“He’s talkin’ to your sister, you got nothin’ to say?” she snapped.

“Kills me,” Wood whispered and I felt my heart stutter because the tone of those two words elegantly underlined that what he was going to say next did, in a way, kill him. “But I know, I’ve known for a long time but with this f**kin’ mess you orchestrated tonight, Neet, I know nothin’s changed.”

“What?” she hissed.

“You,” Wood replied then he was whispering again, “Jonas? Neeta, seriously?”

“I’ll not –” she started.

“Keep custody, you keep actin’ like a goddamned lunatic,” Wood cut in. “And, I gotta say, Neet, I f**kin’ hope you don’t. I just hope you and Blake haven’t f**ked that kid up so much he ends up like one of you.”

“You ass**le,” she whispered.

Wood looked at Tate.

Then he stated firmly, “Anything you need, man. Anything you f**kin’ need.”

Then he turned, walked right to me, lifted a hand and curled it around the side of my neck. His fingers squeezed while his eyes searched mine in a way I thought he was communicating something but I was too stunned by what had happened, what I’d learned, to understand what it might mean. He gave my neck another squeeze, released me and walked down the deck, right by Neeta and Tate and right to his bike. He got on, started it up and roared down the drive.

When he turned into the road, I heard Neeta warn, “You just bought the fight of your life.”

My eyes went back to her to see she was glaring up at Tate. He didn’t move but I heard him sigh. It was deep and it was heavy and I knew exactly what it communicated. He was done. He was angry. He was over this. And he was going to take her on, no matter what she brought.

Not getting a reaction, she tore her eyes from Tate and they cut to me.

“Watch your back, bitch,” she snapped, turned and ran gracefully on her flip flops to her convertible. She started it up with an alarming rev of her engine, backed out and sped down the drive so fast, gravel flew.

My body had turned to watch her go. I was so intent on doing this, I jumped when I felt Tate’s hand settle on the space where my neck hit my shoulder.

“Baby,” he whispered and my eyes moved to him.

God, he was beautiful.

He was also a liar, a playing, hideous liar.

I swallowed then jerked away from his hold, turned and ran to the sliding glass door. I tugged it open, ran inside and down the hall, straight to his room. I flipped on the light switch then ran to the closet and flipped on the light switch there. I was on my knees, zipping one of my suitcases closed when Tate was there.

“What are you doing?” he asked and I looked up briefly to see him standing at the doorway, then I looked back down at my case.

“Leaving,” I whispered.

“Laurie,” he said quietly and my head jerked back and I glared at him.

“Fuck you!” I shouted, surged up and took two wide steps toward him, planted my hands in his chest and shoved. He went back on a foot, his fingers wrapped around both of my wrists and held strong. “Fuck you!” I repeated.

“Ace, calm down.” He was still talking quietly.

“Jonas?” I asked.

“Babe –” he started but I ripped my wrists from his hold and went back to my bag, dropping to my knees in front of it.

“Fuck you, Tate,” I snapped, yanking the zip on my bag even though it was caught in a t-shirt I hadn’t tucked in. “God!” I cried, shaking my head. “What is the matter with me? How do I get messed up with this kind of shit?”

“Lauren, calm down and come into the bedroom so we can talk,” Tate ordered.

I shook my head, still struggling with the zip. “Oh no. No way. You’ve had your chance to talk. You’ve had plenty of opportunity to tell me you have a son. A son with that… that…” my head whipped back and I looked him in the eye, “that woman.”

“Ace, listen to me –”

I shot up to my feet and rounded on him. “I went to bed naked, Tate. I never sleep naked. I don’t like to sleep naked. It isn’t comfortable. And I did that for you.” I stabbed a finger toward him then threw up both my hands. “God, what a fool! I should have known. You,” I thrust a finger at him again, “want me? What the f**k was I thinking?”

“Lauren –”

“An old, fat, sorry-assed bitch,” I hurled his words at him. “That’d work, Tate. Good call, honey. At least that old, fat, sorry-assed bitch would work when paraded in front of a judge as a show you could give a stable home to Jonas!”

One second he was standing in the door, the next second I was pinned against the back wall of the closet. He’d moved so fast, and I’d retreated so automatically, I didn’t even know how I got there. I just felt the wall against my back and Tate was deep in my space. I felt that energy coming from him, so strong it was a flood and it enveloped me so tight it felt like there was no oxygen in the air to breathe. His body wasn’t hostile, not like he was with Neeta, but it was aggressive in a way that I had absolutely no choice but to pay attention.

“That’s the last time you get to throw that in my face,” he whispered and even his voice scared the shit out of me.

I sucked in breath and, in doing so, tried to suck in courage. “Step back, Tate. I’m leaving.”

“You have nothin’ to do with Jonas.” He was still whispering.

“Step back,” I demanded.

His face came to within an inch of mine. “Not one f**kin’ thing.”

“Right,” I shot back, my tone filled with sarcasm.

“She promised me she was leavin’ him,” he said. “She promised me she’d come home, bring my boy home, we’d start over, she’d get her shit together, we’d have a life, a family.” I made no response but that didn’t matter, Tate kept talking. “But she showed and she was supposed to bring Jonas. She didn’t. She just wanted to get off. She likes to get off. She likes to suck cock. Her man, he drinks so much, his dick is so limp, it’s been so long since he used it for more than to take a piss it’s a wonder it hasn’t fallen off. She came back not to make a family, she promised that shit just to get my cock. Just to get off. Christ, Lauren, this woman is raising my son.”