Page 56 of Hollow Heart

“Car trouble,” I murmur, crossing my arms as Felix stops in front of us.

“You’re—”

“Felix Hart.” He nods, extending his hand and holding my son’s gaze.

Bobby looks at his hand like it’s made of snakes.

Though, to be fair, the snake tattoos are rather realistic looking and the dark ink covers a good bit of his forearm.

“Most people call me Bobby,” he replies, politely, extending his hand carefully.

His grip on Felix is firm, which is good. I always told him you could tell a lot about a man by his handshake.

A strange sense of pride swells within me.

“Nice to meet you, Bobby.” Felix nods, clearing his throat. “You hungry?” he asks, and I come back to the present.

“What?”

Felix nods for Bobby to follow him, and I’m more than shocked that my sonlistens.Without arguing.

“I know this great place, a couple minutes from here, actually, that makes the best fucking frozen yogurt, and I swear they have, like, every fucking thing you can think of to top it. Including those little juicy boba balls... Fuck, I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.”

“We are not getting fucking fro-yo,” I bite as Felix opens the door for Bobby, who watches me intently like a science project. As he crawls into the backseat, I head for the passenger door, but Felix beats me to it, opening it for me once more.

“No one calls it fro-yo anymore. It’s just frozen yogurt.” Felix rolls his eyes.

I slam the door shut, backing him up against the door as a fresh batch of anger and unfamiliar feelings swirl inside of me like a cyclone.

“He got suspended for a day, Felix. Granted, he was just defending himself and that idiot principal?—”

“My mother always said no matter what shit life deals you, ain’t no one frowning when they eat a big ol’ bowl of ice cream.”

For the moment, his carefully constructed rockstar persona slips, and I can almost detect an actualaccentbeneath his voice, though I can’t place it.

His words settle on me for a moment, and before I can protest, Felix crosses his arms and gazes up at me over his shades, pouting his studded lip as he jiggles his lip ring.

“Besides, frozen yogurt tastes a lot better than an ice pack. It should help cut the swelling on his lip down, too.” And with that parting shot, he opens the door for me once more, leaving me standing alone as he heads for the driver’s seat.

The drive to Gustav’s Gelato & More is the longest drive of my life.

“What really happened, Bobby? And don’t tell me you don’t want to talk about it. There is no avoiding this topic.”

Bobby glares at me from the back seat.

“It doesn’t matter, okay! It doesn’t matter how it started or who threw the first punch, or?—”

“Did you?” Felix asks coolly. “Start it, I mean.”

I snap my neck, glaring daggers at him as he speeds around the neighborhood like he owns the place.

For all I know, he just might.

Note to self to ask Lou if this pain in the ass owns any real estate out this way.

I half expect Bobby to evade Felix, but he doesn’t.

He answers him without hesitation. “No, I didn’t.”

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