Lover (Court University 4)

“You sent those flowers?” I suppose it made sense. Besides the fact Ramses hadn’t even done anything wrong that day I’d gotten them, he had technically gifted me with hiking clothes in my car.

Fuck.

The hike itself and the pizza had obviously been another gift, and the roses, though I wouldn’t put it past Ramses, didn’t seem like his style. He was very intentional in the things he did. Preferred spending time with me and not just words or little gifts. I mean, he did give me hiking gear, but he gave it in order to spend the day with me. Things like roses and chocolates, a secretary would send. They weren’t personal.

Alec’s personal assistant probably had sent them, and I wouldn’t put it past him if she filled out the card, too. Alec had just never been good at getting out his emotions. He was a very physical person. He enjoyed tackling guys on the field and like most men, fucking any moment I’d granted him access to it.

Honestly, those narrowed traits were probably a big reason he had fallen into himself as hard as he had after we’d lost the baby. He really didn’t know how to express those emotions and ended up blaming me.

My eyes flicked over to my phone, the screen dark. I didn’t know what Alec would do if I tried to reach over and grab it. Or what I could do once I had.

He said he’s coming.

“I want you back,” my ex-husband said, basically laughable. He put his hands on his thighs. “The break up was dumb.”

“And what do you call hitting me?”

“A mistake.” He stood, and I backed up. He shook his head. “I won’t hurt you, Bri.”

I didn’t know that.

And I didn’t, backing up again. At this point, my cell phone was nearly across the room.

Alec placed his hands on the island. “Is this about that kid?”

“What kid?”

He shot me a look like I was an idiot, a snarl really when it curled his lip. “That kid the internet says your fucking.” He nodded. “Yeah, I know about him. Looked him all up after the two of you went fucking viral over the weekend.”

Oh my God.

I pushed a hand over my head. “That has nothing to do with you.”

He swung around the island, and my butt touched the counter. My fists balled, and I started to turn around, reaching for something, anything to possibly arm myself with, but my ex-husband stopped.

His gaze circulated to the granite counter top.

“This other one his?” he asked, directing a finger toward the tea cups. He gazed around. “That little shit here?”

“He’s not, and you need to go.” I spoke braver than I felt in that moment, my swallow hard. “You need to get out of here. I don’t know how you found me, or why you felt the need, but you need to go. We’re divorced, Alec.”

“A divorce you called over one mistake,” he growled, completely trivializing that he had hit me, placed hands on me. He thrust a hand over his head. “And even though I didn’t agree with it, I let you go. Figured you needed time.”

I laughed, which only heated his gaze.

“I’ve known where you were for months. Some little bitch tagged a photo of you and her at the store one day. Put me on it. Didn’t take me long to figure out you’d gone back to teaching. Had my people make some calls and got your address. Wasn’t hard.”

I should have made it harder.

Forcing myself not to shake, I watched as he gave me back my space, retreating and taking a seat again. Maybe he saw he had rattled me.

“I figured with time you’d come back.”

“Well, I’m not. I won’t,” I said, and like the universe knew I needed it, a knock filled my condo in the next moment. One that shot my ex-husband’s gaze in the direction of the hall. It was so obviously Ramses. He’d said he was coming by.

“You expecting someone?” Alec asked, getting up, and I started to say yes and that he needed to get the fuck out again, but his waistband gave me pause. His shirt slid up as he kicked the barstool from underneath him.

The nine-millimeter on his hip had been old hat when we’d been together. The man hailed originally from Texas, something he’d always had, but in this situation...