Page 16

COLE

A shton enjoyed the tour I gave him. As we drove through town, I pointed out stores, shops, and other landmarks.

“That’s the city pool. Only costs five bucks to get in, and you can swim all day,” I said. “It’s a good deal. They sell pretty good hot dogs at the concession stand.”

“Cool. That sounds awesome,” he said, craning his neck to check out the pool as we drove past.

“My friend Trent, the guy at dinner last night? He worked there as a lifeguard in high school. Used to get me in for free. Your mom hated that. Thought it was like stealing.”

Ashton chuckled. “That sounds like her.”

We drove to the county high school, and Ashton perked up.

This was where Avery and I had started our romance.

After my first shift, I’d known this girl was it for me.

The girl who had been my best friend from the day I went over to her grandma’s house to play with the new girl in town.

Even at that age, she was something else.

An angel. A bitter pit of regret opened in my stomach.

“You said you loved basketball, right?” I asked as we pulled into the school.

Ashton frowned. “I did, yeah.”

Pointing in the backseat of the truck, I said, “Thought we could shoot a few hoops and talk. There’s an outdoor tennis and basketball court behind the school. It’s open during the summer.”

Ashton looked back at the basketball, then smiled at me. “Sure.”

That smile sent yet another pang of regret through me.

How many of those did I miss? The first smile, and all the ones after that.

How would I ever get past this? It was too much to think about right now.

All I could do was try my best to make up for lost time and show this kid I was a good person who wanted to get to know him.

“Sweet. Let’s see how many games of HORSE you can beat me at,” I said as I parked in front of the courts.

Outside, the summer air was warm and humid, typical of Georgia. Ashton let out a huff and wiped his head as we walked toward the courts.

“Is it always so hot here?”

The laugh that escaped my throat felt good. It broke the tension and made me think I could be myself around the kid.

I pushed open the chain-link gate. “You guys aren’t used to this, are you? Where did you all live before? I never asked last night.”

“Iowa. Near Des Moines.”

“Yeah, doubt you guys get much humidity and heat up there.”

“It gets warm in the summer, but not like this,” Ashton said.

“You’ll get used to it. Usually, it only takes one full season. Once you start sweating, you’ll feel cooler,” I said, sending a bounce pass to him.

He caught the ball and eyed me speculatively. “Is that how it works? Wouldn’t getting sweaty make me hotter? Hence the sweat?”

“You’re a smartass like your mom was,” I said with a grin, and he smiled back. “You get the first shot.”

Ashton took up position at the top of the court, right behind the three-point line, and went for a jump shot.

The ball swished through the hoop. Grabbing the rebound, I dribbled out to where he’d stood and went for the exact same shot.

I hadn’t played any sort of basketball in close to ten years, but I still managed to get the ball to rattle inside the rim, damn near sinking the shot before the basket decided it didn’t like the flavor and regurgitated the ball back out onto the pavement.

“That’s ‘H’,” Ashton said, scooping up the ball.

Playing ball with my son. A sentence I never thought I’d hear.

A son I barely knew, sure, but my boy regardless.

This was fun. More fun than I thought I’d ever had in my life, but I also needed to find out how his puberty was coming along.

It was easy to see and sense that Ashton was an alpha.

How strong was he becoming? I’d need to figure that out so I could know how best to ease him along through his change.

In the distance, maybe a half mile off, I heard the rhythmic tap - tap - tap of a woodpecker. Far too soft for human ears to pick up, but easy for my shifter senses. Time to test the kid.

“Hey,” I said, stopping Ashton before he could take another shot. “You hear that?”

He frowned, tucking the ball under his arm. “Hear what?”

I didn’t want to clue him in. Instead, I simply nodded in the direction of the woodpecker. “Over there.”

Ashton sighed and nodded. “You mean the chainsaw?”

Frowning, I glanced in that direction and strained to hear. Below the woodpecker taps, barely audible even to me, was the incessant whine of a saw. Holy shit. I turned and gaped at Ashton.

“Damn. You heard that?”

He nodded, toeing a piece of gravel on the court. “I heard it as soon as we got out of the truck. Kind of annoying.”

His senses were already stronger than mine. He was going to be a powerful alpha, no doubt.

“It is,” I said. “You can control it, you know.”

“How?” His young face was lined with desperation. “Sometimes I can’t concentrate. The smells and sounds and everything gets to be too much.”

I walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“It happens to all of us. It’ll get easier after your first shift.

When your inner wolf appears, he’ll help you control it.

Until then, deep breathing helps, almost like meditating.

Really let your mind take in the sound or scent, then push it aside.

Your brain is a powerful tool. Once you get used to it, you can not only turn it off and on, but control your senses with what I can only explain as a sort of dial.

Up and down, stronger and fainter, all that. Wanna try?”

“Okay,” he said, but I could see he wasn’t convinced.

“Close your eyes. Let’s try some breathing exercises.”

Fifteen minutes later, Ashton was sitting cross-legged on the court and smiling up at me.

“It really worked,” he said. “It’s duller. Like, not as grating, you know?”

I held out my hand to help him to his feet. “It’ll take time to master it, and again, when your inner wolf finally comes forward, it’ll get even easier.”

Ashton let out a sigh of relief. “This is great, Cole. I’ve wanted a way to turn it down.” He glanced at me, a dark and embarrassed look in his eyes, then glanced away. “Some nights, Mom cries in bed, and I wish I couldn’t hear it.”

Icy-cold fingers dug into my guts at his words.

Crying because of me? Her ex? Having been a single parent for fifteen years with no one to help her?

Regardless of the reason, it hurt my soul to know that Avery spent her nights crying.

My wolf whined in agony at the thought of our mate hurting and us not being there to hold her and calm the tears.

“Uh, I’m sorry to hear that. Does that—” I cleared my throat “—happen a lot? The crying?”

He shrugged in the way only a teenager could—a twitch of the shoulders that they thought said more than a whole sentence. Not wanting to push things, I changed the subject before the whole afternoon went sideways.

“Hey, whose shot is it?”

His eyes brightened, and relief flooded his face. “Mine,” he said, yanking the ball from my hands. He turned and tossed the ball up behind his back, over his head. The orange orb flew through the air and swished into the net.

I shook my head in disbelief as he tossed me the ball. “Well, damn.”

Doing my best to mimic the shot from the spot where he stood, I shocked myself by actually making it. Ashton nodded approvingly at me.

“Old guy has game.”

“Old guy?” I echoed. “Very funny.”

Ashton tossed the ball back to me. “Your shot.”

As we continued to play, we talked about random things. Sports, comic books, movies, music. Eventually, I decided to ask the question that weighed most heavily on my mind.

“So, do you know how long you guys are gonna be in town?” I tried to play it off as an off-the-cuff remark.

“Not sure,” Ashton said, laying the ball up with his nondominant hand. “We’ll be here for the rest of summer for sure. I don’t know if Mom wants to head back home. Lots of bad memories there, you know? But she doesn’t seem very happy here, either.” He gave me a pointed look at that.

So, her ex had made her new home a place full of bad memories, which was exactly what I’d done with Harbor Mills.

She was stuck in limbo with nowhere to turn without seeing the face of a man who’d done something to ruin her life.

The shame I felt wasn’t nearly as bad as the disappointment radiating from my wolf.

The first few years after I ran from Harbor Mills had been hell, with my wolf sending memory after memory through my mind every night until I’d had to get prescription sleeping pills to get any rest at all.

Now, I saw I’d done the exact same to her.

I’d been the initial catalyst for the pain she felt now.

I glanced down at the ball in my hand and came up with an idea. “Hey, do you want to meet the pack?”

Ashton froze in place, staring at me with wide, terrified eyes. “I didn’t think we’d do that today.”

“No, no, no, it’s fine,” I said quickly.

“Only an offer. But I know of a park nearby that also has a basketball court. A bunch of the pack kids play there sometimes. It might be more fun to play an actual game with kids closer to your age. Maybe? Then you could get to know a few pack members in a more relaxed way. How does that sound?”

He thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded. “Okay, sure. Are they cool?”

I chuckled as we walked back to the car. “As cool as teenagers can be.”

“Hey!” he said, giving me a playful shove.