Page 63 of Beyond the Rules
By the time I opened the door, I was ready to face the onslaught. I stared at the woman whom I’d been married to for the longest three years of my life. I confronted the same heart-shaped face that had caught my attention when I’d first seen her at the club trailing her “I’m available” leash. The same long black hair I’d admired when I first started fucking her. The same black eyes, which at some point had gone from seductive to conniving. With her tall, slim body and her prominent breasts encased in the latest designer fashion, she was still a beauty to the casual eye. To me, she was a nightmare in the flesh. Not only was she here, which was shocking enough. She held a duffel in one hand and my son in theother.
“Ryan?” My heart stopped in my chest. I went to my knees. “Ryan, buddy, howareyou?”
Ryan’s blue eyes shifted briefly from his tablet to my face. A flicker of recognition sparked there for an instant, but then it was gone, substituted by the distant gaze he usually wore. He’d grown since the last time I saw him, an inch, maybe two. His cheeks and lips had begun to lose some of the baby plumpness. He was almost five now. It’d been so long since I’d last seen him. Four months at least. I wanted to hug him and tell him how much I’dmissedhim.
“Don’t get emotional,” Laura muttered acidly. “You know what happens when he gets emotional. Suck it up, Balthazar. Beaman.”
I swallowed a bitter retort and concentrated on my son. “It’s okay, Ryan.” I opened my arms. “Wanna come todaddy?”
He didn’t make a move toward me and that about ripped out myputridguts.
“Well?” Laura lifted her pointy chin and pursed her red glazed lips impatiently. “Are you going to ask us inorwhat?”
“What are you doing here?” I askedcautiously.
“You are so fucking rude.” She brushed past me, dragging Ryan along, her heels clicking on the wood floors on her way to the kitchen. I followed, my mental alarms blaring. This couldn’tbegood.
Laura plopped down the duffel on the kitchen island and whirled to confront me. “You know how I never ask any favors from you? Well, today I need one and you’ll do it, if you want things to go smoothly at the nexthearing.”
She was right. She never asked me for any favors. She only asked me for money, lots of it, double, triple the generous alimony settlement we’d agreed on, all the time. Sure, Ryan’s education was pricy. He required a special school and I gladly paid for it and anything else heneeded.
But the money I gave Laura went to finance her life as a socialite. She made me pay cash for every visit I had with Ryan, for every single moment I spent with my son, which wasn’t often, since she made sure she restricted my access according to her moods. All of this she did because she could get away with it, because she would try to take away my son unless I complied. Which is why my attorney always recommended supervised visits with Ryan and no direct contact with Laura. But Laura was right here, in my kitchen, with my son. And now I had to dealwithher.
“Me and the girls are going to New York,” she said. “You know how stressful it is to have to care for an autistic child. Mother is down in Florida with her sister, so she can’t watch Ryan for the next three days. The housekeeper and thenannyquit.”
Again, I didn’t say. Laura’s temper made it impossible for her to keepcompetenthelp.
“You wanted to spend more time with Ryan?” Laura said. “Here’s your chance. You’ve got three extra days,ifyou pay for my creditcardbill.”
Of course there’d be a price. Nothing free from Laura, not even my parental rights. It was the worst possible time. I had a lot of work to do. But Ryan was here. In my house. My son would be staying with me. Forthreedays.
“Of course I’ll take Ryan.” Any time I got to spend with him was a treasure. “Just give me a few minutes to rearrange my day and I’ll berightback.”
“I can’t stay.” Laura said. “I’m late for my hair appointment. You either take Ryan now or you don’t get him at all. I can always leave him with the Watsons at the respite care center. Take it or leave it,Balthazar.”
The glee in her eyes drove me nuts. She did love to torture me. The Watsons were fine people, but Ryan didn’t do well in group settings with strangers. I only needed a few minutes to makearrangements…
“I can watch Ryan forabit.”
The voice rang from upstairs, bright, merry and familiar. Both Laura and I looked up. Nina stood on the balcony, dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a hot pink T-shirt that accentuated her body’s finelines.
Laura’s green-eyed gaze widened. “Who the hellareyou?”
“Laura, meet Nina,” I said, keeping my eyes on Nina as she trotted barefoot down the stairs, wearing a brave little smile, a call to combat that she kept pasted on her face as she parked next to me. I had an out of body experience as she reached out for my hand and entwined her fingers with mine, a contact that sent joy zapping through myspine.
“Hey, hi.” Nina made a little wave in the air. “I’m Zar’s girlfriend.” Ignoring Laura’s scathing glare, Nina crouched on the floor. “You must be Ryan. How are you doing,buddy?”
Ryan came out of his aloofness and, reaching his little hand out, ran a finger over Nina’s T-shirt. “Pink.” His voice rang as clear as I’d everheardit.
“Pink is so right.” Nina flashed him a blinding smile. “I love pink.Doyou?”
Ryan actually nodded, then pointed at Nina’s eyes. “Honey.”
“Wow, yes,” Nina said. “You’re so smart. You really know yourcolors.”
“Me loveshoney.”
The words, not to mention the smile Ryan gave Nina, shocked me to hellandback.