Page 106 of Fierce-Michael

“What are they?” he asked.

“One, that you give into your ex all the time. And that is one of the things she said to me. So it was like the nail that was halfway punched in got the sledgehammer dropped on it.”

“She actually said I give into her?” he asked. Jesus. This was going from bad to worse.

“What she said was that I wasn’t what she expected and I must be good in bed. And if I wasn’t, she could give me some pointers on what you liked because she always gave it to you and to this day you still give in to her because of that.”

“Fuck! That’s not true. I do it all for Ty.”

The tears fell on her face like a flood that had been damned up and just broke free.

“Yep,” she said. “You do. And it’s commendable. But you know what? Sheknowsthat. Sheusesyour son for those things. You say she isn’t smart and is irresponsible. Sure, she is. She’s petty too from what I can see. But she’s smart enough that she pretty much has you figured out and you’re falling for it.”

“Don’t do that,” he said “Don’t mix up my love for my son and my ex starting trouble.”

“They are mixed together,” she said firmly. “They always will be. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t put Ty first. I knew that going in and I agree with it. I’m just your girlfriend you’ve dated for a few months.”

“You’re more than that,” he argued.

“It doesn’t feel it right now.”

“So this is it,” he said. “It took two months for you to decide you can’t handle that I’ve got a kid?”

She stood up and started to pace. “Not at all,” she said. “I love Ty. I love you. I’ve never once said I have a problem with you being a parent. I don’t tell you how to raise your kid.”

“Could have fooled me tonight with your sarcastic comment about dinner.”

It wasn’t lost on him when she’d said he was the parent and could decide on food.

“I’m sorry. That was petty on my part and I’ll own it. But I was raw over what I witnessed and what was said to me.”

“There’s more?” he asked.

“Yes. She said she offers sex to you all the time. I know she has in the past. You told me that on the first date.”

He didn’t think Electra would be this devious. He should have realized it. It’s not as if he gave her shit about all the men she slept with, only that she didn’t do it around Ty.

“She doesn’t do it all the time,” he said. “The last time she did it was when I told you. That her idea to repay me for the groceries was to take me to bed. It hasn’t happened again.”

No reason to say what Electra was wearing the day he knocked on her door when Ty had spent the night at Electra’s parents. It’s not anything he hadn’t seen before and nothing that turned him on in the least.

But he was smart enough to know saying his ex was half naked in front of him wasn’t a good thing to add to this conversation.

“I trust you,” she said. “It’s never been about that. And if she wants to embarrass herself by throwing herself at you, that’s on her. I don’t even think I care all that much that she said it to get a rise out of me.”

“Then what is the problem?” he asked. He was pacing just as much as her.

“The problem is you knew she was playing games tonight and you gave in. Ty said Electra took aspirin and was whining they were taking too long to kick in. She wasn’t dying. She had freaking cramps. We all do at that time of the month. We all get crabby too. Ty should learn that as young as he can women are different than men. Does Electra have a history of throwing things or getting violent when she has cramps?”

“No,” he said. “She just whines and cries.”

“Then there is no reason that Ty had to come home. You even knew why she wanted him to leave. When you have a headache and Ty is driving you nuts, do you call your parents to come to get him? Or Electra to take him? No,” she said. “You handle itlike an adult and tell him he needs to be quiet or behave or go watch a movie. And you know what? I bet he listens to you just like he would have listened to his mother because he told me he was in his room playing.”

He wouldn’t address that because she was right.

There had been times he hadn’t felt good or was sick and asked Ty to play quietly or go watch a movie.

He also knew that Electra almost always made Ty play in his room when he was there or watch a movie so it shouldn’t have been any different tonight.