Page 52 of Playing With Forever

I fucking loved that Josie’s kid not only looked after his mom but was sharp as fuck.

Earlier, he read what Lindy’s presence at the table meant—it might’ve been my daughter’s first time at Josie’s, but she was no stranger at mine.

Neither did he miss the two females were close; his mother obviously held affection for Lindy. Therefore, he adjusted and changed his speech to include Lindy.

Before that, he took a few moments to look me over, made an initial assessment, went with his gut, and decided to give me his time in return so we could get to know each other.

He heard what I said about not bossing his mom around, read my meaning, and knew I wouldn’t make a deal like that with her unless I knew what his dad did to her.

“No, Kane, I don’t,” I returned with an even, meaningful tone. “And I never will, you have my word on that.”

Lindy was still looking around the table for answers. When she found none, she unknowingly waded right in. “Who’s Sam?”

“A young man who used to attend the center. He passed away last Monday,” Josie told her.

“You mean he was⁠—”

“Kane,” she warned, and he clamped his mouth shut. “Maybe we should discuss this later.”

“I looked into them. They’re a mess, Mother. Not to mention dangerous.”

“Are you in danger, Josie?” Lindy asked, wide-eyed.

Fuck.

Josie shot her son a scathing look, Kane had the good manners to at least look contrite, though I knew damn well he wasn’t, because I wouldn’t have been either.

“No, I’m not in danger.”

Lindy transferred her stare to me. I shook my head, and she relaxed.

“It’s my fault⁠—”

I quickly interrupted her before she could take the blame. “Don’t apologize for bringing something important up at a family meal. The minute we start hiding conversations and brushing important shit under the rug, we’ve got problems. You want to go to this boy’s funeral. He means something to you, so he means something to all of us. Saying that, I’ve made my feelings crystal clear on this. I think Kane just made his clear. This is not anyone telling you where you can and can’t go. This is the people in your life who care about you, particularly the men who are both in law enforcement, explaining to you it is not safe for you to be around any of them.”

With her watering eyes on me, she nodded. But I knew I was fucked when she glanced at Lindy, then at Zane.

And there it was, the one thing I couldn’t fight—a mother’s love. A lioness protecting the cubs—even when the cubs weren’t hers.

“I was going to ask you if you’d take me, and we could just stand in the back and leave early.”

Yep, I was fucked.

“Josie, if I thought for one second I could sneak you in there and you’d stay in the corner with me, I would make that happen for you. But you forget I know you. You won’t be able to help yourself. And that’s one of the things I love about you—there is zero chance you see a grieving mother and don’t go to her to console her, especially a woman you know. Especially when you knew her child. So, please give me this. Let me keep you free and clear of the Havarths’ garbage, and don’t make me put you in danger by giving in to you.”

Her face fell, and her shoulders slumped forward in defeat.

“You’re right,” she whispered. “I’d beg you to let me go to her, and when you wouldn’t allow it, it would be torture.”

I leaned over and kissed her temple.

The scraping of wood legs on the floor made Josie jump.

Kane was out of his chair, his face ravaged and twisted in pain.

“Kane?” Josie’s wobbly voice called out to her son.

He held his hand up.