Okay, he was beginning to worry that this discussion was getting her tense again. Maybe he should bail on this whole line of conversation.
He jumped up, grabbed her abandoned wine glass and gave it to her. She took a couple sips, then blew out a long breath.
“So, the asshole realized he couldn’t handle bein’ with a woman who kicked ass and he left.” Before Deacon bailed from this story and worked on getting her loosened up again—preferably, with his dick inside her—he was curious about who left who.
“No.”
“You kicked his ass out.” He fought his grin at her doing so.
“Of course.”
He shook his head. Of course? Would he have to draw the reason out of her? For fuck’s sake.
“Because I came home to find him fucking one of his students in my bed, in my house. I got the perfect view of her on her hands and knees as he was pumping into her. I surprised him mid-stroke.”
Oh fuck! “Don’t they frown upon a teacher doin’ one of his students?”
“You’d think so. But wait! There’s more!”
Did he fall into some infomercial?
“Guess what?”
Apparently, he wasn’t supposed to guess when she yelled, “He was breeding her like the dog he is because I found out afterward she was pregnant! PREG-NANT!”
Justice jumped up from where he had been crashed on the deck and ran to the railing, with his ears perked, his tail up and his head on a swivel, searching for a threat. Jussie yawned after a few seconds when he realized it was a false alarm.
“And you know what?” she shouted, now all worked up. “That motherfucker wanted my house for his side piece to play housewife in and raise his fucking child! My fucking house!” The last part came out in a snarl.
Deacon was beginning to believe maybe having this type of conversation after a long day at work wasn’t the best idea for Reese. Even with wine and weed.
But he needed the rest of the story. “Is he still in Mansfield?”
“Of course. His sweet young thing dropped out of college to avoid any issues with him being a member of the faculty and impregnating a not even twenty-one-year-old student.”
Damn. He could practically hear her teeth snapping like a pissed-off honey badger.
“You see him?”
“Him. Her. Their spawn. This town isn’t big enough to avoid them.”
“And you haven’t stun gunned his ass?”
“What’s the point? His current situation isn’t as happy as he’d like me to believe. He stepped in shit and now realizes it was cement. He’s unable to scrape it off easily, to fix his mistake. I take satisfaction with how miserable he looks.”
She smiled. It wasn’t a nice, sweet smile. It was one that, if directed at him, would make his balls retreat into his body.
“He’s now supporting two children. His child bride and his spawn. On his income.” She laughed. “I shouldn’t laugh, but for me? It’s karma.”
“You still love him?”
Once that question escaped, he wasn’t so sure he wanted the answer.
Chapter Eleven
Do you still love him?
Why would Deacon ask that? Why would he even care? Unless he was wondering if she was foolish enough to still love a man who screwed her over and then tried to steal her house from under her in the divorce. Not only that, he was having unprotected sex with someone else while he was having unprotected sex with Reese.
She downed the remaining wine and stared at the glass with a little bit of regret.
No, she didn’t love him anymore, but like her empty wine glass, she regretted falling for someone who wasn’t who she thought. Who lied to her about what he wanted for his future. Who lied to her about loving her. Because if he had, why would he go elsewhere? And, worse, try to steal what was hers?
Yes, maybe she’d been foolish enough to believe his lies, but not enough to still love him. She didn’t even like him anymore.
“Reese.”
Deacon saying her name softly pulled her out of her thoughts.
“I did until the very moment I walked in on him with her. Then everything inside me died, including my love for him. I’ve experienced betrayal before but not like that. He had told me he loved me before walking out the door to go to work. After having sex that morning, mind you. That same damn morning.”
Deacon shifted in the lounge chair and rose to his feet, only wearing those damn boxer briefs. She had come home tonight to find a glass of wine, him and a condom waiting.
It was more romantic than anything Allen had done in those last couple of years. She should’ve known he was cheating. She should’ve picked up on the signs. But she’d been so focused on her career, instead.
Maybe it was her fault he cheated. Maybe she hadn’t given him what he needed, which was her time and attention.