Page 27

Kenna

My chest was tight from exertion, and I was panting a bit when Eli dragged me off the light-up dance floor.

Fall Fest was a quirky combo of craft fair and carnival.

In between the carnival and the vendor booths, they’d set up a stage for musical acts, an area full of tables and chairs, and a light up dance floor.

Currently, famous cartoon mascots danced it up with little kids while their parents ate and took a break.

Eli and I had boogied until I couldn’t anymore and that was saying something. The kid had stamina.

He got it from his dad.

Puck leaned against a concrete post, with a giant stuffed cartoon alien tucked under his arm, and laughed at us.

“Come on, Dad.” Eli grabbed his hand and tugged us toward the dragon coaster. He’d only just bested it and was ready for more.

“Are you flirting with the kid at the gate so my kid can ride?” Puck came back to me, a sheet of tickets in his hand, and Eli already on the ride.

“Maybe. You jealous?”

He swatted at my ass and I didn’t dodge it, instead let the little sting tingle its way to my core. Today I’d seen a gentler side to Puck, been a part of it, and enjoyed it. But the flash of desire in his eyes was a heated reminder of the other side of him. One I’d barely had the chance to explore.

“Keep it up, big guy, and I might pour it on thick next time.”

“Think so?” He lifted one eyebrow, leaned down, and growled in a low throaty rumble. “Do it and see what happens.”

I squeezed my thighs together to keep from coming right there on the spot and met his hot gaze. The only thing stopping me from tugging him into some dark corner was the kid that came charging down the ramp for more tickets.

Puck cleared his throat and knelt down to Eli’s level, shoving the oversized plushie at me as he did. I looked away, knowing my cheeks were turning several shades of pink as I thought about all the things I could do to Puck if we were alone.

Down girl.

At sunset, we were in that odd span of time at the carnival where the teenagers rolled in and the families rolled out. Eli made three more laps on the dragon coaster before Puck chased us both through the funhouse.

Puck was getting noticed now. The Desert Kings logo on the t-shirt drew the gaze of the teenage boys and the size and rippling muscle the gaze of the girls. Puck only seemed to notice the girls…I wasn’t the only one who could flirt with a look.

“Be nice,” I told him as he bent to pick up a dropped cell phone and hand it to a blushing blonde who couldn’t meet his eyes.

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 to go .”

“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 Desert Dicks .” 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 that she 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.”

I couldn’t see his face, but the way Puck towered over JoJo told me everything I needed to know.

This was about to get ugly. Eli’s little arms squeezed tight around my neck.

I scrambled into the driver’s seat of the truck.

Eli and I were both small enough that I could slip him between the seats into his car seat and buckle him in.

When one of JoJo’s friends edged closer, Puck swung on him without warning. I watched his fist connect with the guy’s jaw and send him sprawling on the ground. JoJo charged and Puck caught him in the nose with the elbow of that same arm.

Blood spurted everywhere, and I ducked away, focusing on Eli. The memory of the night in the frat house as Puck barged into that room played in my head.

“Who is the scary monster’s big bad wolf?” I asked him, grabbing a blanket.

“Dad.” But his eyes were big as plates, the carnival lights reflecting in them.

“Yup. Don’t be scared. It’ll be over in a minute.” I covered him with the blanket, turning so I could see Puck.

“Want me to tell you a story about him beating up the monsters?”

“Uh-huh.” His voice was strong, but I still heard the fear in it.

I cranked the truck as JoJo, shirt pulled up and clutched to his nose, and his four buddies surrounded Puck. He cracked his neck from one side to the other, slipped the rings off his fingers, and shoved them in his pockets.

“We were just having a good time, playing with her a little bit.” One of them jutted his pimply-faced chin out. He was barely more than a teenager. “Ain’t like she’s anybody to you.”

Puck snorted a half laugh. “You’re fucking dumber than you look if you believe that.”

“Hey, brother, how about I even the odds?” A familiar, youthful voice sounded from between a row of cars. Crash Vaughn, closed faced motorcycle helmet in his hands, sauntered up behind JoJo.

“One time, I was really sick and couldn’t move much. These bad men took me…” I started, shutting the door to muffle the sounds. But I never took my eyes off Puck.

I hadn’t been too concerned before, when it was five on one. He’d take some licks, but they were young and stupid. Skinny losers. Not to mention the pistol in the door if I needed it. But Crash’s appearance meant it was about to be a good show.

“Who’s the pretty boy? Bet he squeals like a pig.” The one with the piss yellow mullet moved closer to Crash.

Dude wasn’t wrong. Jester’s little brother was pretty. Big eyes, long lashes, sculpted mouth, and a proud jaw. But if they looked closer, they’d notice the scars, the slightly swollen lower lip…the scrapes on his knuckles.

If you knew Jester, you knew he and his brother fought competitively. That they were damn-fucking good at it.

“Wanna find out?” Crash winked and blew him a kiss. The move was so similar to Jester, for a moment I forgot he wasn’t.

“The bad men took me in this room and were going to hurt me. I was scared. Then the door, Eli, the whole door flew off that room, your dad kicked it so hard. In landed with a booming crash and scared all the bad men.”

JoJo dove for Puck again. His one-armed attack was wobbly, his punch off center, and Puck easily dodged it with a quick jerk of his head.

Puck punched him in the stomach, hard, and sent him back to the ground.

JoJo scrambled to his feet, still clutching his bloody nose, face red and eyes wild and angry.

The guy who’d been talking grabbed at Puck, who snatched him up by the front of his shirt and smashed his forehead into his nose. The head butt was so violent, blood gushed down that guy’s face and he fell to the ground.

JoJo still wasn’t getting up, instead he scrambled away on hands and feet.

“Your dad was bigger than they were, angrier. He knocked them down, and they didn’t get up.”

Puck threw a right, catching another guy in the face. He staggered but recovered and threw a couple of body shots at Puck that made me flinch.

Crash didn’t fight fair. He clocked pimple-face with the helmet then stomped the other guy on the ground before he could stand. Then he jumped at a third, who tucked tail and ran.

It was just Puck and the one with actual balls. I could imagine Puck fighting on the ice when he played hockey, the way he circled this guy, waiting on another punch.

“Were you scared anymore?” Eli’s little voice pulled me away from the action.

“No, baby, I wasn’t. Your dad picked me up and took me out of the bad place.”

“Because he loves you.”

I closed my eyes tight, not realizing until that moment how much those words hurt. Because they couldn’t possibly be true and it was dangerous to wish they were. Because every man who’d ever claimed to love me—my bio-dad, Ghost, and David—hadn’t. I was unlovable, for whatever reason.

“No, buddy, because he’s a good man. Like a superhero.”

Another punch and the guy stumbled into a car, then turned, and ran off.

“Hulk smash!” He squealed, laughing without a trace of fear.

“You ain’t lying.”

Puck tossed two or three jabs at the guy’s face and it was over. He spun to the ground on his hands and knees. When he grabbed Puck’s ankle, Crash was there, kicking him in the midsection and sending him tumbling around on the pavement.

Puck turned toward the truck, breathing a little heavy, and blowing hair from his face. His gaze caught mine and he grinned. It was such a sexy little twist of his lips I damn near crawled from the truck and climbed him like a tree right there in the fucking parking lot.

Eli was with me, so I restrained myself.

“You can take the blanket off now.” He did, cuddling the giant, cartoon stuffed alien.

Puck stepped over JoJo, rapped his knuckles against Crash’s, and opened the door. His kiss was quick, warm, and came with a gentle nudge toward the passenger seat. I obeyed, climbing over.

“Fasten your seatbelt,” he told me.

When I gave him a weird look, he flicked his glanced to the backseat where Eli watched me.

I put it on as Puck reversed from the spot, narrowly missing where JoJo rolled up onto his hands and knees clutching his bloody nose.

I shot him the bird as we drove away.