Engaging his Enemy (Shattered SEALs #4) - Amy Gamet Page 0,20
nod, jealousy ripping through him. What he wouldn’t do to have been the one to be there for his son, to toss him the ball, to teach him things a father teaches his boy. But for the first time, he felt the slightest twinge of gratitude that it had been Ben who was here with Wyatt. Ben who had loved him as his own.
Better Ben than someone else.
“What about your mom?” he croaked, his voice betraying his emotions. “Was she seeing anyone while you were growing up?” He knew he sounded like a desperate lover, but he truly wanted to know if there’d been others in the role of father over the years. Who had been here for Wyatt when he himself had not?
Wyatt looked uncomfortable. “She goes on dates.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded. “From an app.”
“A dating app?”
The dog lay down in the grass, clearly tired out and panting. “Uh-huh.”
“Anybody you liked?”
He shrugged. “I never met any of them.” He sat down on the bench beside him.
Moto felt like he had a butterfly perched on his finger, ready to fly away. He played it as casually as he could, not looking directly at the boy. “So nothing serious.”
“No. What about you?”
“Me?”
“Are you married?”
“No.”
“Were you ever?”
“No.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Not really. I go out sometimes.”
“Then why don’t you have a girlfriend?”
Moto shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t go out with any of them for too long.”
“Why not?”
“I guess I don’t like them that much.”
“But you like my mom.”
Now Moto looked at him. “I don’t know about that.”
Wyatt smirked. “You look at her like you like her.”
“Oh yeah? How so?”
“You stare at her.”
Moto bumped Wyatt’s shoulder with his own. “Maybe she had something in her teeth.”
Wyatt smiled. “I don’t think so.”
“No? Maybe she farted and I was too nice to say something.”
The boy laughed out loud. “No.” He looked at Moto conspiratorially. “She does fart, though, but don’t tell her I said that.”
Moto laughed, too. They sat in silence for a minute, the work he had to do suddenly weighing on his mind. HERO Force would be here soon, and he wanted to make some headway before they arrived. “You like computers?”
“Yeah.”
“You any good with them?”
“I went to coding camp, and I troubleshoot stuff when my mom needs help.”
“Good enough. I have to go through your uncle Ben’s computer and prove the evidence on there is made up. You want to watch?”
Wyatt’s eyes lit. “Yeah.”
“Come on.” They walked toward the house.
“Hey, Zach?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad you came back.”
Moto grinned. “Me, too, Wyatt.” He patted the boy’s back, then squeezed his shoulder. “Me, too.”
11
Davina took a sip of her wine and opened the dishwasher. She was exhausted, defeated, and downright worried about all three men in her life—Wyatt, Ben, and Zach. It was weird to have the last one here at all. She’d waited a long time for him to be back in the picture.
Dinner had been strange, with Wyatt and Zach seeming to have reached some tacit understanding. They were thick as thieves, those two, working on Ben’s computer, Zach giving a running lecture on computers and files and encryption and God knows what else. She wasn't sure what to make of it. She wanted them to get along, no question about it, but she wasn't used to sharing her son.
And what about her? If she was being completely honest with herself, she also wanted something from Zach. Not a relationship like Wyatt did, but resolution. So much was unfinished between them, so many things she needed to say and hear. There had been times she’d been convinced he’d never return, and other times she was equally certain the universe wouldn’t let her off the hook so easily. She took a sip of wine. “Alexa, play my favorite songs.”
A gentle knock came from the back door. Ben was the only one who did that, and while she longed for their typical easy conversation, nothing seemed easy lately where the Sato brothers were concerned. “Come in.”
He rounded the corner from the laundry room, took one look at her face, and opened his arms to hug her. “Hey. Been a crazy couple of days, huh?”
She laughed. “Understatement of the century.” She poured him a glass of wine and brought it to the table, sitting down. “How are you holding up?”
“You mean with the murder charges hanging over my head? Or with the impending arrival of Moto’s cavalry?” He filled her in on his brother’s summoning of HERO Force. "Honestly, I'm glad they're coming. I need all the help