Like Thunder understood that. Instead, the German Shepherd was standing guard between father and son with her teeth bared.
Good girl, Thunder.
She switched on the light. “Thunder, it’s…” She was about to say “okay” but it wasn’t. Zeke just broke into Ledger’s room.Idiot!“Settle, girl.”
Thunder looked back and forth between Zeke, still frozen in place, and Kyra. Amazingly enough, she could read the dog’s face, which said,“You sure?”
No, she wasn’t sure.
She’d been gone for four years. She had no idea if Zeke was any better or worse than when she had left.
She’d grown up a lot in the past four years. Becoming a mother helped her see the truth: hooking up with bad boys might be exciting for a hot minute, but in the end, it was a bad decision.
“Mommy!” Ledger was sitting up in bed with his blanket pulled up to his chin and his blue eyes wide.
She rushed over to him. “It’s fine, buddy.” She brushed the hair off his forehead and kissed it before shooting a glare toward the unwanted intruder, at the same time asking her son, “Remember Zeke?”
Ledger nodded. “Yeah.”
“He really liked spending time with you the other day at the diner so he wanted to spend more time with you.”
Yikes.That made Zeke sound like some sort of deviant when it came to her son.
Theirson.
But the truth was, he was more of a bonehead than a deviant for breaking into Ledger’s room and scaring him.
She glanced at the open window. Did she forget to lock it? She went over and slammed the window shut andlatched it before turning to Zeke, who still hadn’t moved a muscle.
Most likely due to Thunder’s murderous stare.
“Thunder,” she called out and patted Ledger’s bed. The dog immediately jumped on it and curled up next to her son.
Theirson.Grr!
But she sure didn’t take her eyes off Zeke.
Good girl.
“Go back to sleep, buddy. Zeke will have to visit with you another time.”
After tonight, she was tempted not to let that happen at all. She’d be fuming for a while over him having the balls to break into her home. And wake up her kid after she told him Ledger was asleep.
She jerked her head toward the door.
Keeping his eyes glued on Thunder, Zeke side-stepped out, keeping his palms out and up at chest level, and slipped through the door.
“All right, you and Thunder go back to sleep. I’ll make you waffles with blueberries tomorrow, if you want.”
“Yay!Waaffffles!” He settled further under the covers. “Will Zeke be havin’ waffles, too, Mommy?”
“I’m not sure what he’ll be eating.” Whatever it was, she hoped he choked on it after giving her and Ledger a scare. “Now, go to sleep.” She shut off the lights on her way out and made sure his nightlight was still on before completely closing the door behind her.
She normally left it slightly open so she could hear if he called out to her in the middle of the night.
Standing in the short hallway, she pulled in a fortifying breath and headed with determined strides toward the front door, where Zeke should be letting himself out.
“What you did was unaccepta—” She stopped short atthe opening to her small kitchen when she saw Zeke wrapping paper towels around his forearm. Even more were piled in the sink with blood on them.
