Uncovering His SECRET by Crystal Perkins Read Free Book Online

meat
marinated and ready for the grill on her balcony. Well, balcony’s
an understatement. You could probably fit a small apartment out here.
This whole building is pretty much a structural masterpiece, and I’ve
been exploring as much of it as possible while I wait for my lab to
be done. That’s coming along at record speed, and honestly, Tegan
wasn’t joking when she said I could ask for anything. I’m frankly
in awe of her and her friends. Well, mostly her. Which is why I
wanted to make dinner tonight.
    “Mama’s going out
tonight,” Ethan says as he comes out onto the balcony.
    “What? Going out
where?”
    He shrugs. “Dancing
or something.”
    “Does she do this a
lot? Go out?”
    “No, I don’t,”
Tegan answers me as she walks outside.
    She’s in a sexy black
dress that’s got me hard within seconds. It’s got a halter
neckline and hugs her curves all the way down to the asymmetrical
hemline. I want to peel it off her body with my teeth.
    “Good.”
    “Excuse me? If I
wanted to go out every night, it wouldn’t be any of your damn
business.”
    “Uh, yeah it would.
You shouldn’t be just leaving Ethan here alone.”
    “I’m not.”
    “When I have my lab
up and running, I won’t be able to just run up here at the drop of
a hat so you can go whore it up at clubs.”
    “Ethan, baby, please
go to your room. Ainsley and Zack are coming over to hang out with
you while I’m gone.”
    “I can take care of
my son. I don’t need anyone else sleeping over with him.”
    “Mama?”
    “Go ahead, E.”
    He hugs her before
glaring at me as he walks back inside. Tegan watches him go, and then
turns back to me.
    “You will not—at
any time—speak to me like that. Whether Ethan is around or not. I
took it from you when I was sixteen, but I won’t now. Whether I go
out once, or a hundred times, I am not a whore.”
    I should shut up. I
know I should. But it’s making me crazy to think about her going
out. Especially when she’s dressed like that. “Do you prefer
slut?”
    “I will give you
until the morning to gather your things and get the fuck out of my
apartment. I don’t care where you go, but you need to be gone
tomorrow.”
    “I thought it wasn’t
safe for me outside of this place.”
    “It’s not safe for
you inside of this apartment any longer.”
    “You’re just Mother
of the Year, aren’t you?”
    I don’t even see the
punch coming, as Ethan launches himself at me. I fall with him on top
of me. He’s hitting me hard and screaming at me. It takes Tegan
less than a minute to pull him off me, but I can already taste the
blood in my mouth. The kid’s got a great arm.
    “Ethan, calm down.
Why are you out here? I told you to go to your room.”
    “I knew he was going
to say more bad things to you. He can’t do that. I want him to
leave tonight.”
    Damn it. I really
fucked up this time. “Ethan, I’m sorry you heard that.”
    “You should be sorry
you said it. A real man doesn’t call a woman the ‘S’ word, even
if she does like to kiss men.”
    “Amen, E,” Zack
Taylor says as he walks in with his fiancée, Ainsley, and takes in
the scene. “I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that we have
a problem here.”
    “Just a disagreement.
We don’t need you here,” I tell him as I get to my feet.
    “Tegan hit you, so
I’d say it’s more than just a disagreement.”
    “I hit him,” Ethan
tells him. “He was calling her names because she wants to go out
tonight.”
    “Since you’re
staying here and letting yourself be protected, I didn’t think you
had a death wish,” Ainsley tells me, as she pulls a gun out of her
purse.
    “Enough. I-I…can’t
do this. Ethan, you’re going to stay here with your dad tonight
while I go…somewhere and figure out a solution. I’ll be back in
the morning.”
    “You can stay with
us, Teeg,” Ainsley tells her.
    “Thanks, but I really
need to be alone.”
    “I don’t want to
stay here with him .”
    “I know, E. But