Page 69 of Well Aware

She signed something to him, and I watched the two interact.

“That’s so sweet,” Constance whispered.

“They’re really good together,” I agreed. “We’re so lucky that he came into our lives.”

Because no matter what Beau said, he was helping her.

Sleepy from the long day, we made our way back to my place.

I was so tired that at first I didn’t notice the person that was parked in my driveway until I went to turn in and found it blocked by a rental car with California plates.

I frowned and parked on the other side of the car, barely squeezing into the spot because the car was parked so poorly.

When I shut the car off, Beau was already there, parked in the street and staring at the black sedan with suspicion.

“Who’s that?” Beau asked when he opened my door.

I opened my mouth to say “I don’t know” when the door to the sedan opened and my worst nightmare got out.

“You’re a hard woman to find,” Cain McDuff drawled.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why would you want to find me?”

And I was not a hard woman to find.

I played professional soccer. It was honestly laughable that he thought that I could hide who I was when it was mandatory to live within twenty minutes of the stadium. Plus, there were only three small towns to choose from in the area that fit that requirement.

His eyes moved to Beau. “I wanted to talk to you. Alone.”

“Cain,” I said, using his name to warn Beau who, exactly, it was that stood in front of us. “It’s late.”

“I only have a few questions.”

Beau stiffened next to me, making the connections that I needed him to.

“Listen, man,” Beau said. “My daughter needs to get to bed, and Magnolia has a game tomorrow. We don’t have time for questions. Maybe if you’d have called before you came, we could’ve made time for you to talk with her. But we don’t have that time tonight.”

Cain’s eyes flicked toward Beau.

He took in his stained white t-shirt, that funny enough didn’t look like dried blood after some cow had smeared shit all over it, and curled his lip in disgust. “Listen, I don’t need you or your daughter to have this conversation with her. It won’t take long.”

“I don’t think you’re understanding me,” Beau said. “She doesn’t want to talk to you. She doesn’t have any desire to be in your vicinity at all. Now, leave.”

Cain was so unaccustomed to people telling him what to do that it gave him pause. Anger rose on his face, and I could tell he wanted to lash out, use his prestige and wealth to get him what he wanted.

But he wasn’t in his hometown anymore. He was in Beau’s. And Beau didn’t give a flying fuck what Cain’s net worth was.

Nor did Cain have any pockets lined in this part of the country.

Money wouldn’t buy him what he wanted here.

“Fine.” Cain rolled his eyes. “I was just going to tell you that Rose had a life insurance policy, and they won’t give it to me.”

Of course he was here about money.

That had also been the source of nearly every one of their fights. Money.

I blinked. “Why would they?”