Page 9 of Gunner

Lily chokes on her food and I almost spit out my beer. “Caleb! That’s not very nice.” Her expression is mortified while I pinch my lips together to hold back a laugh.

“It’s true, Mommy.” Caleb’s cute little brows knit with confusion.

“That’s okay. I get that a lot.”

Lily’s shoulders relax slightly, but I can see in her eyes she’s still embarrassed.

I level my gaze at Caleb. “Are you afraid of me?”

He quickly shakes his head. “Nope. Mommy isn’t afraid so I’m not either. And she said you’re really nice to her.”

I’ll always be nice to her. Him too. I don’t want this kid being afraid of me. He’s starting to grow on me, and I can’t help seeing parts of Lily in him.

I wonder what features he gets from his father…

Something dark eats away inside my chest, and I suddenly have the urge to find the bastard and kill him. I have no reason for doing so other than he dared to touch my woman. But whose fault is that, since I’m the one that let her go? If anyone needs their ass beat, it’s me. Fuck, I need to fucking get a grip.

“What’s that?” Caleb points to the brown bottle by my plate.

“It’s beer,” I answer hesitantly.

“Mommy doesn’t like beer. She likes wine. It’s grownup juice for mommies.”

His statement is so matter-of-fact that I snicker. “Your kid’s a fucking riot, Lil.”

“Why do you always say that word? Mommy says it’s a bad word.” Caleb frowns.

“What word? Fuck?”

Lily glares at me, her gaze drilling a hole into the side of my face.

“Yeah, that one.”

“Because it’s my favorite word.” I shrug.

There’s a pregnant pause and I can hear the gears turning in the kid’s head before he looks at Lily. “Mommy, can I?—”

“Absolutely not,” she cuts him off. “That’ll earn you a spankin’, mister.” Then she gives him a stern look.

His forehead wrinkles as he thinks about what she said. “Does James get a spanking too?”

A deep laugh erupts from my chest. “I wouldn’t mind if your mama put me over her knee. Or maybe it’s the other way around…” I wink at Lily.

“Okay, let’s clear the table,” she blurts, causing me to laugh again while I rise to help her.

We gather the plates as Caleb retreats to his room to get ready for bed. Lily and I stand in front of the sink while I wash the dishes, then she dries them and puts them away.

“Where’s his father?” I ask, curiosity getting the better of me.

Lily freezes, caught off guard by my question. “He’s not in the picture. The moment he found out I was pregnant, he didn’t want anything to do with me. Granted, it was only a one-night stand, and no promises were made. But still, he made it very clear that it wasn’t his problem.”

Rage radiates off me at the thought of Lily and Caleb being treated like that. I clench my hands, imagining all the ways I’d like to torture this fucker, even if he and Lily weren’t dating when she had her son. Caleb is too great of a fucking kid to grow up without a decent father. I know what that’s like, even though my old man was around.

We finish up the dishes and Lily begins to stroll out of the kitchen. “I’m going to put Caleb to bed. I’ll be right back,” she says warmly.

“I’ll be waiting.” I kiss her cheek and watch her disappear up the stairs to Caleb’s room, leaving me standing in the middle of the kitchen. I decide against having another beer and opt to have a seat in the living room instead. Minutes roll by before I start to get restless and stand to walk off my excess energy.

The way I crave this woman is inexplicable. Now that she’s back, I never want to lose her again. I had my reasons for letting her go all those years ago when we were kids, and I stand by those reasons today. My head was in a bad place and I’d already decided I was going to be a Disciple. I didn’t want to ruin her plans by keeping her here when I wasn’t sure what life would be like with me.

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