Page 87 of Lowering His Guard

I start toward Jace but he shakes his head. “I’m fine.”

Good. Because I need to deal with Serenity. I hurry across the sand to where she and May are.

“You…” Serenity growls but her voice trails off when she notices me. Her growl disappears, and her face softens. If she thinks I can still be led around by my dick because of a soft look, she’s got another thing coming.

May glances over her shoulder. Her brow wrinkles. “How did you get here so fast?”

“I had a police escort.” She nods. “I’ll leave you to it. Jace and I are in dire need of some ice cream.”

May rounds up her class. Jace joins her but she steps to the side to block his view of us. She’s protecting him from his own mother. His mother who hasn’t seen him in eleven fucking years. What the hell is she doing here now?

The alarm on my fitness app beeps. My heart rate must be through the roof. Of course, it is. I can’t remember ever being this mad before. Not even when Serenity left her son was I this mad.

How dare she bring Jace and May into this? They’re my family. Not her.

I inhale a deep breath and try to get my heart rate back to normal. Serenity smiles at me – all shy and coy – and my heart rate shoots up again.

“What do you want?”

She reaches her hand toward me but I step back before she can touch me. My skin crawls at the idea of her touching me. There’s only one woman I want touching me. The one who’s protecting my son; not deserting him.

“What do you want?” I repeat my question between grit teeth.

She rolls her eyes. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“I haven’t seen or heard from you since the day you left the lawyer’s office smiling the way Tanner does after he scores a touchdown. So, no, it’s not obvious.”

“You act as if our divorce was all my fault.”

I rear back. “You left me. You abandoned your son and your husband. Fuck yeah, it’s your fault.”

She purses her lips. “Your language hasn’t improved while I wasn’t around.”

“I’m not interested in re-hashing old shit. Why are you here?”

She bats her eyelashes at me. “Maybe I missed you.”

“Nope. Try again.”

“Haven’t you missed me?”

She’s gotta be fucking kidding me. I grunt since I don’t deem to answer her question.

“Surely, you’ve missed me.” She bites her bottom lip. “Missed spending your nights with me.”

Has she lost her damn mind? She’s talking as if our sex life was some amazing thing. It wasn’t.

We fooled around when we were teenagers and she got pregnant at nineteen. She dropped out of college and I married her because it was the right thing to do.

College was tough. I was on a football scholarship. I had to keep my grades up while practically working as a full-time athlete. Meanwhile, Serenity was raising Jace.

But we made it through. I thought when I got drafted into the NFL, our life would change. We’d be able to spend more time together. Get to know each other again.

Serenity wasn’t interested. She left while I was in my second year of playing. And she left destruction in her wake. She didn’t want custody of Jace. Not even joint custody. But she sure as hell wanted my money.

My money. I shake my head. I should have known.

“You’re worried about your money.”