Eric (Men of Honor 2)

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I was coming in to bring you a snack Tyler.” She was in tears when she put the snack on the table, and then she pulled my grown son from the chair and wrapped her arms around him.

Ty gave me a weird look over her shoulder, and then he softened and hugged her back, and I realized it was the first time since he was seven years old that he’d felt a mother’s touch. Fuck me; now I’m tearing up.

She cooed at him and told him how sorry she was acting like the shit had just happened yesterday instead of almost eleven years ago, women! I waited for her to leave us alone again. “Any more stories like that? Anything else you hid from me?”

“I wasn’t trying to hide it from you, dad. I just didn’t want to add to your stress. You didn’t see yourself back then. I thought she broke you. I was scared shitless that anything else added on would send you over the edge.”

Holy crap! How had I missed all this? Here I thought I’d protected him well. I always waited until he was in bed at night before giving into my sulks. I never cried over her and what she did, but I did have many moments when I felt like throwing in the towel. If not for him, who knows what the hell I would’ve done back in those early days. And to think now, I look at her and wonder what the hell I was on.

“Okay, I get that, but what’s going on with you now?”

“I told you, I don’t want her messing with you. She’s not part of our lives and shouldn’t be sticking her nose into our shit. If she’s gonna cause trouble between you and Justine, then it’s only fair that she sees what that feels like.”

“Now that you mention it, how do you know about her and the other guy?”

“When she started acting up this last time, I started keeping tabs on her. I cloned her damn phone and got an eyeful.”

“You…”

“You asked.”

“Tyler, where did you learn to do shit like that?”

“Why? You want me to teach you?” What am I gonna do with this kid?

I never even got around to asking him about the damn roses because it felt like I took a wrong turn down the rabbit hole or some shit and so he escaped without me bringing it up, and by the time I went up to bed, it was the last thing on my mind. Justine was sitting up in bed, looking fit to be tied as she rubbed lotion into her arms.

I actually halted my steps as I tried to remember if I’d done anything asshole-like since the last time I saw her, which was less than an hour ago. “You okay? Whoa!” I held up my hands and retreated a few steps. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my little darling this pissed before.

“I’d like to peel her skin off with a rusty knife.”

“Uh, who are we dismembering this evening, love?” Please tell me that Kristen twit hadn’t called her again. I was really hoping that that headache was behind us.

“Your ex-wife, that’s who. How could any woman who went through childbirth be that horrid to her own child?”

She was rubbing her arms way too rough, but I dared not say shit. “Uh, actually, she had a C-section, if that counts.” The look she gave me had my balls looking for cover.

“We’ve both been neglectful of our kids; we’ve let them both down.” She pounded her delicate little feminine fist into the mattress and looked loaded for bear.

“How so?” I took a chance and moved in closer now that I knew it wasn’t me who’d put that look on her face. If she were in the mood to kick Janine’s ass, I’d hold her coat. I’ve long wanted to belt my ex, but being a man, I always considered it a douche thing to do. Even though I barely see my ex as human.

“I let Sam and Kristen walk all over me for the sake of keeping the peace. I didn’t want Lora to lose her daddy because they’d been so close before, but now I think I didn’t do her any favors by being a doormat for the two of them. Now it looks like poor Tyler didn’t fare much better at the hands of that witch. I’d like to run her over backwards with your truck.”

Note she wasn’t using her nifty little sports car that I’d bought her because the day we went to the dealer, she’d lit up like a Xmas tree at her first sight of it. “As long as you get the shit detailed right after I’m down.”

“What?” She stopped trying to rub the skin off her arm, and I jumped her.