Page 77 of Challenged by the Single Dad

Vica and Dom exchanged amused expressions. Dom nodded. “Well, I’ll make sure to thank Uncle Wyatt.”

Silas nodded, but didn’t look up. “Are you done for the day, Dad?”

“I still have another hour or so, but I just wanted to see how your day was.”

Dom’s son shrugged a boney shoulder. “It was fine.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Griffon said, glancing over at Silas with confusion. “Carnation wouldn’t leave you alone.”

Silas shot his cousin a look.

Griffon gave zero fucks and gave Silas a look right back.

“What happened with Carnation?” Dom asked, going into instant protector-mode. He was doing that a lot today. First with Chloe, and now with his son.

Silas sighed. “Nothing. Griffon is just being—”

“No, I’m not,” Griff shot back. “She grabbed you by the back of your shirt, hauled you backward so you fell onto your back, then she sat on your chest and said if you didn’t kiss her, she’d rub dirt in your face until you cried.”

Dom and Vica’s mouths both dropped open in disbelief. They met each other’s gazes briefly over the tops of the boys’ heads. Heat flashed up like wildfire through Dom’s insides, but he stowed any immediate reaction as quickly as he could and dropped his gaze back to Silas.

Fuck.

His kid was watching him the whole time with fear on his face. Then those gentle, innocent eyes began to water. “I’m sorry I lied, Dad,” he started to blubber.

“Oh,tesoro mio,” Vica said, pressing another kiss to Silas’s head.

Silas’s bottom lip wobbled as more tears fell.

Vica helped him down from the step stool he stood on to better access the counter, and he flung himself into Dom’s arms as Dom crouched down to better embrace his child.

Silas buried his face in Dom’s neck, little sniffles and snorts echoing through the room.

“Am I in trouble now?” Griffon asked.

“No,lupetto. It’s okay. You are just protecting your cousin.” Vica ruffled Griff’s hair to reassure him.

Dom stayed in a crouched position, but peeled his kid off of him a little and set Silas on his knee. “Can you tell me what happened from your point of view, please?”

Still sniffling, Silas wiped his hand beneath his nose and nodded. “Carnation was chasing me at little recess. She said she wanted to kiss me. I said ‘no, thank you’ so many times. So many times. The duty teacher even told her to leave me alone. But then on big recess, she did it again. It was a different duty teacher, and she chased me around the side of the school where there weren’t any teachers.”

“We chased after them to protect him,” Griff said, but Vica gently shushed him.

Silas nodded. “She grabbed the back of my rain jacket, which hurt my throat, then I fell backward onto the ground where the four-square was. And, Dad,” he looked up in Dom’s eyes, “it really hurt. When my head hit the ground, I thought I was going to die from how badly it hurt.”

Red filled Dom’s vision.

“Then she sat on my chest … like Griffon said, and she said if I didn’t kiss her, she would rub dirt in my face. Then she picked up a big pile of mud and held it above me.”

“And then what happened?” Dom asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer either way.

“Aya ran up and shoved Carnation to the ground and off of Silas,” Griffon cut it. “She said to leave her cousin alone and if she didn’t, Aya was going to go all Kung Fu Panda on her ass.” His eyes went wide. “And she actually said ‘ass.’”

Dom’s brain whirred with information. “So you didn’t kiss her? And she didn’t rub mud in your face?”

Silas shook his head. “Aya saved me. But the duty saw her push Carnation and now Aya is in trouble at school.” He shuddered from the echoes of his earlier tears. “I’m sorry I got Aya in trouble.”

Dom hugged his son tight to his chest not caring that Silas’s flour-covered hands were getting all over Dom’s shirt. “Oh, buddy. You’re not to blame for any of this. Not at all.”

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