Page 11 of Protective Phlox

“So….” He started like we were about to enter negotiations as he placed down a card. “You talked to my mom?” My lip twitched at his ‘I’m not sure I approve of you’ tone.

“I did.” I flipped a card down, and he won again.

“She must have agreed with you,” Cutter said, laying down his next card.

I cocked my brow at him. “Why do you say that?”

He glanced up at me as I put my card down, and this time, I won. Cutter’s small shoulder shrugged up. “Mom yelled yes, a lot. She never yells, so she must really agree with you.”

My guards standing around snickered and pressed their lips together, trying to hold it in, but we all failed as I burst out laughing. That was the most innocent and adorable thing I’d ever heard, and yet he delivered it like it was a presidential speech.

“Yes, you could say that. The two of you are not safe here. I’m taking you to my place in California.”

His lips pursed together as he squinted at me. “Where is Calif…if…if?”

“California,” I repeated for him. “It’s in America.”

He tilted his head and crossed his arms. I was prepared for a screaming fit, saying that he didn’t want to go, but what I was not prepared for was what he said next. “Do you mean North America, South America, or the United States of America?”

You could’ve knocked me off the chair with a feather. I blinked at Cutter as I tried to register the fact that he was four and had asked a very adult question.

“He means California, the state, which is in the U.S.A. or the United States of America,” Savannah said as she walked into the room. She turned everyone’s head, including mine. I hated that she’d been cold and unyielding until the pleasure had been too much for her, and she gave in. Why I wanted her to look at me like she used to was beyond me, but I craved it as much as her body.

“Really? We’re going on a trip?” Savannah smiled when Cutter ran over, slamming into her legs and hugging her.

“It’s going to be longer than a trip, Bud. Come sit down for a minute. I have something important to tell you,” Savannah said and glanced at me.

I knew what she was going to say, and my heart shouldn’t have been racing so hard, but now that the moment was here, I was nervous about Cutter’s reaction to the news that I was his father.

Savannah sat down on a small loveseat, and Cutter hopped up beside her, his feet swinging over the edge.

“Bud, I have never lied to you, and before we leave here, I need to tell you something.”

Cutter placed his hand on Savannah’s arm and smiled. “It’s okay, Mommy, you can tell me.”

This kid was too much. I’d barely spent ten minutes with him, and I was blown away. My son was fucking amazing, and I hated to admit this even to myself, but Savannah had done an incredible job with him. I wasn’t surprised. She was a hyper-focused and hard-working person with a heart as big as the entire world under her hard shell.

Savannah smiled and held his hand. “You’re so grown up already.”

“Is it about Marko? Is he coming on the trip,” Cutter asked, and my brow furrowed in confusion.

Who the fuck is Marko? I was getting ready to melt down, but the look in Savannah’s eyes was the only thing keeping my mouth shut.

“Cutter, what did I tell you about Marko?”

He sighed loudly. “That he went home to his family.”

“That’s right. What else did I tell you?”

Cutter looked down at his feet as he swung them a little faster. “That he is just a friend and not my dad, but Mom, I want him to come with us.”

I didn’t know who this Marko guy was, but I was going to kill him. I swore under my breath and stood to get control of my anger. It wasn’t Cutter’s fault that he didn’t know me. Before Savannah could say anything, I asked a question that I was dying to know the answer to.

“Cutter, what do you know about your father?”

Savannah shot daggers at me with her eyes, and if she’d had a knife, I would’ve been dead.

“I…don’t know.” He looked at Savannah, and I glared at her as she shook her head.