Page 4 of The Wayward Son

He held up his beer. “I shouldn’t even be drinking this. I have a fight on Saturday.”

“And why are you breaking training?”

He took a sip and set the bottle down. “Because a ghost from my past showed up at my door in a wedding dress.”

She nodded. “That’s a pretty good reason.”

Chapter two

"Totally not the point."

Halfway through her beer, Jade announced she was starving, since all she ate all day was a breakfast burrito before she started getting ready for the wedding. She’d also had two mimosas at the beauty shop, which she considered brunch since they were made with orange juice and had a slice of strawberry in them.

“You didn’t stop on the drive here?”

“Would you go through a drive through in a wedding dress?”

“No. But I probably wouldn’t be wearing a wedding dress, either.”

“I’m lucky I didn’t need to stop for gas.”

Sawyer grinned. “I’d pay money to see that.” He stood and went to the cupboard he kept canned goods in. One of theirfavorite lunches on the weekends when they were fending for themselves as kids was vegetable soup mixed with bean with bacon soup. He still enjoyed it and had both in the cupboard.

He showed her the cans. “How about some soup?”

“Oh, my gosh. Perfect. Do you have crackers?” She would crumble so many crackers into her soup she almost needed a knife to get through it.

Sawyer set the cans down and dug through a drawer for the can opener. “No crackers. I might have a couple of slices of bread in the fridge.”

“That works.”

He opened the cans and pour the contents into a pot, then turned on the stove. He returned to the table and took a sip of his beer. The last one he had was at Finn’s birthday party right before he left Castle Springs. It tasted good. But he’d have to work extra hard tomorrow to get rid of the excess calories.

She smiled at him. “So tell me everything.”

“Everything?”

“Just the highlights, I guess.”

“I’ve been boxing for about five years and am currently undefeated.”

“Nice.” She looked around the apartment. “I guess winning doesn’t equal making money?”

She was right. The place was a bit sketchy. But he was still a little offended by her remark. “I’m an amateur. I don’t get paid.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You do it for fun? You get beat up for nothing?”

“I like it. And I rarely get beat up.”

She pointed at him. “Because you’re undefeated.”

“Exactly. For the last two years, my manager has been bugging me to go pro. Which means I’d start fighting for money. But it’s never been about the money. That’s not why I do it.”

“Right. Because you’re an O’Connell and you don’t need to worry about money.”

Sawyer scowled. “I work hard at the ranch. Dad doesn’t just hand it over to me. If he did, I’d be living in a much nicer place.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m glad you don’t have to flip burgers to support yourself.”

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