Behaving Badly in Vegas (Vegas Love #3)

54. Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Hunter

Every day without Charli was like a knife in my gut. I missed her sassy mouth, her gentle soul, and her loving heart. When she first moved into my apartment, she made me crazy, but now I craved her brand of chaos that breathed life into these four walls.

Jennifer still showed up like clockwork, her behavior becoming more erratic and annoying with each visit. It suffocated me. I was a prisoner in my own home. Once a place of solitude, my apartment was now more like a torture chamber.

I couldn’t hide that Charli was no longer here. Too many days passed without her making an appearance.

Yesterday, Jennifer showed up with a suitcase, suggesting it would be easier if she moved in. Fuck that! The woman may have been Carina’s mother, but the only thing we had in common was that we’d contributed DNA to create another human being. I felt nothing for her.

I wanted one day when she wasn’t waiting for me when I got home from work .

Today wasn’t that day.

She stood outside my door with a bag of groceries. “I brought dinner,” she said, holding up the bag.

Finally, something useful. “Great.”

She looked less put together than usual. Her hair was disheveled, like she’d been running her fingers through it all day and her lipstick was smeared, leaving a small streak on her chin. She spoke a million miles a minute, barely taking a breath. “It’s nothing fancy, but I figured who needs fancy? Sometimes a girl needs comfort food. My mom always made me mac and cheese when I was a kid. We couldn’t afford much but we always had mac and cheese. Nothing but the best for my little boo-boo bear.”

I hated that nickname. It grated on my nerves like spreadsheets without headings. Princess Poops-a-Lot was funny, little boo-boo bear was annoying.

Even though Jennifer had been coming over for weeks, I still never got a straight answer about why she abandoned Carina. Every time I looked at my daughter, I couldn’t imagine my life without her. Something didn’t add up, but I’d yet to discover it.

Inside the apartment, I threw my keys and wallet on the island. I was at my wits’ end with this woman. “You know, you don’t have to be here every day. Maybe we could come up with a schedule.”

Jennifer unloaded the groceries on the kitchen counter. “Don’t be silly. I don’t mind coming over, although you do have an empty bedroom. If I moved in it would be so much easier for you. I could watch Carina while you’re at work like a mother should.”

Again, with the moving in shit. The woman was either oblivious or delusional. I hadn’t decided which yet. “Not happening.”

She filled a pot with water and turned on the stove, then shook a spoon at me. “I’ll change your mind. You like me; I can tell. We’re family whether you admit it or not.”

The fuck we were. Delusional. She was definitely delusional.

A knock on the door saved me from raining down reality on her bizarre parade. Please let it be Charli. She was the only one I wanted to see.

It wasn’t Charli .

My brother stood on the other side of the door. I couldn’t remember the last time he’d been here, but it had been years. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Trent pushed his way in. “I’m checking on you. Why didn’t you tell me Charli was gone?”

I didn’t owe him any explanations, but I was glad he was here. I’d been going stir-crazy keeping all this to myself. “I figured everyone would think I did something to her, and I didn’t want to hear what a fuckup I was again.”

He raised his eyebrow. “Did you fuck up?”

I grabbed the back of my neck and pulled on it. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Jennifer pranced into the hallway. “Who’s at the door?”

“Jennifer, this is my brother, Trent. Trent, meet Jennifer, Carina’s mother.”

Trent held out his hand, but Jennifer bypassed it, opting to inappropriately ambush him in a hug. “Oh, wow! I didn’t know you had a brother!” Once she released him, she playfully swatted my shoulder. “You should have told me we were having company. I’m not sure we’ll have enough for dinner.”

“Oh, I’m not staying for dinner,” Trent said.

“Are you suuurrre?” she asked, drawing out the word and gesturing wildly. “It’s mac and cheeeeese.”

“Sounds great, but I’ll have to pass.”

“Suit yourself,” she said with a shrug, prancing back into the kitchen.

“That’s Carina’s mom?” Trent whispered. “Is she okay?”

I motioned for him to follow me to my office. Once inside, I locked the door. “She’s driving me nuts! Every day it’s the same shit. She just shows up here. It’s getting weirder and weirder… she’s getting weirder and weirder. She thinks we’re going to be one big happy family. Yesterday she showed up with a suitcase.”

“What the fucking fuck? You gotta get rid of her.”

“How? Charli warned me this would happen. She told me to set boundaries, but did I listen? Nope. I thought she was being jealous. ”

“Did you kick Charli out?” he asked gruffly.

I ran my hands through my hair and tugged on the ends. “No. She wanted me to choose between her and Jennifer. She left when I told her I wouldn’t do it. I thought I was doing what’s best for Carina.”

“And you think that is what’s best for Carina?” He pointed toward the kitchen. “I hate to tell you this… but you fucked up big time. I’ve known the woman for two seconds and I can tell she’s a loony toon.”

“I know. I know. It’s gotten worse. I’ve tried to drop hints, but she’s not getting it. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to take Carina’s mom away from her.”

Trent rested his hands on his hips and blew out his breath. “Is Jennifer worth losing Charli over?”

“I’ve already lost her.”

“Do you want her back?”

“I’m miserable without her.” That was the truth. Nothing was the same since Charli walked out of my life. “I shouldn’t have let her leave. I should have asked her to stay. I should have told her I love her.”

My brother smirked at me. “I knew it. You are in love with her. Feels like half of you is missing when she’s not around?”

I nodded. “The better half.”

“I won’t disagree with that.”

“Fuck! Why did it take me so long to figure this out?”

“Because we’re men and we’re too stubborn to admit when we’re wrong.”

“So what now?”

“You go in there and tell her she has to leave. Then you take her to court and do this the right way.”

Fear coursed through me. “What if they take Carina away from me?”

“Don’t worry about that. You have a whole group of people supporting you and Sam Steinburg is the best attorney in Vegas. She may get visitation, but everything is up for negotiation.”

I nodded my head. “Okay… you’re right. We’ll tell the court everything. She gave Carina up once and she’s a flight risk. We’ll push for supervised visitation. ”

Trent put his hand on my shoulder. “Now you’re thinking straight. This situation you have going on here isn’t sustainable. You need to put an end to it.”

Determined to do what was best for Carina and myself, I marched out of my office with Trent hot on my heels. In the kitchen, the pot of noodles boiled over while Carina banged on the tray of her high chair. “Da, da, da, da, da.”

Jennifer was nowhere to be found.

“Where the hell is she? Did she leave?” Trent asked, as he turned off the stove.

Her oversized purse sat on the counter. “She’s here somewhere. I’ll check the bathroom.” I rushed down the hall to where I bathed Carina and knocked on the closed door. “Jennifer?” When there was no answer, I knocked and twisted the knob. “Jennifer, unlock the door!” More silence followed. “I swear to god, if you make me kick down this door I’m going to be pissed.”

Out of patience, I raised my foot and kicked the door. The flimsy lock gave way and the door flew open.

“Fuck!”

Jennifer was sprawled out on the floor, unconscious, with blood dripping from her nose. Lines of white powder covered the counter.

“Trent! Call 9-1-1!”

I’d been sitting in the emergency waiting room for the last hour. I performed CPR on Jennifer while we waited for the ambulance. When EMS arrived, they used a defibrillator on her to get a pulse. There was no telling the damage that was done, but thankfully she was alive.

I may not have liked her, but I wished her no ill will either .

However, the night’s events made me question everything about Jennifer. All I knew about her was what the private investigator dug up. I didn’t really know her.

All of Charli’s accusations, which I thought were insane at the time, now seemed credible. I searched through my apartment’s security cam footage from the last few weeks. Sure enough, Jennifer took my watch, money from my wallet, bottles of booze, pills from my cabinets, and even a picture of Carina I had on my refrigerator. I was positive the five grand I gave her never went to rent.

Trent and my father showed up at the emergency room with Sam. I stood and shook their hands. “Thank you for coming.”

“There’s nowhere else we’d be. We’re family and we support each other,” my father said.

Family.

It was a word I hated growing up, because I never felt like I was part of the family. I snubbed my nose at them every chance I got, but ever since Carina showed up, they’d been there for me. No matter how hard I pushed them away, they pulled me back in. I finally realized I was stronger with their support than I was on my own. And although my own mother didn’t give a shit about me, I had people who did.

“Where’s Carina?” I left her with Trent when I followed the ambulance.

“Mom and Gia are with her at your apartment. She’s in good hands,” Trent answered.

Mom.

That was another word I’d hated. I never saw Rose as my mom, but as a woman who was forced to care for me. That I was the son she never wanted. The truth was, I never gave her a chance. She did everything a mom was supposed to do and I practically spit in her face. I’d have been lost without her after Charli left. Rose never once hesitated to step up and help, even after I treated her like a pile of dog shit.

Amends.

I needed to make them. Not only with Rose, but my entire family. Carina deserved better from me .

“Did you bring the papers?” I asked Sam.

He nodded and handed the documents to me. “Everything is there. The conditions are clearly written. All she has to do is sign them.”

“And the other arrangements?”

“It’s taken care of,” my father assured me.

Sam took off, but my father and brother stayed with me while I waited to see Jennifer. It was three more hours before I was allowed to see her.

When I walked in her room, she looked like a shell of herself. This was not the same woman who showed up unexpectedly at my door.

I sat in the chair next to her bed. “How do you feel?”

“Like shit.” She looked away from me and stared off into space.

“We have some things to discuss. I won’t have drugs around my daughter. You need help.”

She slowly turned her head and glared at me. “You think I don’t know that. It’s why I brought Carina to you in the first place. I needed to work on myself. I wanted to be a good mother… I just fell off the wagon.”

Finally, an honest answer about how Carina ended up on my doorstep. “You stole from me, you lied to me, and you put my daughter in danger. I don’t take any of that lightly.”

Her eyes welled with tears. “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want your apologies. I want you to get your shit together. You’re going to rehab.” She started to balk, but I cut her off. “Once you finish the program, you’ll submit to weekly drug testing. If you stay sober, you can start seeing Carina with supervised visitation. Until then, you won’t be seeing her. You’ll sign off on your parental rights and the conditions you need to meet to restore them.”

Tears fell down Jennifer’s cheeks. “I can’t afford rehab.”

“It’s already been taken care of. You’ll go directly from here to the facility. All the arrangements have been made.”

“I have a life. A job, a dog, and an apartment. I can’t up and leave.”

“You can if you ever want to see your daughter again. All you have to do is sign the papers and follow the stipulations, otherwise I’ll take you to court and have your parental rights permanently revoked. I’ll bury you so deep in court fees, it’ll take you years to dig out. No judge will grant custody to a drug addict.” As much as I hated using money as a weapon, I did it for my daughter.

She crossed her arms and sobbed. “This isn’t fair.”

“What isn’t fair is putting your daughter in danger. I don’t want to take Carina away from you, but make no mistake, I’ll stop at nothing to make sure she’s safe.” I shoved the papers and a pen in front of her. “All you have to do is sign and you’ll have a chance to see her again.”

Jennifer reluctantly took the pen and scribbled her name on the documents. “I’m going to do it. I’m going to get clean.”

“I hope you do.” I left her room and returned to the waiting area.

“Did she sign them?” my father asked.

“Yes.” I hated what I did, but it was best for my daughter. “Not only was she using drugs, but she was stealing from me. The signs were there but I never saw them. I wanted Carina to have a mother so bad that I was blind to everything.”

My father put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You, more than anyone, should know that blood doesn’t make someone a mother… actions and love do.”

He was talking about Rose, but I was thinking about Charli.

“If you want a mom for Carina,” Trent said, “I know someone who’d be perfect for the job.”

I ran my hand over the scruff on my chin. “Yeah, me too.”

Trent slapped me on the back. “Then go get your girl.”

That was exactly what I planned to do, and I hoped I wasn’t too late.