Page 3 of Double Obsession

Kylie turned and took three steps toward the door before facing her again. She lowered her voice and hissed, “You describe blow jobs and cocks in those trashy novels you write, but I can’t show my stomach?”

Had her teenage daughter read her sex scenes? Despite the infusion of anger and humiliation, Jenna did a remarkable job of filtering her language. “Those trashy novels pay the tuition at your fancy school. And don’t swear in front of your brother and sister.”

Kylie stomped her three-inch heel. “I want to live with Dad.”

Being a mom sucked. How did one tell a teenage girl begging for male attention that her father wasn’t interested in raising her? For the millionth time, Jenna’d remind Kylie that she worked hard to take care of the family.

She had only gotten out, “Those books—” when Kylie’s panicky “Mom!” rang out.

Jenna ignored the drama. “—mean that I earn enough for you to pay for entire outfits. And boys may look at girls who dress like whores, but they don’t date, and they surely don’t marry them.” She cringed. Men might marry nice girls, but they had affairs with sexy whores who wore stiletto heels and put out. She accidentally used the disgusting towel to dab sweat from her brow.

“Mom!” Kylie yelled.

Jenna followed her daughter’s horrified gaze to a blue-faced Lisa with bulging eyes. Her body froze, and time stood still.

“She only had five in her mouth,” said a frowning Ethan.

Luckily, Kylie’s faculties remained fully functional as she sprinted across the room on spikes. She pulled her little sister’s limp body from the highchair. Her lips cupped Lisa’s and she blew tiny puffs of air into her mouth.

****

Jenna stood in the hospital hallway with her ex-husband. Her head throbbed from crying, and her heart stung for a million reasons. Adding insult to injury, Matt glared at her with his holier-than-thou nose in the air.

“Jenna, you gotta get your shit together,” declared the horse’s ass.

She stepped toward him and placed a finger on his chest, intending to jab him. Damn! Why did contact with him still cause a bolt of warmth to course through her?

Maybe she needed to be wrapped in his arms. They had almost lost their daughter, and she needed to be comforted so badly that the ache consumed her.

“The kids are a mess,” he said.

Truth! She closed her eyes and swallowed.

“I don’t think you can handle them since you’re spending all of your time writing. I want them to stay with my parents until you find a new nanny.”

A lot he knew. She hadn’t written a single word in over two months. And the jackass must think nannies grew on trees. If only he’d been around to witness the last two fleeing in horror.

“I’d take them, but I’m working long hours.”

“What the hell?” The bastard was questioning the way she was raisingtheirkids when he couldn’t even make time for them. “You’re the one who abandoned us so that you could fuck some girl half your age.”

“Shh.” His eyes darted around the hallway. “There was only a ten-year difference between us, and I ended it. And you need to watch your drunken-sailor language. We are in a hospital, for Christ’s sake.”

The irony! “You mo-ther-fuck-er,” she mouthed.

He rubbed his temple. “Look at their time with my mom as a break for you.”

“No way are my kids living with your mother.”

She attempted to turn her back to him, but he grabbed her shoulder, holding her in place.

“Look, Lisa could have died today because you can’t control the kids. Kylie said you were harassing her about her clothes and not paying attention. Then you froze and watched her choke. Kylie was the one who had to administer the Heimlich maneuver.”

She’d rot in hell before she let a pretentious know-it-all like Diane Gibson raise her children.

So much for not stabbing him with her finger. She jammed it into his chest as hard as she could. “The problem isn’t their mother working her ass off cooking, cleaning, doing homework, trying to write her next bestseller. It’s their father who walked out of their lives and maybe spends two hours a week with them.”

He scoffed. “I know you’re having trouble keeping a nanny, so why don’t you use your advance to hire a housekeeper and cook?Weneed to do better for our kids. And, why won’t you let my parents helpus?”