Abrupt Changes: A Second Chance Romance (O-Town Book 3) by Karen Renee (comprehension books .TXT) 📕

My robe sat wadded up at the foot of the futon. I shrugged it on and stood. “So, it’s your way or no way?”

The heat kicked off and Clint shivered which set him to searching for his turtleneck. When he had that and his sweater on, he sat down to put on his boots.

He looked up at me with pain in his eyes. “That shit goes both ways, Rae. Your way or no way... I move or we keep on with this bullshit. Cramming as much sex into thirty-six hours as we can manage to make up for three months of lost time. Sure, the sex is off the charts, but have you considered what things might be like if we lived together. Day-in and day-out? How much better that would be?”

I crossed my arms on my chest. “Of course, I have, but here, where I don’t have to fight for your attention with your mother and two sisters.”

His face went slack, and I realized I’d said too much. I loved his family, his mother especially, but they were so close it bordered on suffocating. In some ways I resented it, and it made me feel like an outsider.

“How long have you felt that way?” He shook his head. “Have you always felt that way? Because you damn sure could’ve fooled me, Raegan. You said you loved Mamá, and God knows, she thinks the world of you.”

“I do love your mother and your sisters too, but you and your family can be a bit... much.”

He shoved his arms into his peacoat. “Well, I’m so sorry we’re too much for you. Don’t worry though, chica, we’ll keep to ourselves down in Orlando.”

I moved in front of him. “Clint, I didn’t mean it like that! It was the heat of the moment.”

He dipped his chin knowingly. “Yeah. Funny thing about the heat of the moment, it often brings out the truths we don’t even tell ourselves.”

He stared at me for a moment and I noticed his hand was moving in the pocket of his coat. After a beat, he pulled out a small velvet box. “Was gonna do this up right, but it doesn’t matter now. You know where a Kay Jewelers is around here? Get my money back, it should cover getting my ass on the first plane back to Florida.”

Tears filled my eyes and I felt my lip trembling. Clint looked right through me before he walked out the door.

Clint

PRESENT DAY...

I slammed my cell into the hands-free dock and debated who to call first. My gut wanted to get Mamá on the phone pronto, but I needed to have my shit tight before I could do that. While I was angry at Laura, part of me was grateful for her interruption because without it I would never have found out about the damned letter. Yet, she’d be getting a full dose of my ire seeing as that comment was absolutely not on. When did my sister become such a bitch?

Mamá’s words from last night hit me, and I opted not to call any of the women in my life. If Erica was hooking up with Carlos again, I would drop by... the MO worked for two of the three women in my life, why shouldn’t it work for me? Bonus, if he mouthed off to me, I might get to punch someone tonight.

I parked in front of Erica’s apartment. She and Carlos were making out on the sidewalk. The slamming of my door broke their lip-lock.

One look at Erica’s banged-up face and I saw red. I grabbed Carlos by the collar and slammed him onto my hood. “You fuckin’ hit my sister, asshole!”

He shoved at me and broke my hold. “Not me, pendejo. Her ex. I fucked him up, and now she’s back with me.”

I faced my sister. She was speaking to me in rapid-fire Spanish. Mamá was from Argentina but immigrated here with her parents. My father hated hearing her speak Spanish and beat her brutally when she spoke it to me or Laura. But he’d left by the time Erica was two, and she picked up the language far more than Laura or me.

“He tellin’ me the truth? Or have you become our mother?”

“Fuck you!” she shouted at me.

“I’d never fuckin’ hit her. I should hit you just for sayin’ that.”

I glared at him. “Bring it, Carlos.”

He shook his head. “You check into me again, I’m filing a complaint.”

I had forgotten about pulling his background the first time he and Erica were together. That had been fun, especially when I saw how irritated it made him that I’d done it. He wasn’t right for Erica then, and I doubted anything had changed to make him right for her now.

I grinned. “Hard to file a complaint against me, if it’s the Orange County Sheriff’s office investigating.”

“Fucker.”

“I believe you were leaving.”

He flicked his middle finger at me and sauntered over to a beat-up Nissan Altima.

“You got some nerve, Clint. And you’re spending time with your ex, after all the shit she put you through.”

“No.”

Her eyes flared. “Laura says different.”

These women in my life!

I shook my head to focus. “Who hit you?”

“Carlos took care of it,” she evaded.

“And I’m gonna take care of it again, Air.”

“Don’t. It’s done.”

“Erica.”

“He’s bad, Clint. I learned my lesson. It’s over. Leave it.”

I rolled my tongue around my teeth. “It better be.”

“Why you spending time with Irish again?”

I crossed my arms. “Not spending time with her. I’ve been checking in on her mother.”

“You probably ought to stop that.”

“You probably ought to stop seeing Carlos.”

She shot a snide smile at me. “Talking to mother, I hear. Tell you what I told her. We’ll agree to disagree.”

I sighed. “We love you.”

She nodded.

“And for fuck’s sake, you should’ve called me when that asshole hit you. Christ! Did Mamá see you like that?”

She grinned. “Ha-ha! I’m better at evading her than you are, big brother. You could learn a thing or two