Page 6 of Fastlander Fighter

“What are you doing?” Hallie demanded, watching him scribble on the coupon.

“If this lady comes in here with her son, please honor this coupon. She’s an old friend.”

“That you didn’t even recognize twenty minutes ago.”

Captain huffed a sigh and glared at Hallie. “Not everything has to be an argument, you know?” He held up the coupon. “I never ask for anything. I come in here, work hard, and do my job. You’re never low on barbecue or inventory, right? Just don’t give this lady shit if she comes back in, okay? It’s all I’m asking. Give her kid a sampler platter and dock it from my paycheck. Whatever they want is on me.”

Hallie narrowed her eyes but muttered, “Okay,” and right now, that was good enough.

Captain strode back out to table seven and set the coupon beside Sloane. “You want him to branch out? Bring him in. Have him try the sampler and see what he likes. He’ll be just fine.”

She looked utterly stunned as she slowly took the coupon from his grasp. When she lifted her bright-blue gaze to him, gratefulness filled her eyes. “Thank you.”

Captain nodded. “My pleasure. I’ve got to get back to work. I’ve got an apprentice that is struggling in there. The sausage is about to be dried out, and no one wants to eat dried-out sausage.”

“Oh, it’s the worst.” There was that teasing nature.

Now he recognized her.

He walked away and said over his shoulder, “The absolute worst. And also, you should know,” he said, turning back to her at the door. “Two of my Crewmates enlightened me that I’m a dick. If you bring Ruger back in here, can you tell them I’m cool? I’m tired of fighting their mates.”

She let off another pretty laugh and nodded. “I’ll lie and tell them you’re cool.”

Aw yeah, there she was.

He clapped his hand on the doorframe and nodded. “Good to see you, Sloane.”

She inhaled deeply, and the pretty smile was back. “It was really good to see you too, Captain.”

Only this time, there was truth in her voice.

Chapter Three

“Well, I want to see the game,” Ryan told her, leaning on the open window of Sloane’s truck.

“You never cared about seeing the games before. I signed him up for every other week, it’s on my days, and none of our paperwork states I have to share my days with you. It’s my week with him.”

“Look, this is the deal. If you signed him up for sports on your days, then you can share those days with me and Naomi. Ruger deserves both of his parents cheering him on for sports.”

“Both his parents, and your new wife?” she asked softly. Oh, she knew what this was. Ryan didn’t care about being a father. He cared about how he looked to his parents and to his wife, and he liked to stir trouble and make sure she wasn’t with anyone new. It was a control thing, not a good-parenting thing. He would be all over Naomi like always, in front of everyone, and most importantly to him, in front of Sloane. It was his way of rubbing it in her face.

“Look, can you sign him up for sports on your days? Or karate, or fishing classes, or whatever he wants to do? And I won’t step on that time with you. Just let me have my custody days with him where it isn’t the Ryan-and-Naomi show. I want it to be about Ruger.”

“This is about Naomi. You have to get used to her, Sloane,” Ryan said. “She’s not going anywhere. This is the parenting team. You, me, and Naomi.”

“I didn’t sign up to be a co-parent with the woman you cheated on me with, Ryan.”

“Well, when you find a man—which you never will because who would ever put up with your bullshit—you can bring him to the games. Until then, it’s a three-person co-parenting team. Ruger loves Naomi. Just yesterday, he called her mom.”

“Stop!” she belted out. “That’s so messed up. She isn’t his mom, and how dare you allow that kind of talk to happen. The only way he would ever say that is if the two of you are pushing for it. The ink isn’t even dry on our divorce papers, Ryan. You bringing your mistress to the games on my parenting days is wrong. It’s way too soon for him to even be meeting people we are dating.”

“We aren’t dating. Naomi and I are married now.”

“Cool. How could I forget you did all of your dating while we were still married.”

Ryan arched his eyebrows and crossed his arms over his chest. “If you’re trying to make me feel guilty for the way we ended, I don’t. You deserved to figure out how replaceable you are.”

It stung. Gah, it hurt! He always knew just the words to steal the breath from her lungs. She would repeat those awful words over and over to herself over the next few days, and he knew it. In a softer voice, she said, “What if we know the parents there? It’s embarrassing, Ryan.”

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