Be My Hero (Forbidden Men #3)(103)

It was close to the kiddos' bedtime, and we were finishing up my new nightly yoga routine. I was giving both Skylar and Julian some tummy time so they were perfecting the reverse corpse pose and I was in the downward dog when a key in the lock made me yelp, startled.

I knew it was way too early to be Pick, so my mind immediately tracked to my father. The door was halfway open before I realized whoever it was had a key. Ergo, not Bradshaw Mercer, thank God. I started to wonder why Pick was home already when a rough-looking redhead entered.

"Whoa!" I popped to my feet, ready to drag the trespasser into the hall by her scraggly scarlet mop. Instead, she jerked to a stop when she saw me and narrowed her eyes as if I was the one who didn't belong.

"Who the hell are you?"

I blinked. Hey, wasn't I supposed to be the one asking that? And how did a complete stranger have a key to our apartment? Why was she coming inside as if she owned the place?

"Who're you?" I shot back.

"I'm Tristy. I live here."

My mouth fell open. Oh, hell. That was not what I was expecting to hear at all. But . . . wow.

This was Pick's wife? I mean, ex-wife. Annulled wife? Whatever.

My first jealous, selfish thought was that I was so much prettier. But that was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I couldn't help it, though.

"Where's Pick?" When she glanced around only to settle her gaze on Julian, I stepped protectively in front of him. Ugly or not, her looking at my little boy was not cool. A spurt of panic shot through me when I realized he really wasn't my little boy, was he? He was hers.

Oh crap. This just got real.

Pasting on a bright smile, and totally sucking up, I said, "Hi, I'm Eva. The babysitter."

Her gaze sprang back to me. Then it narrowed.

So I nodded encouragingly. "Julian is such a sweetheart. He's been the perfect little ang—"

Her derisive snort cut me off. "You're the babysitter, my ass. I know who you really are." When she took an intimidating step toward me, I lifted my eyebrows. If she thought to threaten me, she better watch out. I didn't take well to threats. "You're the f*cking reason my husband got an annulment. You're why he wants to take my baby from me and adopt him for himself. So the two of you can have your perfect little family together . . . with my kid?"

Well, when she put it that way, she kind of made it sound bad. Except we wanted it because we loved Julian. She obviously did not. She hadn't even asked about him or tried to hold him since barging through the doorway; she was too busy being a bitch.

Setting my hand in my hip, I got my attitude on and sent her an arch glare. If she wanted to play the conversation this way, I would so go there with her. I was foaming at the mouth to let my inner overprotective momma come out to verbally bitch slap this piece of work.

"Take your baby?" I repeated. With a dark laugh, I stepped right up into her face. "Lady, you're the one who abandoned him here in the first place. You left him alone in a house with no adult supervision whatsoever. The place could've caught fire, he could've fallen and died, been beaten to death by some . . . burglar who'd found his way in. Anything. But did you consider that? No. You were too busy being a f*cking nasty heartless cow." Okay, maybe I was going a little overboard, but I was too mad to think rationally. "You don't have a baby. You do not deserve this baby."

Yeah, I felt all good and jazzed about telling her off and saying what I'd been dying to say to her for weeks. I felt like bouncing on my toes and cracking my neck to the side like some kind of boxer preparing for a big match. I was about to go off on my Pick tangent next—telling her how shitty she'd treated him—when her face turned purple.

"That's it. I don't know who the f*ck you think you are, but I gave birth to that kid. And I'm getting him away from you."

"What?" Oh, shit. That wasn't supposed to happen. "No. Wait." When she moved around me toward him, I stepped into her path and grabbed her arm. "You can't do that."

A sick nausea swirled up my nostrils until tears sprang to my eyes.

Tristy yanked her arm out of my hold and pushed me aside. As I stumbled back, she jerked him up roughly. He started crying instantly.

I leapt in front of the door and barred it with my body. "Wait, wait, wait. I'm sorry. Let's just talk this out."

"Get out of my way, bitch." Her eyes were wild. I wasn't sure she was sober. I gulped and called upon every nerve in my body to calm myself. But, oh my God, I'd never heard Julian cry like that before. It made Skylar start to cry too, and I already knew tears were pouring down my own cheeks. I just wanted scoop both my babies up and kick this piece of trash out of my home.

"Just take a breath and think about this. Think about what you're doing to Pick."

She blinked, swayed by his name. So I kept pressing that point. "He has stood by your side your entire life. He has always helped you whenever you've needed help, and you know he always will."

Her eyes were filling with tears now, too. "Oh, is that why he wanted the annulment, then? Why he wants to adopt Julian? To help me? You and that bastard must be pretty cozy if he's told you so much about me. I think he's doing this just so he can keep f*cking you."

I ground my teeth, upset she could twist what Pick and I had into something so perverted. But I had to settle down and think of Julian. "You're wrong. Pick is thinking about you. He understands you need your freedom, and he's trying to give it to you. He wants to take care of your baby for you. You left him here for that reason, right? Because you knew Pick was the best person for him. And look, he's taken care of him, hasn't he?"