Her Marine Next Door - Aliyah Burke Page 0,81

him further into the churlish, fucked-up mess he’d become.

“Who the fuck are you talking about?” he snapped.

Sonar faced him and raked his gaze disgustedly over Parker. “Who the fuck do you think I’m talking about? Not your precious whore of a baby momma.”

He couldn’t even get mad about that. “What difference does it make about Skylar? She made her choice.”

“You’ve had plenty of time to make it right with her. And you didn’t, sitting here wallowing in your fucking self-pity, blaming her instead of going to get your woman.”

Well, when it was put like that, it was exactly what he was doing. He’d planned on talking to her. And he would. But right now, he’d been making sure there were no holes in his paperwork petitioning for sole custody of Cullen. Once all that was solidly in motion, he had every fucking intention of turning all his Recon focus on getting Skylar back in his life where she belonged. There wasn’t another woman in this world for him, and he’d do whatever it took to prove this to her.

Whatever it took.

He slammed his beer and reached for another one. “Why are you bringing her up now?”

“I saw her.”

His heart clenched painfully. Lucky fucking bastard. The pain intermingled with the anger toward his friend for being able to put eyes on Skylar.

“How was she? Where did you see her? Was she with someone?”

Gibson walked up to him and punched him right in the face again. Parker fell back, his nose starting to bleed once more. “She was miserable. Still crying, you motherfucking asshole. And you did it to her.”

After ripping off his shirt, he held it to his nose. Staring at his beer that drained down from the table, he shook his head, slowly, and grabbed another beer. “Would you fucking stop hitting me?”

“I should take you to task for making her cry.”

“I asked her to be my fiancée. She’s the one who’s not here.” Using his hand with the balled-up shirt, he jabbed in the direction of her house. “Do you see her there? Because I sure as fuck don’t. I also don’t see her in my house and my bed, where she fucking belongs. I’m not in hers, either. You know, the house next door to me that is now up for sale!”

“You didn’t mean a damn bit of it when you asked, not more than scratching an itch. Remember, you told us it was temporary. Only a fling for you both to get your itch off.” Parker grimaced, then swore when Gibson smacked his hand away and tipped his head back. “Not broken, you’ll be fine.”

“For the record, I was fine until you punched me again.”

The disgust in his friend’s gaze was enough to let him know the man holding back. He felt for anyone who hurt that man’s baby girl.

“Suck it up, you pussy.” He marched away, then came back. “What the fuck were you thinking? I saw you, Parker. At her home, in her garage, after you came back from the hospital with her. Not to mention all the times I’d catch you staring off toward her house when you were surrounded by half-, sometimes all-naked women. Willing women. You always looked to Skylar. When the news came down about you being sidelined until you were cleared for duty, all you did was shrug, and I knew it was because you were thinking about Skylar and how much closer you’d be to her. She was so much more than a convenient piece of ass.”

Pulling away his shirt, he tested for more bleeding with the back of his hand. When it came away clear, he laid on the top of the table, putting the shirt beneath his head. “I got scared.”

“No shit. Why?”

“I wanted her. Still do. Hell, I’ll always want her. But I saw my freedom going away, and I fucking freaked like a goddamn pussy. When she argued with me about stupid shit, I retaliated with some shit I’ll never forgive myself for. Long story short, later on I upped the ante on my fuckup and I sided with Gemma.”

“That flea-bitten whore is a sorry excuse for a human,” Gibson snapped. “She’s a lot like my ex.” He sat on the bench facing Parker’s head. “Vindictive like she was, too.”

“I’m such a fucking idiot.” Even now, it filled him with white-hot rage to think of all Gemma had done to Skylar until she’d hit her blowing point. She’d never once gone against their “arrangement,” always