Page 74 of The Coppersmith Farmhouse (Jamison Valley 1)
“Gigi. I see you haven’t decided to leave Prescott’s Good Prince yet,” Wes smirked. “And aren’t you cute,” he said to Rowen. “What’s your name, princess?”
Roe burrowed into Jess’s chest without an answer.
“Back off, Wes,” Jess warned.
At this juncture, the blond piped up. “Hey, Brick. I tried calling you a few times. Did you get my messages?” She threw me a fake smile.
Bitch.
It was blatantly obvious I was with Jess, standing here holding his hand and leaning into his side while my daughter rested on his hip.
“Yeah, Andrea, I got them,” Jess said. “Me not calling you back should have been your first clue to leave me alone. This can be your second. Lose. My. Number.”
Andrea. Jess’s ex.
My heart plummeted into my belly.
Of course she was beautiful. A little fake, but very pretty. Her hair was long and straight, shiny under the stadium lights. Her makeup was thick but applied perfectly. And she was thin. I bet she didn’t have an ounce of extra fat on her, certainly not an extra ten pounds.
“Now, Sheriff, is that any way to treat one of your constituents?” Wes asked.
“Not the place, Drummond,” Nick said.
“Ah . . . Nick Slater. Did you find any evidence as to who started that fire? I bet it was someone much, much smarter than you. Someone who knows exactly how to create a burner bottle and leave no trace,” Wes said.
Had Wes just admitted to starting that fire? If it wasn’t him, he knew who had.
“Enough,” Silas growled.
Silas’s face was granite and his hands were clenched at his sides. If he lost his control, Wes didn’t stand a chance.
I studied Wes, hoping he wouldn’t run his mouth and push Silas over the edge. I did not want my daughter witnessing a fight. Luckily, Wes’s confidence faltered and he stopped pushing the men’s buttons. With one last sneer aimed at Jess, he grabbed the blond’s arm and started backing away.
Jess had been wrong about Mustang football. It wasn’t
a sporting event and it wasn’t a social event either.
It was a damn soap opera.
I was lying on my stomach in bed, the sheet covering the lower half of my naked body. My arms were crossed underneath my face and I was turned away from Jess. He was propped on his side, tracing invisible patterns on my bare skin.
My body felt like a limp noodle but my mind was stressed.
We had watched the second half of the game, mostly in silence. Silas never had returned, and even though we’d had an empty space beside us, Rowen had stayed on Jess’s lap. After a Mustang victory, we’d said our good-byes, driven home and gotten Roe into bed.
The second her bedroom door had clicked shut, Jess had picked me up and carried me to bed. The orgasm he’d given me had drained my energy reserves, and rather than go to the bathroom like usual, I’d turned onto my stomach and reverted into my head, attempting to wrap it around everything that had happened.
Wes Drummond was a menace. He was battling with Jess and I was in the middle. I did not like that he had tried to talk to my child. At all. And I had a feeling he had brought Andrea over to us tonight just to rile me and Jess up.
Besides Wes, my mind whirled around Jess and Andrea. Even though I desperately wanted to stop, I kept picturing them together. Each time, my stomach rolled. The mental images were playing on repeat. Him touching her pretty face. Her long, shiny hair draped across his body. Him kissing her. Her skinny body underneath his.
I just kept seeing them together and it was making me crazy.
“What’s going on in your head?” Jess asked.
“Weird night.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “What happened when you took Roe to the bathroom?”
