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I easily lift Kai in my arms and carry him inside the house. I’ve only been here once and it was for no longer than five minutes when I came along with Ezra, Hudsyn’s old man, to pick something up. Luckily, it’s not hard to guess which room is Kai’s and I carefully place him on the bed. I help him get his shoes off and stroll toward the closet to grab a fresh set of pajamas.
“Do you want to take a quick shower?” I question but I can already see the reply in his eyes; he’s beat. “Never mind. Why don’t you crawl into bed and I’ll grab a cloth with some warm water so I can wipe your face. It will feel fresh and clean, okay?”
I remember my mother doing it when I was sick and it always made the icky feeling of just puking your guts out fade to the background. Before I head into the bathroom I check his temperature to make sure he’s not running a fever–which he luckily doesn’t have.
It only takes a minute or two before I’m gently washing his face and the little man falls asleep right in the middle of it. Grabbing the sheets, I tuck him in and leave the door slightly ajar before I head downstairs.
I’m pissed off at Calvin but that doesn’t mean I’m ripping out my inner bitch because this is a shitty situation for a single dad who is torn between his job and his sick kid. So, I take out my phone and shoot him a message to let him know Kai is safely tucked into bed and sleeping for now. I hit send and the message is immediately read and my phone starts to ring in my hand.
“I checked his temperature and there’s no fever,” I mutter into the phone, knowing it’s Calvin who is calling.
“Did he throw up again?” Calvin asks, worry lacing his tone.
“No. The little dude is drained. I washed his face while I had him tucked in bed and he fell asleep on me. I’ll keep a close eye on him until you get here. Sleeping is good, right?”
“Yeah,” Calvin grunts. “Just make sure he isn’t puking in his sleep. There’s a baby monitor in the closet in the hallway. It’s got a camera on it so you can keep an eye on him while you’re in the living room or whatever.”
“Okay, I’m going to grab it right now,” I tell him. “If there’s any issue, I’ll let you know.”
He starts to say thanks but I’ve already ended the call. Like I mentioned; I’m not doing this for him. I manage to find the baby monitor and have it all set when I get into the kitchen. Raiding the cabinets, I quickly notice Calvin has everything I need to make oatmeal raisin cookies and instead of sitting on my ass, I decide to get my hands busy.
By the time I’ve rolled the balls of dough and shove them into the oven, that’s when the doorbell rings. I imagine it’s Calvin since he gave me his keys but I check the peephole anyway and notice a classy dressed woman is standing on the porch.
I swing the door open and kindly ask her, “Hi, can I help you?”
Her eyes travel over my body. She’s probably noticing my leather cut because her gaze fills with judgement and disapproval.
“Where is Calvin?” she squeaks in a high-pitched tone.
“Sorry, the man isn’t here right now.” I’m about to step back and shut the door but she shoots her hand out to stop the door from closing.
“Fine. Then I’ll wait for him.” She stares me down as if I would feel threatened by the bitch.
Yeah. Right. As if that day would ever come. It takes a lot more to threaten me and like hell am I letting someone I don’t know into another person’s home. Not to mention, I have a sick kid sleeping upstairs.
“I don’t think so. If you want to wait for him, fine. But sit your ass back in your car, you’re not getting inside this house.”
Her eyes narrow and she points a red painted nail in my face.
I’m a breath away from snapping said finger but I’m momentarily stunned when she says, “I’m going inside to see my son and you can’t stop me.”
What the…what? Her son?
CHAPTER TWO
– CALVIN –
This day is going from bad to worse. Anger hits me full force when I see a woman standing on my porch, one I haven’t seen in over four years. Three days after Kai was born she disappeared from our lives to be exact.
Hell, the bitch ran while the ink from her signature was still wet on the papers she signed as soon as the judge heard her wishes to give up her parental rights, granting me full custody of my son.
“I’m going inside to see my son and you can’t stop me,” I hear Elvira screech.
Cassia looks stunned for a fragment of a second but then she braces herself and calmly says, “Over my dead body. I don’t fucking know you. This is not my house and the little boy inside was placed under my care by his father. Which means I will protect him with my fucking life and I won’t blink as I rip you limb from limb if you so much as put one of your fake nails over the damn threshold. So. Try me, bitch. Make my fucking day because my day is going damn great already.”
A grin slides across my face as I stroll toward the house. Cassia catches the movement and her eyes stay locked on mine. Instant calmness replaces the anger I had raging inside me a moment ago.
I don’t have it in me to think about what might have happened if the nanny I sometimes hire would have been here instead of Cassia. I’m damn lucky Cassia was here to protect my boy. She doesn’t know our history but handled the situation instinctually and she did more than perfect if you ask me.
