Page 60 of Property of Stone
“Done mopin’?”
His girl frowned up at him. “Can I have my phone back?”
“Nope.”
“Then nope.”
He sighed. “Taryn’s here to take you home.”
“I don’t want to go with her.”
“Actin’ like you got a choice. Here’s a clue…you don’t. When you’re my age, you can have a say. ’Til then?” He shook his head.
Movement had him glancing up to see Taryn wandering around, checking out his room.
Like the cafeteria, he tried to see it through her eyes as he went over to the blinds and began to open them. At least enough that it wasn’t as dark as a fucking coffin. Though it did kind of smell like a rotting corpse.
Yeah, he couldn’t imagine she’d be impressed. The room worked for him, but probably not for her.
Clothes were in a pile on the floor next to the unmade bed. The couch Sunny tried to disappear into was old and had cigarette burns, tears, and scratches all over the fake black leather. He had a mini-fridge in one corner full of beer. Dirty dishes and empty beer bottles and overflowing ashtrays pretty much made up the decor.
Yeah, he’d have a talk with Slick. Showing Taryn around was making it painfully obvious that the sweet butts were slacking in their duties.
Taryn moved back to the center of the room and turned in a circle. “No bathroom?”
“Down the hall. Too much scratch to put plumbin’ in every room.”
“Showers?”
“Locker rooms off the old gymnasium. Stay here normally unless I got pissy pants over there.” He tipped his head toward the couch.
“The house is nicer.”
“Got two eyes in my own head. But when you’re shitfaced, all you need’s a bed and a place to piss.”
She wrinkled her nose. “The way it smells in here makes me wonder if you even get out of bed to use the restroom.”
He’d have to make it to his bed first.
“Get your shit and get ready to go,” he told Sunny. His daughter grumbled something under her breath but he let it go. He needed to start picking his battles with her.
When Stone heard a sharp intake of breath, his gaze sliced from his daughter to her. Her face was pale as she read something on her phone.
Within three long strides he was next to her. “What’s wrong?”
She handed him the phone without a word since she didn’t need to say shit, her trembling fingers said it all.
He quickly scanned the email generated from the Victim Notification System.
For fuck’s sake, looked like her asshole ex was getting his freedom soon.
After the kidswent to bed, they went outside to discuss the shit with her ex. Stone was sprawled in one of the chairs with his knees bent and his boots spread wide, a cold beernext to his foot and a joint between his fingers while Taryn wore a path in the deck by pacing back and forth from one end to the other. She had one hand plastered to her forehead, the other planted on her hip.
He took another long drag on the joint, then held it deep before pushing the smoke out of his nostrils. The next time she passed him, he held it out to her. “Maybe some of this shit would help.”
She paused to stare at what he was offering. She bugged her eyes out at him. “The kids are just upstairs.”
“They ain’t asleep?”
