Her Marine Next Door - Aliyah Burke Page 0,69

determined steps before he pulled up. She was an accomplished liar.

Bypassing her, he went outside.

“Papa.” Cullen smiled up at him with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

He returned it, watching his boy work hard at something on his bench. Cullen needed a better one; this one was rickety.

“Got a few moments to talk to me?”

Cullen pushed a hand through his shaggy chocolate-brown hair and with his other, slid the hammer home on his belt.

“’Kay.” The boy picked up the saw and placed it on the hook on the backboard before he withdrew the pencil from behind his ear, stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth, and began to use the straight edge to draw lines on the table. This wasn’t a real table—the station had nothing real to harm him. The main point was his son loved it and would entertain himself for hours as he and Murray made things and talked.

“What did you do last night?” Parker sat on the steps, leaning back against the post as he watched his son.

Cullen’s face fell. “I tried to be quiet because Mommy was angry.”

Anger churned. “Then what?”

“The storm came.”

Shit. Cullen was terrified of storms.

“How’d you do with that?”

His lower lip trembled, but he no longer looked away from him like he had when he first arrived. “Murray was scared. Mommy wouldn’t wake up. She drank too much and did her pills. I broked my promise. I went to see Mama. She would keep me safe, I knew it.”

And the anger grew wings and soared.

Parker counted to ten, twice, before he’d reined himself in enough to pose his next question. Cullen beat him to it.

“Are you mad, Papa?”

He gave his son a smile. “Not with you. Did Mama take care of you?”

It should have shocked him how right it felt referring to Skylar as “Mama.” It didn’t. It pleased him.

“She hugged me and held me until I slept. In the morning she fed us.” His grin said it all.

Tears, actual motherfucking tears, pricked his eyes as he realized Skylar meant so much to his son.

Cullen stuck out his lower lip and took a deep breath.

“What’s up, C-Man?”

“She cried.”

And that fact tore his son apart. “Why?”

“She was sad. She held me all night.” Another ear-to-ear grin. “I love her.”

Me, too.

He’d been half in love with her since he’d first laid eyes on her. The time he’d had with her only moved him from Camp Half to Camp Full, let him put down roots here.

“Supper’s ready.”

He met Cullen’s gaze and jerked his head to the house. “Come on.”

“Maybe we can eat with Mama?” Such hope in his tone.

The meal was full of strained conversation. Not that the food was bad, but there wasn’t the relaxed atmosphere he’d experienced at Skylar’s.

Parker put his son to bed later and headed to the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Over to thank Skylar for watching Cullen last night while you, again, fell short of being fucking mother of the year, passed out on the couch.” He would deal with her after.

She flushed and glared. “Is that what your little bitch told you to try to get you back?”

“She didn’t tell me anything. However, she did leave a note.” With a retaliatory glare of his own, he marched out the door and beelined it for Skylar’s house.

Aware the front would be locked, he went to the backyard and headed in that way, not willing to give her a chance to refuse to unlock the door. He opened the door and entered, sliding the door shut behind him. He found Alpin lying on his bed, chewing on a turquoise-and-green-striped monkey with ropes for the arms and legs.

“Hey, boy,” he muttered, crouching to pet him on the head.

He gave two thumps of his tail, never stopping in his act of chewing.

“Where’s your Mama?”

Again, no help from the dog. Music was streaming up the hall, and as he pushed back to his feet, he realized it was Two Steps from Hell and sighed. This wasn’t going to be easy.

“Wish me luck.” Parker stared down the hall and after a moment’s hesitation, he struck off to confront her.

“Skylar?”

He paused in her doorway, searching for her. Things were scattered all over the floor, completely unlike her, and as he stood there, another large pile of clothing sailed out from the closet.

“Can’t believe I’m fucking hearing his voice in my head now,” she huffed as she continued to toss things out.

“I’m right here, Skylar.”

He swore the music paused at that moment as well,