Page 6 of Riding Hard

And that’s the fucker of it. Because I’ve tried to stay out of the courts, knowing that Destinee looks a hell of a lot better than me on paper, even if she’s not. Because Destinee is a piece of shit.

“I thought she would be back. I went next door when I ran out of food.”

I bristle at his words. Anger flows through my veins. I cannot believe that this shit is real, that this is actually fucking happening. Destinee walked away and didn’t look back. She’s been gone for weeks, and my own kid didn’t call me until he ran out of food.

“How have you been getting to school?” I try to keep from growling.

He presses his lips together in a thin line, then shifts his eyes from mine to his feet before he slowly lifts them back to meet my own. In the silence, something passes between us, but I have no idea what it is.

All I know is that Cade is my son and he’s hurting.

Destinee is the one who hurt him, which means she’s the fucking problem.

“The bus comes to the house,” he murmurs.

“We’re done with this shit,” I growl.

I do the one thing that I know in any other circumstance I would avoid like the fucking plague.

I call the police.

I tell the dispatcher the issue and wait for her response.

When she tells me that they’ll be here soon, I look around, my gaze finding the kitchen, and decide that I’m not going in there to inspect the space. It’s just going to piss me off even more.

I’ll order something to eat while we wait for the cops to show up. “Cade,” I call out.

He lifts his head almost instantly. He seems to be standing at attention as he waits for whatever I’m going to say next. I don’t like that. My son and I are easy. We have a chill relationship with one another, and this, this is not chill. Not in the fucking slightest.

“Pizza or burgers?” I ask.

He swallows, then his eyes search mine, watering almost instantly. “Cade,” I call out softly. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”

Reaching out, I wrap my arms around him, bringing his little body against mine. He buries his face against my chest, and I feel him trembling, wondering just how the fuck this bitch could walk away from him.

How anyone could look at Cade and decide that he wasn’t worth everything. I would kill for him. I would fight for him. I would burn the goddamn world down for him. And this bitch just walked away.

“I promise, Cade. It’s all going to be okay.”

I’m not sure it’s a promise I can keep, but I’m going to die trying.

“Pizza, please,” he murmurs.

Pizza it is.

Fuck me, but I would buy him pizza every day of his life if I could. And hell, maybe I will. He deserves it. The mother I gave him, the life I’ve allowed him to live—he deserves so much fucking more. A pizza is the least I can do.

CHAPTER

FOUR

JULIETTE

My hopes are not only deflated, but they are also completely obliterated. The sounds my car begins to make about a half hour away from Vegas don’t just cause me concern. They cause me to panic.

It’s pitch black.

The only light is the one that highlights the next town, Boulder City, other than some strategically placed lighting along the highway, but they don’t really illuminate much.