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She held out her little hand and touched them, giggling when they ran along the smooth metal.
“No, there will be no showing knives. This isn’t happening!”
“Daddy, can I get a set of throwing knives?” Carli asked, looking up at me pleadingly.
“No. Absolutely not.”
Her chin quivered for the second time today and it really fucked with my head. “Why not?”
Why not? Because all I could picture was her dancing up and down the halls, throwing knives at dummies while singing show tunes. She was young and impressionable. I couldn’t allow Fox to dig his claws into her.
“Because knives are dangerous and you have to know how to use them.”
“But he could teach me.” She spun around and faced him. “Couldn’t you, Mister Fox?”
I wanted to punch the wide grin off his face.
“I could. I happen to be the very best at what I do, and I’m an excellent teacher.”
“Please, Daddy! Please!”
I didn’t want to let her go. She was my little girl, and she was supposed to play with Barbies and Care Bears, not knives. I wanted better for her than the life I lived, and she wasn’t going to get that if I let her run off with Fox.
But I fucked up this morning and scared her. I needed a win with her, and the way she was looking at me right now, I just couldn’t find it in my heart to tell her no.
“On one condition.”
She nodded excitedly.
“You listen to everything Fox tells you, and if you don’t, you won’t ever be able to use throwing knives again. They’re very dangerous. Do you understand me?”
Her big brown eyes smiled back at me. She flung her arms around me and hugged me tight. “I do. I promise. I’ll listen to everything he tells me. I won’t do anything he tells me not to.”
“Okay. But first, I need you to use the bathroom.” I turned pleadingly to Rae. “Could you take her?”
Rae smirked at me, knowing exactly what I was about to do. “Come on, kiddo. Let’s go to the bathroom while your daddy threatens Fox’s life.”
“Why would he do that?” she asked as she followed Rae out of the room.
The moment she was out of sight, I grabbed Fox by the shirt and tossed him up against the wall. He had little defense when the roller skates made him slide all over the place.
“Now, you listen to me right now. That little girl is everything to me, and if you let a single blade slice her, I will gut you like a fish and leave you outside for the birds to peck at. I won’t even make sure you’re dead yet. You are not to teach her about killing people, and you are not to discuss anything about death with her. Is that clear?”
“Whoa, chill, man. I have kids. I know how to talk to them.”
“Your kids are just as psychotic as you,” I snarled.
He chuckled. “Well, with any luck, maybe there’s a good marriage match in there, right?”
I slammed my fist into his gut, letting him fall to the floor as the skates rolled out from underneath him. But instead of feeling the pain of my hit, he laughed at me as only Fox could.
“Would you relax? I’m not going to do anything stupid. I’ll teach her about holding the knives. That’s it.”
“You swear it?”
“Yes.”
I nodded.