Duncan seethed as he followed Courtney to her house, even though he already knew how to get there. He wasn't surprised that Courtney asked him why he had put his arm around her, she could be extremely nosy, but he really didn't want to answer her. He couldn't decide if it was because he would have to tell her about the perverted dads leering at her body, or that what they had said made him furious, or that his instinct in that moment was to protect her from them. Either way, deflecting had worked, and arguing with her reminded him of how hot she was when she was angry. It also reminded him how fun it was to push her buttons, so when she kept trying to speed away and change lanes he didn't turn down the opportunity to mess with her.

She kept looking back at him in her rearview mirror, and each time he could see the annoyance painted on her features. It fueled him to keep up his antics. He couldn't help it, pestering Courtney was so much fun.

He saw her slow down once turning onto her street and look at him again through her mirror. Then she stopped short in her driveway.

"Daddy whose car is that?" Duncan scrunched his eyebrows together when he saw the red convertible.

"I'm not sure..." He became even more confused when he saw Courtney stomp up to the car and start yelling at the man that got out of it.

"Who's that man? Why is Courtney yelling at him? Did he do a bad thing?" Although Vanessa's questions were valid, they were making it hard to hear what was going on.

"Shhhhh." Duncan could just hear their conversation and it didn't sound good.

"What are you doing here? More importantly, how did you find me?"

"No hello, Courtney? Even for your husband?"

"Ex-husband. You didn't answer my question, how did you find me, Greg?"

"It's not like you have a restraining order, I'm allowed to know where you are."

"Since when do you even care? Last time I checked you were too busy screwing secretaries to give a damn."

"Get off your high horse Courtney. Besides I'm not here to see you, I'm here to see my daughter."

"No. You lost all of your rights, I have full custody."

"She's my daughter too."

"You've barely seen her in the past year. You're almost a stranger to her."

"No thanks to you. Is she in your car?" The man went to step around her but Courtney stepped in front of him.

"Don't do this. You never wanted her, you just want to get to me."

"Not everything is about you, now move." When she didn't move, she grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him so that they were nose to nose.

Duncan had enough of just sitting by once he saw Courtney's ex gripping her wrist. He got out of his car ready to pummel this guy to the floor.

"You have to be some sort of grade A asshole to put your hands on a woman." Duncan approached them by pushing Greg in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards

"Who's this guy?" Greg brushed off his suit even thought his suit was still immaculate.

"Doesn't matter who I am, she asked you to leave so leave; or I'll make you leave."

"Duncan, I've got it handled." Courtney put her hand on Duncan's shoulder. Even if he deserved it, Courtney felt it best to prevent him from beating Greg to a pulp. Like her, Greg was a lawyer and Duncan would have found himself in jail quite quickly.

"So, is this the guy you're fucking? I see your standards have gone to shit." Duncan got close to his face. There was no way he was going to let this high class jerk show up and act like he was better than everyone, nor was he going to let him insult them both.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're trespassing on private property. Trust me, I know a thing or two about breaking a law. So if I were you I would get lost." Greg considered his threat for a moment, looking him up and down. Finally, he stepped backwards and shot a glare a Courtney.

"This isn't worth it. Enjoy your pathetic life." He turned back to his car without another word. He was blocked in because of Courtney's SUV, so he drove over the front lawn instead.

"Wow." Courtney didn't respond to Duncan's statement, instead she went to get Addison who had a front row seat to the altercation. Without saying another word she walked straight past Duncan into the house.

Courtney's footsteps echoed through the halls as she came downstairs. She had insisted on putting the girls to bed even though Duncan had offered. She had barely spoken all night and had consumed more wine for dinner than food. When she walked into the kitchen she passed him to go into the living room without saying a word. She started picking up toys that had been left out and straightening up the place, completely ignoring Duncan all together.

"So-."

"Vanessa can sleepover if you want." She interrupted. Either she had been going to say that at the same time he started to speak, or she was avoiding the obvious topic.

"Sure." She nodded without looking up. Duncan wasn't really one to talk about feelings but this whole silent treatment thing was putting him on edge. She was obviously trying to act like nothing happened and putting up a front. He sighed, trying to see if that got her talking, but got nothing. He sighed again even louder this time making it blatantly obvious.

"What Duncan?" She snapped at him.

"I don't know! Do you want to talk about it or something?"

"What is there to talk about?" She still looked down as she fixed the couch cushions so that they looked just right. If there was one thing that drove him up a wall, it was her ignoring him. He crossed the kitchen to the living room and took the throw pillow out of her hand and tossed it on the couch.

"Will you just look at me!" Then she finally did and he could see why she wouldn't. Her eyes were filled to the brim with tears that fell over when she blinked.

"Happy now?" No, now he felt worse than before.

"He's an asshole. Don't let it get to you." Courtney wiped away her tears before exposing the details of her past.

"Greg was the kind of guy I always thought I would end up with. We met at University, he was from a wealthy family, we had the same goals and ambitions. We were engaged by undergraduate graduation and married a year later. It was perfect and exactly what I had planned for my future. Until the first time I caught him cheating. I was pregnant." Duncan's eyes widened. That was low.

"He said it would never happen again and I believed him. Stupid, I know. Things were nice again for a little while after Addison was born. Then I had the sneaking suspicion that he was cheating on me again, and guess what? I was right, but this time, I just pretended I didn't know. We looked so perfect from the outside that I convinced myself that it wasn't a big deal. Guys cheat." She sniffled and Duncan felt a sinking feeling in his chest. It had never come up in the time they had been reacquainted, but it didn't change that the circumstances around their break up were messy. She could sense Duncan's discomfort and knew what he was thinking.

"Don't compare yourself to him. We were teenagers back then. Plus, I led you to it."

"What?" She wiped another tear away and seemed to have stopped crying.

"You weren't part of the plan, Duncan. Falling for you was the worst thing that could've happened to me. I had my whole life set out and then you came along. I know how I am, I'm uptight, a control freak and hard to deal with, and you somehow managed to break me down anyway. I was always afraid of how I felt about you. Sometimes I think the reason why I fought with you and made such ridiculous demands was because I wanted to push you away. So when you finally left, I already convinced myself you were going to anyway. We were too different to work out, so I made sure we didn't."

Duncan was shocked. It had never occurred to him that she didn't completely blame him for what happened with Gwen. He was always getting into trouble and being rebellious back then but the way their breakup went down was one of the only things that truly ever made him feel like a bad guy.

"No one deserves to be cheated on. Besides, I was so in love with you I didn't care how nuts you were. I actually kind of digged it." This time it was her turn to be shocked. He had never said it. She knew he had cared about her, and had feelings no matter how much he tried to act like he didn't, but she was never sure how deep his feeling ran. Courtney felt nervous under his gaze and wrung her wrist in response. She winced, having forgotten about how it was grabbed earlier.

"Let me see." Duncan was already gently lifting up her arm, not giving her time to stop him. A purple bruise was staring to form on her skin where the hand had been wrapped around it.

"Does it hurt?" The look of concern in his eyes made her even more nervous than before, but it also made her feel something else in her chest.

"A little bit."

"Do you want some ice." What she really wanted was for him to stop touching her.

"No, I'm fine." Her voice was soft, he leaned in further to get a closer look. He could feel the tension between them and he tried to crack a joke.

"Do you want me to kiss it all better?" Except, it came out much more husky sounding than he had intended. Courtney's heart raced and her wrist felt like it was in fire where he touched it.

"Yes." The word fell out of her mouth without her permission. Duncan's eyes were locked with hers and he didn't look away when he brought her wrist to his mouth and laid a gentle kiss there.

"Does it hurt anywhere else?" Their breaths mingled together from their closeness. Her nod was so small it was almost missed.

"Where?" Duncan rested his forehead against hers.

"Everywhere."

I'm so sorry for leaving it there lol I love all of you :* This chapter has been my favorite so far and I hope you all enjoy it and don't hate the cliffhanger so much that you stop reading lol Rating will change to M for the next chapter!