Page 2 of Trick or Treat
He didn’t mind Michelle calling at a moment’s notice to come get the kids because for him, they were his whole world. He would die if he wasn’t able to see them. He just hated that in order to get his kids as often as he did, he had to keep paying the same amount of child support no matter that he had them more than he was supposed to or she’d threaten to take him back to court and get it increased. Between his ex and his fucking no good attorney, he was getting fucked six ways to Sunday.
He couldn’t complain about the money or take her to court to reduce the child support because she’d get pissy and would never let him see his kids outside of his appointed days. So far Trick felt it was worth the aggravation and expense to see his kids. He crossed his fingers this new attorney could help him or he and his kids might just have to disappear.
Halfway to the door, it swung open and his kids raced out. Over their heads he could see Michelle dressed in a pair of cut-off jeans shorts and a tank with no bra. Her hair was up in a ponytail and he could see her pinched mouth from where he was standing. What the fuck did he do now? You know, it wouldn’t bug the shit out of him half as much if she didn’t still look as good as when they first met. He’d fallen back under her spell one time after they were divorced and that’s how they ended up with Reagan.
Speaking of which, his baby girl was running at him full out, dragging her backpack of toys behind her. Her huge smile reminded him why he put up with all the shit Michelle put him through. He bent and scooped her up, causing her to giggle. “There’s my beautiful girl!” He settled her little bottom on his bent arm and held her backpack in his other hand. “Miss me?”
“Yes, Daddy! Missed you lots!” She grabbed him by the cheeks and gave him a big wet kiss on his forehead.
As was the norm for his baby girl, she was dressed in her princess clothes. Today she was in a baby blue with white trim dress and sparkly silver tennis shoes. Knowing full well who she was dressed as today, he asked, “So, Princess Fiona, you ready to go get something to eat?” He mentally shook his head and laughed at himself. Never in a million years would he have guessed he’d know the name of every princess that ever graced the TV screen.
“Daddy!” she squealed. “I’m not Princess Fiona, she’s an ogre! I’m Cinderella!” She said the last like she couldn’t believe he didn’t know the difference.
“Uh, you’re right. My bad.” He waited for Keegan to mosey his way toward them. By mosey, he meant the kid had the same swagger as his old man. His heart swelled with the knowledge that they had something so small in common. It also made him immensely happy to know his boy looked just like him, from his blond hair to his coffee brown eyes. Hell, the kid was even built like him at that age.
“Keegan!” Michelle stopped him before he could get halfway across the yard. He turned to see her waving a paper at him and went back for it. She said something to him, he nodded, not looking happy and turned to leave again. “Make sure you give that to your dad!” she shouted after him, like the kid would forget between the door and where Trick stood.
When Keegan pulled up alongside him, he ruffled his son’s hair and greeted him. “Hey, Keegan. You good?”
His son nodded his head and kept his eyes forward, mumbling under his breath, “Yeah. Good, Dad.”
Trick didn’t believe him, but he’d give him that for the amount of time it would take to fasten Reagan in her car seat in the backseat, make sure Keegan was buckled into the front seat and make his way around the front of the truck and get in. He drove in silence for a few minutes, listening to his girl jabbering in the backseat as she played with her princess Barbies. He chanced a glance in his son’s direction and what he saw depressed the hell out of him. Keegan sat quietly looking out the side window, a frown on his face and what looked like the weight of the world on his small shoulders. There was something on his mind and he was debating on whether or not to talk to his dad. Trick thought he’d make it easier on him. “What’s eating you?”
After a few long seconds, he replied, “You missed Open House.”
Trick’s grip tightened around the steering wheel as he gritted his teeth so hard, he feared he might break one. That fucking bitch didn’t tell him. Big surprise. “Sorry. I didn’t know about it or I would’ve been there. You know that, right?”
“Yeah. I do.” He turned to look at Trick. “She didn’t tell you, did she?”
“No, buddy, she didn’t. When was it?”
“Tuesday night.”
Trick tried to always be there for his kids no matter what. If they were sick, he’d take them to the doctor and nurse them back to health because Michelle didn’t have the patience to “deal” with them. If it was something pertaining to school, he was there for Open House, conferences, plays, concerts. Whatever the situation, he would always be there for his kids. He didn’t care if he was balls deep in a sweet butt, if they needed him, he was there. Nothing mattered more to him than Keegan and Reagan.
He dreaded asking the question, but Trick needed to know. “How was your mom at Open House?”
Keegan sighed heavily, looking out the side window. “Her dress was too short and her boobs were hanging out. It was embarrassing.”
Yeah, that would do it. It pissed him off to no end that Michelle couldn’t just once show up at a school function looking like a normal mom and not some white trash ho looking to get laid. “I’m sorry about that. Was she drinking before she took you?” She sure as fuck better not have been drinking and driving with his kids in the car. He’d told her on more than one occasion that it was not gonna fly.
When she’d gotten in an accident because she ran off the road and banged up her car and he’d had to go bail her out of jail, the only thing that kept him from snapping her neck was the fact that his kids were with him at the time. He’d had his mom come sit with them while he took care of Michelle. The car had sustained some body damage but the air bag hadn’t deployed. She’d gotten off lucky with only a knot on her forehead from where it had hit the steering wheel. He had gotten stuck with the repair bill.
Fuck, he was tired of dealing with her shit and he was tired of all his money going to her.
He watched Keegan hesitate, knowing it was hard for his son to rat his mom out because he loved her despite how much she’d been fucking up lately.
“Keegan?”
“She had a beer before she took me to Open House, but she wasn’t drunk. She was going out with Aunt Patty afterward.”
Trick was not a big fan of Aunt Patty. She was Michelle’s older sister who was constantly sticking her nose into everyone’s business. She was always goading Michelle, telling her she needed to “live a little more” which translated to them going out partying with the money he gave his ex to take care of his kids. Bitch.
“So, I guess you guys went to Grandma Lynn’s?” At least at Michelle’s mom’s he knew they’d be safe and taken care of. His ex-mother-in-law wasn’t anymore happy about the way things were turning out with either of her daughters than he was. She was constantly telling Michelle she needed to grow up, get a job and take better care of her kids. She would also tell her to quit listening to her older sister because she was constantly getting into trouble and looking for someone to bail her out. To hear Patty tell it, things were never her fault.
“Um,” Keegan stalled out.
“Um, what? Tell me, Keegan.”
