Page 111 of Ramsey & Emerson

I slid a look over towards my youngest son. “Your dad and I aren’t fighting,” I semi-lied. “We’re just…in a disagreement about something.”

“Which is the very definition of fighting, Mom,” Ram drawled out.

“We’re not fighting,” I repeated, doing my best to limit the casualties. “Besides, even if we were, it’s not your business what happens between me and your father.”

“Since when?” Maddox scoffed. “Our entire family dynamic is based on us all being in each other’s business. It’s like we’ve got a damn phone tree for gossip, lectures, and advice.”

“He’s not wrong,” Ram added. “But even if he was, Dad going off the railsisour business. After all, he’s our father.”

Eyeing them both, I asked, “What do you know so far?”

“That your boss is trying to steal you away from Dad, and that’s not exactly sitting well with him,” Maddox replied, the smartass just asking for me to pop him one.

“What is it with you Reed men?” I sighed. “No one can steal me away from your father.”

“That’s not the point,” Ram replied.

“Then what is, old wise one,” I deadpanned.

“Not sure if you’ve noticed over the years or not, but Dad is completely off his nut when it comes to you, Mom,” Ram stated, countering my sarcasm with some of his own. “You’re also taking this personally, like he doesn’t trust you or something, and that’s not the case at all.”

“This is about someone thinking that they can go up against Ramsey Reed,” Maddox added. “In all fairness, according to the stories of long ago, Dad was like this before he even met you.”

“If you ask Aunt Delaney, she’d say that no one ever had the balls to stand up to Dad before you came along, so Dad’s just reacting like he would to anyone thinking that they can win against him,” Ram went on.

“Only it’s a little more serious this time because you’re involved,” Maddox said. “But for the most part, Dad is just being Dad.”

“Did he tell you that he confronted my supervisor at work and actually hit him?” I asked, looking between my sons.

Ramsey and Maddox shared a look, and all I could do was shake my head. While they were my sons, and I’d done my best to have a positive influence on them, they were also Ramsey’s sons and were a product of his influence also. Plus, Ava had been the stay-at-home-mom to all of them, and if anyone was a violent spitfire, it was Ava McIntire. If you asked her, she’d probably side with Ramsey in a heartbeat. While we didn’t advocate violence, Ava was very about popping out and having to show people that she wasn’t playing when the occasion called for it.

“Honestly, if Lake came home and told me that her boss was hitting on her, I’d probably get my own court date, Mom,” Ram admitted. “With the way that Dad feels about you, if he did something to risk you losing your job, I’d have to assume that it was warranted.”

“I have to agree,” Maddox chimed in. “If someone hit on Cassidy while she was wearing my rings, I’d lose my goddamn mind.”

I eyed my sons. “Your wives are both very beautiful. You can’t honestly believe that they don’t get hit on.”

A dark look crossed Ram’s face at the very idea, and he really was his father’s son. “Mom, there’s a difference between some random man hitting on Lake and her boss trying to break up our marriage.”

“What your boss is doing is more diabolical than just hitting on you, Mom,” Maddox said, and the tone of his voice had a million different light bulbs going off.

“What did you do, Maddox Reed?”

Ram’s eyes began darting around, acting innocent, stepping out of the line of fire. Had I not been so wrapped up in Ramsey’s emotional tsunami and our fighting, then the truth of the situation would have hit me sooner. Even though I’d already known that Ramsey would dig up what he could on Adrian, I’d forgotten about Maddox.

“Does it matter?” he hedged.

“Do you want me to lose my shit?” I threatened.

“Might as well tell her,” Ram muttered. “It’s not like she’s not going to find out anyway.”

“When Dad told us why you two were fighting, I decided to check some things out for myself,” he finally confessed.

“Jesus Christ, Maddox,” I said as I let out a deep sigh. “You know how I feel about that stuff now that you have a family that you’re responsible for.”

“Mom, I’m hardly an amateur,” he replied dryly.

Not wanting to know, but needing to, I asked, “And did you find anything?”

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