Page 132 of The Ruthless and the Strong

Hunter crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m sure most of the rules are similar.”

“You’re right. There is one rule they both have in common.”

“And?”

I smirked. Hunter was only ten, but he was already showing to be quite hot-headed. And he took his sports very seriously. I had been coaching him in ice hockey, and he was good. He might even be better than Mason had been at his age.

For the first time in a long time, I was finding joy in the sport again.

“There’s no tackling,” Mason said drily, gently pulling off a four-year-old Kingsley. She was every bit as stubborn as Gage, and every bit as impulsive as Kiera. Lucky for her, she took after her mom, so she was just as beautiful.

Kingsley shot him a smile, her gray eyes lighting up, and I could see my brother melting under her gaze. I knew if he could have convinced Olivia to give him more kids, he would, but Olivia seemed pretty content with just Emma now.

Logan and Gage moved over, and Gage grabbed his daughter, saying something to her about not running to a tackle.

She was grinning at him like she knew she had him wrapped around her little finger, because she did.

Logan laughed then, and patted Gage on the back before moving off the field. I guessed the game was finished.

Hunter ran over to me. I put the tongs down just as he crashed onto me. “Whoa, there, little man. What’s the rush?”

He pulled on my shirt. “Are you done?”

“Not yet. I’ll be done soon. Why? Are you hungry?”

He shook his head. “No, but you did promise to play tag with us, remember?”

“Ah, yes, of course I remember.” I never broke a promise to him. “I’ll be done soon, and we can play, yeah?” I patted his head, and he smiled up at me.

It was quite an adjustment for Hunter and Lizzie to move in with me. A part of me had thought it would have been a good idea for Lizzie to move into an apartment with Hunter for a year before I moved them both in with me, but Lizzie didn’t mind, and Hunter eventually got a better hang of it.

We were close.

And that was what I wanted.

For Hunter to know I loved him. Even if he wasn’t my biological son, he was mine in every way that counted.

Sam had come around. He and Hunter talked on the phone every once in a while. It was hard to form any relationship between them when Sam didn’t even live in the same state.

It was something, at least. And the last I heard, Sam was engaged to a pediatric nurse at the hospital he worked at. I knew it eased something in Lizzie to know that Sam was moving on with his life and trying to be happy.

I wasn’t so sure he had.

But perhaps I was biased, because I didn’t think I could get over Lizzie, no matter how years had passed, had our roles been reversed. My past proved just that.

“Why don’t you go play with Emma for a bit?” I said to Hunter. “I’ll let you know when things are done, okay?”

He nodded, smiling and showing me those dimples on his cheeks.

I watched him run off just as Mason, Logan, and Gage came over to me.

“Hey, is the food done yet?” Mason asked.

I slapped his hand away when he tried to grab the tongs. “Hey.” I rolled my eyes. “I’ll tell you when the food is ready. Now if you’re just going to get in my way, you might as well go play with Hunter.”

He chuckled and shook his head.

My little brother looked lighter with each year that passed. He wasn’t letting the past define him, and I was learning to not let mine define me. Though the investigation around Lorenzo’s death had been closed for years now, Officer Kyle and Officer Hernandez never really believed I didn’t have anything to do with it.

---