“Get the kid. Get his shit. And get the fuck out of Montana.”
She grinned, knowing she’d won. Without a word, Mom went back inside the motel room, closing the door at her back.
“Oh, Jackson.” Willa came to my side. “I cannot believe this is happening.”
My arm went around her shoulders, holding on to her. “Me neither.”
I’d come down to the motel for closure and hadn’t gotten any. Instead, I’d gotten a twelve-year-old kid brother who would be living with me indefinitely.
“I don’t know what else to do,” I whispered. “If I don’t take him, then—”
“You have to take him.” Willa’s entire frame shook with fury. “You need to get him away from her. She’s toxic.”
“What am I going to do?”
I didn’t know anything about raising a kid. I worked at a bar. Who was going to watch him when I was working until three in the morning? Who was going to help him with his math homework? Who was going to make sure he was eating the right shit from the food pyramid?
For fuck’s sake, I’d slept on a pool table last night. I wasn’t equipped to be responsible for another person. It was one of the reasons I didn’t want kids of my own. I wasn’t that guy.
“We’ll figure it out,” Willa reassured me.
“Yeah,” I muttered. I didn’t have a choice. I wouldn’t let a kid, let alone my brother, go through the same childhood hell I’d gone through.
The motel door opened again and I let Willa go.
Ryder’s face had paled and his eyes were wide as he walked out the door with a backpack slung over one shoulder.
Mom was right behind him, rolling out a cheap black suitcase.
Ryder’s eyes were full of despair as he stood on the sidewalk. The poor kid. There was no doubt that Mom had just dropped the bomb on him.
“Sounds like you’ll be staying with me for a while.” I clapped him on the shoulder. “That cool with you?”
He shrugged and looked at his tennis shoes. He had big feet and was probably going to be tall after he grew into them.
“Willa? Would you help Ryder get his things loaded into the truck?”
“Sure.” She practically yanked the suitcase handle out of my mother’s hand. Then with a parting glare, she walked to the truck.
Ryder waited a beat, then followed her. He didn’t even turn to say good-bye to Mom. He didn’t give her a word or a look. And he didn’t seem surprised, just . . . disappointed.
How many times had she left him before? I remembered my years with her being full of babysitters and neighbors. Maybe our time with her wasn’t all that much different. I bet she’d promised him a fun trip to meet his brother, just like she’d promised me a fun trip to meet my aunt.
Mom didn’t say anything as Ryder walked away, certainly not a promise to return. Instead of watching her kid leave, her eyes were glued to my truck and a greedy smirk spread across her mouth.
She was going to ask me for money. Guaranteed.
“Get out of town.” I shuffled closer, growling down at her. “Now.”
“I need money.”
This bitch was so predictable.
I hated the idea of giving her a damn cent, but if it got her out of Lark Cove and away from me and Ryder, I didn’t care.
I ripped my wallet out of my back pocket and pulled out the stack of cash I’d shoved in there. It was ten days’ worth of tips—about five hundred bucks. I’d planned on running it up to the bank in Kalispell this week.
Instead I shoved it into her chest. “I never want to see your face again.”
She took the money and stuffed it in her jeans pocket. “I need more money if you don’t want me coming back.”
I stepped even closer, sending her back on her heels. “That’s all you’re ever going to get. You don’t see me again. You don’t see him again. You’re dead to us. Got it? If I see your face again, you won’t like what happens next. I got no love for you, lady. But I got a lot of rage.”
The threat erased some of her arrogance. She stepped back farther, looking at me once more before turning into the motel room and slamming the door.
My shoulders collapsed as I breathed. I gave myself until the count of five, then went to the truck and climbed into the driver’s seat. Willa was sitting shotgun, her face etched with worry.
I reached over the console and took her hand as I glanced in the back. Ryder was looking out his window, away from the motel and Mom’s car.
“You got everything?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “I guess.”
Was this really happening? Two hours ago, it was just Willa and me curled together in her bed. Two hours ago, I was just a bartender lucky to have a girlfriend who’d forgiven him after he’d acted like a dick.
Now I was some sort of pseudo-parent to a kid I’d met less than fifteen minutes ago.
“Are you hungry?” I asked Ryder.
He shrugged again.
“I’m hungry,” Willa said.
“You’re always hungry. Ryder, do you want to see Willa stuff an entire pizza in her mouth? She can inhale one in about three minutes.”
She smiled, going along with my attempt to lighten the mood. “More like ten.”
Ryder didn’t laugh or respond. He just hung his head, turning even further into the window. One of his hands slid up to wipe his nose.
I opened my mouth to say something else but closed it instead. There was nothing to say. So I looked ahead, glancing one last time at my mother’s motel room door. Then I fired up the truck and reversed out of the lot.
Before I even hit the highway, Willa was texting on her phone. She was calling in reinforcements. Thea was already at the bar. Hazel would likely be there soon. So I focused on the road, driving us the few blocks down to the bar where I’d find help.
Where my real family would be waiting.
“Missed you,” Jackson whispered as he wrapped me up in his arms. The stubble on his jaw tickled the skin on my neck as he kissed my bare shoulder.
“I missed you too.”
It had been a week since Jackson had confronted his mother and discovered his little brother. And in that time, we hadn’t spent a single night together. Instead, Jackson’s focus had been exactly where it should have been.
On Ryder.
When we arrived at the bar after leaving Melissa Page behind—hopefully for good—Thea was waiting by the door to welcome us. Hazel came in two minutes later. And while I sat with Ryder and discussed pizza toppings, Jackson pulled them into the back and explained the situation.
From that moment on, life became a flurry of activity as we all tried to get Ryder settled into his life here. Hazel took it upon herself to get his room set up in Jackson’s house. Thea was in charge of getting Ryder clothes that fit and decent shoes. I made sure Ryder was enrolled in school and had all the necessary supplies.
So while the three of us were taking care of logistics, Jackson was with Ryder. Around the clock. They toured town. They ate meals together. They spent evenings on Jackson’s living room couch watching movies.
And since I’d wanted them to have a chance to bond, I’d stepped back. I saw them both during the day as I came and went from his house, but at night, I stayed home alone.
We both knew it was the right call. Ryder had needed time in his new home without Jackson’s girlfriend around. But now Ryder was comfortable in their house, and on Monday, he was starting school.
He was settled.
So last night, Jackson had insisted I start spending the night. For the first time in a week, we were waking up together. For the first time ever, it was in his bed, not mine.
“I like your bed,” I told him.
“I like you in my bed.”
I wanted to ask him why he’d never wanted me to stay here before, but I didn’t want to touch on any subject that could make him uncomfortable, not on his special day.
“Happy Birthday,” I whispered.
He kissed my hair. “Thanks, babe.”
I loved that I was the first person to tell him. I’d told him at midnight, after we’d had sex and were cuddled in each other’s arms. We’d gone at it hard last night, both of us needing something hot and wild to ease our stresses. It had been a challenge to keep quiet, but Jackson had swallowed most of my cries with his mouth.