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No ... these were even worse.

“Hey, kiddo ... ” Lloyd grinned at him and Brant swung his gaze back to his father, saw the broad, happy grin on his dad’s face and felt confused.

He hadn’t seen his dad look that happy and easy in ... shit, how long had it been?

“Come on over and meet Steve. He’s a new friend of mine. He’s going to take you, me and Mom out to dinner later tonight ... he was a fan of mine when I played ball back in school,” Lloyd said, dropping his arm around Brant’s shoulders and walking him around the back of the car to face the other guy.

Brant dragged his feet, not really wanting to go.

Reptile-cold eyes met his and in a blink, the man smiled, his face friendly and easy-going, but Brant wasn’t fooled. He knew what he’d seen. Just like he knew his dad was an asshole most of the time and could be downright awful at others, he’d met even worse people.

This guy ... he was worse.

The skin on the nape of his neck crawled.

He thought about Isabel across the street, the way she’d told him a few weeks ago, just after Travis had put his dad on the ground.Go home, she’d mouthed at him, telling him to get out of his dad’s way until the old man’s temper had cooled.

Somehow, she’d known. He had moments like that, when his gut told him something bad might happen. Now, his gut was screaming.

He couldn’t go into that house with his father and this man.

He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t.

“Yeah, okay.” He cleared his throat and pasted a fake smile on his face, fairly confident it would be believable because it wasn’t like he didn’t have to lie to his dad about a ton of shit anyway. And the man bought it. He always bought. Shrugging free of his dad’s arm, he nodded at the man, then, pretending to pat at his pockets, he said, “Ah, man, I must have dropped my phone back at the bus stop. I’m going to run back and grab it.”

His dad just scowled at him. “You’re always dropping shit. Go on, get it.”

But the guy stepped forward. “You go on in with your dad, Brad. I’ll get it.”

“It’s Brant,” he said, backing up a step. “And that’s fine, man. I’ll get it.”

The guy reached for him.

Brant backpedaled, moving faster.

And just like that, the mask dropped from the man’s face and he said, coldly, flatly, “Boy, you get the fuck over here. Now.”

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