Free The Hitman's Baby - A Bad Boy Secret Baby Romance (With extra added bonus novel for a short time only!) by Ashley Rhodes

with his friends. He was eight, going on nine, and being in school had made him far more independent than she ever imagined he would be. Angus’ mother sympathized. “Every mother thinks they’re going to be reliant and sweet their whole life,” she said when Ramon begged to stay and hang with his friends a little while longer. “It’s a pipe dream, though. I mean, it could be worse — at least at this rate you’ll be free in another ten years, you know? God, I can’t wait to have sex with my husband again…”
    Cassandra laughed because she was supposed to, and glanced at Angus’ father. If it was going to take another ten years then at this rate Lena was going to have some digging to do to find the old spiggot—Kevin had put on considerable weight in just the time that Cassandra had known them both.
    She gave Ramon another ten minutes, and they were tense, irritating minutes that prickled over Cassandra’s skin as they passed. She kept looking at the rafters of the auditorium, watching the entrances, and re-checking the faces of the PTA members. Surely no one was looking for them anymore. It just wouldn’t make any sense, right?
    Once the agreed upon ten minutes were up, she retrieved Ramon and reminded him that they’d shook on it, and that a man was only worth his word. If he wanted more time in the future he needed to negotiate for it. So far that tactic was working out; it led to a few arguments, but generally seemed to be teaching her son that he had to be careful what he asked for—everything was on the table, but the price might be higher than he was willing to pay. He thought long and hard about asking for anything.
    “Fine,” Ramon sighed. He fist-bumped Angus. “I gotta go. Hey! Bring that Naruto game tomorrow and you can come to my house after school.”
    “Is that so?” Cassandra asked, glancing again at the exits. They’d take the back one. No, the side; it was less used.
    “I mean,” Ramon said, and turned to her, “is it okay? If Angus comes over to play video games?”
    Lena was close enough to be watching with interest, and Cassandra raised an eyebrow at her. Angus’ mom nodded enthusiastically.
    “Yeah. Okay. For a little while,” she said. “Now come on.”
    “Why are we in such a hurry?” Ramon asked as she took his hand and drew him toward the side door. “Where are we going? The door’s that way.”
    “We’re going out the side,” Cassandra said.
    He knew something was wrong. “Why? Mom?”
    “It’s good to change things up once in a while,” she told him. “It’s fun.”
    “It’s a longer walk to the car,” he argued.
    That was true, and she actually paused a moment.
    In that pause, she came to her senses. This was silly. She was being paranoid. She took a deep breath, and laughed it out. “You’re right, mi mijito. But it feels nice outside. A longer walk will do us good.”
    Ramon tugged to pull his hand away from hers. “Mom,” he groaned, “don’t call me that at school.”
    She grinned at him even though it actually cut her heart for him to say it. He couldn’t possibly understand at his age what it meant to her when he did. “How about mi poquito gordito instead?”
    He threw his hands up and groaned again. “You’re killing me, Moms.”
    She ruffled his hair, and urged him on. “Come on. Let’s sneak out. We’ll be like spies.”
    That seemed to excite him enough. He made a show of creeping toward the plain metal door and peeking out carefully before he waved her toward him, imitating the soldiers and spies he’d seen on television when he watched movies he wasn’t supposed to. “Go go go,” he whispered.
    For the fun of it, she joined in the game, and together they crept along the outside wall of the auditorium, almost pressed up against the stone work of it.
    When they got to the corner that bordered the parking lot, Ramon held up a fist, peeked around it, and then held a finger to his lips. “Radio silence,” he whispered,