Chapter Nine
I sprinted out to the truck as fast as I could and reached it as Jeremy opened the driver’s side door. With the front door open, Austin’s wailing pierced the night air and speared straight into my gut.
Frantic, I pulled open the back door to get to my son. Head thrown back and mouth wide open, Austin screamed at the top of his lungs as tears dripped down his cheeks. But the moment he saw my face, he stopped crying and reached for me.
I quickly unbuckled him and pulled him out of the truck into my arms. “What happened?”
“He’s fine,” Jeremy said, rolling his eyes. “I got him the stupid ice cream cone like you said and he didn’t eat it fast enough. He dripped it all over him and my truck, and then the top half of it fell off and rolled down the front of his shirt onto the floorboard. When I refused to buy him another, he started screaming. After I went deaf in both ears, I brought him home. I ain’t gonna listen to that crap all weekend.”
Since I didn’t trust Jeremy one bit, I gazed at Austin. “Is that what happened?”
He nodded and rubbed at his nose as he sniffled, and relief swept through me. Thank God. I’d definitely pictured something much worse in my head. But then Austin said, “He said I couldn’t have another ice cream cone ever again. Then he told me that I need a spanking.”
Irritation trickled through me at the both of them. “Grab your bag and take it inside. I want you to sit in time-out for screaming like that. You know better.”
“Aw, Momma.”
“I mean it. Now go. I’ll be there in a few minutes. I want to talk to Jeremy for a second.”
Austin sniffed again, sucking snot farther into his nose. “Okay.”
I put him down and handed him his backpack, which was now covered in melted ice cream. Then I waited for him to make it into the house and out of earshot before I rounded on Jeremy. “Why would you say that to him? I already told you that I don’t spank him.”
“Well, it wasn’t like I could put him in time-out. He was sitting in his booster seat already. So you figure that one out, smart-ass.”
“Dear God. You can’t seriously be this incompetent as a father.”
“Oh, here we go,” he said, rolling his neck with exasperation. He motioned toward the house. “How did I know you were going to take up for the little drama queen?”
“What the hell is wrong with you? He’s just a little kid.”
“Yeah, one that needs discipline. If you’d pop your titty out of his mouth already, maybe he wouldn’t be acting like such a brat.”
“Maybe he wouldn’t act like such a brat if you ever tried showing him any kind of affection. Have you ever thought of that?”
“I bought him the fucking ice cream cone. What else do you want?”
Jesus. That was exactly the problem. He just didn’t get it and probably never would. “Look, Jeremy, I know you didn’t have the best home life growing up, and I feel bad for you. I really do. Your mom left when you were little, and although your dad raised you, he always treated you like you were a burden. But that doesn’t give you any right to do the same to Austin.”
Jeremy’s eyes narrowed. “Watch what the fuck you’re saying about my family. You don’t know shit about how I was raised.” Always the bully, he stepped forward and got into my face, trying to physically intimidate me with his size as usual.
“Why do you have to be so mean all the time?”
“If you think I’m being mean right now, you don’t have a fucking clue how mean I can get.”
I was so used to his stupid threats that they didn’t even faze me anymore. I wasn’t willing to back down and let him think he had won. I rolled my eyes. “Oh, shut up already. You’re not going to do shit.”
Out of anger, Jeremy reached for me, but he didn’t grasp me in time before something blocked the motion and a pained grunt registered in my ears. It all happened so fast that it took me a second to realize that Seth had suddenly appeared and moved in front of me. I didn’t know where he had come from, but he now had Jeremy’s fingers twisted up over his right shoulder.
“Don’t touch her,” Seth breathed out, his voice low and menacing.
Jeremy winced in pain, unable to speak, but I could see the rage burning in his eyes. He wanted to take a swing at Seth badly which was the last thing I needed right now. Damn it, this wasn’t helping matters any.
I yanked on Seth’s bicep, trying unsuccessfully to pull him away. “Seth, stop it! Let him go.”
He immediately released Jeremy’s fingers and took a step back, though he kept himself mostly in front of me. Probably in case Jeremy tried anything else.
Jeremy held his fingers with his opposite hand, and then stretched each out, one at a time. “I’m going to kick your ass, you sonofa—”
I stepped around Seth and placed myself in between them. “No. There’s not going to be any fighting. Otherwise, I’ll call the police on both of you.”
Jeremy nodded. “Go ahead. I’d be happy to tell them how he assaulted me for no reason.”
With a commanding presence, Seth stood his ground, his eyes never straying from Jeremy. “If you think that was an assault, put your hands on her again and see what I do to you.”
Jeremy shook his hand out and then made a fist. “You won’t have the element of surprise on your side this time.”
“I don’t need it.”
Amusement lit Jeremy’s face. “Well, look what we have here. A badass. You think just because you’re related to Junior that I’m supposed to be scared of you, Indian?”
“Jeremy!” I said, blinking at him in shock.
“Watch yourself,” Seth warned, though his calm tone seemed to almost contradict his words.
Jeremy puffed out his chest in a display of male dominance. “Is that a threat?”
I glared at him. “That’s enough. You need to leave.” Then my gaze turned onto Seth. “Go inside and check on Austin for me, please. I’ll be right there.”
Jeremy continued to stand there while Seth turned his back on him and walked toward the house. Either he was confident that Jeremy wouldn’t reach for me again, or he was hoping like hell that the asshole would go for him while his back was turned. I couldn’t tell which.
“Goodbye, Jeremy,” I said, hoping to prompt him into leaving.
But he didn’t move. “Let me guess. You’re sanding his totem pole, aren’t you?”
I crossed my arms to show my indignation. “I said goodbye.”
He grinned. “Was that a yes?”
“No, that was me telling you nicely to leave. Even if I was sleeping with Seth—which I’m not—it would be no concern of yours.”
He laughed as he climbed into his truck. “Oh, give me a fucking break. Don’t pretend like you’re not stoking that Indian’s fire. Anyone in their right mind can see that he has a tepee in his pants for you.”
Anger flooded through me. I’d had enough of this asshole acting like he had any say in my life. “So what if he does? What I do and who I do it with is none of your damn business. Now get the fuck off my property before I have you arrested for trespassing.” I slammed his truck door closed.
He rolled down the window. “You give it up to just about anyone, don’t you?”
Okay, that was it. I’d had enough of this asshole. “I’m going inside to get my gun. If you’re still sitting here when I get back, I’m going to shoot you.”
I didn’t even make it to the porch before Jeremy drove away.
…
After I let Austin get up from his time-out chair, he came over to me with a huge smile on his face, clearly glad to be home where he belonged. He raised his palms into the air. “My hands are sticky, Momma.”
Even so, I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him close. “I have news for you, kiddo. Everything on you is sticky. You need a bath. Pronto.”
Seth appeared in the doorway to the kitchen and leaned against the frame, arms crossed. “I could stand a cold shower myself,” he said, smirking.
Heat crept up my neck. I’d forgotten all about what had transpired earlier. “Do you, uh…want to go first? Austin likes to play in the tub, so he takes forever.”
“No, that’s okay. Since I finished one of the upstairs bathrooms, I’ll just run up there and let him have the tub downstairs.”
I nodded. “Okay, then.” I glanced at Austin, taking in his dirty, tear-stained face. “Well, it looks like it’s bath time for you, monster.”
Austin gazed up at Seth. “Do you want to borrow my rubber ducky? It squirts water when you squeeze it.”
Seth grinned, and I raised a hand to stop him mid-sentence, knowing that whatever was about to come out of his mouth probably wasn’t all that kid friendly. “Come on, Austin,” I said, directing my kiddo toward the bathroom.
I had him strip off his clothes as I got him some pajamas and then filled the tub halfway with warm water after adding a capful of blueberry-scented bubble bath. Austin climbed in and plopped down in the soapy bubbles, as if he were a human cannonball, then pulled some of his tub toys out of a bath net hanging at the back of the shower wall.
I let him play until the water turned cold and his fingers began to look like prunes. Then I pulled the plug and had Austin stand up so I could help him shampoo his hair and wash his body. While I was rinsing him off, he asked, “Momma, do you have a middle name?”
I grinned. Almost everyone in town referred to me as Bobbie Jo, though some, like Seth, only called me Bobbie. “Yes, my middle name is Jo.”
“So your whole name is Bobbie Jo Jo Weston?”
I laughed. “No, baby. There’s only one Jo in my name. Some people call me by my first and middle name together. Bobbie Jo.”
“Why?”
Good question. “I’m not really sure,” I said, rinsing the rest of the soap out of the tub so it wouldn’t get on his clean feet. Then I shut off the water.
Austin stood there, dripping wet. “Well, what about that little kid standing beside you—what’s his middle name?”
I froze. Though we lived in an old farmhouse, I’d never given much thought to ghosts. But as I gazed around the room and saw no one else there—at least not that I could see, anyway—an eerie sensation wafted over me. “Um, what little kid?”
Austin pointed to his reflection in the full-length mirror. “Me, silly!”
My hand flattened over my racing heart, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God. For a second there, he scared the crap out of me. “Oh,” I said, laughing at myself for being such a weenie. “Your middle name is Michael. Austin Michael.”
“Yep,” Austin said, nodding. “That’s my name, all right.”
I didn’t know what was funnier. The fact that he had known it all along or that he was quizzing me on a name I’d picked out myself.
As I spun to grab a towel for him, a knock sounded on the bathroom door. It didn’t open, but Seth’s muffled voice called out, “Just letting you know that I’m running out to the toolshed to grab a wrench. The upstairs shower has a small leak that I want to fix before it does any water damage. So if you hear a noise outside, it’s just me.”
I went to the door and cracked it open slightly, making sure Austin couldn’t be seen standing there in all of his nudity. “Okay, but could you do me a favor? I forgot to lower the gate on the chicken coop earlier. I normally do it around dark, but I was…um, a little preoccupied at the time.”
His face broke with a wide grin and he nodded, but I got a feeling that he was about to say something that probably wouldn’t be appropriate for little ears. So, as a reminder that we weren’t alone, I tilted my head toward my son…who was doing something that all kids did at some point in their lives. “Austin, stop touching your privates.”
“But it feels good.”
I shook my head and gazed back at Seth whose eyebrow had risen. “What?”
He shrugged. “The kid has a point.”
Huffing out an exasperated breath, I shut the door on Seth and pivoted back toward Austin with the towel in my hand. I draped it around him, lifted him out of the tub, and started drying him off when he said, “Momma, does Seth have a penis?”
I sucked in a breath. Flustered and not knowing what to say, I panicked and said the first thing that came to mind. “Um…probably.”
Probably? Holy hell. That’s all I could come up with?
Thankfully, my stupid answer seemed to satisfy his curiosity because he didn’t ask me anything else while I dressed him and tucked him into bed. I read him a story but before I got to the end, he fell fast asleep. So I turned on his night light, tiptoed out of his room, and headed straight for the kitchen.
Seth sat at the dining room table with both of his long legs stretched out in front of him and his ankles crossed. The moment I walked in, his serious eyes lifted to mine and he raised one eyebrow. “Probably, huh?”
Shit. My cheeks heated. “Uh, sorry. I didn’t know what to say to him. He caught me off guard.”
“Well, I’m not trying to brag or anything, but I do have a penis.”
It was awkward enough talking about Seth’s penis with a four-year-old, much less the man himself. So I changed the subject. “Uh, about what happened earlier with Jeremy…”
“Friendly sort, isn’t he?”
I cringed. “Sorry. He had no right to talk to you the way he did. He’s an idiot.”
Seth shrugged. “Bobbie, do you really think someone calling me an Indian offends me? I am Comanche and damn proud of my heritage. I was way more concerned about his behavior with you.”
“I understand that, and I appreciate you coming to my defense, but it wasn’t necessary. I had things under control.” Well, mostly.
“Like hell you did. I’ve seen Jeremy’s type before. He’s a bully and a coward, which is a bad combination. It makes him unpredictable because he has a chip on his shoulder, but the last thing he’ll ever do is admit someone intimidated him. A guy like him likes to pretend he’s invincible. I showed him that he wasn’t.”
Yeah, with a lightning fast move that made me wonder if he had some kind of official military or law enforcement training that he hadn’t previously mentioned. Why on Earth would a handyman need that kind of training, anyway?
“Seth, you can’t go putting your hands on him. What if Austin had walked outside and saw that? Besides that, the last thing I need is for him to try to use that against me in court.”
“He won’t.”
“You don’t know that for sure. You just said it yourself. He’s unpredictable.”
“I also said that he won’t admit that he was intimidated, and he thinks he’s invincible. Trust me, he’s not going to stand up in court and announce to everyone that another man hurt his little fingers. That’s why I went for his hand rather than breaking his damn arm. If he’s got any brains at all, he’ll think twice before reaching for you again.”
I sighed. “I’m not ungrateful. But I can’t take a chance on what he might tell the judge. I can’t risk losing my son over this. Just let me handle Jeremy. I’ve dealt with him this long without any help.”
“Your friends didn’t ever step in? Because my uncle told me they were always in your business.”
I nodded. “Of course they did. But I’ve told them the same thing…to stay out of it. My relationship with Jeremy is volatile enough without the added complication of other people getting involved. It’s best if I just handle things myself.”
“You shouldn’t have to.”
I shrugged. “I agree, but sometimes we don’t always get what we wish for.”
He glared at me. “I’m not just going to stand by and let him put his hands on you. No guy is going to put his hands on any woman around me, but especially not one that I was nearly having sex with against the fridge just moments before.”
I doubted his comment was meant to piss me off, but it sent me over the edge. “So that’s what this is all about?” I said, my tone bordering on hostile. “Your male pride?”
He groaned. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You punch Jeremy out. And then what? You won’t always be around, and I’ll still have to deal with him.”
“I’m here every day.”
“Yeah, for now. But you’re leaving town, remember?”
Seth lifted his head, and his eyes met mine. “I know.”
While I appreciated his honesty that he was still planning on leaving at the end of summer, I had the unsettling feeling that I’d just banged the last nail in that coffin and sealed our fate. Seth wasn’t planning on sticking around, and I wasn’t willing to get involved with a man who lacked in staying power.
Been there, done that. Won’t do it again.
Especially not with a guy as mysterious as Seth. I preferred to know exactly what I was getting myself into rather than being blindsided by something later. Regret filled me, and I lowered my head. “Um, about what happened between us earlier…”
“Yeah?”
I looked directly into his eyes. “It can’t happen again.”
“All right,” he agreed, though his reluctant tone stated otherwise. “Can I at least ask why?”
“Because you and I having sex only complicates matters, and I already have enough on my plate as it is.”
“It doesn’t have to be complicated. We could—”
“No, Seth,” I said firmly, shaking my head. “My momma always told me that if I found myself in a hole to stop digging. Well, this is my way of climbing back onto solid ground.”