Page 74 of Relapse
“Yeah,” I snickered. “Good luck with that.”
She was too afraid to touch me. There was a reason I told her to wash my back, yet the only thing I felt was the damn loofa. I should’ve put the soap in her hand.
Junior’s dark eyes slid my way. “You don’t think I can do it?”
“Fuck no,” I snorted.
He was a twelve-year-old kid. I wasn’t worried. Though part of me did respect the determination displayed on his face. Junior had more balls than most of the men I knew. The other part wanted to kill the little prick when he shot me a smile and skipped around the pool to join the tea party.
Maggie was happy to see him, of course. That wasn’t what had me clutching onto the sides of my chair. Harper’s mouth curled in the same bright smile I used to get. There was a time I’d have done anything to see her face light up like that. Was she trying to fuck with me, making me think about shit that was dead?
I watched her hand reach out to playfully tousle Junior’s hair and I heard the chair creak as my fingers dug into the metal frame. And she didn’t stop there. Harper let out a little chuckle and dropped her hand on his shoulder. Oh sure, she had no problem touchinghim.
To add insult to injury, the smug little prick wrapped his arms around her, laid his head on her shoulder, then looked right at me and smiled. I damn near jumped out of my chair. Luckily for him, Logan showed up.
“Damn,” he clicked his tongue while strutting out to drop down on the lounger beside me. “Someone’s angling for a beat down.”
“It’s fine.” My eyes narrowed at the hand on my woman’s back. “He’s just a kid.”
“I don’t know, man.” Logan tipped his blond head towards Harper, who was now giggling like a fucking school girl. “He’s bigger than her.”
Why did he have to point that out? Now all I could see when I looked over there was some suave dipshit with dark hair and a charming smile hitting on my girl. I get that Logan wasn’t the kid’s biggest fan, but did he want me to kill him?
Harper said something that looked an awful lot like‘you’re so sweet’, before kissing Junior’s cheek.
No, she wanted me to kill him.
Logan chuckled. “Look at that player making the moves on your girl.”
This mother…
“Is there a reason you’re here?” I snarled.
“The girls went to the spa. So we decided to come hang with you.”
Figures Shelby would be behind this. I was starting to think that girl liked pushing my buttons. Wait…
I cocked a brow at Logan. “We?”
My eyes rolled when he nodded at the person stepping out to join us.
Micha.
I should’ve known my brother was home when Junior showed up. Technically he was the kid’s guardian, and a better parent than his mother had ever been. Who no one had seen since she signed over her parental rights. Couldn’t help but wonder if Micha got rid of her. Junior should consider himself lucky. Most kids in his position barely made it through childhood. Who knows where he would be if he’d never stumbled across my brother.
Kind of like how you lucked out with Lou.
And just like that, I was pissed for an entirely different reason.
Micha tipped his head down at me.
“Mase.”
I tipped my head up at him.
“Micha.”
I could taste the tension in the air. We hadn’t talked since the day I sucker punched him, or seen each other, for that matter. Micha was hiding out at Logan’s place. At least that’s what I assumed. I heard him say something to Lou about Riley not liking it here. That was a lame excuse, if you asked me.
