His eyes widened, but he kept them locked on me, not her, making my heart swell. Then he nodded, just the tiniest bit.
“Good boy,” I said, wanting to kiss him so damn bad. And yeah, I wasn’t normally one to deny myself what I wanted—and definitely not when it came to sweet little Sean, not anymore—but this wasn’t the time or place, not until we got rid of her.
Fuck.
I mean, not until… untilSeangot rid of her.
Could I close the door in her face or frog-march her back to the town car Sean’s piece of shit excuse for a father had already fucked off to? ’Course I could. But would that keep her out of my boy’s life?
I fuckingwishedit would, but this wasn’t my first rodeo when it came to watching someone important to me face down the fucktwat who’d abused them. I knew my boy liked me being in charge—and not just of his dick and that sweet little ass I couldn’t wait to get back inside at the earliest opportunity—but if he was ever gonna break free of her, she was going to have to hear it from him, hear it andbelieveit, or she’d never back the fuck off.
That didn’t mean he had to think he was in this fight alone, though.
“You got something to say to your mom, sweetness?” I asked. “Because I’m right here to make sure she fucking pays attention.”
Sean’s face was bone-white, eyes so wide they looked like they were about to pop out and that flutter of a pulse at the base of his throat going so fast I was afraid it might burst. I fuckinghatedthis bitch, but since she wasn’t the important one right now I schooled my face not to show that shit and kept eyes on my boy, seriously reconsidering my stance on not just kicking her the fuck out and dealing with it another day.
Brian was right, I was so sprung for Sean there was no point trying to deny it… not that I would. I would never deny him, just like I would never let anyone fucking hurt him, not for anything.
“Mr. Graham, I need to talk to my sonalone,” said the bitch who apparently hadn’t gotten the memo on that last bit yet, because yeah, no. No fucking way was that going to happen.
I tucked him behind me, more than happy to set her straight about that.
“Sean isn’t ever gonna be alone. He’s got me now.”
She did that nostril flaring thing again, looking me up and down like she wanted to pull a Scott Summers on me this time and cut me down with her eyes.
Fail.
“I’m sure I don’t know what that means,” she clipped out when her Cyclops laser-eye impression just bounced off me, pursing her lips so hard they got little white lines around them. “My son isn’t—”
“Told you,” I interrupted. “You don’t get to call him that.”
“Heisthat,” she shouted, red blotches appearing on her cheeks. “He’s my—”
“No,” I corrected her yet a-fucking-gain, getting right up in her face with zero fucks given anymore for the whole don’t-intimidate-a-woman thing. “He’sminenow.”
And fuck if I wasn’t his, too.
“This is ridiculous,” she finally spat out after I won our stare-off. She broke first—of course she did becauseIsure as fuck was never going to—looking over my shoulder at Sean. “We’ll continue this conversation elsewhere, Sean,” she said like she actually still thought she was in charge here. “Your father has a car waiting.”
“He’s not going.”
“He’s—”
“Not.”
“You don’t get to—”
“Tyson.”
Sean’s voice was so quiet I probably shouldn’t have been able to hear him what with the way his mama’s voice and mine had been escalating again, but this was my boy. Of course I was gonna hear him.
“You want me to get rid of her, baby?” I asked, turning back to him and locked and loaded to do just that.
But—
“No,” he whispered, his eyes darting past me for a split second to look her way. His face went impossibly whiter, then he straightened his shoulders—looked like he’d grabbed one of my practice jerseys to throw on when he came out of the room so he looked even smaller, swimming in it, and it was all I could do not to wrap him up in my arms to shield him from the bitch who’d spawned him—and repeated it a little stronger. “No, Tyson. Don’t… don’t make her leave.”
