Page 120 of Hot Shot

“I don’t think you need to be nervous,” Patty starts. “He misses her, but we try to help with that, having him for dinner a couple times a month. We just don’t want him to feel…alienated. Despite all this that’s going on with the—” She pauses, swallows. “With the fire and all.”

All of a sudden, I have no guilt, only suspicion and a little bit of rage. “You have him over when Cricket’s there?” The words are darker than I intend, and Cass glances up at me, concerned.

Patty looks shocked at my tone, and hot anger webs across my skin. “Yes, a few times.”

I’m shocked that she’s shocked. “And you didn’t think to tell me? Wouldn’t you want to know?”

Paul’s frowning. “Wilder, Trent has been a part of her life herwholelife, and so have we. Are you suggesting that we should tell you every time Cricket sees somebody you don’t know?”

I can’t shake it off, but I tamp it down. “No, sir. But you don’t seem to think it matters if I knowanythingyou do once you leave with her. This isn’t just you not telling me when your plans change, when you’ll pick her up or drop her off, regardless of how it’ll disrupt her day. I’m not saying she shouldn’t be able to see him or that you can’t have him over. But I think it’s only right that I know about it when it happens. Especially since he’s been accused of?—”

“I know what he’s been accused of,” Paul snaps, his sunburn redder with his anger. “But we’d never put her in danger, and you know it. You’re right—you have a right to know. But youjuststepped into her life, and as such, you don’t get to decide what she can and can’t do.”

Patty lays a hand on his forearm.

“With all due respect, Mr. Wilson,” I say evenly and with much effort, “she’smychild. AndifI decide don’t want her to see an accusedmurderer, I think that’s well within my rights.”

Paul’s eyes widen with a flash of anger, but before he can speak, Patty steps in.

“Now, it’s been a long weekend, and I think we’re all too tired to hash this out now. Let’s put a pin in it and talk about it another time. Wilder, Trent won’t see her without your knowledge from here on out. Paul—go on and get Cricket’s things. I’ll come with you. Why don’t y’all head over to the playground, and we’ll meet you over there, all right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I mutter, and Paul grumbles but lets his wife guide him toward the parking lot.

Cass sighs and picks up the first of what looks like thirty-seven bags and a camping chair she brought.

“Well, that was intense,” she says as I sling my duffle across my chest and take bags first from her, then for her.

“It’s not right that he’s been seeing her without them telling me.”

“No, it’s not right. Not that I’m surprised—they don’t tell us anything, just come and go as they please,” she says, looking around for something to carry, then at me with a chuckle. “You look like a pack mule.”

“I was just an ass so I guess it’s fitting.” When I start to walk, she falls in step beside me.

“Neither of you are wrong. It’s just…complicated.”

I’m already scanning the playground for them. When I see him pushing her on a swing, the knot in my chest loosens a little.

“Yeah, I know,” I say. “I can’t think about him too much or it scares the shit out of me. It makes me want to do something. Like not let her go with Patty and Paul anymore if they’re not going to at least fuckingtellme when he comes over there. I don’t trust him, but I know he loves her. He’s rash, but he’s the closest thing to a dad she’s ever had.” The knowledge is a knife to my guts. “So what does that mean for all of us? If he can’t see her, how does that hurt her? How does that affect him? He’s aloose cannon—we don’t know what he’d do if we cut him off. I feel forced into this, into a situation I’m not fucking happy with.”

As we approach, I can hear the happy tones of their voices, but not what they’re saying.

“There’s no answer. Not an easy one, at least. So I figure all we can do is what’s best for Cricket. So maybe we ask her what she wants. Because look at them—she misses him,” Cass says gently.

For a second, I do. Cricket is beaming, her braids flying, the two of them talking and laughing. He looks at ease, happy. Like a man with his daughter at the park.

A hot wave of jealousy blows through me, but I let it pass on.

Soon, she’ll be with me legally, all the time, but she’ll never be his again.

The closer we get, the more I can see it. Not only his love for her, but hers for him.

I know it’s wrong to keep them apart, despite the feral impulse to put myself between the two of them, hackles to the sky. It’s not just complicated, it wars inside me. And the way the Wilsons disregard us is fucked. Just because I’m new to all this doesn’t mean I don’t get a say. Because in the end, she’s mine, however inconvenient it is for the Wilsons. However sad that is for Trent.

I just hope he never decides to do anything about it.

I don’t know what I’ll do to him if he tries.

CHAPTER 44

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