Page 61 of Daddy Issues

Her boyfriend puffed his chest out, and Puck grunted.

“No fighting with children,” I teased.

He managed a wink. We both knew there’d be no fight. Even a group of those teenage boys wouldn’t stand a chance.

Eli danced around in front of us. “Dad, I have togo.”

“I’ll take this guy and meet you at the truck.” The crowd was building now and, in truth, we could see how tired Eli was getting. “Time to head home.”

He yawned. “I’m not tired.”

“Sure.” Puck snorted and picked him up, handing me his keys.

The fairground parking lot was paved, and they’d planted shrubbery here and there. When I was young, it was a sandy, muddy mess. Not anymore. If I didn’t cast my gaze out toward the red mountains, I could almost forget we were in the desert.

“Ain’t y’all just a happy little family.” JoJo Calhoun was tall, too skinny with shaggy, short hair, and had a scratchy voice. I’d known him most of my life, but not the parts I cared to remember. He was a meth-head loser back then and remained the same now.

I dumped the stuffed animal into the truck and turned to him, still standing on the side rail of Puck’s large truck.

Several others, with vaguely recognizable faces, milled with him. The problem was, with guys like JoJo and most of Wanda’s crew, they grew too skinny too quick sampling the product. The gaunt, pale look made a lot of them unrecognizable.

“But I thought he had a momma already?”

“What the fuck do you want, JoJo?” I rolled my eyes. “Run out of cousins to fuck?”

His eyes narrowed, making them look meaner. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid. His little cronies boxed me in. One leaning against the truck’s bed and the other against the front fender.

Yeah, I was fucking scared, but I wasn’t about to let him see it. Assholes like this pounced on smaller, weaker things. I’d been dodging that sort of shit my whole life.

“Obviously, you’re still working your way through the DesertDicks.” He laughed first, then glared at his friend with the buck teeth. He laughed then, too. But nobody actually thought the joke was funny.

I slid closer to the guy against the bed, still holding the door open and about to climb in.

“Why do you even care? Pissed off because you know you never had a chance?” Once in middle school, he’d tried to corner me after school and I’d kicked him in the balls and Ghost had jumped him.

“Nah, I don’t fuck around with my homie’s sloppy seconds, like that walking dose of roid’rage does.”

I blinked. I hadn’t seen Ghost in weeks. When did he start hanging out with this pack of jackasses?

“You’re here defending Ghost’s honor or something?” I snorted. “That would be a mistake.”

“We’ll find out about that.” He cracked his knuckles. It was like he was trying to intimidate me. But on his own, he was too skinny to be scary.

“Stop acting big and bad, JoJo.” I snorted, buying some time. “We all know you jumped out of the back of a truck to fight one of the Dudley boys, fell, and broke your arm. You get hurt just running to a fight. You damn sure aren’t about to win one against a man twice your size.”

A large, familiar form wove quickly through the cars, his expression angry. The little boy on his hip looking around, confused.

I glanced at the others with him, making sure every one of them looked me in the eye. “How’s Wanda going to feel about you guys trying to start something with kids around?”

There were a lot of things Wanda would do, but the reason so many of these young men grew up and worked for her was because she fed and clothed them when they were little. Not thatshe was a saint, but she’d be pissed if she knew they started shit with families and young kids around.

“Shut up,Kenna.” He sneered. “I remember where the fuck you came from. Even if you’ve forgotten. I see you take after your momma, banging bikers to get by. Everyone knows you hop from one Desert King dick to another. Can take the whore out of the trailer park, but you ca—”

I flinched. The echo of Nadine’s accusations ringing in my ears.

“Get the fuck out of my way.” Puck was there, shouldering past one and slipping Eli seamlessly into my arms.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Puck asked, turning. He shoved JoJo in the chest so hard he stumbled back three or four steps. Puck’s voice had changed, lowered. “Don’t fucking talk to her that way. Don’t talk to her at all. You got something to say, motherfucker, you say it to me.”

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