wanted to give you since the day you picked my daughter up for that first date.”

Tim’s eyes went wide. Ryan walked up next to my father and smiled as he rested his rifle on his shoulder. Tim took one look at Ryan and made his way back down the sidewalk to the waiting truck without saying another word. When I looked at the driver, I saw it was LouAnne’s boyfriend.

Once the jerk was in the car and it was heading back down the driveaway, I let out a long breath.

“I cannot believe he had the nerve to show up here,” I mumbled.