Page 78 of Nailed (Dad Bod Contracting 3)
I nod again. “Yes. I’m okay. A little shaken, but honestly more pissed off than anything.” I tighten my arms around his neck and kiss him. “Thank you for being there for me. For protecting me.”
He holds me against him, his hands on my back. “I wanted to break his face so fucking bad.”
“I know,” I murmur. “But that would’ve only made things worse in the long run.”
“That’s why his skull is still intact.” Ryder glances down at me. “I’m not a violent guy, and I don’t typically have a bad temper, but if you threaten me or mine, you’ll see the ugly side of me.”
I grin up at him. “I don’t know—I wouldn’t call it ugly. It kinda turned me on.” I shiver against him. “It was all caveman and alpha and sexy.”
His fingers tighten. “We’re on your front lawn, woman. Don’t turn me into an exhibitionist.”
“Turn you into an exhibitionist?” I say, laughing. “I’m the one wearing nothing but a T-shirt out here. You move your hand wrong, my neighbors are gonna get a nice view of my bare ass.”
“Mine,” he growls, turning me away, shielding me with his bulk.
I laugh as he throws me over his shoulder and carries me inside, possessively grabbing my ass. “Ryder! Put me down!”
He puts me down once we’re inside. “Ooga-ooga. Mine! Ryder no share.”
I laugh again, gazing up at him. “For real. You being all possessive and protective is a hell of a turn-on.”
Ryder’s eyes darken. “Good to know.”
I hear Nate’s door creak open. “Mom?”
I hurry over to him, kneeling in front of him. “I’m sorry you had to see that, Nate.”
“Dad isn’t a nice person, is he?” Nate asks.
I sigh. “That’s kind of hard to answer, buddy.” I think very carefully before answering. “Your father loves you, Nate—I have absolutely no doubt about that. He’s just…sick, I guess. He needs help to get better, but he won’t do it.”
“Why not?”
“I…he…I don’t know. He just wants to pretend he’s fine when he’s not, I think.” I hug him. “You spending time with him is going to work a little differently, though, I think. I’m not sure I can trust you alone with him anymore—not after this.”
Nate nods thoughtfully. “That’s probably a good idea.”
I tilt my head and frown. “Why do you say that?”
He shrugs. “Well, just that I don’t really think Dad is very responsible. He kinda sucks at being a dad.”
I’m torn between wanting to laugh at his blunt observation and wanting to cry that he’s had to make the observation at all. “Why’s that, buddy?”
“He forgot to make me dinner last weekend. He was in his office working or something, and he just let me watch movies all day. I made myself a P-B-and-J for lunch but then it was dinnertime and Dad was still in his office with the door locked and I was hungry and he just told me to find a snack or something.”
I let out a sharp sigh. “Nate, are you serious?” My throat is closed, hot and thick. Guilt rifles through me.
He hears it in my voice. “What? I was fine. I made myself mac ’n cheese.”
“You shouldn’t have had to, Nate.” I try vainly to hold back tears. “Anything else like that you haven’t told me?”
“I didn’t want you to worry, Mom, that’s all. I can take care of myself.”
“That’s not the point, Nathaniel—or, actually, that’s exactly the point! I am your mother—it’s my job to worry about you. If I knew your father was locking himself in his office I wouldn’t have let you go over there. You’re there to spend time with him, and he’s locking himself in his office? What’s he even doing in there?” I’m working myself up into a rage, and I have to take a few deep breaths and force myself to calm down. “What else, Nate?”
He just shrugs. “He does that a lot. He says he’s working, but I don’t know what he’s doing because he won’t let me in there.” He scratches his hair. “I have to remind him to buckle his seatbelt, and sometimes in the mornings he doesn’t wake up, so I get myself breakfast, and all he has is unhealthy junk food cereal that you say is poison. One time I tried to make scrambled eggs, but they got burned and I had to throw the whole pan away because I was afraid Dad would find out I’d burned his pan and he’d get mad. He brought me to a birthday party at Brian’s house one time, and he forgot to come get me. I don’t know his phone number so I just stayed the night at Brian’s house and he came to get me at like lunchtime the next day.”
“What?” I screech. “He left you at your friend’s house overnight?”
Nate just shrugs and nods. “It was fine, because Brian’s parents are really cool, so I got to sleep in a sleeping bag in a hammock in his backyard. Plus, Mr. McKenna made us banana chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast the next morning.”
