Page 20 of Assigned

Chapter Seven

Lucas

“You’re married?” Lisa’s voice booms into the truck. “When the hell did that happen, Lucas?”

“Uh...” I can’t quite get words to form. I look over at Bear in the passenger seat, who has closed his eyes and is shaking his giant head.

“Lucas?” Lisa prompts.

“Almost two weeks ago,” I manage to say, but she’s not really listening.

“You realize I showed up to pick up Mason and spoke to her like she was the babysitter.”

“Why were you picking up Mason anyway? I was going to take him and Parker home. That’s what we agreed on. Planned on having the whole ‘I’m married’ conversation when I got to your house. Today’s the first day our schedules actually lined up and it wasn’t news I felt was appropriate to text. A face-to-face was the most respectful way to tell you.” If she’d stuck to the plan, none of this would have happened.

“I was trying to do you a favor by not making you drive all the way over to my new place.”

Helluva favor. “Well, you shoulda told me instead of just showing up.”

“Lucas, do you really think that that’s the issue here? That I picked up Mason instead of waiting for you to bring him home?”

I latch on to the steering wheel, my knuckles turning white. Why did Lisa have to change the schedule without updating me? It was my job to inform my ex-wife I’d remarried. Not Riley’s. But damn if anything ever goes my way.

“And I take it Mason knew already which means you told him to keep something from me. Do you not see that as a problem? And Riley? Is this the same Riley, the girl from high school who dropped you like an old pair of shoes that went out of style?” Lisa’s voice rose in pitch with each word.

Bear remained quiet and stared out the window. He’d always liked Lisa. Most of the team did. She was normally easygoing. They’d all understood when she’d asked for a divorce. It was part of our lives. Marriages tended to fail. But we all remained friends. She was even at Jim’s wedding with her now fiancé.

“Lisa, I barely had time to talk to the guys about it.” I let out a long breath. “And it’s not like I got to choose who I was assigned to. A committee made the choice.”

“Why did you even sign up for some stupid program like that?”

“Because it worked for Jim and for Tony. I thought it might work for me. What? I can’t be happy? Find someone who can handle my life?” I wanted to kick myself the moment the words left my mouth.

For the first time during our twenty-minute drive, Bear turned toward me, his eyes narrowed to mere slits. I swear in that moment, he might as well have been Lisa’s father with the way he appeared to want to beat the shit out of me. Not that I blame him. That last part was a low blow.

“I’m sorry, Lisa. I didn’t mean—”

“Lucas, I get it. The life is hard, and you wanted someone this time who could handle it. But Riley? After everything you told me, after everything you shared with me about how she made you feel?”

“Lisa, it’s honestly none of your business.”

“Except my son visits your home. And you left her alone with him. What if she flaked out with him? That is not happening on my watch.”

I grind my molars. Lisa is overreacting. Nothing had happened. There was eating and video game playing, and not some inappropriate game either. Leaving Mason with Riley is far better than leaving him with Martinez. Yet, Lisa has never minded when my best friend had watched our son. Not even when Mason came home asking if girls in real life danced in their underwear on a table, thanks to some stupid movie he’d watched with Martinez.

“I got a lawyer. With the move and me getting married, I wasn’t sure if there’d be any issues. But things have changed, and I want full custody of Mason.” Lisa’s words echo through the car.

My heart stops and I can’t suck any air into my lungs. Luckily, we had just arrived at Bear’s house and I pulled the car over, throwing it into “park” because the darkness at the corner of my eyes is growing larger. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“I said I am going to push for full custody of our son.”

“Why? Because I married Riley? You don’t get to approve who I marry. I certainly didn’t give you any shit when you started dating or when you got engaged. Or even when you decided to move the fuck away.”

“Lucas, I am all of thirty minutes from you. And Riley isn’t Mason’s parent. You are. What is the point of him being there if you are going to be at work and she’s babysitting him? You’re the one he wants the relationship with.”

I turn to Bear, who sits quietly in the seat. He could have already gotten out. But we are brothers, there to support one another through thick and thin. Plus, he has two daughters. He’s who I turn to when I question whether or not I’m a good father. Or when I become afraid that my job might ruin my child. Which is way more often than I’d like.

I swallow past the freaking large lump in my throat. “Fine. Well, looks like I’ll be hiring a lawyer too.”

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