Dewayne grinned. “When you tell those people across the street that Micah is Dustin’s son, you will have free child care whenever you want it.”

Something else I wasn’t used to.

We said our good-byes, and I watched as Dewayne turned and headed for his truck. I may have watched his ass as he made his way to the truck, but that was my secret.

* * *

“What did he want?” Micah asked the moment I walked inside. He was sitting on the sofa with his arms crossed over his chest and his feet dangling because they couldn’t touch the floor yet.

“You were supposed to be playing in your room,” I reminded him as I made my way over to sit down beside my little man.

“I was watching out for you,” he said simply.

I reached over, pulled him against my side, and hugged him to me. It had been just us for so long. This past year had he started acting like he was the one protecting me instead of the other way around. A month ago he had asked me who kept me safe since I didn’t have a husband to do it. I informed him that I kept me and him safe. I assured him I was very good at it.

He’d changed that day. I was seeing it more and more every day. It was as if he’d realized I needed someone to take care of me, and he was doing that job. Sweet little boy of mine. I kissed his head and inhaled his outdoor smell.

“Did you enjoy your day?” I asked him.

He nodded slowly. “Yeah, but if Dewayne was mean to you, then I don’t want him to come back.”

He was about to have a whole new world opened up to him. One that would change his life. I squeezed him. “Dewayne wasn’t mean to me. Dewayne wants what I want. He wants you safe and happy.”

Micah leaned back and looked up at me. I could see the confusion in his little face. He wasn’t sure what I was saying, and the little bit of hope in those eyes of his just about undid me. He didn’t want me to know how much he wanted a man in his life, but I knew it and understood it.

It wasn’t time to tell him just how much Dewayne wanted him in his life and why. I still needed to know that Tabby Falco hadn’t gotten those letters. I had to be sure she was unaware of Micah. Because as much as Dewayne believed his mother would never do this, I knew I had sent her letters. They had to have gone somewhere.

“Will Dewayne come back again one day to play?”

He wanted Dewayne to come back. It was in his hopeful expression. I was glad he had enjoyed his time with Dewayne. “Yes. Every Saturday morning Dewayne wants to hang out with you while I work.”

A bright smile lit up his face. “He does?”

I nodded, and Micah punched his fist into the air with a cheer and jumped down from the sofa. I watched as he ran off to his room. Our conversation was over now. Smiling, I stood up and went to fix myself a sandwich.

“You want lunch?” I asked him.

“Mac ’n’ cheese,” he called back.

“You’re gonna turn into mac ’n’ cheese,” I replied.

“Good! Then I’ll eat myself.”

Shaking my head, I laughed and fixed my son some mac ’n’ cheese.

DEWAYNE

If I went home tonight, I’d only think about shit. So I went out to Live Bay, where I knew I’d have friends. People to distract me. It was where some of us always showed up on weekends. Even my married-with-kids friends.

I sat back with a beer and watched as Krit Corbin sang while eye-fucking his girlfriend. It was like some strange turn in the universe. When Preston Drake had fallen in love with our best friend’s little sister, I’d thought he had lost his ever-loving mind. Now the Sea Breeze man whore and lead singer of Jackdown was completely f**ked over a girl. The world was going to shit.

“I love watching him watch her,” said Trisha, Krit’s older sister and Rock’s wife. Rock had also been one of my best friends since elementary school. Trisha had been a part of our lives since Rock had locked himself around her when we were seventeen. I had once made the mistake of asking if she had a magic pu**y. Rock had leveled my ass in one swing. I hadn’t even seen it coming.

I didn’t talk about Trisha’s pu**y again. Lesson learned.

“He’s f**king whipped,” I said before taking another swig of beer. I had a good thirty pounds of muscle on Krit, though I’d seen his ass go crazy once when he thought Blythe had left him. So I wasn’t talking about her pu**y in front of him. Dude would lose his shit, and I didn’t have that kind of energy.

“You’re so jaded,” said Trisha, who was sitting on her husband’s lap.

“Honest, sweetheart; I’m just brutally honest.”

Trisha rolled her eyes. “One day, Dewayne Falco, you will fall, and when you do I’m gonna enjoy the hell out of watching it.”

She was wrong about that, but I didn’t want to argue. I was trying not to smoke. If that shit did kill people, then I needed to save a few years. I had a nephew who needed me now. I hadn’t had that before. But motherfuck did I want a cigarette.

“We’re here! Sorry we’re late. Bliss was not in the mood to stay with a sitter tonight. Cage had to rock her to sleep first,” Eva York said as she sat her beautiful ass down on a stool beside me. She slapped my knee. “Hey, you,” she said with the smile that had been Cage York’s downfall. He’d taken one look at Eva, and the player once known as Cage York had transformed. Eva had that magic pu**y too. Only f**king explanation for that shit. Cage was a daddy now, and he was happy about it. You asked him about his baby girl and his face would go all soft and dreamy. Crazy shits. All of them.