The Guy on the Left (The Underdogs, #2)(97)

“I got in trouble at school today. Mommy’s mad. I put myself in timeout, but she doesn’t care. Are you mad at me too?”

I hate the fear in his voice. I hate that things are so fucked up between his mother and me. We’re both guilty. I let my crushed heart and anger toward her get in the way of what matters most. What should always come first. But I won’t lie to him.

“I’m not mad at you. It’s not good to get in trouble, but I’m not mad.”

“You and Theo not friends anymore? Is that why you moved?”

I nod. “We’re just having a difference of opinion.”

He thinks I’m a piece of shit, and I’m having a hard time proving myself differently. It ends here. I’ll be the father Dante’s come to trust. I walk over to where he sits and run my knuckles through his hair.

“Grown-up stuff gets confusing sometimes. Hang in there with me, okay?”

“K.”

“Trust me?”

“Yep.”

“Good. Play your game. I’m going to talk to your mom. And we’ll talk about why you got in trouble in a little while, okay?”

“K.” I start to make my way toward her room. “Troy?”

“Yeah, bud?”

“Are you going to spank me?”

“Spank you?” I bite my lips to hide my grin. “No.”

“K, ‘cause that would hurt real bad.”

“Really bad. And I would never hurt you. You know that, right?

“Uh huh.”

Unable to help it, I walk over and pull him into me. He hugs me back tightly, without reservation, something we both clearly need. Placing a kiss at the top of his head, I pull away.

“No matter what, I’m proud of you. You know that?”

“Yeah.”

I tip his chin up. “Saw your video last night. Did you edit that new intro yourself?”

“Yeah! You watched it?”

“I watch them all.”

“Really?”

His happiness means everything to me. As does the woman just a room away.

“Let me go talk to her, and maybe you and I can get lunch after. Just the two of us.”

“K. Is she sad ‘cause you don’t kiss her in the laundry room anymore?”

Gaping, I stare down at him at a loss for words. My mother is right. We’re idiots. While we were falling in love, our son was watching. It doesn’t matter what we did behind closed doors, he was witness to it all, which is why he felt our split as much as we did.

“Dante, that’s private adult stuff.”

“K. Can we have tacos?”

That was way too easy. But relieved, I answer with a bribe. “Anything you want.”

“I’m in trouble. Mommy might not let me go.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

“K.”

“Don’t interrupt us unless it’s an emergency.”

“Yes, sir.”

Making my way toward her room, I rope in all my apprehension and knock on her door.

“Hey,” I hear her say when I poke my head in. She’s sitting on the side of her bed, crumbling a tissue in her hand and blotting her eyes.

I kneel down in front of her and grab her hands holding them between mine. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m fine.”

“It’s not fine. Everything’s fucked.”

“I know,” she says, a tear cresting on her cheek before falling, “we got too messy.”

“I don’t want to live like this anymore.”

“Me neither.” She slides a hand down my jaw. “I’m so sorry I hurt you. You did everything right. From the minute you stepped up to my door. You’re right. I gave you hell and not enough of what you deserved. But I do respect you, Troy, and I trust you, for whatever it’s worth.”

“It’s worth a lot,” I say, trying my best to keep my shit together.

“He knows we’re not okay. He asks me every day what’s going on, and I don’t know what to tell him.”

“He knows about us.”

“I know,” she says softly. “I just keep avoiding his questions.”

“It’s time to stop. We’ll tell him together that sometimes grown-ups fight and don’t always know how to fix it. But if they’re family, they find a way to work it out. And we will.”

She nods, looking more forlorn than she did when I walked into the room.

“Troy, I don’t ever want him to lose you because of me.”

“He won’t. I just needed to step back, for me.”

She worries her bottom lip and nods.

“We apologize and move on. If we’re okay, he’s okay.”

“Right.” She nods. “You’re right.”

“It just feels shitty now because we got knocked out of sorts. We’ll fix it.”

“Okay,” she straightens, and exhales a stressed breath.

“Okay.”

I stand and look down at her, and she tugs at my hand, sliding her fingers between mine. “I’ve always credited myself with having it together, having it under control.” Her face crumbles. “I’m not feeling so together anymore.”