Free Keep It Simple (MMG Series Book 4) by R.B. Hilliard

wait until Monday?”
    “Well, Caswell, seeing as you are the reason I have to go to this God forsaken place to begin with and I’m required to have someone with me when I check in, I choose you. That is, unless you’ve changed your mind?”
    “You and I both know I haven’t, Alexandria.”
    “Then you’d better drive fast, Caswell .” Her venomous tone told me what kind of mood she was in.
    I checked my watch. If I left now, I could check her in and be back by ten tonight, no problem.
    “I’ll be there in three hours. If you so much as take a sip of alcohol or pop a pill before I get to you, I will haul your ass straight to the police station. I don’t give a fuck who your daddy is. I have irrefutable proof and I won’t hesitate to use it, Alexandria. Are we clear?”
    “Crystal,” she hissed, and hung up on me.
    Home . The house I bought for Xandria had never been home to me. Home was so much more than four walls and a roof. It was a safe place full of love and loyalty…at least it should be. In my case, it was never that.
    Three months after my one night stand with Alexandria, she showed up at my place of business claiming she was pregnant with my child. At first, I refused to believe her. I used a condom all three times I fucked her. There was no way the kid was mine. Angry that I didn’t take her admission at face value, she tried to get her daddy involved. He threatened to have me fired unless I owned up to my responsibilities and married his precious little girl. Until one month before my son was born and I had the paternity test in hand, I didn’t budge on my convictions. When I found out Kalen Alexander Ashford was, without a doubt, my flesh and blood, I had to look at things differently.
    Three and a half hours later, I pulled into the driveway of the house I owned yet no longer lived in. It was unsettling to have to ring the doorbell of my own home. It took a few minutes for Xandria to answer.
    “Come in,” she said, holding open the door. She looked like hell. Dark circles ringed her once vibrant brown eyes and her normally perfectly styled hair hung limp and greasy to her shoulders. Drugs, alcohol and bitterness had transformed her into someone I no longer knew. “Want a drink?” she asked.
    “Are you fucking kidding me?” I snapped.
    “Calm down, I didn’t say I was going to have one.”
    “Is your bag packed? If not, you have thirty minutes to get it done,” I told her.
    “I packed it before I called you this morning.” Our house had never been a happy place, but it had been a clean one. Today it wasn’t even that. In fact, it downright stunk.
    “You need to get someone in here to clean this place while you’re gone.”
    “Someone’s scheduled to come tomorrow,” she said.
    “Good, grab your bag and let’s go.” She stomped up the stairs and returned a minute later rolling a big suitcase.
    On the way to the center, she started to panic. “Are you really going to make me do this? With your help, I can beat it, I swear.” She reached over and grabbed my hand. Without thinking, I yanked it away. If I had seen it coming, I would have stopped it before she could touch me. Her touch made me sick to my stomach.
    “Please Caswell, let me apologize,” she tearfully begged.
    “Will that bring him back? Will it change what happened before or after? What do you think your precious apology will do, Xan? I’ll tell you. It won’t do shit because it won’t change a thing.”
    “I hate you!” she shouted through her tears. I did not give a fuck. I wanted her upset. I wanted her to suffer for the rest of her life. Lord knows I would.
    It took me the entire day to check Alexandria into the rehab facility. Her father showed up two hours into the process. Like me, he was furious with her. The only difference is he loved her. I never had. Now, I hated her. She played us both. At first he asked me not to press charges. I held my ground, though. It was either this or prison for