3. Zack

ZACK

"Hey,man, what are you up to today?" I ask Ryan once he answers his phone.

"Playing babysitter," he says.

"I"m not a baby." I hear a little boy"s voice pipe up.

"Sorry about that. I"m kid sitting," Ryan corrects.

I chuckle at how quickly he changed his wording. "Who are you watching?" I ask.

"Jax for Court. He was up puking last night, and she didn"t want to have to call off work, so I told her to bring him on by. I didn"t have any clients booked for today, so it worked out perfectly," he tells me. Ryan is a personal trainer and sets his own schedule. "What are you up to?" he asks.

"Coach gave us today off. I went in for some treatment, but now I"m free. Want to grab some lunch?" I ask.

"Sure," he says.

"I can pick up something and come to you since you have Jax, if you want."

"That"s perfect," he says, "Hey, Jax, what do you want for lunch? My friend Zack is going to bring it over for us."

I can"t hear him reply, so I wait for Ryan to repeat his answer.

"He says chicken nuggets," Ryan says, "but I"m not too keen on crappy fast food."

"No problem, I"ll swing in and grab him a Happy Meal and get us something else. I was kind of craving a chicken Caesar wrap."

"That sounds perfect," he agrees.

"I"ll be there shortly," I say before disconnecting our call.

I tap on the contact for the restaurant I"m craving and place a pickup order. They tell me it will be about fifteen minutes, so I have plenty of time to swing through the drive-through and get the Happy Meal for Jax. When I arrive at the restaurant, my order is just being brought up to the pickup counter, so I quickly pay and am on my way to Ryan"s place.

"Good to see you," Ryan greets me as I walk into his house. I set the food down on his kitchen island and start taking it all out of the bags.

"Good to see you, man. It"s been too long." We slap hands and pull each other into a man hug, smacking each other"s backs in the process.

"Jax," Ryan calls out, and I hear little feet running down the hall toward us.

"Yes, Uncle Ryan," he answers.

"Lunch is here," he tells the little boy as he rounds the corner.

"Did you get me nuggets?" he asks, his curiosity evident.

"Sure did, little man," I tell him as I hold up the Happy Meal box.

"Yes!" he cheers, then moves to climb up on one of the barstools and bellies up to the bar.

I hold out my hand for him to give me a high-five, which he quickly does.

"What do you say to Zack for the Happy Meal?" Ryan asks.

"Thank you," Jax says as he tears open the box. He pulls out the box of nuggets, sleeve of fries, apple slices, and the toy.

"You"re welcome. I wasn"t sure what you wanted for the drink, so I got you some Sprite. Hope that"s okay."

"Is that soda?" he asks. "My mom doesn"t usually let me drink soda, only on special occasions."

"It is, but it doesn"t have any caffeine, so hopefully, she won"t be mad at me," I tell him.

He digs into his food, hardly stopping as he inhales all of it.

Ryan and I both dig into our own take-out containers. The wrap I was craving hits the spot and fills me right on up.

"Want a beer?" Ryan offers once we"ve both finished eating.

"Nah, I"m good," I tell him. He pulls out a couple of bottles of water and motions to his patio.

"Want to chill outside?" he asks.

"Sure, I have nothing else going on. We might as well catch up."

We make our way out to the patio, and Jax follows us outside. He runs over to a deck box Ryan has on the edge and pulls out some toys.

"When did you get those?" I ask as I watch Jax play with a little kid"s golf set.

"Just a few weeks ago when Court moved back home. I wanted to have some stuff here for when they visited, or for days like today. I might be a bachelor, but that doesn"t mean I can"t have stuff around for my nephew."

"Smart move," I say before taking a drink of the water he handed me. "I ran into Court the other day. Sawyer and I went to the Burger Shack after his game and sat at her table. It was good to see her again."

"I"m glad she moved back. Things were getting pretty bad from what she"s told me," he says as he cracks his knuckles. I know my best friend well enough to know he isn"t telling me the entire story, but I also know that the guy Courtney was with, Jax"s dad, wasn"t the greatest guy. Ryan never liked him. I might not have ever met the man, but Ryan"s disdain for him is enough for me not to like him on principle.

"I hate that she"s been through some shit. Hopefully, being back will be good for them."

"I can only hope," Ryan says as he looks out at his nephew. "She deserves to find someone who treats her like a princess. Shows her what real love is like."

I nod in agreement, my mind wandering to what I could show her. Stop it, Blackburn. She"s your best friend"s little sister, not your next conquest. I chide myself. "I hope she finds whatever she"s looking for," I finally say.

"Hello?"Courtney calls out from inside the house.

"Out here," Ryan yells. I look over my shoulder and into the open sliding glass door. She"s standing on the other side of the threshold, her hair in a messy bun, her T-shirt half untucked from her jeans. She looks tired and worn out from her long day at work, but her beauty still takes my breath away.

"Hey, how was he today?" she greets Ryan.

"He was great and has been playing hard all day. Ate his lunch and went right back to playing. Never would have known he was up puking in the middle of the night if you hadn"t told me that."

"Good. I still have no idea what caused it, but I"m glad he"s back to his normal happy self," she tells him before turning those beautiful blue eyes in my direction. "I didn"t expect to see you here today. If I didn"t know better, I"d think you were following me around," she teases.

"Coach gave us the day off, so I picked up lunch and came to hang out."

"I got to have Sprite with my lunch!" Jax tells Courtney as he runs up and wraps his arms around her.

"Did you now?" she says, giving Ryan a look.

"It wasn"t me. Zack"s the one who picked up lunch." He passes the blame to me.

"My fault. I didn"t ask what he"d want before swinging through the drive-through, so I went with what I thought was a safe option with no caffeine."

"It"s fine," she replies, a hint of amusement in her voice. "Thanks for getting him lunch. What do I owe you?"

"You don"t owe me anything. I was happy to get him the Happy Meal," I say. I wouldn"t take a dime of her money, even if it had cost me a hundred bucks.

"Are you sure?" she asks.

"Positive," I assure her, giving her what I hope is a drop it look. "How was your day at work?" I try to change the subject.

Courtney blows out a big breath before she plops down on one of the empty patio chairs. "Busy and long. Toddlers can be exhausting," she tells us.

"I"ve only had one, and I know how much he wore me out. I can"t imagine a room full of them."

"Don"t get me wrong, I love it, but damn, are they exhausting."

"Do you want to hang out and have dinner here?" Ryan asks Courtney, then his eyes flick to me.

"I don"t want to impose," she replies.

"It isn"t imposing when I"m the one asking if you want to stay." He chuckles.

"Then, yes, we"d love to stay," she says.

"Perfect, now, what do you feel like having?" he asks as he pulls out his phone. I"m guessing to open a delivery app.

"I"m not super picky," she says.

"Mexican? Chinese? Italian?" he asks as he scrolls on his phone.

"Tacos sound good. Especially if they have good queso and chips."

"Mexican it is. Are you staying?" Ryan asks.

"What the hell, tacos do sound good."

He taps at his phone, then hands it over to Courtney. "Order whatever you and Jax want, then pass it to Zack." She takes the phone and adds her order, then hands the phone to me. Our fingers touch slightly as we pass the phone, and a bolt of electricity shoots up my hand. By the way her eyes flash, she felt it, too.

"Everything good?" I ask as she quickly pulls her hand away.

"Yes," she replies, but it"s a little breathy. I tuck that nugget of information away for later.

"Are we all set?" I ask as I read off everything in the cart. Ryan and Courtney agree, so I submit the order. "Looks like it will be here in thirty minutes."

"What"s got you so distracted? Is something wrong?" Ryan asks Courtney.

I keep my eyes on her, taking in her stiff shoulders and slightly hung head. I didn"t notice it until he said something, but something is definitely bothering her.

"I got a voicemail today from an attorney. Chad is filing for custody."

"That fucker!" Ryan seethes.

"I don"t know what to do. I can"t afford an attorney," Courtney says as a tear slips down her cheek.

"I have a good attorney. She helped Emerson and me with our custody agreement for Sawyer. I can give you her information."

"Thanks, but I"m sure I can"t afford her rates," she says.

"Don"t worry about the cost. Just call and talk to her," I tell her. I don"t care what it costs. I"ll pay every cent for her to keep her son.

"I can"t let you pay for my attorney," Courtney argues.

"Then you can pay me back later." I shrug, knowing damn well I won"t take a dime from her.

"Thanks, man. I appreciate you stepping in with your offer," Ryan says as he fist-bumps me.

"You"re like family, and family takes care of one another," I state matter-of-factly.

"Mom, watch me!" Jax calls out, and pulls all of our attention his way. He stands behind the ball and concentrates before swinging the golf club. The plastic ball goes flying into the air, landing probably fifteen feet from where he hit it.

"Great job, buddy!" she calls out to him. "Keep practicing, and you"ll be better than Uncle Ryan."

"I might have to take you to play mini-golf to check out your skills," Ryan tells him.

"Yes! Can we go tonight?" Jax asks.

Ryan chuckles. "Not tonight, buddy. I"m not sure what time they"re open, and you have school tomorrow. But maybe this weekend."

"Yes!" he cheers, and goes to hit the ball once again.