Boarlander Beast Boar (Boarlander Bears Book 4) by T. S. Joyce Read Free Book Online

for him if you aren’t willing to spend time with him, Robbie? I don’t understand. Is it to hurt me?”
    “Goddammit woman, not everything is about you.”
    “I’m not trying to make it seem like that. I’m really not. I just don’t understand why we went through all of that mediation if you aren’t even taking time off to be with him. And don’t tell me it’s to spend more time with your parents. I love them. They are like a second set of parents to me, and I let Ryder see them whenever they ask. I just don’t understand why I’m spending an entire month away from our son when you aren’t with him.” Rage was bringing her blood to a slow boil, and she needed to end this call, quick. “No, you know, it’s fine. I’m sure he’s having a great summer with your parents.”
    “He is. He’s having a great fuckin’ time. I just talked to him two days ago, and they were taking him to the zoo.”
    Two days ago. Two days ago ? It was supposed to be Robbie taking his son to the zoo! Not “checking in” with him every few days via phone. He’d done that shit Ryder’s entire life, and her disappointment that he hadn’t changed was infinite.
    “Hey,” Robbie murmured in a softer tone. That was his go-to voice when he wanted favors. Cuss at her, but then go smooth and ask for some inconvenience of her. “Since I have you on the phone, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
    “What is it?” she ground out, debating hanging up now and blaming a bad connection.
    “I’m gonna be in Saratoga on Wednesday. I know you’re stayin’ close to there, so I was wondering if you’d like to meet up. To talk. About Ryder.”
    Well, that was new. Robbie usually did his best not to see her at all. She’d even been dropping Ryder off with Robbie’s parents when he wanted him on the occasional day or weekend, just so her ex could avoid her. He wasn’t the best, or most mature, co-parenter. “What about Ryder? Why can’t we just talk on the phone about it?”
    “Because it’s important, and I have paperwork.”
    “Robbie, I swear to God if you’re taking me to court for primary custody—”
    “No, it ain’t like that. I’m good with a month in the summer.”
    She huffed a soft noise and shook her head. She wished she could reach through the phone and strangle him. A month? He would probably spend five days with his son out of that month. She’d made a huge mistake with her ex, and Ryder was always the one who got hurt by her bad decision. “I just don’t understand why we can’t talk about it now.”
    “You got better shit to do than talk about your kid, Beck? You’re the one always actin’ so high and mighty, perfect parent. Are you just having so much fun partying while he’s away, you can’t give up one night to focus on him?”
    This time she counted to five so she wouldn’t say a bunch of words to Robbie McFartFace that started with “Fs” and ended with “uck yous.” He’d always been the partier, not her.
    “I’m not up here partying. I’m working. You know, for money? That’s the green stuff I need to raise our child, and if you call him ‘your kid’ one more time, I’m going to explode. He’s ours. Ours, ours, ours!” Because her dumb ass hadn’t insisted he wear a condom when he was a whiny twenty-year-old who didn’t like using them. She loved Ryder. Loved him more than air, but damn it all, she wished she’d had him with a man who cared about people other than himself. “I can’t raise him on hopes and dreams, Robbie! And you don’t pay child support. You give me no help, so yeah, when you have him, I have to go lady-balls to the wall working my ass off so we can be okay. So I can afford our apartment, so I can pay our bills, so I can save up for the puppy he’s been begging for the last six months, so I can feed him and take him on vacation someday.” And here came the waterworks because Robbie always did this. He always made her feel completely alone.
    “I want