I kicked it past him into the open stretch of yard near the driveway and he bolted after it. This was the way life was supposed to be for us, simple and sweet and easy. It brought tears to my eyes that my dad may never get to witness Kip growing up or playing real soccer. Then I heard a bike on the road.
The engine was loud and getting louder by the second. I turned toward the road expecting to see Garret's familiar silhouette, but the bike that pulled into the driveway wasn't his.
The rider was leaner, sharper, and the cut on his back had a patch placement I recognized before I could even see his face.
Tony killed the engine and swung off the bike. Every nerve in my body fired at once. I scooped Kip off the ground and pressed him against my chest and started moving toward the house quickly.
"No, Mommy! Ball!" Kip squealed but my only concern was keeping him away from Tony. No one in this town knew I had a kid outside of immediate family and the thought of Tony learning it terrified me.
"Sara!" Tony's voice cracked across the yard. "Don't you walk away from me."
I froze midstep. My legs wouldn't move. Kip squirmed in my arms and looked at Tony over my shoulder with wide, curious eyes. I turned my body to shield him.
"Danny!" I called toward the house. "Danny, come get Kip!"
The screen door opened and Danny stepped out. I shoved Kip into his arms.
"Take him inside right now," I said.
Danny looked past me at Tony standing in the driveway and his face twisted into a glare, but he took Kip and went inside without arguing. The screen door slapped shut behind him.
Tony walked up to me, stopping close enough that I had to tilt my head back to look at him. It made my skin crawl because I knew what lived under that disgusting smirk.
"I've seen you sneaking around with Crank," he growled at me in warning. "Wanna tell me what's goin' on with you two?"
My blood curdled. I wanted to scream, but I managed to control my tone as I took a few steps backward away from him.
"I'm not sneaking around with anyone," I told him. "I'm here to take care of my father. He's dying, Tony." I hoped turning the conversation back on Dad would scare him off, but Tony was persistent.
"And yet you keep ending up alone with Garret in the dark." He tilted his head. "That's a dangerous habit for a woman in your position." He stalked forward, looking down the front of my shirt like a perve.
"There is nothing going on between?—"
"Don't lie to me," he said, cutting me off. "I'm not stupid and neither are you."
He looked toward the house where Danny had taken Kip inside, and when his gaze landed on me again I knew he was putting pieces together. It sent panic racing through my chest. I couldn’t leave town, not without knowing what was going on with Dad, and what about Mom? She still needed me.
"That kid," he said. "How old is he?"
I swallowed hard, taking another step backward and feeling the ball behind me on the ground. I felt eyes on me too—Danny's eyes. I sensed him standing on the porch, or inside the door. It made me feel less alone, but still just as terrified. Tony wouldn't hurt me right in front of my brother, but this was way worse. I knew bringing Kip back here was a bad idea.
"He's my son. That's all you need to know."
"He looks a lot like Crank," Tony snarled, hanging on Garret's biker name like it disgusted him. He studied my face and I felt every wall I'd built over the last three years start to crack. "Spitting image, Sara. Does Ol' Cranky Boy know he's a daddy?"
My throat closed up and I blinked rapidly to keep myself from screaming and cussing at him. It was my secret, not his, and if he told Garret I'd never be able to live with myself.
"That's what I thought," Tony said, using his tongue to polish one of his canine teeth. I felt shame wash over me, then more terror, and I took another step away.
"Your secret's safe with me, Tony." I knew I sounded desperate because I was. He couldn't tell Garret. "I haven't told a soul and I never will. I'm here to mourn my father and take care of my family, and that's it. Please leave us alone."
"If you care about your life at all, you'll stay away from Crank," he said. "I've warned you more than once and my patience is running out."
His hand came up slowly, the way Garret's would when he would cradle my cheek, but Tony's long spindly fingers wrapped around my neck and squeezed. Then his thumb pressed right on my jugular and his nose twitched.
The memory of the last time he'd done this in my father's shop came crashing back and I whimpered, feeling tears well up.
"Women who get out of line get punished, Sara," he said, leaning in so close the putrid stench of his tobacco breath almost made me gag. "Remember that."
