Tristan gives me a sideways glance, annoyed with me.
“What?” I snap.
“Don’t give me what,” he growls as he pulls out into the street. “You didn’t even look at it.”
“I don’t have to. I’m not moving from my home in Long Island.”
“It’s too small for us.” He rolls his eyes, as if I’m an idiot, and my blood begins to boil.
“I want my boys to have room to have their friends over,” he asserts angrily.
Something snaps inside of me.
Wade had plans for his sons, and I can’t ignore them.
I won’t.
“They are Wade’s boys,” I bark. “You need to stop calling them your boys.”
The car falls deathly silent.
He narrows his eyes at me. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
I glare out the front windshield and cross my arms, too angry to form words.
“You do know, Claire . . . that when we get married—”
“If we get married,” I fume.
“I will be adopting the boys.”
“What?” I explode. I stare at him for a moment in utter shock . . . what the fuck? He wants to adopt them. “That’s not happening, Tristan.”
“What?” he screams.
“They already have a father,” I snap.
“I want them as my sons in the eyes of the law.”
“Well, you can’t fucking have them legally. You get to live with them—that’s enough.”
“Mom!” Fletcher cries from the back. “Stop it.”
Tristan’s eyes bulge from their sockets. His eyes flick between the road and me. “So you’re telling me I can care for them, I can love them, but I can’t ever call them my sons.”
“They have a father,” I repeat. “And they will remember and respect his wishes.”
“He’s fucking dead, Claire,” he barks. “And I won’t be punished because he’s gone. I want them legally to be my sons.”
I lose the last of my control. “It’s never fucking happening,” I splutter. “They are my and Wade’s sons. Not yours. They will never be yours. I told you to find someone else and have your own children—you can’t have Wade’s.”
He punches the steering wheel as he loses control, and we all jump. Patrick starts to cry.
“You’re scaring him.”
Tristan grips the steering wheel with white-knuckle force. His eyes fill with tears as he stares straight ahead.
Why did I say that?
Tears well in my eyes, and I angrily wipe them away.
We drive in silence the rest of the way, and he pulls into the driveway. He leaves the car going.
“Are you coming, Tris?” Harry whispers.
“No, buddy,” Tristan replies as he stares straight ahead. “I’ll call you later.”
“No, Tristan,” Patrick begs. “Please come in.” He begins to cry. “Don’t go.” He grabs him over the back of his seat as he begs him not to leave.
Tristan closes his eyes.
I get out of the car, angry that my children would choose him over me. Surely they get my point? Don’t they have any loyalty to their father?
“Get out of the car,” I demand to the boys.
Fletcher gets out.
“Get out of the car,” I snap. Patrick slowly gets out.
Harry sits tight.
“Get out of the car, Harrison.”
“I’m going with Tristan.”
I’m furious. How dare he say that in front of the boys and put me in the position where they think I’m the bad guy? I’m being loyal to their father . . . and so should they.
“You will do no such thing.” I yank the door open and grab his arm as he fights me. “Let me go!” he screams as he kicks at me. “I want to stay with him.”
Tristan pinches the bridge of his nose, overwhelmed by the situation.
I struggle to get him out as the two other boys watch in horror, and I slam the car door hard.
The tires screech as Tristan takes off like a maniac.
I turn to the boys. Tears run down their faces as they glare at me. “I hate you,” Harry cries. “Make him come back.”
He runs inside and slams the door.
“You ruined everything, Mom!” Patrick yells.
They turn and run inside after Harry.
I close my eyes . . . fuck, how the hell did that escalate to this?
Chapter 24
Love is stupid. Love is blind.
Love is a fucking bitch!
I have the shower on full bore to block out the sound of my heart breaking . . . I don’t want the boys to see me cry. I stand under the hot water as the tears run down my face. The lump in my throat is big, the hole in my heart a giant crevasse.
Where the hell did that argument come from?
I had no idea any of that was on Tristan’s agenda.