Chasing Trouble by Joya Ryan

ass out in the meadow and throwing a few back with the rat pack of Diamond.
    Not that she’d show up. Wouldn’t look good for her reputation.
    Great, even his inner thoughts were sounding like a little bitch.
    “Uh-oh,” Huck said. “Mr. Big Bull rider looks like someone just kicked him in the nuts.”
    Colt threw a fry at Huck and hated that a boot to the groin was exactly what it felt like.
    …
    Jenna watched Lily dart back and forth across her house, shoving things into a small backpack.
    “Alex, you want to take your binoculars to Michael’s house?”
    “Yes, please!”
    Jenna smiled. “Summer’s finally here.”
    Lily nodded. “Yep. First sleepover. He’s so excited.” Alex might be excited but poor Lily was nervous.
    “He’ll be fine. Michael’s parents are really great and the boys get along well in class.”
    Lily nodded. “I know. He’s just growing up. And I…” She put her palms on the kitchen counter. “Michael’s dad is setting up a tent in the backyard and they’re going for a hike in the woods.”
    Jenna nodded and patted Lily’s hand. She was an amazing mother. But lately, that same guilt and sadness she wore when Alex was a baby had started creeping into her eyes again.
    “One of these days, he’s going to want to know about him, Jenna.” Jenna hated that her strong best friend had tears in her eyes. “What am I going to tell him? What do I say when he asks about his father?”
    “Tell him the truth.”
    Lily scoffed. “What? That I was stupid, shacked up with a city boy who blew into town, knocked me up, and left right after he found out?”
    A lump settled in Jenna’s throat. Lily did everything fiercely, right down to the way she loved.
    It must be a McCade thing…
    Lily had fallen in love with an asshole. She wasn’t the only woman in the world to have done that.
    “Lily, you stepped up when you were young and scared and that man left you with the best thing in the world. And Alex is lucky to have you. Because you’re his mama and his daddy. And you’re damn good at being both.”
    Jenna had only one parent herself, and Miranda Justice never gave half a thought about Jenna, unless it was to knock her out of the way. Lily was a hero to mothers and women everywhere.
    Lily smiled and tossed up her hands. “How can you hate someone so much but love what they gave you with all your heart?”
    Jenna shrugged. “Honey, I am the wrong person to answer that. All I know is that you love Alex. As long as he knows that, the rest will come and you can deal with it when it does.”
    “I just want the best for him, you know? Colt’s the only man he really looks up to.”
    Now Jenna had to nod because Colt was amazing with Alex. She had no doubt that he’d be a wonderful father someday, too. Like she said, the McCades did everything fiercely.
    Lily stuffed two sandwiches and a bag of crackers in the pack, then zipped it up.
    “I’m going to drop Alex off, but I’ll see you tonight, right?”
    “About that…”
    Lily slammed her hand down the counter. “Don’t you dare try to weasel your way out of this, Jenna-Jayne Justice!”
    “It’s just a bonfire.”
    “It’s all of us, getting together. Penny is so excited, and with Colt back in town it’ll be all of us in the same place for once. Remember how we use to sneak out there and see what they were doing?”
    “Yeah, I do. We were sixteen and they were seniors.” Jenna shuddered. “That image of Huck making out with Dolly Page on the back of his daddy’s truck still haunts me.”
    Lily gave a look like she just tasted something bad. “Oh yeah, that was gross. Dolly Page, her bad dye job, and braces will be nowhere near our guys tonight.”
    Our guys? Jenna kind of liked the sound of that.
    “And don’t try to pretend you have something better to do, either.”
    Jenna snapped her mouth shut. She wanted to see her friends. They were more like her family. But being next to Colt after what they’d shared? It was a