Page 57 of Unrivaled

“No.”

At least that one isn’t said in the same tone of defiant refusal as when we were in the kitchen.

“Alright, how about this? We can move your Buzz Lightyear stuff onto the bed. Would that be okay?”

He brightens, sitting up straighter. “Okay!” And he grabs the pillow and sleeping bag, trying to drag them onto the bed. While the sleeping bag is toddler sized, it’s too big for him to easily move it from the cot onto the bed that’s almost as tall as he is.

“You have to promise not to fall out of the bed, though,” I say as I pick up the sleeping bag and spread it out on top of my blankets. The thought of him falling out of bed honestly hadn’t occurred to me until just now.

“I promise,” he says solemnly.

Can I really believe that, though? Does he roll out of bed at home, ever? And if not, is it because he has rails on the bed or something?

Is there anything here I can use as some kind of bed rail?

I glance around my room, but come up empty. All I have is a dresser, a closet, and some clothes. I could maybe get my quilt from the hall closet. Maybe a towel? Would that work, though? It seems like he could just roll right over it if he were determined to. How determined is a sleeping kid to roll over things?

Pulling out my phone, I contemplate texting Tiffany. Just to ask. She said I should text her if anything comes up, after all. But if I ask, would she be worried? And if so, would that worry be enough to cause her to cut short her date, and cut short my night with Ben, swoop in and take him home?

Do I want her to do that?

I mean, yes to the date part, but no to the rest. I don’t want her to think I’m incompetent and can’t handle having Ben on my own.

Though if she cut short her date and came here and just stayed … Part of me thinks that sounds like a pretty great idea.

Okay, I’ll be honest. My dick is the part of me that thinks that.

But I’m not usually one to let my little head run the show. We’re not going to interrupt Tiffany’s date. I’m a grown man. I have Google on my side. I can figure this out.

Leaving Ben to arrange his sleeping bag and pillow to his satisfaction, I head out to the living room and grab Ben’s suitcase and backpack. “Let’s see what pjs you packed,” I say as I set the suitcase on the now-empty cot and unzip it.

“Spiderman!” he shouts, jumping off the bed and running to his suitcase. He pulls out his pjs and brandishes them at me. “See? See? Spiderman!”

“Those are awesome, bud. Let’s put them on, okay?”

I guess showing him the bedroom was the right call, because he lets me change him into a Pull-Up and his pjs, and after that he grudgingly consents to let me brush his teeth. Maybe I can do this fatherhood thing after all.

Except after reading him the books Tiffany packed three times each and insisting it’s time for lights out, it all goes sideways.

“I want Mommy,” he cries between high pitched keening wails, his tears wetting my shirt. No amount of holding, comforting, reassurance, or offers of rereading his books makes any difference. This little guy wants his mom.

Which leaves me only one choice.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Tiffany

Grayson has good timing, I’ll give him that. While my date with Anton is perfectly pleasant, I’ve been on edge the whole time knowing that I’ll be going home and spending the night apart from my son.

I haven’t ever been apart from him overnight. This semester is the first time I haven’t personally put him to bed every night, since my evening class interferes with that. But it’s always my parents picking up the slack.

And tonight? Tonight Grayson will be doing it all. My stomach clenches, wondering how it’s going.

Is everything okay? Is Ben happy? Scared? Worried?

I’ve kept my phone on the table face up so I won’t miss a text or call, and I’ve been so tempted to text just to check in so many times I’ve lost count. Which has made it difficult to focus on Anton.

He’s a junior Computer Science major, and apparently he had a class with Autumn last semester. They even went on a few dates, but nothing really came of it and they somehow remained friends. Though with Autumn, I don’t find that especially surprising. She seems like the type who collects people. Everyone sort of falls under her spell, and even if they don’t get what they want from her, they’re still happy just to have her in their life.

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