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Bowie already had his arms around Tony so I hugged them both, since I knew Bowie wouldn’t let my boy go until I got back. Tony was shaking, even with Bowie hugging him, while Tibby paced right behind them, a silent sentinel at their backs. Oh yeah, our guys were coming together. There was a look on Claude’s face that left me with the distinct impression that he had Tony’s back too. I met Pressley’s eyes last and saw a hard look in them.

“However you handle it, I’ve got you,” Pressley declared.

The whole way up there, I was at war with myself about whether to greet the man with my fists or ask him what the fuck he was doing here. In the end, I decided to play my cards close to the vest. Tony’s old man was already fussing at the security guys at the gate for not letting him go in and find his son himself. He was a hair’s breadth away from them dogpiling him, which might not be a bad thing for everyone involved. His causing a disturbance at what could arguably be considered Tony’s place of business might be grounds for legal to move forward with a no contact order. Was I feeling smug when I climbed out of that security UTV?

You’re damn right I was.

“Hey, that’s not my son!” Tony’s old man started bellowing the moment he got a look at me. “You guys said you were bringing my son up here.”

“And your son sent me.”

All of a sudden, his demeanor changed. This mother fucker actually puffed up and had the nerve to look smug when he glared at security.

“Told you fuckers my son was here,” he snapped, approaching me like he expected me to escort him to Tony.

“He’s here,” I said, stepping in front of him before he could go any further. “But he doesn’t want to see you, and he doesn’t want you anywhere near him. I’m here to give you the one and only nice warning you’re going to get.”

“I don’t give a shit what that little fuck wants…”

My fist flew before I remembered my resolution to not tip my hand before I was forced to.

“That was the not nice warning,” I growled. “From here on out, they just get worse, so I suggest you quit flapping your gums and listen really close to what I have to say. Tony might be your flesh and blood, but you forfeited all rights to call yourself a father the moment you put your hands on him in anger. You have bullied him, abused him and terrorized him. Your face is going up at every venue we play from this point forward so everyone knows you’re banned. You get your ass tossed in jail and I’ll be the one showing up if you try to reach out to Tony, and it won’t be with bail money for you. It will be for whatever charges I get hit with after I get through with you. Every time you so much as think about contacting Tony, picture me, because that’s the face you’ll see greeting you.”

“You son of a bitch,” he growled, slowly picking himself up off the ground and wiping the blood from his nose, which like his eyes, was already swelling. “I need to talk to my boy before I lose our damn house.”

Oh yeah. I broke it. He wouldn’t see clearly for at least a week. Sucked to be him. He was gonna have a hell of a drive home in that condition and no one to blame but himself.

“You mean your damn house, which he will not be paying one slim silver dime to help you with,” I declared. “That’s not his responsibility any more than you are! You fucked up, you deal with it. That was never his home, you made sure of that, so now you can rot in it or in front of it if you get thrown out. It’s your problem to deal with. Let those words sink in, they are my last on the subject. I’ve never been much for conversations, prefer to do my talking with my fists, if I’m being honest, so we can have that discussion, if you’d like, or you can walk away before you piss these guys off.”

“Oh, it’s way too late for that,” one of the men grumbled.

One glance was all it took for me to notice the badge on his arm, labeling him the head of festival security. It was on now.

“He either leaves or gets arrested, neither choice matters to me,” the man said as he took a photo of Tony’s father. “We’ll keep that posted, in case he comes back, which will result in trespassing charges.”

“You can all kiss my ass,” Tony’s old man growled.

“Mister, I’m of the mindset to let this guy kick you all over the desert. I promise me and my guys won’t see a damn thing. In fact, I’ll tell anyone who asks that he and I were in my trailer discussing a threat to his band’s security, which it looks to me like you are.”

He turned to me then and nodded. “We can take it from here, if you’re through with him.”

“Do we have an understanding?” I asked Tony’s father.

“You tell that selfish prick that I’d better not ever lay eyes on him again,” he snarled, spitting blood in the dirt.

“For your sake,” I’d cautioned. “I hope that never happens. If it does, I will blame you and spend the next week icing my knuckles after I break you.”

I cracked them and took two steps in his direction before he found his common sense and scurried back to his car. He threw the damn thing in gear before he got the door shut all the way, tires kicking up rocks as he whipped the car around and took off.

“Let’s hope the fucker doesn’t come back,” I grumbled.

“If he does, we’ll handle it,” the chief of security said, holding out his hand. “Martin.”

“Wolf,” I replied, shaking it.

“Let’s get you back to your band. My guys have his picture, and I’ll file an incident report and get it right over to Pressley, so everything is nice and documented in case he comes back looking to cause trouble.”

“Thanks for having my back.”