Travis slowly turned to look at Mitch. “How do I put this?” He stroked his chin. “You could say Gil was Sissy’s…first. And a girl never forgets her first now, does she?”

One of the wolves tossed the ball back at Mitch. “Let’s do a few more passes.”

Mitch nodded. “Sure.”

He examined the ball in his hand for a moment, pulled back his arm, and let the pigskin fly…

Sissy couldn’t believe this. Gil? Gil friggin’ Warren? Back in Smithtown after all these years and acting like he hadn’t dumped her ass. Or maybe he thought she was one of those females who let things go. Forgive and forget. Finding peace by forgiving.

Well, that sure as hell wasn’t Sissy. She didn’t forgive or forget a damn thing.

“It’s really good to see you again, Sissy.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“How long you here for?”

“Don’t know.”

“I see your sister’s here, too, Gil.” Ronnie glared at the female who’d told Gil he could do better than “Bobby Ray’s bitch sister.” Ronnie had always hated Tina, but not as much as she hated Gil.

That’s why Ronnie was Sissy’s best friend. She hated all the right people.

“We’re back for good.”

“Great.” Sissy looked for a way out of this conversation, short of kicking the man in the nuts. Which was something she’d wanted to do for years.

“How about we get together for dinner tonight?”

Sissy blinked and looked at Ronnie. “You must be joking,” she said to him.

He smiled. She used to love that smile. Now, it just looked smarmy. “Not even a little, sweetheart. We’ll have a nice dinner, catch up. It’ll be great.”

“No.”

“Come on, Sissy Mae. It’s time to let the past go.”

“No, it’s not. But nice try.”

Ronnie laughed, but it turned into a squeak when a football whacked into the back of Gil’s head, slamming the wolf forward. Sissy and Ronnie stepped aside and watched Gil hit the ground.

“Sorry,” Mitch called from the field. “My fault.”

Sissy stood there, stunned for several moments, until Ronnie grabbed her arm and took her to the stands, stepping around Gil’s twitching body.

“If I asked you why Mitch might have done that, will you hit me in the back of the head again?” Sissy asked once they’d gotten comfortable in their seats.

Ronnie nodded. “Yup. I sure would.”

“Okay. Just checking.”

Chapter 13

Mace Llewellyn walked into his Brooklyn home late in the evening. It had been a tough day with Smitty, Sissy Mae, and Mitch out. He still debated contacting Smitty, but everythingseemed to be handled. Was it worth ruining the man’s honeymoon for a situation he really couldn’t fix anyway? And Mace knew Smitty well enough to know his buddy would want to fix it.

“I’m home,” he called out.

“In the kitchen.”

Mace closed the door and turned to face Dez’s dogs. He snarled, and the two males took off running. The puppy, however, didn’t move. She didn’t seem to be bothered by Mace’s snarls or roars. When he was home, she followed him around faithfully. To be honest, Mace had no idea what to do with her. She’d already grown to three times her original size, and she clearly wasn’t done if the size of her feet was any indication. Plus, she stared up at him with those big, adoring eyes.

He simply didn’t have the heart to be mean to her the way he was to the other two. Glancing around first to make sure no one was around, Mace crouched beside her and petted her head and under her chin the way she liked. Her eyes closed, and her whole body kind of swayed as he scratched a little harder on her neck.

“Mace?”

Hearing Dez’s voice, Mace scrambled to his feet and quickly wiped his hands on his jeans. “Coming.”

Mace tossed his jacket on the couch and walked through the house and into the huge kitchen. Dez sat at the kitchen table working on her new laptop. One of the perks of her new job. She’d been real unhappy when she’d found out they’d moved her to a new division and a new partner. She still didn’t understand how this job was a huge step-up and how it could change her career for the better.

Taking a few steps in, Mace stopped and stared down at the floor. “What is that mongrel doing to my baby?”

Dez glanced down at Marcus and shrugged. “They’re playing.”

Mace didn’t consider a one hundred and fifty-pound dog using his muzzle to push his son in circles playing.

“That can’t be safe.”

“Marcus is happy.”

True, his son was giggling, but he was a toddler. Toddlers laughed at all sorts of shit until blood began to flow.

Grumbling, Mace reached down and grabbed his son. Like the momma’s boy he was turning into, Marcus slashed at his father’s face with nonexistent claws and screeched until Mace put him back on the floor with the dog. And the dog happily proceeded to spin the brat around in circles.

“Told you,” Dez mumbled, her gaze focused on the computer screen.

“Should he even be up this late?”

“He’s nocturnal, since you keep forgetting.”

Mace growled to himself and decided not to get in a fight with Dez. To be honest, he was horny as hell, and she looked so good in that T-shirt. “Food?”

“Fridge.”