Page 32 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

8

COLE

Ashton 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 wassomething 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 rhythmictap-tap-tapof 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?”

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