The Problem with Fire - M.E. Clayton Page 0,15

child together. It bothered me that he might always be special to her.

And that’s how I found myself standing next to Monroe, taking liberties I had not been granted permission.

When I had first heard the words carry, I had realized quickly that they were arguing about their daughter. I had also realized that it wasn’t my place to interfere in something like that. But when he started calling her out and accusing her of still being hung up on him, well…that was a different story.

It also hadn’t helped when my dick had heard (because he’d had ears for this part) Monroe’s account of the past three years. If we were paying close attention (and we had been) she hasn’t been with anyone in three fucking years. There was no way I was not going to be her next.

So, I had walked over, and now I was standing next to her being a liar, liar pants on fire.

“Oh, how cliché,” he sneered, his eyes on Monroe. “The pool boy, Monroe? Really?”

“Fireman, actually,” I corrected with a smirk on my face. I wasn’t dumb. Thomas wasn’t a bad-looking guy, but he had to be forty or forty-one, somewhere around there. And though he looked to keep himself in shape, he wasn’t built like I was. He didn’t have a six-pack for Monroe to run her tongue and fingers over. And though there was only about a five-year age gap, it was obvious I was younger than they were. He was jealous. He may have wanted her to move on, but he had wanted her to move on with someone less striking than he was. He had wanted her to be the loser in all this.

“Make up your mind, Thomas,” Monroe said. “You come here upset, thinking I haven’t moved on, but now you’re upset that I have. Which is it?” I snorted because I couldn’t help it. I knew it was her pride making her go along with my outrageous claim, but I’d take what I could get at this point.

His eyes flittered between me and Monroe. “So, if this is real, why doesn’t Leta know about it?” he challenged. “Why does she think you’re not dating?”

This prick.

If this is real?

Seriously?

Before Monroe could say anything, I stepped behind her and placed my hands on her shoulders. She didn’t lock up, and that was a good thing if we were going to sell this lie. And since it was my lie to begin with, I didn’t want to put her in a place where she had to come up with some bullshit story. I wanted this asshole to believe I was dicking Monroe down every fucking night.

“We’ll tell her when it’s the right time to tell her,” I told him. “This isn’t something we want to rush.”

Thomas folded his arms over his chest and scoffed. “You mean, you don’t want Leta knowing that Monroe’s spreading her legs for the neighborhood,” he glowered. “If this thing were serious, you-”

Before I could punch him in the face, Monroe was seething up at him. “Listen, you narcissistic asshole. We haven’t told Leta about our relationship because there hasn’t been a chance to tell her.” As much as I wanted to kill the bastard in front of me for talking to Monroe the way he has, I was more interested in what she was about to say, so I kept my mouth shut, my hands still on her shoulders. “She’s so upset every time she comes back from staying with you, it takes days for her to settle back down. And by the time she’s in a good place again, I’m not actually up to disrupting her contentment by announcing that I’m seeing someone,” she spat. “Announcing that I am seeing someone, and that it’s serious, will do nothing but further cement the fact that her family is never going to be whole again. You might have walked out on us three years ago, but my relationship with Sayer is what’s going to prevent Leta from ever having her family back together again.”

Was I a complete asshole for wanting every word out of her mouth to be true? Probably.

This was a family we were discussing here. We were addressing a girl’s family and how she’s still suffering from the separation, three years later. We were talking about people’s lives and their real trials and tribulations. But all I could think about was how Monroe was going along with my lies, and how I wished it were all