“I’ll watch Cul.”
He stilled, not breathing, not speaking, not for a while. She kept her stare on him and waited.
He slid his hand from her hip to tuck her hair behind her ear. His eyes warmed. “Lex, I wasn’t asking you—”
“I know.”
He hesitated then released a breath. “I know you care about Cul, but you don’t have to watch him. You can go to yoga or grade papers or chill with Allie or whatever you want. You deserve the day off instead of having—”
Putting an elbow on the mattress, she pulled herself up and kissed him. “I’m offering because I want to.”
“I don’t want you feeling obligated ’cause I gotta kid, you gotta start—”
“I don’t feel obligated to do anything. I promise. I like kids, and I love Cullen. He’s sweet.”
Not a lie. It took her hours to realize she loved him.
“Babe, I know he’s sweet to you, but you gotta have noticed he’s a typical boy. He plays rough, and he’s always coming up with ways to get himself hurt.”
She tore her stare from his and thought out loud, “Are you worried he’ll get hurt while he’s with me? I have experience—”
He shook his head. “Fuck, no.” He said it in a way she believed him instantly. “I’m worried I’m gonna get home, and you’ll be too tired for me.” Then he broke out in a smile.
She laughed. “So I’ll watch him?”
He nodded. “’Course, Lex. He’ll be stoked when I tell him tomorrow.”
Saturday morning, as Dodge headed for work, she and Cullen went to the mall. Friday, she’d looked up places to go with a three-year-old. That’s how she discovered the kids’ gym at the local mall. She could’ve taken him to the park, but she wanted to do something out of the ordinary. At the massive place filled with bounce houses and video games, Cullen had a blast.
On their way out, they walked by a kid’s clothing store. Her gaze flew to the large signs that read, “sale” in big, bold, red letters. Cul’s hand in hers, she led them inside. In seconds, she realized it wasn’t just any sale but a massive one. Every item had been marked down fifty to seventy percent. Needless to say, she couldn’t help herself. She bought her new niece or nephew a couple of unisex onesies, and for Cullen, she purchased four superhero tee shirts and two pairs of jeans. No doubt, he liked the tees since he nodded excitedly when she picked them out. She asked him about the jeans, but he shrugged. She got them anyway, having noticed some of his were worn.
They walked out of the store, one of her hands still in Cullen’s, the other holding a bag with the store’s logo.
“My baby!”
She turned to look but didn’t manage it. Cullen squeezed her hand almost painfully only to release it, launch himself behind her, and circle both arms around her waist in a death grip.
She shifted, angling herself awkwardly trying to meet his gaze. She then dropped the bag at her feet and planted a hand on his shoulder. “Cul, what’s—”
“Who the fuck are you?”
Her head snapped to the woman standing too close, a tall blonde wearing a jean mini skirt, a cleavage baring pink shirt, and five-inch heels. Attractive definitely, but she’d twisted her face in a nasty way, not to mention she dressed like she wanted the wrong kind of attention.
Lex didn’t know her nor did she know why she felt the need to curse at her in a public place in front of a child and a multitude of others. Believing the woman had to be mistaken and not wanting to cause a bigger scene, Lex asked, “Excuse me?”
Those steely gray eyes narrowed. “Who. The. Fuck. Are. You?”
Lex took a deep breath and a step back carefully so she didn’t knock over Cul. “I’m no one who knows you, so if you’ll excuse—”
“I’m his mother.”
Cullen’s hold on her tightened.
Damn it. The blonde was his mother and Dodge’s ex.
Lex didn’t have time to let that sink. She had a feeling what’d come next wouldn’t be pleasant for her and especially for Cullen. Lex didn’t know Dodge’s ex, but she knew Cullen had only seen his mother a couple of times in the last year, and she knew what she’d just witnessed. The woman was foul-mouthed in front of her son, a son who acted like he feared her.
Her stomach hollowed out even as her pulse spiked. Lex didn’t let it show, keeping calm and her voice level. “I’m Alexa. I’m—”
“The woman who’s fucking my husband.”
A blow, a physical one. Her heart squeezed, body flinched.
Was Dodge still married? He told her… What had he told her? Why had she assumed they were divorced?
She swallowed thickly but kept her face blank. “You’re separated.”
“He’s seeing you, is he? Or you mean he’s fucking you and using you to watch my son? Don’t get too comfortable. We’ve separated before. He always comes back because I’m his wife and the mother of his son.”
For a split second, her face fell. Harder to hide this time. The fact of the matter, Lex didn’t know if the woman lied.
The blonde moved to her side, gaze shooting to Cullen. “Let’s go.” Then she reached for him.
Face pressed against her, Cullen whimpered, and his small body trembled.
Lex wrapped one arm behind her, resting it against Cullen’s back, gripped his hands at her stomach with the other, and angled her body, blocking Cullen from sight. She stepped back from his mother, again carefully, taking Cullen with her. “He was left in my care. If you want to see your son, you’ll have to speak to his father.”
The woman’s eyes widened. “You don’t want me to do that. The minute I talk to him, he’ll come crawling back to me.”
Her chest clenched painfully. She ignored it, lifted her chin, and shot back instantly, “Not one thing you say will make me release him.”
She hadn’t lied. She didn’t care what else Cullen’s mother said, no way she’d let Cullen go with her. The woman may be his mother, but he was terrified. If Lex had to, she’d fight her tooth and nail.
“Listen, you fucking bitch, I’m taking my son!”
“What’s going on here?”
Lex looked to the man standing beside them, the mall security.
“She won’t give me my son!”
Several people stopped and stared.
Lex’s face flamed. Not that it mattered, she was so angry, it was already beet red. Addressing the security, she spoke. “His father left him in my care. If she wants—”
“I’m his wife and the mother. She’s just his skanky mistress!”
More people stopped, more stared.
All of Lex’s instincts screamed for her to defend herself. She wasn’t a pushover or a coward, and she didn’t want people in their small town believing anything Cullen’s mother screamed. Worse, she didn’t want Cullen to hear it. But she couldn’t say anything. For one, she didn’t know if they were lies. Second and most importantly, she couldn’t react. Whether true or not, Cullen’s mother was trying to get a rise out of her. Matters would escalate. The one most affected—Cullen. He needed her to keep her cool.
The security crossed his arms over his chest. “Call the father. He can come deal with you two.”
Without losing sight of Cullen’s mother, Lex released his hands at her stomach to pull her phone out of her back pocket. Then she dialed and waited.
Chapter Eighteen
His phone rang. Dodge plucked it out of his pocket, read Lex’s name on the screen, and smiled.
He loved she was so predictable. He loved it more it didn’t bore the shit out of him. He told her he’d work morning and be off by lunch. Noon on the dot, he bet money she’d called to find out what he wanted for lunch. She did that shit all the time. During the week, she called him at lunch and asked what he wanted for dinner. Every other day, he had to tell her he’d make dinner; otherwise, she’d cook for him and Cul and make dessert too. He didn’t watch it, he’d gain fifty pounds by year end. When they ate at her place, she set the table with fan
cy-assed cloth napkins and a matching tablecloth like they were special or some shit. It was the little things she did she probably thought he didn’t notice. She pitched in without him asking to, sometimes even after he told her not to. Case in point, he had to work and she insisted on watching Cul.
They hadn’t been together long, only a few weeks, but she made getting up in the morning easier with just knowing he’d see her. It wasn’t about him knowing two to three times a week he didn’t have to cook or about knowing his house would be a little less of a mess in between when he paid a cleaning service. It was that even if he was cooking, she’d be right by him telling him about her day, her students, the other teachers, making him laugh and making him feel carefree. Doing all that, she also made him feel like he wasn’t alone raising a kid on his own, and it didn’t hurt that she was beautiful, smart, good to him, and especially, good to his boy.
He had his brothers, the club, but not one of them knew what it was like to be a single father to a three-year-old, not one of them was raising a kid on his own. His brothers helped him always, but they weren’t Lex, a woman, unbelievable in bed, always wanting him, always smiling, talking to him about nothing and everything, making him laugh, and reading to his boy.
He was a man who hadn’t known much joy in his life. Thinking about it then, it was the first time he felt truly happy, and a big part of that was that his boy was happy too. So with a smile on his face, he answered his phone.
“I’m down for whatever my woman and son want to eat, babe.”
She didn’t respond, but in the background, a spine-curling shrill rang out.
“Let me talk to him, now!”
Dodge couldn’t forget that voice. He tried and failed. Hearing it, it still didn’t sink in because he couldn’t be hearing that voice when he and his boy just found their happy.
“I need you to come to the mall.”
Lex, but not the Lex he knew, his Lex. This Lex was someone else, her voice dull and stiff, nothing about it lighthearted.
His stomach rolled.
“I said gimme the fuckin’ phone!”
He flinched, actually cringed at hearing it again.
“We’re by the food court entrance.”
“I said—”
“Ma’am, you need to step away from her.” This, a man said.
Then he heard Lex again. “Did you hear me?”
“Yeah, be there in a few.” Before he hung up, he’d walked halfway to his car.
He locked gazes with Hash and Rake, a few feet away sitting astride their bikes shooting the breeze. “Need both of you. Get in.”
Unlocking his SUV, his brothers didn’t question him. They hopped in. When he drove away, he explained. By the silence that ensued, he knew they knew how bad the situation was and how much worse it could get.
Cullen’s mother wasn’t just a class A nag but a manipulative bitch who got off on fucking with people’s lives. She fucked with Rip and Em’s first, the reason why Bree grew up without her dad for close to five years. Then she fucked with Trig. When Trig told her to fuck off, she fucked him then proceeded to fuck with not only him but their son until he wised up and kicked her out. She fucked with people by lying, cheating, and manipulating. He had no clue how long she’d been spewing shit to Lex but knew she had because that’s what she did. Hopefully, Lex didn’t believe her. He had a feeling she did though. The sound of Lex’s voice, clue enough, so he moved on to hoping Lex let him explain before she decided anything.
Arriving, he illegally parked at the entrance and left the keys in the ignition, knowing either Rake or Hash would move his car. Then he dashed inside.
He spotted them right away. Cullen, his arms tight around Lex’s hips, his face planted against her. Both of them faced away from him. Lilliam stood in front of them, not two feet away. A mall security guard stood beside them.
He saw Lilliam, and still, he couldn’t believe it. It’d been months. Last he heard, she’d moved to Santa Rosa.
The next instant, she proved he wasn’t stuck in some nightmare. Lilliam grabbed Cul’s arm and yanked. Cul let out a terrified scream. Lex moved quickly, turning her body, shielding Cul, protecting him from his own mother. The security said something Dodge didn’t hear because blood rushed to his head making it pound.
He sprinted and latched onto Lilliam’s wrist, fingers tightening hard enough he pried her away from Cul. His voice thick, deadly, when he said, “You touch my boy again, we’re gonna have bigger problems.”
Her eyes widened. When she recovered, she took two steps toward him and pressed her breasts against him.
He balked, releasing her and backing away. Not something he could help or control. She disgusted him. It hadn’t always been that way. At one point, he thought she was real pretty. She’d been a tap, gave good head, and he had her and continued to have her. Then he knocked her up, married her, and really got to know her. After that, she became the ugliest woman he’d ever met, not physically, but where it counted, on the inside. Not that it mattered, after having Lex, knowing Lex, no one compared.
The mall security cocked his head. “You got this?”
He spared a glance at him and nodded.
The man shot Lilliam a nasty glare before he walked away. After seeing what he had, Dodge couldn’t blame the guy. No one would.
He shifted toward Lex and Cul. He looked to Cul, face now buried against Lex’s stomach. She had one arm tight around him, the other in his hair. Luckily, he got there in time, got Lilliam away before she physically hurt his boy, and now Lex held him, comforted him. All of it meant Cul would be fine.
His gaze shot to Lex. Her silky, long hair loose around her face, barely any makeup, her expression blank. Still beautiful. She didn’t meet his stare, but he realized her eyes were blank too.
His stomach soured. Despite this, he lifted his chin toward Hash, standing several feet behind her and Cul. “Hash’s taking you to the compound.”
“My car’s here.”
“Hash’ll drive it. Take you both to the compound.”
She nodded. That blank stare still hadn’t met his. Hash walked to her and Cul, picked up a bag at their feet. Holding Cul against her, she then turned and walked away without another word. Dodge watched them go. Before his boy strode out of the mall, Cullen looked over his shoulder at him. His son’s face blotchy and red.
His chest squeezing painfully, anguish so deep he knew it’d never fade, a mixture of regret and guilt. He’d done this, kept his mother around longer than he should’ve, hoping, praying she’d change. She never did, never would.
He clenched his jaw to fight that ache and sliced his gaze to Lilliam. All it took for his body to pulse with rage. “You ever touch my kid like that again, I’ll—”
She took a step toward him. Her hand went to his chest. “Baby—”
He caught her wrist, shoved it away, and took a step back. “Don’t fuckin’ play games, woman. I don’t mean shit to you. Never have, never will. Can’t say I’m surprised considering your own kid doesn’t mean shit to you.”
Her eyes widened, jaw dropped.
Playing more games. No surprise there.
“I can’t believe—”
“You grabbed him hard enough you made your son cry? Are you proud he’s scared of you? Are you proud he’s shaking and—”
Her eyes rounded. She shook her head. “I—”
“And now you’re blind?” His arm shot out. “No one here is. Every-fuckin’-one saw it.”
Her eyes flashed. Face twisted, lip curled.
There, that was the woman he knew.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He fisted his hands. “What’d you tell her?”
Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I know you told her something to fuck with her ’cause that’s what you do. You fuck with people. There’s no low for you ’cause you even fuck with your own kid. Now I wanna know—”
She
smirked. “I didn’t have to say anything—”
Getting nowhere and he wouldn’t get anywhere, not until he spoke to Lex. He had to get this shit over with.
“Stop delaying the inevitable.”
She cocked her head. “Umm? What?”
Now playing stupid. Sometimes, he wished she was a man just so he could beat the shit out of her.
He took a step toward her and in a low, lethal voice said, “Stop stalling the divorce.”
“Oh, sweetheart, you know you don’t mean that. You know eventually you’ll get tired of your whore. We’ll work this out, and we’ll be a family again,” she said this loud enough the nosy people who weren’t already huddled around them stopped and stared.
This was all a game to her. She liked attention, any type she could get, but she only got the bad kind. She used her own son to do it even hurt him in the process.
“She’s not a whore. You are. Married you ’cause you tricked me and got pregnant. Married and you were still whoring around. Now, I got a real woman, a woman my son, the one you aren’t mother enough for, the one you couldn’t care less about, loves.”
Her face fell, eyes watered.
Finally. Something sunk. Maybe not. Maybe she thought with tears she’d soften him.
“You’re smart.” He jabbed a finger at her. “You’ll stop delaying the divorce. I’ve been patient with you, but you’ve worn that patience thin. Now, you fucked with my son for the last time, so my patience is gone.”
He then turned and stormed off.
****
“It’s okay, sweetheart.”
Cullen had passed out a minute after he lay down next to her on the bed in Dodge’s room at the compound. Cuddled close, his head resting on her shoulder, face turned toward her. One arm around him, she continued to glide her fingers through his hair. Still, she repeated it, kept at it trying to soothe him as he slept. Maybe, subconsciously, she was trying to soothe herself too.
They’d been escorted by Hash to Dodge’s room. After she and Cul entered and Hash closed the door, he stayed outside probably to make sure she didn’t leave. She knew this since she heard him on his phone outside. She should’ve told him not to waste his time. No way she’d leave without talking to Dodge first, and she’d never leave Cullen alone, period. She didn’t tell him. Instead, she lay beside Cul, wrapped her arm around him, threaded her fingers through his hair repeatedly and whispered to him.
Riding Hard (Hell Ryders MC Book 4) Page 16