Free Always Conall (Bitterroot #2) by Sibylla Matilde

like that,” she argued quietly. “He made me feel beautiful. He made me feel wanted. And nobody has wanted anything to do with me in a long, long time.”
    “Are you happy with him? With your life?”
    She narrowed her eyes at me. “He won’t hurt me. He’s a good man.”
    “A good man that you won’t even introduce to your daughter,” I skeptically grumbled.
    Sage scowled up at me. “You know, this really isn’t any of your fucking business,” she muttered with a harsh whisper.
    “You’re the mother of my child.”
    Her eyes sparked with an incandescent anger, and her cheeks flushed exquisitely. “And the day you walked away from me, you lost any right to have a say in my life. So we can be friends,” her hand pushed slightly at my chest, urging me to step back, “but who I fuck is my business.”
    “And me?” I asked, leaning against her hand. Closer yet. Invading her personal bubble so she couldn’t shut me out.
    “What about you?” she glowered.
    “How about who I fuck?” I whispered.
    She looked away for a second, swallowing hard, and pushed again at my chest. I didn’t budge. “That’s your business,” she said before raising her eyes back to mine. Still angry, hurt… a little bit lost and alone.
    “So it wouldn’t bother you to see me with someone. To know I was touching someone else.”
    She dropped her gaze again before answering. “Of course not.”
    “Sage—”
    “It’s better this way, Conall. If you stay, if you want to be a part of her life, this,” she looked up at me and motioned back and forth between the two of us, “needs to stay clear and open. We can’t have our own shit bleed into her world.”
    “Sage— ” I began again, but she cut me off.
    “I remember your parents fighting before you dad took off. I remember how much that tore you up. I remember you climbing through Matt’s window because you didn’t want to hear them.” Her voice dropped to a low murmur. “I don’t want that for her.”
    I remembered all that, too. The yelling and drunken rages. The slap of a heavy palm hard on my mother’s cheek. The crash of broken glass.
    And when my dad finally left, it was almost like my mom saw me as a replacement. Someone to take out her aggression on, to fight with. Someone to blame for her own failures in life.
    “Well, they weren’t exactly role models, Sage. They were both complete train wrecks. But just because they were fucked up doesn’t mean we would be.”
    “Doesn’t mean we wouldn’t. Look at us now, Conall. We can barely talk to each other without fighting. We’re not really starting out on the best footing here. It’s a risk I’m just not willing to take with her, no matter what you meant to me in the past.” She took a deep breath.
    “ Meant? Past tense, Sage?” I clenched my jaw and straightened above her, allowing her to push me back slightly.
    “Listen ,” she said, shaking her head to dismiss my question, “Mattie already really likes you. You were all she talked about since we saw you at the store. I’m glad you came over. I’m glad you had this time with her. We need to focus on you and her. On what we’re going to do.”
    “What do you want to do, Sage?” I asked quietly and watched as she swallowed hard.
    “I’m not really sure,” she whispered back. “But it’s getting kinda late and I need to get her ready for bed, so maybe you should go. We can talk tomorrow or something. Or just play it by ear for a few days to see how things progress.”
    I nodded curtly, unsure really why I was so disturbed by her desire to stay at arms’ length. I wanted to ease the wounded look in her eyes, yet she kept pushing me away ruefully.
    She didn’t trust me.
    But why should she?
    I stepped into the living room and watched Mattie for a second as she lined up her ponies and rattled off a little dialogue between them, giving a sleepy little yawn in the midst of her play.
    “Hey, kiddo,” I said in a quiet voice, interrupting her