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“Daddy, I go?” she asked hopefully.
“You’re going to be with your momma today, Love Bug. Daddy has to go with Poppy.”
She shook her head adamantly. “No, I go.”
While father and daughter had a stare down, which I was certain the little girl was going to win, given the glazed look in the pro baller’s swirling eyes, I moved around them to get to Trinity. Lyric had one arm around her waist as he carried her toward a woman several yards away.
“This is undignified,” Trinity screeched. “How can I not break a one-armed hold? Jarrett, I need more self-defense lessons.”
Lyric chuckled. “Yeah, your daddy needs to teach you all the lessons, babe. All the lessons.”
“Ugh, stop making daddy innuendos,” the dark-haired woman close to Trinity’s age complained, rubbing her hand over her distended, pregnant belly. “We had this talk last night, Lyric. You said you would be good and not joke around about the age gap.”
“No, you said I would be good and not make jokes about the age gap, my love.” Lyric placed Trinity on her feet just as I reached them. No sooner was she on the ground than she stomped on his foot hard enough to make him shout out in pain.
“Asshole! The next time you grab me, I’m going to headbutt you in the face. And I don’t care if your kids are there to see it or not.” She pointed to two little boys who were playing closer to where a group of the men was standing.
“Jesus,” Lyric groaned, hobbling on one foot. “I have to walk for eighteen holes, Trin! You just broke my toes.”
“Meh,” his wife said unsympathetically. “I gave birth your huge-headed sons with no pain medication. All too soon, I’ll be doing it with these girls in my belly. You can walk around a golf course for an afternoon just fine.”
Trinity stomped on his other foot. “There, now you can limp around with two hurt feet.” She was about to stomp it again when she didn’t get the yelp she’d gotten the first time, but I took pity on the poor idiot and picked her up, placing her on the other side of me.
Away from Lyric.
“Apologize for the daddy shit,” Mila directed in a quiet yet commanding voice.
“Why, when it’s true? And didn’t I tell you not to curse in front of my kid?” Luca asked as he walked over to the group. He was no longer holding his daughter, and a quick glance showed that Love Bug was playing with her cousins. “But seriously, Trin, out of everyone, I didn’t expect you to be the one with daddy issues. If anyone was likely to take on a sugar daddy, I would have thought it would be Shaw.”
“I heard that!” Shaw yelled from nearby.
“You were supposed to,” he called back.
Trinity was grim when she looked up at me. “If you want to make a run for it now, I can distract my dad, and you can grab the kids. Maybe get yourselves new identities. That way, you don’t have to deal with these boneheads or risk getting infected with their idiocy. Go—it’s too late for me. I’ve been exposed for too long to avoid contamination.”
“Leaving you isn’t an option, sweet angel. I’ll risk an infestation for you.”
“Awww,” Lyric and Luca cooed at the same time. “Trin has such a sweet sugar daddy.”
“Boys!” They both stood up a little straighter as their father barked at them. “Are you going to spend the entire day fucking around about sugar daddies?”
“Dad, I asked you not to curse in front of Love Bug,” Luca grumbled.
“She’s all the way over there.” He pointed to where three of his grandchildren were playing. “I doubt she heard me, boy.”
“You shouldn’t curse in front of any of the children,” Luca argued. “Including Trin.”
“Trinity is a grown woman.”
“Really?” Luca’s eyes lightened with amusement. “Then why does she need to hold her sugar daddy’s hand?”
A warrior-like sound escaped Trinity, and in the next moment, she was throwing herself on top of Luca, slapping him in the back of the head and punching him in the shoulders. I stood there, unsure if I should pull her off the guy or cheer her on. No one else seemed concerned for Luca’s well-being. Although he howled like he was in agony, I’d seen him in action on the football field and witnessed him taking heavier hits than any of the ones Trinity dished out. I had no doubt Luca could have used his strength to untangle her from him, but that could have potentially hurt Trinity in the process. That he didn’t try, told me he knew that and wouldn’t harm her, even at his own expense.
And that was all I needed to know about the man to understand his character.
But the need to protect was too overwhelming, and I struggled with how to handle the situation.
“Hit him with another left, Trin!” Barrick encouraged from across the parking lot. Beside him, his daughter was bouncing up and down in excitement.
