Page 41 of The Legend
“Thank you.”I kissed her nose. “Do we have any pain pills? My leg is killing me.”
“Aboutthat...” her nose scrunched, her eyes dropped frommine. “You need to get that looked at. I think it’s infected.”
“I thinkyou’re right, fucking no good turtle.”
“I need togo to the store so I will pick up something for you.”
Limpinginto the family room, I added, “Don’t forget more beer.”
I sat downon the couch with a 6-pack intending to finish it off myself when Tommy, withno shirt, emerged from the guest bedroom zipping his pants.
“Can I gooutside now?” Casten asked when he finished with the backyard. The house wasstill a mess but it was considerably less of a mess. Instead of a tornado, itjust resembled a small riot.
“Yourmom’s not here do what you want.” I thought for a moment and then added, “Don’tsteal any cars and don’t set anything on fire.”
“Word,”Tommy said sitting beside me. “You’re not good at parenting, are you?”
“No shit.Don’t tell Sway.”
“I thoughthe was grounded?” Tommy looked at me with confusion. Looking at him now, Icould tell that he was still drunk.
“Youshould be grounded too. I can’t believe you let all this happen.” I reached formy beer. “Are you questioning my parenting skills?”
“No,”Tommy said, “not at all.”
Castenpicked up his iPad on the ottoman by my foot and laughed. “What’s that from?”he pointed to my turtle bite. “It looks like a hickey.”
“I thoughtyou were going outside?”
He laughedthe entire way out the door. Little jerk.
“Jesus,”Willie groaned as he made his way inside. “...thisplace is trashed!” Flopping down next to Tommy, we sat there drinking the restof the beer.
Rosaemerged from the same guest room Tommy had come from, smiling. Glaring at me,she gave Tommy a wink and shuffled into the kitchen where I heard the espressomachine going and her god-awful singing. Tommy laughed. Tommy’s laugh was moreof a giggle too. It definitely wasn’t a laugh you expected from a guy but italways made you smile.
“Did you...no...” Ilooked back at Rosa in the kitchen. She was stretching out her calves. “Did yousleep with my maid?”
Williebroke out into laughter and curled into himself on the couch. Apparentlylaughter wasn’t helping his hangover.
Tommygrinned mischievously. “All girls need love maids too.”
“You’re somethingelse man.” I laughed slapping his shoulder. Reaching for the remote, I turnedon the television and avoided all the news channels. I didn’t want to see myyard on the news anymore. Physically, it was bad enough to look at it.
Ariefinally came home around six. The boy and I were still on the couch. Spencerhad joined us now.
It was thefirst time we had seen her since we got home. “Where the hell have you been?” Iasked looking at her appearance. She looked horrible. Her usually wavy rustycurls were matted and pulled under a gray beanie. Ripped jeans, a torn t-shirtand flip-flops completed her style for today.
“Nice tosee you too, dad,” She looked around ripping the beanie from her head andslamming it into Clint’s chest who walked in behind her. “Where the fuck isCasten at?”
“OhCasten,” I called out amused, “You’re sister is home!”
Arieglared and then shot up the stairs. The scream Casten let out was, well,similar to the sound a cat would make if it was being gang banged.
Lexiewalked in behind Clint, looking just as bad as Arie, talking on her phone. “Shehad big boobs, smelled good, talked like a trucker and told my brother to fuckoff, of course we felt connected to her—” her sentence halted when she saw herdad. “I’m going to go now.”
“Probablya good idea,” I advised her and then looked at Spencer who was scowling at hisdaughter.
“Wherewere you last night?” Spencer asked her harshly. I had a feeling I didn’t knowhalf the shit that went down last night but it was comforting to know that mykids weren’t the only out of control hooligans.
