Colton's Secret Son

“I wasn’t talking about him being here, I was talking about me,” he replied wryly.

“You’re a necessary evil,” she said.

“Said the kettle to the pot,” he replied. “Why am I the only bad guy here?”

A dusting of color filled her cheeks. “I guess you’re not...yet.”

He released a sigh. “At some point you’re going to have to trust me, Allison.”

“It’s going to take time.” She reached up as if to grab a strand of her hair, but it was in that charming, slightly untidy knot at the nape of her neck and she dropped her hand back to her side. “Cody can get the video games set up and whatever else you might need. I’ll be upstairs until dinnertime.”

As she began to climb the stairs, Cody came back down, and within minutes he and Knox were in the living room with game paddles in their hands as an earnest rain began to pelt the windows.

With a gun Knox could outdraw most men, but he quickly discovered that he was no match for a nine-year-old’s nimble fingers on game paddles. The first two football games they played, his team lost to Cody’s by a landslide. Cody’s triumphant cries of victory didn’t last when he put in a gun range challenge and they exchanged paddles for plastic weapons.

A wooden fence appeared on the television with bottles lined up. Knox cleared them before Cody got off his first shot. “Wow,” Cody said, his eyes glittering brightly as he high-fived Knox. “That was awesome. You shoot like a superhero.”

Cody set his gun in his lap and gazed at Knox. “My dad is a superhero.”

Knox froze. “A superhero?” he finally said.

Cody nodded. “That’s why he can’t be here with me. He’s doing important work keeping the world safe and catching bad guys. There are a lot of bad guys.” He stared down at the gun in his lap. “I just wish for one day he could forget about the bad guys for a little while and come here and say hello to me.”

What in the hell had Allison done? He’d wondered what she had told Cody about his father and now he wished he’d asked her before. Why on earth would she have told Cody that outrageous story?

“Let’s play another game,” Knox said as a new anger toward Allison burned in his belly. What had she been thinking?

They played video games until six when he called the local pizzeria and made their order to be delivered. While they waited for the pizza, he and Cody set the kitchen table with paper plates and napkins.

When the meal arrived, Cody shouted up the stairs to his mother and she came down to join them. Knox swallowed his anger, not wanting a hint of it to show while the three of them ate together. But there was no way he was leaving this house tonight before he spoke his mind to her.

He’d ordered a large meat-lovers for them to share. He waited until Cody and Allison took their first pieces and then he served himself. Automatically he picked off the pepperoni on his slice and placed them on Allison’s plate. It was a habit deeply ingrained from when they’d been a couple.

“How did you know Mom loves pepperoni?” Cody asked.

“I know a lot of things about your mother,” Knox replied. “We went to high school together.”

“You did? Tell me some other stuff you know about her,” Cody asked as Allison handed him his napkin to wipe off a string of mozzarella cheese that clung to his chin.

“I know her favorite color is purple and when she laughs too hard she gets the hiccups.” His gaze locked with hers and for the moment his anger was gone, replaced by haunting memories.

“She likes pizza, but she loves cheeseburgers with lots of dill pickles and mayo,” he continued. What he couldn’t say was how soft and inviting her lips were when she kissed or how her hazel eyes changed colors when she was fired up with desire. “She also isn’t much of a chocolate eater, but give her a bag of chips or a loaf of French bread and she’ll tear them up.”

Cody laughed in delight and then looked at his mother. “That’s all true! Now, Mom, tell me some stuff you know about Knox.”

She finally broke eye contact with Knox and instead smiled at her son. “He was the star of the high school football team. He had great moves on the field, but he doesn’t dance very well.”

Cody shot a glance at him and giggled.

“He’s very loyal to his brothers and sisters and when he laughs too hard all the dogs in the area howl.” Her eyes twinkled with a teasing light. “And don’t ever ask him to sing to you because he can’t carry a tune worth a darn.”

Knox found himself laughing and for a moment it felt good to be there with her and his son and sharing some humor. The rest of the meal passed with easy conversation and was filled with more laughter. At one point Allison laughed hard enough that she got the hiccups, to the utter delight of her son.

Knox had forgotten how much he enjoyed her sense of humor and how delightful he’d always found the way her mind worked. And just that quickly he closed off to her as he remembered what she’d told Cody about his father. What on earth had she been thinking then?

The meal finished and cleanup was done and then Cody and Knox returned to the living room to play some more games. Rain still bounced off the windows and it felt as if in no time Allison came back downstairs to tell Cody it was bedtime.

“Would you like for me to come up and tuck you in?” Knox asked before the boy went up the stairs.

He held his breath, surprised by how much he wanted to tuck the sheet around his son’s neck and tell him to have sweet, wonderful dreams.

Cody’s eyes brightened. “Sure, I’d like that a lot. I’ll call you when I’m ready.” He bounced up the stairs and disappeared from Knox’s view.

He turned to face Allison who had come downstairs to get Cody for bed. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“No, it’s fine,” she replied.

“And after he’s in bed you and I need to have a talk.”

“About what?” Her eyes filled with an instant wariness.

“You can come on up, Knox,” Cody’s voice drifted down the stairs.

“I’ll tell you when I finish tucking in my son.” He turned from her and headed up the stairs.

* * *

Great, what now? Allison wondered as she watched Knox climb the stairs and disappear at the top. Whatever he wanted to discuss with her had put that cold chill back in his eyes.

As days went, this one had already been pretty crummy. Not only had George reported that three windows on the Wilkenson home had been broken overnight, but she’d also received a flurry of unpleasant text messages from Chad.

He’d threatened to turn her into OSHA, the IRS and any other number of government authorities. Although the business was in compliance with every one of those agencies, she couldn’t afford a ton of legal costs incurred by frivolous lawsuits or government inquiries.

She still hoped he was just blowing off steam and would eventually stop with the texts. However, the whole thing had put her a bit on edge.

The only thing that had taken Chad and the new vandalism out of her mind for a little while had been the laughter they’d all shared over pizza.

It had been so unexpected. In a million years she’d never dreamed that she and Knox would be able to laugh with each other again. But he hadn’t been amused when he’d gone upstairs to send Cody off to sleep.

She went back into the living room and sank down on the overstuffed brown sofa to wait for Knox’s return. There was no question that her son was developing a huge case of hero worship for Knox. Did it worry her? She had to admit it did a little bit.

She just didn’t want Cody’s fragile heart to be hurt in any way. It should be a little girl that gave him his first heartbreak, not his father.

Her muscles tensed at the sound of Knox’s footsteps coming back down the stairs. She’d stayed out of the way this afternoon and evening so that he and Cody could spend quality time together. From upstairs it had sounded like they’d had fun. What on earth could he have to discuss with her now?

He entered the living room and immediately she felt the heavy tension that wafted from him. “Did you get him tucked in?” she asked.

“I did.” He sat in the wingback chair opposite her and stared at her with his beautiful but cold blue eyes. “What on earth were you thinking when you told Cody that his father is some kind of a superhero who is off fighting crime?”