Wicked as Lies (Wicked & Devoted 3)

“Good for you.”

“Wednesday was a great day. Daddy seemed alert and happy. He loved that I’d brought Hallie to meet him. The way he looked at her… I could tell he loved her the moment he saw her.” Tessa’s bittersweet smile tugged at him. “He told me he was sorry for marrying so quickly after my mom’s death. At the time, he’d felt alone and lost and helpless—and he hated that feeling. He’d been married for so long, he didn’t know how not to be married. But he didn’t love Kathleen, and he especially hated that she’s jealous of my mom’s memory. But it was obvious to everyone that she knew she was always going to be second place. Once I understood that, I stopped giving a shit what Kathleen thought. Anyway, Daddy was set to get out of the hospital on Friday if he continued to progress, and I was going to stay a few extra days. But then…” She teared up and crystal drops started rolling down her face. “He went to bed on Wednesday night and died in his sleep. His heart just stopped.”

He curled his arm around her waist and squeezed her. “I’m really sorry, baby.”

She laid her head on his shoulder with a sigh. “I am, too. But at least I got closure. Dad and I were in a good place, and I got some great pictures of him with Hallie.”

“Then I’m glad you went.” But he’d missed her like crazy.

“Same. I just wish things had turned out differently.” Her voice broke.

Zy knew her breakdown was coming, so he turned to face her and opened his arms. “Come here, baby.”

Tessa went without hesitation, gripping his shirt as she hid her face in his chest. She was so quiet, so still, he didn’t think she could possibly be crying. Then she sucked in a jagged breath and her body shuddered. And she let go.

He brushed his palms up and down her heaving back in a comforting path as she released her debilitating grief. “Get it out. I’m here.”

She nodded. “I-I wished you were there so many times to help me. To hold my hand. To tell me it would be okay even though I knew it wasn’t.”

It sucked that he hadn’t been, but he’d be here with her now as long as she’d let him. “Why didn’t Cash come, at least for the funeral?”

Tessa snorted, and he heard her anger. “Why would he?”

Was she kidding? “Because he’s your boyfriend.”

She reared back with a scowl. “Who told you that?”

“He did.”

Tessa rolled her eyes. “And you believed him? He’s full of shit. But that’s no surprise. If his lips are moving, he’s lying.”

Zy’s heart stopped. “So…you’re not together?”

“No. We stopped dating shortly before I found out I was pregnant.”

“But not since then?”

“During the pregnancy we didn’t date. There was a time I thought we might get back together, but he wasn’t interested in me or his daughter, just in the sex. And once he decided I’d gotten too big for that, he was out.”

“What a douche.”

“Yep. I sure can pick ’em… When my dad asked about Hallie’s father, I said he wasn’t in my life anymore. To me, he’s not.”

“So why are you living together?”

“We’re not.” She held up a wobbling finger. “Well, we live under the same roof, but we’re not ‘living together.’ He moved in so we could supposedly co-parent. But he’s useless as a dad. There. I said it. I can’t pretend anymore.”

The tequila had definitely loosened her up and gotten her talking. Zy was glad. “So I’m guessing that when he told me you two fuck. All. The. Time, that was a lie, too?”

Her eyes went wide in horror. Her half-drunken expressions would be adorable if the conversation wasn’t so dead serious. “Eww. That asshole! It’s a giant lie. Oh, he tried. About three weeks ago, he did that fast-talking thing to convince me that we’d be a better family unit if he and I were…ahem, intimate. I said no. You know what he said then? That you might have wanted to fuck me, but he’d make love to me so much better. It was all I could do not to laugh in his face. I mean, I don’t actually have the real comparison, but I already know.”

Zy did his best to keep a straight face. “So you don’t have feelings for him anymore?”

“None.” Suddenly, she shook her head. “No, that’s not true. I’m starting to loathe him, like, a lot. I want him and his baggy boxer shorts and those balls he feels the need to scratch all the time off my damn sofa. And every time I see him across the house”—she teared up again—“I wish I was seeing you.”

Tessa might not realize just how much she was admitting to him, but he heard it—even without her saying the words.