Page 75 of Anathema Codex

The kid immediately reaches over to shut the radio off, and I slap his hand away.

“Tsk, tsk,” I say to him as I raise a finger. “Daddy’s listening to his favorite song.”

When he scowls, I smirk and go back to humming along.Pretty Babyis something that I’ve loved for years before I met Trixie, but when I met that little demon spawn, the song took on more meaning.

Raking a hand back through my hair, I begin to bop my head along to the beat as I reach into the visor for another smoke. I’d offer him one, but since he’s being a little shit, he’ll have to learn to survive off the fumes for a while.

When the song ends, I let out a dramatic sigh. There’s not a goddamn thing that can compare to that song. The noble thing to do would be to let the kid pick the next song, but…

“You like Springsteen?” I ask asBorn in the USAcomes on. He doesn’t look at me, doesn’t shake his head or nod; hell, he doesn’t even blink, so I shrug and raise the volume another notch.

Maybe he’s finally understanding that I know what good music is and he’s accepting it. Of course, he could have had an aneurysm and died for all I know. Not like it matters; he’s only going with me because he’s my in with Trixie.

I’ll finally be able to show the little bitch that I did something she could never do and that even her goat god would fucking choose me over her any day.

Not that it would matter to her.

She’s probably so far gone now that she won’t even recognize me.

I haven’t changed at all.

I’ve aged like fine fucking wine and taste just as sweet. Which is something I’m going to make damn sure she notices before I leave.

Twenty goddamn years,I think irritably as I grip the steering wheel and press down on the gas.I’ve dealt with her fucking charity case. Housed him, clothed him, let him experience me every single goddamn night and she probably won’t think it’s worth a damn anymore. And to think she’s been under my nose this entire time. Back in fucking Arizona.

“Whoa, Lakyn!” the kid shouts from the passenger seat.

I glance at him sharply, but when I see that he has one of his hands on the interior roof of the car, and the other plastered against the dashboard, I turn my attention back to the road in front of me.

“Whoops!” I say cheerfully as I quickly swerve to avoid crashing into the car in front of us. I pull up next to the frightened couple, give them a one-fingered salute, and drive around them.

“Are you crazy? You almost killed us!” he shouts, his voice cracking slightly.

“You know,” I begin conversationally as I light my smoke. Taking a drag, I inhale deeply, then let a billow of smoke out of the corner of my mouth. “That’sexactlywhat your Aunt Trixie said to me once. It’s a great story actually. So, Ichabod—” I grit my teeth when Red’s fingers suddenly dig around the side of my seat. Seems she’s damn determined to hang onto my every word. I clear my throat, lay an elbow back into her arm to move her, then take another drag, “Anyway, the last time I was at Satan’s Party House, there was a new girl there too. Jizzy or some shit I think her name was. Well, Ichabod thought it would be the right thing to do to stay behind and pay homage to Trixie by helping them pick up the pieces of what she left behind. Man, if you lived in this area, you would have heard about what she did. I was damn proud of that girl for finally burning that place to the ground like she always said she would.”

Aftyn shifts uncomfortably in the seat next to me and I chuckle.

“Of course, he doesn’t even know how to wipe his own ass, so it was up to me to get him the fuck out of there before they made him hail their goat thing. The thing is, I knew he wouldn’t leave with me again, so I found Trixie. Know where she was? At the old junkie house,” I state with an eye roll. “But yeah, I found her, she went back with me and we got him the fuck out of there. See? I’m pretty cool once you get to know me. I saved a life once.”

I grin at the kid who’s staring at me like I’m insane, but he doesn’t get it obviously. I’m an honest man with particular tastes and I like to have fun.

What the hell would life be like if someone couldn’t tell the truth and have fun? With their kinks or otherwise? Boring as fuck, and I refuse to partake in anything that bores me.

Which is why we’re on our way to find Trixie.

“Wanna know how I met her?” I ask glancing at him again.

“It almost sounds like you’ve got an out of control crush, Pops,” he replies carefully.

“Me? Not at all,” I reply with a laugh. “I just think that if you’re going to meet your auntie, you may want a little background info is all.”

“Am I going to be able to stop you from telling me?” he asks, his tone going back to the miserable little bastard that watched his bestie get whacked.

“Nope!”

I grin at him before I turn my eyes toward the road and take another pull from my smoke. I glance down at it and grunt as I flick it out of the window and light a new one.

“Well, I was at a bar in Albuquerque one night,The Blue Devil Saloon; you should check it out sometime. I was listening to tunes, picking out my fuck toy for the night, when the bartender came over and told me that someone with terrible taste in music was pissed off over my playlist. Some people, am I right?” I scoff with an eye roll. The kid opens his mouth to say something, but since it was a rhetorical question, I keep going. “Anyway, a few seconds later, I find myself face to face with this tiny blonde that had the perkiest, tight little body I’ve ever seen in my goddamn life. But you know what got me to stay in the seat that night?”

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