“She can’t meet you halfway or something?” he asks with a little too much sarcastic jackass in his voice for me to let it slide.

I press a hand against Teller’s chest, pushing him back a step. “Are we good here? I need to know I can trust you to watch out for Lilly when I’m not around.”

His jaw flexes. “You can always trust me, brother. You trust her, though?”

Shit. Been waitin’ for this moment.

I swore I wouldn’t divulge the information Rock shared about his newly-discovered paternal relationship to Teller. It’s a promise I won’t break. I’m sure the news has been an emotional clusterfuck for Teller, something this move downstate hasn’t helped. While I’m sympathetic, I can’t afford to have him be a dick to Lilly.

“Listen,” I say a lot calmer than I’m feeling, “I appreciate the concern, but whatever’s in our past is between her and me.”

“Real talk, Z?”

Apparently, my warning wasn’t clear enough.

“This is as real as it gets, brother.” I spread my arms and motion for him to hit me with whatever he wants to say.

“Known you a long time. Almost as long as Rock and Wrath.”

“Yeah?”

He shrugs and looks away. “I hate that she did that to you.” In a lower voice, he adds, “That’s a lot of time you missed with your son.”

I should punch him for getting me choked up now. “I appreciate that more than you know.”

“How can you accept that kind of betrayal so easily?”

Have I accepted it? Accept probably isn’t the right word. It’s more like I don’t see the point in dwelling on things that can’t be changed.

“She even tell you why?” he persists.

No, she hasn’t. But that’s not Teller’s business.

“All you need to know is she’s my old lady and she’s a good mother to my son.”

That last part was a bit of a dick thing to say. Teller’s own mother was a neglectful bitch who left him in charge of his baby sister when he was only ten years old so she could whore around. Eventually, she abandoned both of them at their grandmother’s.

He swallows hard and works his jaw from side to side. “Man, Alexa isn’t even my kid and I hated those couple months she was living up in Alaska. Think about all the things you missed with him. You’re really okay with her keeping Chance from you for more than two years?”

Only his genuine concern about the situation stops me from punching him. “No, I’m not okay with it, but that’s our issue to work out. Not yours.”

“A problem of my brother’s is a problem of mine…” He gives me a cheeky smirk to go with the familiar biker saying.