Page 66 of Jackass

I agreed with Jack. There was something more going on.

“Mommy!”

Samantha and I both turned when we heard Charlie running over. She slammed into Samantha’s legs, wrapping her arms around them.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Samantha squatted down to comfort her distressed daughter.

“Auntie Carrie said I couldn’t blow the candles out because it wasn’t my birthday,” Charlie cried.

What the hell?

I looked over at where Carrie sat. Shotgun was talking her ear off, but she wasn’t paying any attention to him. Her eyes were on my father.

“Well, sweetie, it isn’t Auntie Carrie’s cake, so she doesn’t get to choose who blows out the candles,” Samantha said, trying to console the little girl.

“That’s right,” I confirmed. “Uncle Blade and I talked about it earlier, and he said there was no way he could blow out all those candles by himself. He will definitely need help from you and Chrissy, and maybe even Tabby, too,” I told her.

I took hold of her hand. “And since it’s his birthday and his cake. He gets to decide. Why don’t we go find him and see if he is ready for cake yet?”

“YES!” she cheered, pumping her little fist in the air.

“Let’s go find Chrissy.”

So that’s what we did. Charlie and I headed over to where Ryder was sitting with his parents.

“Hey, Chrissy, we are going to find Uncle Blade so he can blow out his birthday candles. He was hoping you and Charlie could help—”

“YES!” she shouted before I could finish.

Chrissy climbed down from her grandfather’s lap and took Charlie’s other hand.

“What about you Tabby? Do you want to help Uncle Blade blow out his candles?” I asked the quiet little girl.

Tabby looked at her dad.

“You can go with Auntie Beck if you want to,” Ryder told her.

Tabby smiled and nodded her head. She climbed off her grandmother’s lap and took my free hand.

The four of us set out looking for Micah. He was talking with a few of the brothers, right by where Carrie was sitting. This couldn’t work better if I’d set it up myself.

“Hey, Micah, I have a few girls here that want to blow out some birthday candles,” I called out.

“Oh, they do, huh?” he replied. “Hey, Tabbycat, you gonna help me blow out my birthday candles?”

Micah held his hands out to the quiet little girl, and she leaped from my arms to his.

There weren’t many people Tabby liked.

Aside from Ryder, her grandparents, and her nanny, Tabby loved me. But that didn’t even come close to what she felt for Micah.

Ryder pouted often, convinced she might even love Micah more than she loved him.

“You girls ready to help, too?” he asked the four- and five-year-old at my side.

“YES!” they shouted simultaneously.

“Hash is bringing the cake out now.”

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