student she’s ever had.”
“Not that it helps me win friends.” Roman looked down at his eggs.
“You don’t need to win friends,” Ezra insisted.
“How many kids were you around before you started school?” Beck had an idea of why Roman didn’t fit in. Kim would have kept him close during those first years. She wouldn’t have dropped him off at a daycare or arranged playdates. She would have put everything she had into protecting her son. Their son.
“I didn’t really meet many kids until school,” Roman admitted. “Uncle Ezra was my friend.”
“Uncle Ezra was a geek. He is not the person who should be teaching you how to be cool. He was a geek in school, and when he gets the chance to pick a cover, he becomes a priest.”
Ezra sent him a death stare.
Beck wasn’t backing down. “You could have become anything. You chose priest.”
“It’s not a cover. It’s a calling, asshole.” Ezra frowned. “I’m sorry I cursed, Roman. Your father pushes me.”
“All I’m saying is making friends can be taught,” Beck explained. “The social aspects of school can be as important as the academic ones.”
“Can you teach me?” Roman asked.
He hoped he had the chance. He wasn’t sure how long they would be hiding. Once it was safe, he didn’t know if Kim would want to take their son back to Malta to resume their lives there. He would have to move. “Of course. I would love to help out. I’m around a lot of kids. All my friends have kids. Well, most of them.”
“Can I meet them?” Roman asked, his eyes bright.
“Sure. At some point. I don’t think we’ll be able to go back to Dallas right away. We need to make sure your mom is safe.” He didn’t know what Kim wanted to tell Roman about her situation. Somehow he didn’t think telling Roman that his mom could be arrested at any moment would make him any less afraid.
“Where do you think we’ll go?” The question had come from his brother rather than his son, but they were both looking at him like he was the authority figure in the room.
“Can we hide at the place that has all the Harry Potter stuff?” Roman asked. “We can dress like wizards and maybe Levi Green won’t know we’re there.”
A chuckle caressed his ears and went straight to his cock. He loved that husky laugh of hers. He turned and she was standing in the doorway, all soft and tousled. She was wearing the same clothes from the day before, but she’d washed the makeup off. She was gorgeous with or without makeup, but she looked younger like this, looked so close to the young woman he’d fallen head over heels for.
“I don’t think an amusement park is what your dad is thinking of,” she said, moving over to their son. She leaned over and kissed his head. “Did your dad make those eggs?”
Roman grinned up at her. “Yeah, and he saved some for you. He wouldn’t let Uncle Ezra have any.”
Kim sent him a suspicious look. “Somehow I don’t think that was all about me. I can have a croissant.”
“It is absolutely all about you,” Beck promised her. “You haven’t eaten. You need some food, and I’m going to make sure you get it.”
“Are you?” Her shoulders squared. It was her goddess warrior, I’m-not-letting-some-man-tell-me-what-to-do pose.
He placed the plate in front of an empty seat. “I’m hoping if you eat, maybe Roman will, too.”
She sat down and her fork was in her hand pretty damn quick. “We should all have a good breakfast. It’s going to be a long day.” She turned back to Beck once she was comfortable their son was eating. “Have you heard from Theo yet? Do you know where we’re going?”
Owen and Jax were in the office upstairs making all kinds of arrangements. “I think we’ll either be going to England or a country called Loa Mali.”
“That’s where the Green King lives,” Roman said around a mouthful of eggs. “He makes solar panels and green cars.”
“He’s also a personal friend of my boss.” He’d thought about it all night and decided Ian would be looking at either moving them to Loa Mali or to somewhere Damon Knight controlled, and that would likely mean England.
He wanted to go home. It was funny because when he’d bought the three-bedroom house on the same road as Theo Taggart’s, he’d done it as an investment. It had never truly felt like a home, but now he wanted to take