My nerves are frazzled, and I just let it go, but you can bet your ass we will be having a conversation when I get back. Push comes to shove, I would pick Parker over him and his team any day.
Parker is due home any second. I know because she gets the kids at four p.m. on Friday. I plan to be there at four oh one to see her. I wait down the street in my car, looking like a fucking stalker, but I have no other choice.
My heart skips a beat, almost stopping when I see her Jeep pull up in her driveway. She gets out, turning her head toward the sound of her ex pulling up.
She is smiling at her kids, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. I want to run to her and grab her. I want to kiss away the pain that is in her eyes. I just want to be with her. All of me craves her.
She exchanges a couple of words with James while Allison jumps into her arms, wrapping herself around her mom. Looking at her, all I can think is, damn, she’s beautiful.
James seems to be asking her a question. Whatever he asks her makes her head shake. He reaches out and touches her face, and rage bubbles within me. I want to rip his fucking hand off. He shouldn’t be the one able to touch her. He threw her away.
It takes everything in my self-control to not drive up and break his hand for touching her. But I have to wait till he leaves to show myself. If I know anything about Parker, she is going to fight me tooth and fucking nail. And I’m going to love every fucking second of it, because, in the end, she’s mine. She just has to see it.
Fuck face—yup, my new name for James—gets in his car and backs out waving, leaving Allison and Parker giving each other Eskimo kisses. I take in the sight before me, something else knocking me on my ass. I love her. I know I love her, but I want to make babies with her. I want to have that with her. I want a part of me and a part of her. I want it all, and I want it with Parker.
I pull into the driveway, seeing her look over at me. She turns white. I don’t waste time getting out of the truck. “Cooper, did you bring subrises?” Allison asks with her bright blue eyes sparkling.
“Baby, Cooper just came to get something. He won’t be staying. Why don’t you bring in your bags and meet me in the house and we can make some cupcakes?” Parker asks, her voice tight.
“With swrinkles?”
“Double sprinkles. Go on inside, baby. Mom is going to be right in.”
“Okay, Momma. Cooper, I’ll keep you one for later,” she says and bounces inside the house, closing the door, leaving Parker alone.
She makes no time in putting up her walls. “I don’t know why you’re here. I told Tom to give you a message. Couldn’t you just respect me for once and listen instead of doing what it is you do?” Her voice trembles, my feet taking me a step forward to touch her. Watching her retreat is like a knife to the heart.
“I was a fool. I know this, you know this, and your fucking fiancée knows this, so please save me the I’m sorry speech and just fuck off. I can’t do this with you now. Actually, I don’t want to do this with you ever. You are here for another three weeks. In those three weeks I ask that you leave me alone. I ask that if you see me to not come up to me. That you turn around, if not for me, but for Allison and Matthew,” she says, her voice dipping so low it’s almost a whisper. I see her blinking away tears, not before one falls down her cheek, where she wipes it away fast, making sure I don’t see it. Problem is I do and that is the last straw.
I’m on her in a second, pinning her to my chest. “Babe, she lied, she is nothing, she is less than nothing. Yes, we dated for a while, I’m not going to lie. But it was never serious, at least not to me.” I’m trying to get it all out before she pushes me away. “I never loved her, let alone was engaged to her.”
“I saw the rock on her finger. I saw her in your shirt. The same shirt I held in my hands a couple of hours before. I saw it all in front of me, staring me in the face. Trust me, it’s something I can’t forget.” She tries to push me away, squirming in my arms.