Overtime Read online

  Natasha’s eyes widened as she slowly shook her head. “You don’t mean that.”

  What the hell was up with all these crazy people? First Liam, then his mom, who was straight from crazy town, and now Natasha? When was he going to catch a break? If it wasn’t fighting his alcohol issue, it was batting away crazy people who wanted to fuck with the one great thing in his life. The one thing that mattered more than the next drink, or the people from crazy town. His everything.

  Stepping toward her, he took her by her shoulders. “Listen to me, Natasha. I don’t love you, I never said I’d love you, and I never will. That woman though, that woman I love. More than I could even try to put into words. You know how much she means to me. Please stop this,” he begged, but Natasha shook her head.

  “I miss you.”

  He let his head fall back and he couldn’t believe it. She had been such a cool chick, a wonderful fuck, and an okay person, but when did she take a detour to Crazyville and why was she doing this? Shaking his head, he said, “Natasha, don’t. Because I will never be yours. I’m Kacey’s. Only Kacey’s.” Her lips trembled as she looked away and he asked, “Please don’t call the cops on her. Let that be your apology to me.”

  “Who said I’m apologizing?”

  He expected that from her. She was prideful, just like Kacey, but unlike Kacey, she didn’t forgive easily. Nor did she let go of a grudge. Though she also knew that what she’d just done was unacceptable. “You will because you know that you shouldn’t have done that,” he answered and she shrugged. She worked her lip, tears falling from her eyes, and in another time, another place, a drunk mind frame probably, she would have been it for him. But she wasn’t, and as much as it hurt her, it did upset him. He had cared about her. After this though, he wasn’t sure he could ever speak to her again.

  “I do love you, Jordie,” she said then, her eyes meeting his. As she dropped the napkin, he knew that her nose was broken, which made him flinch. That woman of his had a temper and a mean right hook.

  Squeezing her shoulders, he said, “Do yourself a favor and stop. Find someone else who can return that love. But first, go get your nose taken care of. Forward me the bill if there is one.”

  She shook her head as she covered her nose. “I can’t believe she hit me.”

  “I can,” he said slowly. “She loves me, and real love brings out the irrational part in people. Now I have to go home and convince her she has nothing to worry about. I doubt you’ll wish me luck,” he teased and she shrugged.

  “I won’t.”

  “Didn’t think so,” he said, fishing his keys out of his pocket. This was one of those moments when what Benji said rang true. Natasha didn’t add to his life; she messed it up, so she was out of it. “This is goodbye, Natasha. Don’t contact me, and I won’t contact you.”

  She swallowed hard, wiping her face as she stood a little taller. Her nose was already bruising on her pretty face, but that wouldn’t hold her back. She was flawless no matter what, but he still didn’t understand how she could do this. Then his previous statement came back to him. She was in love with him, which made her irrational, and he felt horrible for hurting her feelings, but he had never lied or promised her anything. His heart was always Kacey’s.

  He just had to hope Kacey remembered that.

  Slowly nodding, Natasha looked away as she whispered, “Sounds good.”

  “Good luck,” he said before turning.

  “You too,” she called out to him and he waved a thanks.

  Because he was going need it.

  Walking in the back door, he found Kacey right away.

  Sitting on the barstool, she was demolishing a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, Notting Hill on the kitchen TV.

  “You and this dumbass movie,” he joked, but she didn’t even knowledge him.

  “Go pack your shit up and leave,” she called and he scoffed.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” he said and she glared at him over her shoulder.

  “Yes, you are, out that damn door,” she yelled, turning off the TV and getting off the barstool. “Our whole relationship is a lie.”

  Confused, he held his hands out. “What the fuck are you talking about? How is it a lie? I love you. That’s pretty well-known and true.”

  “No, you never told me about her, that she was what helped you get through rehab. You lied to me!”

  “Um, no, I didn’t. But really, why does it matter who helped me as long as I got through it and became the man you needed?”

  “It matters because you didn’t let me in! I wanted to help you.”

  He set her with a look as she chucked her Ben & Jerry’s in the sink, the spoon making a loud noise, before she turned to look at him. She was blisteringly mad and he got that, but really?

  “Do you know how stupid that is? You’re mad, no, not even mad, jealous because someone else helped me and it wasn’t you. But the thing is, you’re helping me now. Just by loving me, you help.”

  Her eyes widened as heat crept up her neck. “No, I’m not jealous! I’m broken.”

  “Broken?” he asked, completely confused. “Please, enlighten me because I really don’t understand how the fuck you’re broken.”

  She glared at his display of aloofness. “You hid her because she meant something to you. She was probably your backup plan if I didn’t give you a second chance.”

  He pointed at her. “Wrong. If I couldn’t have you, I wasn’t going to be with anyone,” he said simply before crossing his large arms over his chest.

  “I don’t believe you for a second. That girl was just your type. A huge slut!” she shot at him and he rolled his eyes.

  “Was my type,” he said slowly before shaking his head. “Don’t know if you know this, but my type is a crazy pregnant lady who has a wicked right hook and eats more Ben & Jerry’s than a fat kid eats cake,” he said, but this time she shook her head.

  “No, if I were your type, you would have let me in.”

  Totally exasperated, he glared. “Kacey, I couldn’t even look you in the eye after what I did to you, let alone open up to you. I was fucked up, remember? And you said you wouldn’t throw my past in my face. Natasha is my past.”

  “That was before your past came barreling into my life, stabbing me in the chest with the rejection all over again.”

  “What rejection?” he yelled. “I’m with you. I sleep with you! I impregnated you! I am marrying you!” he said, each sentence louder and with more meaning.

  “The hell you are!” she snapped, and she might as well have hit him.

  “Oh, really?” he roared. “What, you aren’t marrying me now?”

  “I don’t know what I am doing! I am so damn mad at you I could scream!”

  “You are screaming, crazy,” he said matter-of-factly, and her face went red. He understood she was upset, but she was being downright dumb.

  “You need to go! Get your shit and go!” She seethed, and for some reason, that bothered him. He got that they were arguing, even that he was an idiot for withholding that piece of information from her, but he would not accept that she wanted him gone. Bullshit.

  He glared, striking his hands to his hips. “If I’m getting my shit, saddle up, baby, ’cause you’re coming with me.”

  “I am not!” she yelled and he went toe-to-toe with her.

  “Yes, you are, because you are mine. This baby is mine too. I am not going anywhere without the person who completes me. Get over this shit and kiss me!”

  But she pushed him away, her eyes filling with tears. “If I completed you, then you would have come to me instead of going to her.”

  Roaring out a sound of distress, his arms shook as he let his head fall back. “Oh my God, Kacey, I wasn’t in my right mind back then. I was fucked up. We both know this. Why are you acting like this?”

  When he looked back down at her, she was glaring, tears rushing down her beautiful, angry face. “Because it hurts. It hurts to know that I couldn’t be there for you, to help you, t