repair. What the other parents were saying.
Because I honestly didn’t care about what they said about me. About my cursing, about my lack of patience for social pleasantries, about what I’d turned into lately. But my skills as a mother were my sore spot.
Acceptance and respect coming from Zeke meant a lot. His past aside, he was a certifiable badass, but one who respected women, treated people with respect—from what I could see at least—and had raised an extraordinary daughter.
I smiled. It was as close to genuine as I got these days. Something moved in his eyes. “As much as I would love to have Luna as a daughter-in-law, I think that ship has sailed. Though I’ll settle for her being a best-friend-in-law.”
Zeke’s body stiffened ever so slightly, and his gaze got all intense in a way that made me all melty. I held my breath, waiting for what, I didn’t know. But it seemed like he was going to say something. Something big and pivotal and totally off bounds emotionally.
“You need a date?” he asked finally.
“A date?” I repeated.
“To the game.”
“You want to go to the game with me?” I clarified.
He nodded.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that biker badasses really frequent high school football games. I would say dive bars with peanut shells on the floor and men named ‘Dog’ looking to pick a fight with anyone who looks at them wrong are more your scene.”
His lip twitched. His badass version of a smile. “Yes, that dive bar and the bar fight with a man named Dog is much preferable to a high school football game, under normal circumstances at least. As it is, this place doesn’t have any true dive bars where I can get into a decent fight. Plus, two very important women are going to be at that game. It’s my duty to make sure they stay out of trouble.”
I was sure that he could hear the thunder of my heart.
“Plus, I need to go and inspect this guy my daughter is interested in. Make sure he knows I’ll bury him where no one will find him if he so much as lays a hand on her.”
I swallowed against the feelings I had at the ‘two important women’ comment. That was not something I needed to be having feelings about.
“I’m sure Luna will be so happy that you came if that is the case,” I replied. “And you know, even you can’t scare a teenage boy away from Luna. She’s one of a kind, and I suspect this one knows it.”
“Yeah,” he said quietly.
“The date part of this equation,” I said, changing the subject. “As long as it does not involve any kind of hand holding, PDA, or anything that would make it look like a date to the outside world.” I looked away. “I’m still not—”
“It’s okay, babe. I get it,” Zeke said, reaching out to squeeze my hand for a second before he let it go.
The parking lot was full. Of course it was, as we were late.
I’d driven like I was a thousand years old with Zeke in the passenger seat.
It was unnerving, to say the least, to have him sitting there. We’d been about as intimate as two people could get, but something about sitting here in this car, driving to the high school football game both our children were attending ... it was too real. It wasn’t midnight. It wasn’t a dream or a nightmare. It was something different entirely.
He didn’t try to talk during the drive, but his hand stayed on my thigh.
And I didn’t tell him to take it off.
The first half of the game went off without incident. Of course people stared, not just at my attending with Zeke, but my attending at all. My reputation was established by now. Thankfully we found Marley. She waved and handed me a cup full of sangria which made it all the more bearable. She made easy conversation with Zeke. He was different in the daylight. More personable.
He was careful not to touch me, to barely even look at me. That was good. It was what I wanted. But I still wanted that hand on my thigh.
Hence me making my escape in the first half.
And ruining everything.
“Are you here with Zeke Carson?”
I froze.
There was no mistaking that high, nasally voice.
Why did I think I could escape it? And why was I surprised that she waited until I was alone and coming out of the ladies’ room to