“Who’s watching the kids?” he demands.
I don’t owe him an explanation when he’s barely seen the kids since we split, but answering is the fastest way to get him out of here. “Molly.”
His eyes narrow. “I don’t want my kids with your idiotic friend.”
If I ever needed proof that what he says to me isn’t based in reality, it’s this. You can call Molly many things, but idiotic isn’t one of them. It’s just another of those tiny little poison darts he shoots, hoping one of them will sink far enough to sting, and I’m done allowing him to dictate anything I feel, good or bad. “She’s got a PhD and is smarter than the two of us put together.”
But Jeremy’s already moved on. He glares in Caleb’s direction. “Is fucking your married boss really the best you can do? Are you that desperate to prove you’ve still got something anyone wants?”
How the hell does he know Caleb is my boss? And that he’s married?
“This is insane,” I say, pushing away from the wall. “I’m done listening to you.”
I find myself jerked so hard toward him that I stumble. The pain begins in my shoulder and shoots down my arm while threats spill from his mouth, and I barely have time to react before Caleb is there, pulling me behind him and punching Jeremy in the face so hard that he falls to the floor. “You’d better keep your fucking hands off her from now on.”
Beck and Harrison jump in the fray, Beck blocking Jeremy from continuing the fight while Harrison turns toward us and groans at the sight of Caleb’s arm around me, holding me close to his chest. “Well, if he didn’t know you two were together before, he sure knows it now.”
Beck wraps a hand around the back of Jeremy’s neck, forcing him toward the door. “You just assaulted a female in my bar,” he says. “Consider yourself permanently banned.”
“You’re lucky your friends jumped in,” Jeremy says to Caleb as he walks out, rubbing his jaw.
“Let’s see if you’re so brave outside, asshole,” Caleb replies. “I guarantee you’ll regret it when you’re searching the parking lot for your teeth.”
Harrison pushes a hand through his hair. “No one’s fighting in the parking lot. And you and I need to talk. This changes things at the office.”
God. Could dating an employee have repercussions for the company, or the merger? Probably.
Caleb’s lips press to the top of my head. “Can’t it wait?”
“No, Caleb. We need to get ahead of it, in case he presses charges. Which is why you shouldn’t have fucking hit him in the first place. What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that he just wrenched my girlfriend’s arm and I was sick of his shit, and you’d have done the same goddamn thing in my shoes.”
Harrison’s shoulders sag. “Perhaps, but we still need to strategize. Now.”
“It’s okay,” I say, stepping away, holding up my phone. “I want to check on the twins anyway.”
“Use my office,” Beck says. “It’s quieter in there.”
I open the office door, wandering toward the desks in the corner while I wait for Molly to pick up.
“Hey,” I say when she answers, “how are my babies?”
“Your kids are fine and asleep, though they knew less about applied physics than I anticipated. How’s it going? Have you shown him the lingerie?”
“I doubt I’ll be showing him anything. Caleb just punched Jeremy, among several other developments. I assume Jeremy won’t try to come by the house tonight and we’ll head home soon, but don’t let him in, okay?”
“As if,” she scoffs. “I didn’t want to let him into your house when you still lived with him. But—ah—it’s so romantic. I wish Michael would punch someone for me. I mean, before your wedding, when it will definitely happen.”
I rub my eyes. “No, not romantic. Potentially problematic. And I also learned that Caleb’s ex was apparently the world’s sexiest human—like Marilyn Monroe, but not dead—so I may have lost the confidence to show him the lingerie.”
“If you really want Caleb to prove he cares, have you considered faking your own kidnapping?”
I laugh and let her go just as Beck walks in. He’s frowning, worried, but I’m not the object of his concern—it’s the photo hanging on the wall just a few feet away, a photo I hadn’t even noticed before, one he clearly just remembered was here and didn’t want me to see.