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“His nose is fine. He needs to learn to toughen up,” Stan said, crossing his arms and widening his stance. He nodded in Kenzie and Jake’s direction.“She looks good.”
I tensed. It was a generic comment that could’ve been meant in a million different ways… still, I didn’t like that he was talking about my wife.
“She is good.” She’d be better if you didn’t make her jump through informational hoops to see her son each week.
“I think it’s time for her to come home.”
My back snapped straight, and my head whipped in his direction. “Excuse me?”
He didn’t actually think Kenzie was going back to him, did he? Was he that delusional?I had to shift my weight to try and disguise how fucking shocked I was at his presumption.
“Look.” Stan sighed, shaking his head slightly. “I know you’re helping Mackenzie. Probably some sort of charity or something, which is all great, man. Really, it’s great.” Whatever compassion his words conveyed was metered by his patronizing tone. “But look at her… at the two of them… what she really needs now is to come home. To Jake. To me.”
I’d never felt this kind of rage before, hearing him talk about Kenzie like she was some weak, misguided child.Hearing him insinuate that he knew what she wanted and what was best for her.
“And she wants to. All she’s ever wanted was a family, and I know my job took a toll on her. I didn’t give her the attention she needed, and it was how I missed all the drugs.”
Jesus Christ, was this asshole nominating himself for sainthood?
“But after what happened with Jake at the soccer game, the way she’s desperate to talk to him each night, I think she sees now that it’s a mistake for her to stay away.”
My eyebrows lifted, and I fought back an incredulous laugh at how wrong he was. I kept my focus on Kenzie and Jake, not wanting Stan to see my expressions, but then, when I saw Kenzie take Jake’s shoulders and kneel in front of him, I knew she was breaking the news.
My heart started to hammer.
I didn’t give a shit what the man standing next to me thought, but I did care about her son. It was obvious that Stan was Jake’s hero. Hell, I didn’t blame the kid; his dad literally saved lives—saved Kenzie’s life. For that alone, he deserved his son’s admiration.
I didn’t want to replace his dad, but goddamn, I wanted him to like me.
“I think if you told her it was okay to come home, she’d admit it’s what she wants,” Stan went on, oblivious that I was ignoring him because he couldn’t be more wrong.
He couldn’t be fucking serious.
“I’m not going to tell her that because it’s not what Kenzie wants,” I said flatly.
Stan’s brow creased, and then he laughed it off.“Look, Zeke, I’m trying to be a nice guy about this, but I know Mackenzie. She’s the mother of my child, and she’s not well.” Stan turned, facing me even though I remained forward. My heart rocketed up into my throat as Jake looked over to me and then back to his mom. “She’s a recovering addict. The best place for her to be is with the support system she has. Her son. Me. The man who saved her damn life.”
“Just because you saved her life doesn’t mean she wants to continue living it with you,” I growled, feeling a surge of protectiveness ignite inside me.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” He scoffed, so sure of himself. “Of course, she does. Do you think she only wants to see Jake on video calls and once a week for a few hours?”
I turned, unable to believe this asshole. He really believed this. He really believed that Kenzie wanted to come back to him… and he really believed that he had the power to keep her from seeing Jake if he wanted. Suddenly, that swell of protectiveness consumed me like water on a grease fire, incinerating whatever reserve I had left.
“She wants to come home. She needs to be taken care of. She needs me—”
“Then why is shemywife?” I growled.
Fuck this and fuck him.
The bomb dropped before I could meter the explosion. It wasn’t my place to tell him, but I couldn’t stop the words from coming out. The way he was talking about her… like she was some helpless, pathetic creature, and he was her savior…No one talked about my wife like that.
“What did you just say?” he demanded low, his face taking on an expression I’d seen flicker only a handful of times when he couldn’t contain it.Pure malice.
I straightened, the words rushing through me like a straight shot of adrenaline. “I said she doesn’t want to come home to you because she’s my wife.”
His lip twitched, and I felt his body shift toward me like this was about to get physical, but then a shout drew both our attention.
“Dad!” Jake came running over, and only then did I feel a blast of fear.
