Page 70 of The Heartbreaker Next Door

He glared at me, trying to decide if he wanted to push it. I didn’t blink.

Maverick tugged his mom’s hand, looking up at all three of us with that kid’s sixth sense for tension. “Dean can we go now?”

“Yeah, buddy.” I ruffled his hair. “Let’s get you home and changed for the fundraiser.”

Felicity gathered Maverick and his backpack, keeping herself between him and his dad. They began to walk to the doors and when she realized I wasn’t following her, she turned her head. “Dean?”

“I’ll be right there.”

I saw the look of panic in her eyes.

“Don’t worry, Damon’s here.” I tilted my head toward my brother who was leaning against Mrs. Pacman, hands in his pockets and a shit-eating grin on his face.

She exhaled, her eyes pleading with me not to do anything stupid. Which I wouldn’t. Finally, she sighed and continued to the door.

As she passed Damon, I heard him say, “You know things are bad when I’m the voice of reason.”

I ignored my brother’s comment, it was funny, but right now my sense of humor was being drowned out by my rage. I waited until Felicity was in the truck before I turned my attention back to Tanner.

He’s still wearing that irritated little smirk, like the last five hours were an inconvenience to him.

“What?!” he asked, like a petulant teenager. “What the fuck do you want?”

“This ends today.”

His nostrils flared and I saw that I hit a nerve. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” I took a single step forward. Not enough to threaten him. Just enough that he had to decide whether he wanted to keep pretending he had no clue what I was talking about. “You lost track of time. Your phone died. Fine. Those are explanations. They don’t change the fact that Felicity didn’t know where her four-year-old son was for four fucking hours.”

He stood taller, shoulders rolling back. “He was with his father.”

“And she had no idea where that was.”

Tanner scoffed. “Dude, this is exactly what she does. She turns everything into some huge fucking crisis. Felicity’s always been a drama queen.”

I took another step, stopping a few inches in front of him. “No.”

His mouth snapped shut.

“You don’t get to do that anymore.”

“Do what?” he feigned innocence.

“Scare the hell out of her and then belittle her for being scared.”

His expression hardened. “You don’t know anything, about me and Felicity.”

“I know enough.”

“Do you?” He gave me a once-over, apparently deciding he wanted to try his luck. “Because you’ve been around for what? Five minutes? You think that makes you some kind of expert?”

“No.” I held his stare. “It makes me the guy standing here telling you how this is going to work from now on.”

Damon made a quiet sound behind me.

Could be a cough.

Could be him reconsidering his decision to serve as the voice of reason.