is crisp, sending frost into the dehydrated air cloying at me.
The fire beneath my skin boils hotter. “What’re you doing here?”
“Cutting pleasantries? How surprising.”
I allow a sneer to curl my top lip. “Killing ’em with kindness isn’t my style.”
“Since my calls continue to go unanswered, I brought Grant along to talk some sense into you.” His snort is clogged with phlegm. I gag on a mouthful of bile. My father seems to take great pleasure in making me nauseous, a cruel smirk cracking his thin lips. “But now I can see that you’ve been preoccupied.”
“I’m a busy man. Feel free to leave the same way you came.” I jut my chin toward the road.
He strokes his pointy chin. “Yet you’re playing house. Who’s this little princess? Did you forget to tell me that I’m a grandpa?”
Millie’s gasp draws my attention down. Her wide gaze flings to mine, endless questions swirling in those green pools. I force a smile for her benefit, but the expression wobbles. Every particle inside of me winding tight, swirling into a tornado set on annihilation. I return my glare to our intruders. “No, you’re most definitely not. I didn’t suddenly become a father, not that you’d be on the list to receive an announcement. This little lady is Millie. I’m friends with her mom.”
“Ah, that makes more sense. A woman is using you for free babysitting.”
“Nah, nothing like that. Millie is my friend, too. Right, Peep?”
A shadow of a grin crosses her lips, and she gives me a slow nod. The glassy glimmer coating her eyes gives me pause. I furrow my brow, ready to address her emotion. A loud hoot of dry laughter interrupts me.
“Peep? What the hell kind of nickname is that?”
“None of your business, similar to anything else in my life.” My voice is slicing damn close to bloody. I think Millie is stunned silent, more than usual around strangers. Her eyes are popped open as she stares between Grant and my father.
“So touchy. These ladies must mean a great deal to you. My loner son has found a soft spot. Isn’t that charming?”
Putrid sludge laced with iron fills my stomach. The dread is so thick I could chew on a piece until my jaw cramps. “Leave my property or I’ll call the cops.”
My father tsks. “Ah, turning guard dog for another stray. How fitting.”
I gnash my teeth at him, barely maintaining restraint. “You know nothing about them and I intend to keep it that way.”
“So, this is your plan? I’m almost disappointed, Crawford. Choosing some floozy and her bastard child over your own family?” Grant flinches at our father’s tone and words, but he doesn’t say anything. Still the same old ass-kisser.
Millie whimpers and clutches onto my leg. Her small form trembles against me. The fury triples and grows into a rabid, foaming beast. “You’re scaring her,” I snarl.
“As I should be. She’s not wise enough to stay away from you on her own.”
“I’m not the one she needs protecting from.”
My father cackles, the sharp ruckus slashes into the distance separating us. “Maybe not tomorrow or the next day, but you’re bound to screw up. I mean, look at you. Living in the damn woods like a hermit. You can barely take care of yourself, let alone a single mother and her spawn.”
His words penetrate too deep, finding a gaping hole in my armor that I’ve left exposed. The sensitive parts of me, where I keep Keegan and Millie hidden, take the brunt of his sucker punch. Those fractures allow my father’s poison to flood in, sabotaging any progress I’ve been foolish enough to attempt.
A wheezing exhale rasps past my panting lips. “Get the hell out of here. You’ve done enough damage for two lifetimes.”
He tips an imaginary hat. “Then I’ve done my job. Ruining any semblance of happiness you’re trying to achieve is always my goal, kid. Just returning the favor. Figured you’d know better by now.”
And I do. I use my mother against him, and in turn, he tampers with the bubble I prefer to live in. This time, his damage is detrimental.
My father and Grant spin on their loafers without a backward glance. I watch them leave, kicking up clouds of dust. If they ever come back, it’ll be far too soon. My threat about calling the cops isn’t idle. When I turn to face Millie, the fire in my lungs turns to ice.
Tears are tracking down her cheeks faster than she can wipe the drops away. “I-I wanna