Page 69 of Penn

Penn body checks him, and I gasp when Stephen lands on the floor. Hard. There’s a crack as he lands, and I can’t tell if it’s Stephen or the hardwood floor that made the noise. Either way, it doesn’t sound good.

“Try to take her baby from her,” Penn says. “I fucking dare you.”

“What the fuck is your problem, man? This has nothing to do with you!”

He jumps onto Stephen and punches him, pinning him down as he does. I gasp, my hands flying to my mouth as Stephen tries to stop the blows but fails miserably.

“Penn!” I scream. “Stop it! Nancy has a rule!”

It does no good, and I worry he might actually kill Stephen. Every hit makes a sickening sound as bone cracks, and it makes my stomach churn even more.

Pacino grabs Penn and yanks him up, leaving Stephen writhing on the floor in pain with blood all over his face. “Come for her baby, and I’ll fucking end you!” he shouts. “But before I do that, I’ll ruin your entire goddamn life. You’ll beg me to end your suffering by the time I’m done.”

“Easy, man,” Pacino says, his muscles straining as Penn fights to be let go to finish what he started. “Don’t kill the bastard in front of witnesses. I like most of the people in here, and I don’t want to have to get rid of half the town.”

I’m sure it’s meant as a joke, but it doesn’t quite land that way. Not after what Penn just did and threatened.

“What the fuck is going on?” Nancy shouts, running from the back.

“He doesn’t get to come in here and grab Dixie. And he sure as hell doesn’t get to threaten her!”

She walks over to me and gently looks at my reddening wrist. “He grabbed you?”

“He’s the one who tried to kill her by setting her house on fire!” Penn growls. “And now he’s talking about kidnapping her baby.”

“You know, I think I have something in my eye. I should probably head to the back and see if it gets better in a few minutes.”

My jaw drops. Nancy rarely lets people off the hook for fighting, and I feel the smallest amount of gratitude. This is for me. She’s trying to help me.

Kannon walks over and turns Stephen onto his front with a simple flip of his body. A groan sounds, but he doesn’t fight Kannon when he grabs his wallet. “Stephen Patterson.”

There’s not one ounce of sympathy in Kannon’s demeanor as he pulls his license out and tosses it to Pacino, who catches it with one hand. “Take him.”

Rooster and Kannon pull Penn aside, and I’m stuck staring in awe. I have no idea what’s happening, and Pacino takes a photo of the ID on his phone before tossing it back onto the ground in the pool of blood left by Stephen, who lies on his front where Kannon left him.

“I’ll have Scotty dig up all of his dirty little secrets. We’ll have enough dirt on him to bury him by the end of the night.”

“I’m okay,” Penn says. “You can let me go.”

I’m not as certain as Rooster and Kannon are, but they release him, and Kannon flips through the folds of Stephen’s wallet. “How many fucking credit cards does one asshole need?”

“How much cash does he have?” Penn asks. “He owes Dixie for half the cost of everything since he knocked her up.”

“None.”

“Check his jacket pockets,” I stammer out.

Giving me a shrug, Kannon walks over and bends down to dig through Stephen’s jacket pockets. His eyebrows shoot up as he pulls out three rolls of bills wrapped with rubber bands. “Who is this fucker? A dealer?”

“Pharmaceutical rep,” I say. “Though, I don’t know why he gets paid like that.”

“There’s fifteen grand in my hands. You want it, Dixie?”

I shake my head. “I don’t want anything from him.”

“Get up,” Pacino says, his voice low and commanding.

Stephen groans in response.