Hard Knox Read online Riley Hart (Havenwood #3)

Categories Genre: M-M Romance, Romance Tags Authors: Series: Havenwood Series by Riley Hart
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Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
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“I’m sorry, Mom. It’s not you. I love you. I just…I wanna move in with Dad. Please, can I move in with Dad?”

My heart dropped at the pain in his voice. Clearly this was something he’d been thinking about but hadn’t wanted to bring up. My mind raced through everything that could have gone wrong. Had we missed something? Had someone hurt him?

He started breathing too fast, trying to get air that wasn’t coming to him. A wheeze came through the line, and I shoved to my feet, like I could do something from half a country away. “Logan, calm down, buddy. Breathe.” My voice trembled as I paced the shop.

I heard Carol say something, and then she was back on the phone. “I gave him his inhaler. Listen, I gotta go. Let me take care of Logan.”

“Okay, but if he wants to come here—”

“I know, Knox. I know. Let me get him to calm down, and I’ll call you back.” She hung up without another word.

My hands were shaking, my pulse racing. It killed me when he had an asthma attack. I hated being so far away, being helpless. I should be there with him. “Fuck!” I shouted into an empty workshop, then forced myself to calm down. Losing my shit wasn’t going to change anything.

A couple of hours later, Carol called me back.

“How is he?” I asked.

“He’s resting. I guess…I guess he’s been wanting to come stay with you for a while, but he was afraid to tell me. He didn’t want to hurt my feelings. He says he has no friends. His buddy from elementary school moved, but I didn’t realize there was no one else. He’d mentioned names before. I didn’t know, Knox. How could I not have known that? I’m his mother. I should have seen it.”

“Hey. Shh. It’s okay. We’ll figure it out. It’s not your fault. Middle school is hard. There are all sorts of things going on around and inside him. You’re not a superhero, so don’t beat yourself up.”

She sniffed, then blew her nose. When Carol and I divorced, we decided that no matter what, our kids came first. They were the most important thing, and I knew we were on the same page with that. “I know this is hard, but if he really wants to move here, we have to let him.”

“I know,” she said softly. “He’s been missing you a lot. He talks about you all the time.”

“He never calls. Half the time he doesn’t answer when I call him.” That should have been a stronger clue to me that something was wrong. I’d always had a different relationship with Logan—he’d never wanted to spend as much time with me as Charlie did—but until recently, he’d always take my calls. “I should have known.”

“Hey, if I can’t beat myself up, you can’t either.” She was quiet for a moment, then said, “I can’t believe I might lose my boy.”

“You’re not going to lose him. Have I lost our kids now?”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

I sighed. “Listen, we don’t have to figure it out right this second. Let him rest, then talk to him. The three of us can video-call and figure out what’s going on, if that’s really what he wants. But I can’t…I won’t turn my back on him if he wants to come and live with me.”

“I know you won’t. I wouldn’t have loved you as much as I did if you were the kind of man who would turn away from his son.”

The next day the three of us video-chatted. As soon as we got off the call, I booked a flight to Colorado.

CHAPTER THREE

Callum

I smiled as I looked up at the sign for Sunrise Café, where my mom was a waitress.

I’d been in Havenwood for a week now. Things were going well with Mom. We hadn’t talked about anything important, like the past or my shithead ex. The fact that I was there was all she cared about. That was the mom I remembered. The one who would do anything for me and wanted me happy. That’s what made her reaction when she had found out I was gay even harder to take. When she told me I could hide who I was, that I could change.

I shoved those thoughts from my head. It wasn’t what I wanted to be thinking about then.

The house I went to look at hadn’t been what I was looking for. Mom told me not to rush, that she’d love it if I stayed with her, and surprisingly, I accepted. I told myself it was because I didn’t want to get into a house I didn’t like, and what if I discovered Havenwood wasn’t for me? But if that were the case, the job interview I just nailed didn’t make sense. I knew I was staying with her because I wanted to.


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