Never Second Best Read online

  Never Second Best

  Bad Boys & Good Men

  short novel series

  Book 3

  KENNA SHAW REED

  The Choose Your Own Dirty Sexy Fantasy series allows you to explore which path you want our leading lady to take. Which of her lovers will you embrace, and which will you leave behind.

  Book 1, The Uni Student : Ava finds not all her decisions at university are academic.

  Book 2, The Intern : Jade must choose between love and power – or does she really have to choose at all?

  Book 3, The Question Is : Two lovers and one choice. Her girlfriend? Ex-boyfriend? Or both! Grace thought she had the answer until the question changed.

  Book 4, The Politician’s Wife : He lied, cheated and left. Susannah deserves better, has found better but now he wants her back.

  Book 5, The Unfaithful Wife : Nina was a faithful and forgiving wife until her husband’s latest affair.

  Book 6, The (Un)Forgiving Wife : When Juliette discovers her husband’s decade-long affair with her best friend, she must decide whether to forgive or move on.

  The Bad Boys & Good Men series takes one of the men you can’t forget and gives him his own happily ever after. Sometimes there is steam, sometimes tissues and many times there is both.

  Book 1, Trusting his Heart : Geoffrey was once in love. She died. If he can’t believe in a happily ever after, why should he even trust his heart to try.

  Book 2, A Billion Reasons Why : Mason made his fortune but lost his purpose in life. Losing his name allowed him to find Ellin, but when she discovers the truth, will she ever love him again?

  Book 3, Never Second Best : Suddenly becoming a single father, Seth vowed never to be second best, again. Lucy was once Seth’s second choice. Can she trust his love second time around?

  Book 4, Who is Erebus? : He steamed up the sheets in The Intern. More heat than a sauna. You are welcome. Release August 2018

  Read it? Love it? Send me a copy (or link) to your review on Amazon or Goodreads K

  The sexiest man is the father who is in love with his children. The strongest man is the one willing to fight for his family. The good man is the one who values the woman he loves.

  Above all, my thanks and love are for Mr Reed Shaw. You are my goodest man and amazing father.

  Copyright © 2018 by Kenna Shaw-Reed

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover: Megan J Parker-Squiers

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously.

  This book is intended for mature, adult audiences only. It contains sexually explicit and graphic scenes and language which may be considered offensive by some readers. This book is strictly intended for those over the age of 18. All acts of a sexual nature are completely consensual.

  Mouth of Babes

  Seth Greenwood stood next to his lawyer as the judge entered the courtroom. A slight smile at the sleeping girl in his arms before the judge took control and called her room to order.

  He brushed the blonde hair out of his daughter’s eyes. Darker than her mother’s and lighter but as thick as his own and her brothers. His sleeping princess, a daddy’s girl from the moment she was born. The possibility of losing them all too real and almost too much to fathom.

  Seth tried to read the judge’s mind as she scanned the thick ream of pages laid out on the bench in front of her.

  How on earth did it come down to this. The only thing stopping him from trembling was the fear of waking Retha. She wasn’t coping well with change at the moment and would need all his focus if she woke in a strange place.

  “It’ll be okay, dad,” soothed his foster son, Matt who had the younger boys on his lap.

  Crazy. He was supposed to be the strong father. He regularly negotiated multi-million-dollar development projects. Builders and sub contractors deferred to him every day, yet he needed the reassurance from a fifteen-year-old boy to hold him together.

  The judge cleared her voice.

  Judgement day.

  “The court grants the defendant, Mr Seth Greenwood, full custody of the three minor children. Master Owen Greenwood, aged six; Master Edward Greenwood, aged four; and Miss Retha Greenwood aged two. The court further finds that it has no jurisdiction to decide in the custody of the foster child, Mr Matthew Night and defers to the Department of Community Services for their determination.

  “In the granting of access, the court notes that Ms Grace Greenwood will not be denied unreasonable visitation and contact with her children.”

  “Daddy,” Owen tugged on his father’s shirt, “Why isn’t mummy here? I thought Aunty Si was going to look after us.”

  So did daddy, thought Seth as the judge continued.

  “I understand the lawyers are still negotiating settlement arrangements and I sincerely hope that the court’s decision is not required in such matters.”

  The young judge looked up from her papers, giving Seth her first genuine smile as he started to digest the news. In all that he lost over the past six months, he hadn’t lost his children. One still to fight for, but he hadn’t lost them.

  “Mr Greenwood, for what it’s worth, you present as a loving and devoted father. I did expect to grant continuation of the shared custody arrangements you and your ex-wife have had in place for the last six months. I am saddened for the children that she has withdrawn her petition. However, I have no doubts that you will provide a stable and nurturing environment for your children and I sincerely hope that the department continues to allow Mr Night to live with you.”

  With the pounding of the hammer on the wooden bench, court was dismissed and Retha woke in her father’s arms.

  “Dad, what does that mean?” Matthew held his brothers’ hands as Seth carried the nappy bag, Retha and stroller until they could get outside and settle everyone.

  “Grace is gone, perhaps she and Sienna caught an earlier flight to wherever in hell they are going. She couldn’t be bothered to say ‘good bye’ to the kids,” he tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice, but it was enough that his younger three couldn’t hear him talk about their mother.

  “What about me?”

  The question he needed time to process. Why hadn’t someone told him that it would only be about the children he shared with Grace? Then again, until an hour ago he didn’t realize his ex-wife had cut everyone out of her life.

  Breathe in, breathe out and repeat, he muttered to himself. He needed to maintain some sense of calm and composure if only to reassure his children who had already been through so much.

  “Sport, we need to do some more paperwork, but at least the judge’s decision should help us. I’ll talk to my lawyer and we’ll get it started this afternoon,” with as honest a smile as he could muster Seth wanted Matt to have the confidence he didn’t feel. But surely, the community services team wouldn’t want to take Matt from a family who loved him.

  “I don’t want to go back to them,” the big brown, frightened eyes stopped Seth in his tracks. He curled Retha back in her stroller, locking the straps before grabbing Matt by the shoulders.

  “You are not going back to them. Over my dead body, do you hear me? I will move heaven and earth to keep you with us. We are a family. It’s a different family than you came to live with, but as long as you want to put up with me as your old man, you have me.”

  “Is Matty going?” Eddie clamored between them, insisting that Matt pick him up. “I don’t want him to go. He’s my brother.”

  “He’s not
going anywhere, except with us for lunch.”

  Thankfully, the kids, even the big one, were easily distracted by the offer of food.

  His afternoon passed in a blur, getting everyone home in time to interview new nannies. The previous young mother was happy to work on the weeks she didn’t have custody of her own children. But with his ex-wife suddenly leaving town, and their children in his sole care, Seth needed someone more permanent. Quick phone calls to the agency could only find three possibilities. Unfortunately, the first two were either unsuitable or unwilling to take on so many children.

  “I didn’t realize there was an older child as well,” the resume of the last applicant was impeccable.

  “Matt is my foster child, we are sorting out the longer-term arrangements.”

  “Oh,” her shoulders straightened. “So he lives here with you?” Seth wished her judgement of his situation was unusual. Unfortunately, he was becoming used to the looks and snide comments whenever he went out with the family. This wasn’t even the first time someone had queried whether Matt was a danger to others – not because they had even met Matt but because he was a “foster” child.

  Seth couldn’t protect his family out in public, but he could inside their home. Instead of wondering how quickly she could start, he was now considering how fast she would leave.

  “Is that a problem,” might as well cut to the chase.

  “Well, in my experience, foster children require an extra level of care. They can be unpredictable in their reactions.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “Mr Greenwood, generally they are more prone to anti social behavior and can be a disruptive influence on other members of the family.”

  “Matthew Night is an important member of our family and I will not have you assume things about him just because of his background. You couldn’t be further from the truth.”

  She tried to back pedal, “I’m not saying that you would accept violence in this house, but you have young children of your own to protect and I cannot in good conscious work in a house where they may be at risk.”

  In keeping with his own philosophy of no violence, Seth did not let the door hit her on the arse as she left.

  “Dad?” Matt stood in the doorway with a cup of hot tea waiting. “Am I the problem, again?”

  Seth’s heart broke. How many thirteen-year-old boys had to find their father hanging in the garage. From living with his loving father to being forced upon his mother, only to be beaten daily by her new husband as punishment for being his father’s spawn. Matt’s only lucky break was having John Compton as a school principal who intervened just as Matt started spiraling out of control. Seth had provided mentoring and support for over fifty young men since leaving high school.

  He only ever became the guardian for one, Darby who was now in his mid-twenties and on posting with the Defence force.

  From the moment he met Matt, there had been a connection, not only between Seth and Matt, but with the whole family. After Matt had been living with them for over a month, Seth reached out to his old social worker friend, Lucy Dawson, to make things permanent. Lucy pulled strings and for the past two years, Matt was his son in all ways other than legally.

  Now, they needed to go through the bureaucracy again.

  “You are a problem, you cheat at board games and never replace the toilet paper in the kids bathroom,” he ruffled Matt’s hair, taking a sip of the calming green tea. “You sleep through your alarm and miss the school bus every Friday after staying up far too late to watch the football.”

  “I don’t stay up!” Matt faked his indignation. “I am up watching the Premier League football, it isn’t my fault that the game doesn’t finish until after the bus leaves. Australia is on a different time zone with the rest of the world.”

  Just like that, Seth diverted Matt’s attention away from his adult problems and onto sport. Together, they read “one more” book to Owen, did “one more” jigsaw with Eddie, and watched Retha sleep.

  “I’m going to a friend’s.”

  “When will you be home,” anonymous friend meant his girlfriend.

  “By nine.”

  “Remember it’s a school night.” Seth wanted to keep him home and safe but couldn’t stop him from living his life, “Thanks for coming with me today, but you need to go to class tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, I’ll be right.”

  The large house was in utter chaos. Dishes piled high in the sink, he had resorted to paper plates at dinner so he could feed everyone before they fell asleep. The grey-white floor tiles had splotches of bright red going in a trail from the bench to the couch. He hoped it was only jam but was caught in a spiral of indecision. Sweep first or clean the jam. Or mop the whole floor. Floor first or dishes. Or washing?

  Subconsciously, he played with the wedding ring still adorning his left hand. Six months of hoping she would change her mind and come home to her family. Six months of sharing their children week about. Spending his week alone cleaning the house so it would be ready for his children to walk in the door and turn back into a home.

  Six months of wondering what he did wrong. Why, after all these years, did she decide … he couldn’t bring himself to complete the sentence.

  Clutching his cup of cold tea in one hand and his phone in the other, he stood looking around the house.

  “WTF happened,” he typed the text in the softest tones he could muster. But, seriously where to start? What sort of woman wakes up one morning and decides to go back to her former lover, then after all the initial hurt starts to die down and the kids seem to be adjusting, insists on formalizing the custody arrangements.

  He lived in dread for weeks that she would change her mind and go for full custody. Especially when her new partner offered to look after the kids during the court decision.

  It never occurred to his lawyer, or to him that she would walk away. Without a word to warn him, she walked away from his life and their children, withdrawing all claims in her custody petition on the morning of their case being heard and not even having the heart to face her children to say “good bye.”

  Bitch.

  Selfish, self-centred, heartless, bitch.

  For months he struggled to wake up each day, overcome with his own grief and hurt.

  Photos haunted him everywhere. Young lovers on the football bleaches at high school. Grace in his old jumper, snuggled in his arms. They loved each other as teens before she left him to go away for university. Breaking his heart but never his resolve to one day win her back, and he did.

  “Once a cheater, always a cheater,” his mate, Joe, recently said over beers. “She cheated on her girlfriend with you, now she’s gone back to her.”

  “Not helping, mate,” the truth hurt. Grace came back to town for a high school reunion. Drinks and playing “remember when” with their old friends led to a night that changed his world. Grace needed time to uncomplicate her life, but he had welcomed her back with no questions and no regrets.

  The mother of his children deserved respect, even from his friends who remained solidly behind him.

  No one knew how hard Grace and Seth had worked back then to rebuild their relationship. For the first few years he believed that she had even learned to love him and put her old life and love behind her.

  Whatever she wanted, he worked hard to provide. She didn’t want to give up her career by moving, so he made it possible for her to spend half her time in the city with her clients. Buying her a unit so she had a home away from home.

  Doing whatever it took to keep building his business and raise their family. Loving her was his full-time job.

  No one knew how hard he fought to hide his suspicions after Retha was born, wanting to believe in her and in them. Refusing to ask her questions when she disappeared for days at a time because he didn’t want the answers.

  Thinking that she chose him once and if he was patient, she would do so again.

  Only to have her walk out, straight into the ar
ms of someone else.

  He still loved her too much to hate her, and at any time before today, if she had turned around and come back home … Despite what his friends and family would say, he would have welcomed her back with no questions.

  Until today.

  Now, the woman he never stopped loving since he was Matt’s age, had done the unthinkable. Hurt their children. Not only hurt them but promised them to turn up today. For her girlfriend to take the kids to the movies and have ice-cream while the grown ups sorted out their future.

  Not a phone call. No warning that she had changed her mind. No movies and no ice-cream.

  Instead he answered a thousand questions without knowing the answers. “Where’s mummy?” “Why didn’t she come and see us?” The last and most difficult of all, “Doesn’t she love us anymore?”

  Now he would have to fight to keep Matt safe, the boy she once claimed to care for as much as her own children was at risk because of her.

  Then again, his bitterness surfaced, the moment she walked away from them all, she did treat Matt the same as her own.

  He loved the Grace who had been his wife and partner. He hated the woman who could walk away from her family.

  Loathe. Detest. Lost all respect for.

  Seth stared at the text, the three little words didn’t say enough and, in any case, what excuse could possibly make up for today.

  Slowly, he backspaced until the blank screen remained.

  With a forlorn smile, he sent her a blank message. Give her something to think about for a change.

  Almost midnight and the cupboards were full of clean plates and bowls again. A saucepan was soaking in the sink and most marks had disappeared from the kitchen table.