Smug Bastard - Stacey Marie Brown Page 0,80

Mutton as it tried to eat the label off my beer.

“You said her dog was named, Goat, right?”

I took a drink, bobbing my head.

“What are the odds, mate?” He shrugged a shoulder. “Just sayin’ I don’t think you should give up.”

“I don’t even know where she is. She’s blocked my calls and her social media from me.”

“You know her family, right?”

“Yeah, believe me, her sister doesn’t want to hear from me either.” I finished off my beer. I didn’t want to bother Kyle right now, but Kay might talk to me. She was my one shot.

“If we’re done braiding each other’s hair, let’s finish the fence so Mutton here has fresh wood to nibble on,” I grunted.

Chance laughed, knowing soon we’d probably be fixing something else the goat ate.

My gaze wandered around his yard as we worked, appreciating what he had done.

“Ever think about doing landscaping?” I pounded in a nail, the next one pinched between my lips.

“As a job?”

I shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about starting up my own construction company.” The logo Kinsley came up with wouldn’t budge from my mind. It felt like it was meant to be mine. My company. “Be good to have someone I trust to call on for landscaping. You do a decent job.”

Chance glanced around his yard. “I don’t know. Never thought about it.”

“Well, just an idea to have in the back of your head if you decide you want to.”

He nodded, returning to the project, working in silence for a few moments.

“Smith?” A woman’s voice came from behind me, locking me up.

Fuck. No. Curving around, my gaze landed on the last person I ever wanted to see again.

Becca stood at the entrance of Chance’s backyard, most likely following my voice. Dressed in a fitted expensive dress and heels, she looked pale and anxious.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I spit out, a snarl hitching my mouth.

“I need to talk to you. You weren’t answering any of my calls or texts.” Anxiety twanged her voice. There was a wildness in her eyes as she wobbled across the gravel and dirt in her heels.

“For a reason,” I replied, my voice cold. “Talk to my lawyer, Becca. I want nothing to do with you.”

“Smith, please.” Desperation and fear coiled her words. Becca was never either.

I gave Chance a look; his head dipped in understanding. I tossed down my tools, striding to Becca, grabbing her arm, marching us to the front to the sidewalk.

“Speak,” I demanded.

“I’m not a dog,” she spat back, but tears filled her eyes.

It wasn’t going to work on me this time. “Get it out now. This is the last time I do this for you. I’m done with your shit.”

“I came to talk to, to plead with you, to remember at one time you loved me. We could still have a future. A family together.”

“What the hell you talking about?”

“You haven’t spoken to your lawyer?”

“Not today. Why?”

Her red lips pinched together.

“Tell me,” I growled, making her jump back. “Now!”

“Bryan…” she whispered.

I blinked, not expecting his name to come up now.

“What about Bryan?” His name flushed up pure hate for the person I used to think of not only as a business partner, but as a brother. The one who conned and stole my life from me while getting off scot-free.

“He was arrested.” She gulped, panic filling her eyes.

I scoffed, a smile coming to my face. “Good.”

“No.” Her hand shook against her throat. “He and I…” She gulped.

Becca was an exceptional actress; she had me fooled for years, but this felt different.

“What?”

A tear slid down her face. “He coerced me into doing it again… He totally tricked and blackmailed me into it. I swear. We kind of became partners…”

I stepped back, my chest rising, feeling the ground slip under my feet again.

“What do you mean partners?”

“In business…”

“And in bed?” I already knew the answer. I had suspected it back then, my gut telling me the truth, while my heart tried to make reasons why they were together so much. Like when I walked into the office and Becca claimed she had been waiting there for me.

I was such a fool. They were fucking each other while fucking up my life, taking everything from me.

“Sometimes, but I never loved him, not like I loved you.” She tried to touch me, but I jolted away, my jaw gritting in fury. “Smith, please, you can tell them he’s lying, that I knew nothing.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because deep down I know you still love me.