Page 27 of The Rose and the Hound (Ashes and Roses #2)

I was very pleased with Lee. Men were suckers for blow jobs.

He probably had fewer than five brain cells, but he had enough mental capacity to take what I wanted from Rose.

Having her was the biggest mistake of my life.

It made me a “mom,” and while I didn’t wear the daggy jeans and dowdy sweaters of a mom, it put men off just the same.

When Rose was arrested, I’d been dating Leland. He had huge potential. He was a stockbroker in an unhappy marriage, with three vacation properties. I was so close to landing him when Rose’s name was splashed throughout the media. He dropped me like a hot potato, returning to his fat wife.

How much more of my life did Rose want to ruin?

I’d got her to adulthood, happy and in one piece, yet she continued to be a burden.

Whoever her father was must have been a fruit loop because she didn’t get it from me.

And she had the worst taste in men. The plumber was hot, but he was a tease and didn’t seem to have any money.

Dr. Conti had money, but it was plain stupid of Rose to go after her psychiatrist. Why couldn’t she just go to a yacht club in a tight, low-cut dress and look confused?

That had worked for me a few times. No matter how many times I told her to think with her head and not her heart, she continued to fail.

If I had to have had a daughter, why couldn’t she at least have been one I could be proud of?

Rose was physically beautiful. She had potential.

I should be relaxing on the beach, with her rich husband supporting us both.

Instead, I had a daughter in the psych ward and was fucking a meathead to keep my life together.

I owed Lee big time for this. With Rose locked up, I’d be kept informed of her progress and her whereabouts, if she ever got out that is. With her locked up as “Rose Myrtle,” I would be free to find a new man. Lee was young and fun, but he was as broke as shit, which wasn’t my style.