“Colt.” I’d shake the asshole’s hand, if he were willing to step down from the safety of his porch.
“Ah, the cowboy nanny.”
My tongue runs over the front of my teeth. I stay quiet, not taking the bait. Besides, it’s not my place to get involved unless Whit asks me to.
And right now, Whit’s not asking me to step in. Instead, she calmly asks, “Where’s Jonas?”
Hooking a thumb toward the door, Alex leans against the off-white porch railing. “Inside playing video games. He showed up a while ago—didn’t want to call you until he’d calmed down. He was pretty upset.”
“You should’ve let me know thesecondhe knocked on your door.”
“I don’t owe you shit, Whit.” Alex picks at the peeling paint, flicking specks of white onto the empty flower beds below. “You sure as hell weren’t in a hurry to tell me when he started going to some ranch every day.”
Ignoring him, Whit calls out for Jonas. When he doesn’t immediately come running, she yells again, full-naming him with thatfuck around and find outtone that only moms seem to have. That gets him.
Jonas appears in the doorway, slightly obscured by the screen door mesh. He clips, “What?”
“Get your stuff, it’s time to go home.”
He doesn’t budge. “I don’t want to.”
“It’s not up for debate.”
“He doesn’t want to go,” Alex says, calm and collected, confident he’s got the upper hand. “You should respect that. You come tearing in here like you’re about to save the day. For what? To force the kid to leave his dad’s house?”
Her throat bobs with a swallow.
“We spenthourssearching for him. I was terrified something happened to him….” Her voice cracks. “Thinking he could be hurt or kidnapped orworse. Meanwhile, you had him, and purposely took your sweet time letting me know.”
“Because he didn’t want me to,” Alex says smoothly. “And honestly, after the way you’ve been on my ass about being a ‘terrible father,’ maybe it’s time you looked in the mirror. You didn’t even know where your kid was.
“You talk a big talk about knowing what he needs, but when the shit hit the fan, where did he go? Not to you, Whit. Nah, he came to the guy you keep calling a piece of shit. Funny how that works.”
Are you fucking kidding me?
I look over at Whit. Though she does her best to hide it, I see the flinch. The wound he inflicted without even raisinghis voice. Instinctively, I step in close to her, anger vibrating through every muscle fiber and scorching the blood pumping loudly behind my eardrums. I’m fucking shaking. I thought I wanted to fight the guy in the bar when he was too close to Whit, but this is different. I couldkillthis guy.
“Jonas, go get in the truck. We’re going.” Whit disregards Alex altogether, focusing her attention back on Jonas, who’s stepped out onto the porch.
Jonas combs a hand through his sun-bleached hair, making it stand up in random directions. He looks between his mom and dad, then over at me, all of us receiving the same downturned expression.
“Jonas,” she says with a low, throaty tone. “We can talk about this at home. Let’s go.”
Jonas mutters something under his breath but slips into his sneakers and trudges down the front porch steps. He grabs his blue pedal bike from where it’s plopped down on the dead grass and shoves past Whit and me. There’s no missing the mumbled cuss words anymore.
I watch Whit watching Jonas as he tosses his bike onto the ground next to my truck and climbs inside, slamming the door. Her forehead and nose are crinkled in the sun, and tears dot her lower lashes.
“Ready to go?” I ask.
She sighs. “Yes.”
“You wanna know what I think?” Alex chimes in again.Of course he wants the last word.“Maybe if you weren’t so wrapped up in proving you’re the better parent, you’d actuallybethe better parent.”
Protective instinct unfurls low and slow under my skin, making my blood run even hotter. I want to reach out for Whit. I want to comfort her, and tell Alex to go fuck himself, and get Jonas out of this toxic place.
And right when I open my mouth, unable to stay silent for another second, Whit fires back. “I don’t have to proveanything to anybody, least of allyou. You’d rather buy your kid an expensive toy than spend a single afternoon with him, but because you were around when he needed youone fucking time,you think you’re in a position to judge me?”
Alex smiles, like he’s humoring her.
