Page 34 of Saints & Sailors

Scott placed his hand on the small of my back. “Good idea.”

“Did you finally meet someone there, Scott, buddy?” René’s mocking voice spoke from behind us.

“Dad.” Dreux’s pleading tone wasn’t enough to stop his father.

René was stepping onto Scott’s property, despite Dreux’s attempts at pulling him back. René studied the way Scott and I stood, a smirk crossing his face yet again.

This was Dreux’s father?

Up close he was stunning, but in all the ways that was bad. The same way Cameron warned me away from Bonham, I just knew at a time when René was a teenager, girls used to warn others about him too.

“Awful young, isn’t she?” René pocketed his hands and stood back once he stepped on the porch.

Did we invite him over?

Dreux came around his father, stepping between us. This only seemed to amuse René.

Scott let out a breath. “This is my daughter, Saylor.”

René’s brows shot upward in surprise. “Oh, you finally went out and got your own kid, huh? They let grown men adopt teenage girls?”

Dreux’s lips parted, but I could fight my own battles.

I planted myself in front of Scott, folding my arms across my chest. “I’m his flesh and blood, actually.”

Scott steered me under his arm. “She used to live with her mother, is all.”

“Funny, you never mentioned having a kid,” René remarked.

“Wasn’t any of your concern.”

“Much like my son⁠—”

“Dad.” Dreux’s sharp tone cut through the tension. A vein bulged in his neck as he glared at his father. “Drop it.”

René shifted his attention to his son then back to my father. “Until next time. I’ll be seeing you, Scott.” He turned to leave, but not without looking back at me. “Pleasure meeting you, Saylor.”

I scowled at him.

Seriously, this was Dreux’s father?

Maybe with parents like his he felt guilty enough to be the boy scout that he was.

Scott ushered me inside before anything else could be said, and I was grateful, because I could feel a Fuck You bubbling up.

“So, that’s René,” Scott announced as he led the way into the kitchen.

“I almost feel bad for Dreux,” I said as I sat at the counter.

“Ever since their divorce, it’s been a little rough between René and Dreux,” Scott explained as he began unpacking his groceries. “As you can see, René’s a bit of a…”

“Dickhead?” I suggested.

Scott chuckled, but he did nod at this remark. “Dreux’s a good kid, got in a little trouble a while back. That’s why Angie’s a little hard on him. He won’t answer to anybody but her.”

“And you,” I pointed out.

Scott gave a helpless shrug. “We’re neighbors. I’ve known him since he was a little boy.”