7. Lars
CHAPTER 7
Lars
D amon sits across from me with a shit-eating grin that, if it were on any other man, I’d knock their teeth down their throat.
“Not one fucking word to her.” I point the knife I’m using to chop peppers for an omelet at him. He zips two fingers across his lips and throws away the proverbial key. “Good.”
“You know I wouldn’t hurt her, right, Dad? She’s been through enough, and I don’t ever want to add to it.” He pouts a bit, but I see the sparkle in his eyes; he’s fishing.
“I know you won’t on purpose. Girls are different than guys, though. She’s not going to want to talk about it or be teased about anything. Ellie will want it to stay between her and me.” He nods this time, more serious. “I need you to be scarce for a couple of hours this afternoon. There’s some things I need to talk to her about, and I think it will go better if it’s just us.”
“Like what?” I knew he’d ask.
“Her past mostly. I believe she was woefully left in the dark about what happened to her mother. I need to tell her the truth. I also need to know exactly what went on in foster care last time and what she’s had to endure at the hands of her father.”
How anyone could harm someone as sweet and innocent as Ellie still baffles me. The old hurt is always a memory away, though, and I want to help her heal from it.
“Sure, Dad. I’ll bring burgers home for dinner?” I agree to his offer just as the doorbell rings. “I got it,” he says, and he’s gone less than a minute when I hear her voice.
My ex-wife.
Kyla is fucking crazy, and we didn’t last a year before I divorced her and fought a long and expensive custody battle for our child, Damon–she was still pregnant at the time.
“It’s not a good time, Kyla,” I say when I hear her shoes clacking as she enters the house. Damon tolerates her, but he has a hard time slamming the door in her face like I do.
“You always say that, darling.” Her syrupy-sweet voice alerts me that something’s up.
“Whatever you want is a no.”
I stopped giving in to her when Damon was around twelve. She always tried to use him against me until the court ruled that he was old enough and mature enough to decide who he wanted to live with. She couldn’t fight me in court anymore, so I stopped saying yes to her requests unless it dealt with her seeing Damon.
In the six years since he chose to live with me full time and had a say about when he saw her, she’s taken him for no longer than a few hours a handful of times. As he’s gotten older, he sees her less and less because even he is sick of her manipulation and immaturity.
“I just need a few thousand dollars,” she says, like she’s asking me about the weather.
“No.” I stopped asking what she needed money for years ago.
“Come on, Lars, you owe me–”
Damon enters the kitchen. That’s why she cut off what she was about to say. Sadly, I know it would be about Damon and how she didn’t take me back to court.
“He said no,” Damon grits out.
Interesting. My son doesn’t typically get involved with our arguments.
“Now, sweetheart, you know better than to get in the adults' business.” Her patronizing tone doesn’t go over well with the boy.
“Adults? Where? All I see is Dad.” The snap in his tone makes me proud.
A year ago, I would have spouted off at him to respect his mother. He’s eighteen now, and while technically an adult, it’s not why I don’t. Damon has shown extreme maturity in the last few months, and I grant him leeway when it’s called for.
“Lars!” Kyla looks to me for help.
I throw up my hands in exasperation. “You heard my answer, then got patronizing with your son. I don’t know what you expected from me, Kyla, but it’s not happening, and treating Damon with anything less than respect in my presence won’t fly.”
Her face turns an ugly shade of red with anger. “You’ve turned him against me. All these years, he’s grown to hate me because of you!”
The shouting did what I had hoped it wouldn’t and brought Ellie downstairs. And as much as I want to go to her, I know I can’t. Not at this moment, because if I do, Kyla will fly off the handle and cause more damage. Thankfully, Damon notices her seconds before Kyla and moves to intercept the younger woman from coming to me. I recognize confusion on her face as Damon wraps an arm around her waist and gets closer than usual while whispering something in her ear. She pales but holds it together.
“Who is this?” Kyla eyes her up and down, criticizing her slightly disheveled hair and loose-fitting shirt, scowling at the forest green leggings that make me want to rip them off her body.
“Mom, this is Ellie. Ellie, this is my mom, Kyla.” Damon’s jaw clenches so hard I worry he might crack a tooth.
Plating the breakfast that was already in progress, I cut the omelet in half and hand them two forks. I fucking know what Kyla is thinking right now. That Ellie belongs to my son.
I hate even more what Ellie must be thinking. That I’m blowing her off.
I’m not.
I’m trying to protect her from the vapid bitch I wish were on another continent right now. I can see her mind working and trying to decide how to proceed, learning there’s another female in Damon’s life and not liking it one bit.
“Ellie.” Kyla says the name I adore with enough censure that I must bite my tongue so I don’t say something that will have her attacking the young woman. “Is this your girlfriend now?” Her question is for Damon, but her eyes latch onto the slight chafing on Ellie’s jaw from my beard. Thankfully, Damon has been working on growing out his facial hair, and she shouldn’t be able to tell who left the redness.
“Yeah, Mom.” My jaw clenches this time, and I have a hard time keeping my jealousy at bay, hearing another man claiming her. Christ, this is a fucking mess.
“I should go,” Ellie whispers, not oblivious to the tension built before she entered the room. She’s likely hurt over how I haven’t staked my claim, given all we did last night and the promises I made to her.
Damon looks at me quickly, and I give a slight nod. “I’ll take you,” he says, smiling at his friend and leading her away before Kyla can do or say anything else.
“Bye, Ellie.” Kyla wiggles her fingers at my woman, and I want to break them.
My violent thoughts towards a female are shocking, but it’s Kyla’s attitude that is the trigger. I know if she gets even a whiff of my feelings for the younger woman, she’ll pounce like a predator and hurt Ellie in the process. I’ll do anything to save her from that.