him, levelling him with a no bullshit look. “Rebecca usually waits at her car. She doesn’t come to stand by mine.”
He raked a hand through his hair. “She’s sick.”
By reflex, I glanced at his arm, the sleeves of his sweater were rolled up, the tattooed sleeve visible. In his mid-twenties now, Reid looked like a spitting image of Conor back in the day. He dressed like him too, in jogging pants and a heavy sweater (yeah, never an original thought in this boy’s head). But his colouring was different. His hair was darker, his eyes weren’t as bright. He didn’t have a beard, but he had some stubble. He’d mastered the intimidating demeanour Conor was known for, but it still barely held a light next to Conor.
Reid was going down a similar path to Conor, too. Only, he wasn’t openly violent. But he’d held a solid reputation in Blackwater for being tough, and for also messing around with girls. Could never keep his dick in his pants, by the sounds of it. He had cheated on Rebecca countless times, though I wasn’t surprised. I’d heard through the rumour mill long after I’d left him that he’d messed around on me with Rebecca too.
It made my mistakes a little more bearable to live with, though it was no excuse for what I did to him. I also didn’t care when I heard about it. It meant nothing to me that he’d cheated because it was puppy love. I was a stupid teenager and so was he. We were kids, so I didn’t care to hate him anymore than I already did.
I supposed we were all a special kind of messed up here in Blackwater.
“Kane’s been wanting to have a play date with Penny,” he then said, moving the conversation along. “I personally can’t see a reason why not. Can you?”
I pressed my lips tight. “No, I guess not.” Except you’re his stepdad and I really can’t stand the sight of you.
I couldn’t help the stink eye I was giving him. I looked him over, wondering if he sent Billy to me that day. And there it was again, this infuriating obsession with Billy and that horrible, miserable fucking day.
“When are you free?” he questioned. “Rebecca’s available any day of the week.”
“I don’t know,” I answered, not wanting to jump into it this quick. “We have each other’s numbers. I’ll let you know.”
He nodded slowly. “Sure.”
He didn’t budge. That should have been the end of the conversation, but he just stood there, watching me, looking me over openly. He didn’t care he was checking me out in front of his kid. Didn’t care that I belonged to his cousin and I loathed him. Didn’t care he had a wife at home he’d been with since she’d fallen pregnant with someone else’s kid.
I wondered if he was with her because of Kane. I saw the love in his eyes for the kid. It was like he was his, and I supposed he was since he’d assumed daddy to him from the get-go.
Still didn’t make Reid a good person.
I would never forget how awful he had treated me that last year in high school. The way he had turned everyone against me, even though the asshole hadn’t been faithful from the start.
If he was so awful back then, had he gotten worse over time?
“On that note,” I added shortly, “we only exchanged numbers for Kane’s birthday last year. If you’re going to message me, keep it strictly about the kids.”
He smirked in response. “I haven’t messaged you once, Charlotte. The only time I did was to welcome Conor home. I knew no other way to get through to him.”
“You could have messaged Megan.”
“I figured it would reach you faster, but sure, I will refrain from messaging you unless it’s to do with the kids.”
I was so pent up with adrenaline, I was kind of knocked backwards at his submissiveness. I blinked, surprised he was keeping the peace, before I stiffened a nod. Then I kind of felt stupid, like…Reid had only messaged me when Conor got out of prison.
I overreacted.
But I still hated him because…history dictated that enemies must remain enemies, right?
I licked my lips, awkwardly avoiding his eye as I forced myself to say, “Sorry for being short.”
“I get it,” he said softly. “I’m not trying to be a dick, Charlotte, I swear. I know you guys want your privacy. I know there’s hell of a lot of shit there between us, between