Reaper's Legacy(116)

“You got it, bud,” Josh said, watching intensely as Noah lined up his shot at the skee-ball machine. I had to laugh. Josh had been joking about his theory … mostly. The man really did love the game. It turned out Noah loved it, too, so things had worked out pretty well.

We’d been at Chuck E. Cheese’s for nearly three hours, and I’d had a blast. Josh was easy to be around. He didn’t stress me out and he didn’t scare me. We’d eaten dinner, and to give him credit, he ate the nasty pizza they served without a single snide comment (not even I could pull that off). Then he bought Noah more tokens than he’d ever seen before and we’d hit the games.

Now it was almost nine and I knew we needed to get Noah out soon or things could get ugly. I touched Josh’s arm, catching his attention. He turned and grinned at me, looking like a big, happy puppy.

“We need to head home,” I said, nodding toward my son. “He’s tired. Don’t want to push him too hard.”

“Understood,” Josh replied. He put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close, giving me a squeeze. “You’ve got a good kid there.”

I smiled, because I knew he was right. Also because I liked his arm around my shoulder. Josh didn’t make my heart explode like Ruger did, but he had a good sense of humor and was fun to be around. That had to count for something.

We fed all of the tickets we’d won (and it seemed like thousands of them) into the chomping machines, which caused Noah intense delight. Then we spent another twenty minutes at the prize counter as he agonized over which tiny plastic rings or erasers to pick.

The sun had set when we finally walked outside. The pizza place was in one of those strip malls with free-standing restaurants in the parking lot. I looked over at the steak house longingly, still a little hungry—I’d only managed to choke down half a slice. Josh bumped my shoulder.

“Maybe next time we can get a grown-up meal,” he said.

“Is that your way of asking me out again?” I asked, coming to a stop next to my car. Noah bounced around next to me happily, playing with his new treasures. I looked up at Josh and smiled. He smiled back, and I was struck by how cute he was. Geeky cute, like Ryan.

I could do a lot worse.

“Depends on what the answer would be,” he replied, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. “I hate getting shot down.”

“I don’t think you’d get shot down,” I said. He leaned forward and kissed me lightly on the lips. It was nice—not hot and intense, but pleasant.

“Uncle Ruger!” Noah yelled, and I felt him take off running. I pulled away from Ryan instantly, my mommy radar fully engaged. I bolted after him, shouting his name and yelling at him to stop. He ignored me, jumping into Ruger’s arms where he stood on the sidewalk outside the steak house.

Several other guys from the club were with him.

“Noah, you can’t run off like that!” I said, catching Noah’s chin so his eyes had to meet mine. “You could get killed. You know better—you’re a big boy now.”

“I’m sorry,” he said instantly. “I forgot. I got excited. I wanted to show Uncle Ruger my prizes.”

Shit, I’d been so worried about Noah, I wasn’t even thinking about Ruger. I looked up to find him staring across the lot.

“Who’s your friend?” he asked, jerking his chin toward Josh, who gave us a halfhearted wave.

“That’s Josh,” I said defiantly. “He’s a friend of Kimber’s husband. They work together.”

“He took us to Chuck E. Cheese’s and we played tons of games and I got all kinds of prizes but I didn’t have enough tickets to get what I really wanted so he said maybe we could come back another time and I said yes,” Noah told him breathlessly. “He’s pretty cool, Ruger.”

Ruger’s eyes hardened, and he set Noah down.

“Stay here, kid,” he said. Then he stepped out across the parking lot, obviously planning to intercept Josh. Fuck.

“Stay,” I said to Noah, then glanced up at Bam Bam. “Will you make sure he doesn’t run off?”

Dancer’s husband gave a quick nod, but his eyes weren’t exactly friendly.

Great.

I scurried off toward Ruger and Josh.

“Hey,” I said, looking between them. Ruger’s face was like stone, his eyes glinting with possessive menace. Josh looked confused and a little uncertain. “Josh, this is Noah’s uncle, Ruger. Ruger, this is my friend Josh. We were just leaving. Sorry about Noah bothering you.”