Fierce-Ryder (Fierce Family Series Book 7) Read online

  “He’s on the couch watching TV.”

  “Can I talk to him?” he asked.

  “Tommy, do you want to talk to Ryder?”

  He wanted to say not to ask and just give his son the phone. Or maybe ask if Tommy wanted to talk to his father, not call him Ryder. But he didn’t.

  “Hi, Ryder.”

  “Hey, buddy. I heard you were sick.”

  “My throat hurts and I’m hot.”

  His finger was itching to put the blinker on and get in the other lane to get off the next exit. “I’m sorry. Your mom said she got medicine for you.”

  “She did. It’s gross. But I’ve got a Popsicle too. Then I’m going to take a nap.”

  “Okay. I won’t keep you. Let me talk to your mom. Maybe we can chat later if you feel better.”

  “Sure,” Tommy said, but he wasn’t his energetic self, Ryder could tell over the phone.

  “How high is his fever?” he asked.

  “One oh two,” she said. “I’ve got Tylenol in him too. He’ll be sleeping soon.”

  “Go in another room,” he said. “So we can talk.”

  She sighed, but he could hear her moving and then a door shut. “I was going to call you. It happened fast. I’m not in the mood to be lectured.”

  “Too damn bad,” he said.

  “I thought you were on the road today.”

  “I am. And as you can tell we can talk just fine when I’m driving. Why didn’t you tell me he wasn’t feeling good last night when I called?”

  “Because he was fine last night. He woke up with a fever and then said his throat hurt. His doctor’s office is good now and got him in right away. They didn’t want to prescribe him anything until they talked to Sam so we had to wait for Sam to call him back.”

  “I’ll make sure Sam doesn’t keep you waiting.”

  “Ryder. Sam could be in surgery. He isn’t just sitting around waiting for things. He’s busy too. Tommy isn’t his only patient.”

  “It’s his nephew,” he argued. “He had no problem calling me right away.”

  “I was going to call you. I’m not even going to ask why he called you.”

  “You put me down on Tommy’s file to be called. Maybe he wanted to make sure I was still told things.”

  “You told me you told your family everything that happened,” she said.

  “I did. But it’s hard to forget that we knew nothing of Tommy before the past few weeks.”

  “Fine. I get it. You’re going to continue to throw this in my face for years to come.”

  He didn’t want to do that. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to get anywhere with her if he did. Even the past few days their conversations were lighter. A bit more laughter. Not as much tension.

  Then this. He supposed he could cut her some slack.

  “I’ll try not to,” he said. “I’m just worried. This parenting thing is new to me. I want to be there. Should I come?”

  “For strep throat?” she asked, laughing. “No. He’ll be fine. He’s had it enough. They wanted his tonsils out last year, but I wasn’t convinced that would stop things.”

  “How long do you think he’ll feel this way?”

  “A day or so. The meds normally take effect in about twenty-four hours. If they don’t then it means it won’t work and we’ll try another. And as much as this is new to you, it is to me too. I’m not used to having to tell someone else what is going on.”

  It was on the tip of his tongue to say that was by her choice, but he had to stop. They weren’t going to get anywhere if he snapped or was petty every time something happened he didn’t like.

  Growing pains were going to happen on both sides. It had to be a compromise.

  “You need to get used to it.”

  “I’m trying, but if I’m going to be damned if I do or damned if I don’t, that makes it hard.”

  He chose to ignore that. “Are you home with him now for the day? Will you stay home tomorrow too?”

  “My boss is pretty flexible. They know of Tommy’s health issues. I’ve worked there for over five years and obviously he hasn’t always been sick. I’ll be working from home tomorrow, but I’ve got several calls scheduled.”

  There was a desk in the room he stayed in and he suspected that was where she worked when she had to work from home.

  “I just want to make sure your job isn’t in jeopardy,” he said.

  “No. It’s not. What I missed, I’ll make up later tonight. I catch up when I get behind because of things.”

  They hadn’t talked too much about her job. “How busy are you?”

  “It comes and goes but is pretty steady. I’ve got some demanding clients, but it comes with the territory.”

  “Do you have a lot of investments yourself?” he asked.

  “That’s personal.”

  “Is it? I think I can ask those questions.”

  “You just want to see if I can support Tommy. We already established I can and have been for years. If you are asking about what I’m going to do with the money you’ll be paying me for Tommy, some will go to him for things he might want, but the rest will get invested or put in a savings. He’ll need money for college and so on. I started a fund for him, but I haven’t been able to contribute much.”

  “Don’t worry about his college,” he said.

  “Ryder,” she said, her voice firm.

  “My parents started a fund right away. I did too. He’ll have plenty. You’ve sacrificed enough for years, don’t do it now.”

  “It’s not a sacrifice to put my child first.”

  “Our child,” he argued. “I’m putting him first now and my parents are too.”

  “Are we ever going to be able to have a conversation and not argue?” she asked.

  This time he sighed. “I have no idea. We never used to be this way.”

  “We said it already. We are different people.”

  “We need to get through this,” he said.

  “For Tommy we can make it work.”

  “Just Tommy?” he asked.

  “Ryder. It’s not smart,” she said.

  “Says who?”

  “Me,” she said. “I can’t be hurt again. I’m not setting myself up for that.”

  “You don’t know anything about what I’m like now,” he said. Then wished he didn’t because maybe she wouldn’t want to know how he was with women. Hell, he was pretty embarrassed about it now.

  “No. I don’t. And it’s best that I don’t find out,” she said firm enough that it sounded like the top of a coffin slamming down.

  “We’ll see about that.”

  14

  Other Responsibilities

  The last thing Marissa needed was to keep having those talks with Ryder.

  She wasn’t stupid. He wanted to pick up where they left off. She’d seen it in his eyes.

  Not happening.

  She wasn’t lying when she said she wasn’t setting herself up to be hurt again.

  Not only that. She was rusty.

  She hadn’t been on a date in over a year. Sex...much longer.

  Tommy had always come first, but more so in the past year.

  Between her son and work, she had no time for a man.

  Was that something that had been sacrificed? Yeah, it had been. But she doubted Ryder meant she should use his money to go out and have fun like that.

  Had the past few nights consisted of some good talks with him? Sure, they had. She found herself smiling and laughing when she talked to him. Even waiting for the phone to ring. And when she realized that, she told herself to jump back from the flames.

  She wasn’t that kid that fell for a smooth-talking man anymore. She’d never been a kid either, she reminded herself.

  Nope, Bryan had broken her heart and the last thing she had wanted to do in college was start dating someone else.

  Not even a gorgeous cocky guy named Ryder Fierce.

  He’d joked that she made him work for it. She had. Not on purpose t
hough. She was skittish.

  And now, she was more so and she had to remind herself of that too.

  His parting words just put her back up even more though.

  She opened the door to her room and walked out to see Tommy on the couch watching TV. His eyes were glossy and his cheeks rosy.

  When he woke up this morning and walked into the kitchen she didn’t need him to say he didn’t feel good. She saw it on his face and her heart started to pound frantically.

  Once she knew he had a fever, she called into work and waited until the doctor’s office opened, then got an appointment for late morning. She knew they squeezed her in and because Tommy was now scheduled for surgery, everyone was taking her calls more freely.

  Before they just treated her like another worried mom that called whenever her son had a fever. Now all of a sudden, they had no problem taking her call and she knew it had something to do with Sam.

  She didn’t care. She’d take it if she had to.

  “Are you hungry or thirsty?” she asked Tommy. “I’ve got to get some work done but I’ll sit in here to do it.”

  “I’m good. Just tired. I hope Ryder wasn’t mad at me.”

  “No,” she said. “Why would you think that?”

  “Because I thought he might want to talk, but it hurts to talk.”

  “I know it does. So no talking now,” she said. “And he wasn’t mad. Parenting is new to him and he’s worried is all. He wanted to come here.”

  “Really?” Tommy asked. He smiled and she tried not to be upset over that or jealous.

  “Yes. I told him we had it covered. We’re tough and been down this road before.”

  “That’s right,” Tommy said. “We’re tough.”

  And she was going to remember that.

  Ryder went home and got to work. Then when his phone went off with an alert he grabbed it and realized he was supposed to have dinner with his parents tonight. Shit.

  He shut his computer off and got ready to go over and get grilled. He knew his parents were dying to question him more on what was going on. He hadn’t had a lot of answers for them until this weekend. Even after he’d said what he had, his mother was pretty quiet. Shockingly.

  But the minute he walked in the door his mother was on him. “Tommy is sick?”

  “Man, Sam has a big mouth.”

  “I don’t think he meant to say it. Or he assumed you would have. I called to find out when he and Dani wanted to come to dinner and tell him that you were coming tonight. He’d mentioned that he’d talked to you about Tommy and what was going on.”

  He supposed he could give it a pass. These were things he was used to in his family.

  “He’s got strep as I’m sure Sam told you.”

  “Have you talked to him or Marissa?” his father asked. “Is that why you went home and didn’t come into the office?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Is that a problem that I didn’t go into the office?”

  “Of course not,” his father said. “You’ve got other responsibilities now. We understand that.”

  “I was working,” he said. “But I need to clear my head.”

  His mother put her hand on his. “I know, it’s stressful and scary. A scary time for everyone.”

  “It’s just strep,” he tried to tell them and himself. Nothing to be worried about. Except his son wasn’t a normal healthy child either.

  “Of course it is. And he’ll be fine. But you are just learning it all at once and a parent is always worried when their child is sick. Even if it’s a child he just learned about,” his father said.

  “Yeah. Not to mention Marissa and I got into it while I was driving. I wanted to know why I had to hear it from Sam and not her.”

  “And what did she say?” his mother asked as she finished putting the dinner on the table. “Help yourself to a drink.”

  He decided on water since he wanted to call Marissa later. Not that one beer was going to make a difference, but he’d stick with the water.

  “When I called she was just walking in the door with Tommy and the meds. Said she planned on calling me but knew I was on the road.”

  “And I’m sure you argued over that,” his father said.

  “I did. I want to make sure she tells me things. I’m not letting her forget Tommy has a father in his life now.”

  “Meaning that she made a comment about being used to doing it on her own and not explaining herself?” his mother asked.

  Damn her for knowing that. “Yes.”

  “Everyone has a learning curve. She has to cut you some slack and you need to do the same,” his mother said. “Tommy is her world and she is his. You are a stranger to them.”

  “I’m insulted that you think I’m a stranger to her. I was hardly that,” he argued. “Proof is the kid we share.”

  His parents looked at each other and then let it drop. “Have a seat and let’s eat.”

  Once everyone was seated, he helped himself to some of the pork roast and mashed potatoes. The silence never lasted long. He wasn’t as bad as his cousin Wyatt in terms of talking, but he was the worst in the family in terms of being alone.

  He hated it.

  It was why he dated as much as he had. Being in his house alone night after night thinking of what or who he lost so many years ago.

  Yeah, those women he dated were to kill the feelings he still had for the mother of his child.

  Not that he was going to admit that to his parents or anyone else.

  He wasn’t sure he was even going to admit it to Marissa.

  “So when are you going to see Tommy again?” his father asked.

  “I’d like to see him this weekend. If he’s still sick, they won’t be coming here, so I’ll see if she won’t mind me going there again.”

  “Did you talk to Tommy?” his mother asked.

  “I did. Briefly. He wasn’t his normal self and I let him go rest. I could tell he was tired. I hate not seeing him. I’ll call Marissa when I get home.”

  “So, what is going on with you two?” his mother asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Diane, leave Ryder alone,” his father said.

  “I’m just asking,” his mother said. “Nothing wrong with that.”

  “Not much to say,” he said. “Can we talk about something else?”

  His mother grinned but changed the subject and started talking about Dani’s and Payton’s pregnancies. He didn’t think it was on purpose, but he was jealous that he missed all of that with Marissa.

  “Did you see his face when I talked about Dani and Payton?” Diane asked her husband Grant.

  “I did. That might have been a bit much. He looked so lost.”

  “Yep,” she said. “He looked like the kid that wanted what everyone else had.”

  Grant laughed. “He did. What do you think that accomplished?”

  “I wanted to see if I could get a feel for where his mind might be. When he told us the truth of everything, it all makes sense of why he is the way he is now. The question is, can they find what they both had?”

  “I’m not sure that is up to us,” he said. “They have to figure this out on their own without us.”

  “Hell no,” she said. “I know my baby and he’s hurting.”

  “Exactly and he isn’t going to want to be hurt again.”

  “But Ryder has never been afraid to stick his hand in the fire even after he’s been burned,” she said.

  “Let’s hope he doesn’t get burned too badly this time. For now, we’ll just be there for him and them.”

  “I want to push this movie ahead a few scenes though.”

  Her husband laughed at her and came over to give her a hug. “You’ve always been impatient, but in this case, we have to wait some. No one knows what this ending is going to be, but now we’ve got a grandson and we can’t do anything to jeopardize that relationship with his mother. If that means staying out of it, we have to sit back and wait for the credits to roll.”


  She sighed. “I suppose you’re right.”

  “You know I am.”

  15

  Nothing In Common

  Almost two weeks later, Ryder was getting his house ready for his son’s ninth birthday party. Tommy’s birthday was actually on Tuesday next week and Marissa was having a little dinner and cake and ice cream with her family then. But today was about his family.

  They’d missed eight other birthdays and this one was going to be huge. Or at least in his head. Not that he had any idea of how to throw a birthday party.

  Not only that, he hadn’t seen Tommy in two weeks. Last weekend he was still sick and resting and Ryder didn’t feel it was right to go visit knowing Tommy would want to do things and couldn’t.

  It’d broken his heart a little to not see him and he had to tell himself that he needed to get used to this. It was new, but he wasn’t going to be able to see his son every weekend. He lived too far away and neither he nor Marissa could continue to go back and forth all the time.

  They had jobs, they had lives, and they had things to do on the weekends that they couldn’t do during the week.

  Not that dating was one of them. Good grief, it’d been over a month since he’d been on a date. Since he even thought of going on one.

  After finding out he had a kid, then dealing with his anger over it, to his relief that it was a complete misunderstanding between them, to his frustration that Marissa might not want to give them another try, well, he just did not have the energy for anything else.

  On top of that, they still had Tommy’s surgery coming up in a few weeks and that was taking up everyone’s thoughts and concerns.

  When he heard the doorbell ring, he went rushing forward and opened it up to see Marissa and Tommy standing there. “You don’t need to ring the bell,” he said. “Just come in.”

  Marissa looked at him oddly, but before she could say anything, Tommy said, “There are balloons outside for me. Sweet.”

  “There are,” he said. “I want everyone to know it’s your birthday.”

  “Normally people do that so others can find the house with the party,” she said. “I’m getting nervous. I thought you said this was just family.”