The First Taste(93)

Break up with her. He doesn’t realize it might already be over. “And what do I want?” I ask.

He glances up at the sign of my shop. “Money, I guess. I’m sure you have no trouble finding women in your part of town. Money’s not as easy to come by, though.”

“And what does Amelia want?”

“She doesn’t know. She may think you’re meaningless sex, but she’s a woman. They always get attached.” He leans in as if we’re old pals. “Trust me. I almost had to change jobs because of the crazy bitch I cheated with.”

My hands shoot out to grab him, compelled by some force outside my control. This time he doesn’t anticipate it, and he sucks in a breath when I catch his lapels. He darts his widened eyes over my shoulders. I sense Pico and Randy at my back. “You gutless *,” I grate out. “Get in your foreign car and drive yourself back to the city. Go up to your pretentious apartment, clean the shit out of your pants, and stay the f*ck away from us.”

“Ten grand.” His voice breaks, and he has to clear his throat. “Ten grand, clear and simple. I write the check, you stay on your side of town, and it’s done. Free money.”

My hands shake, and the loose skin under his chin jiggles. “Fuck you.”

“T-twenty,” he says. “Name your price.”

As always, when I feel threatened, Bell pops into my mind. Amelia is there too, morning-after disheveled, unguarded on her bed. Women are objects to this man. Something to show off. Something to control. I’m so angry, my mouth won’t open so I can respond. I need to let go. For Bell. For Amelia. I’m no good to them if I get arrested for pummeling him.

“You can shove your checkbook,” Randy says from behind me when I don’t answer. “Better yet, I’ll do it for you. You look like you got a tight *. That’s my favorite kind.”

Reggie’s face goes white as a sheet. “Are you f*cking insane? It’s twenty grand. You don’t even have to do anything.”

Then I hear it. “Daddy?”

My heart stops, and my burning rage runs suddenly cold. I release Reggie and take a step back, inhaling through my nose. Bell and Sammy stand ten feet away.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, looking at all of us.

Reggie’s mouth curls into a smile. “You must be Bell. Your daddy and I were just playing around.”

She scowls. “My dad doesn’t play like that.”

“Don’t look at my daughter,” I say evenly, under my breath, and Reggie turns back to me. “Pico,” I say over my shoulder, “take the kids for ice cream.”

“But—” Bell protests.

“No buts,” I say without taking my eyes off Reggie.

Randy shuffles them off. Reggie straightens his suit and takes a pen out of the same pocket. His hand jerks as he writes out a check. “Beckwith, correct? So, how much will it take? Keep it within reason.”

“You think, just because you dress up and get your lazy ass driven around and you hire people to clean the piss and shit off your toilet, that you’re better than me?” I laugh, and this time it’s genuine. “You have no idea how wrong you are. You’re a bad man. And I’ll tell you, now more than ever, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep Amelia away from you.”

He shakes his head, removes a card from his pocket, and hands it to me. “Call me when you’ve changed your mind. A guy like you wouldn’t turn down this kind of money for a woman.”

“A guy like me?” I ask. “You think you know what kind of guy I am?”

He looks me up and down. “Without a doubt.” He gestures behind him, in the direction of the city. “The kind who grew up within sight of everything but had nothing. Still has nothing, even after years of labor. The kind who gets desperate. It’s sad, really.”

I cock a smile. “Maybe. I’m also the kind of guy who can make a woman feel so good, she’ll offer just about anything I can dream up.” I lean in as he had, lowering my voice, getting chummy. “The kind of guy who loves to go where no other man has been before. Not even her husband.”

When he understands what I mean, he frowns. “She wouldn’t.”

“She would. And she f*cking loved it.”

His nostrils flare, his skin reddening from his neck up. “Bullshit,” he sputters. I wipe spittle off my face. “If she did, I’d know about it.”

I chuckle. “Sure you would.”

He replaces his checkbook in his jacket as the redness in his face fades. “No, you’re right . . . I’d have no idea what she does behind closed doors. How would I?”

At the front of my mind is only one thing: Bell and Sammy are right around the corner. “Get off my property.”

He walks back to his car, and the door opens before he even gets there. He slides in and slams it shut.

“Yo, what the f*ck was that?” Randy asks from behind me.

“A man with a small dick who has the need and resources to try and make up for it.”

“Damn,” he says. “I assumed because of your mood things were over with her.”

“They might be.” How did I end up here? I never thought I’d be pining over a prissy city girl who seems to have more interest in her wardrobe than my daughter. Only, I’m not sure I believe that’s true, even if she wants me to think it is.