Page 62 of Steel & Jenna
CHAPTER 14
Jack did not want to get into the truck with his father. He wanted to head inside and tell someone,anyone, that his dad was here and he didn’t want to go with him. But…John Duncanwashis dad. Who would stop him? If Mr. Zarin came, he could be the one to get in trouble. Not his father.
Could he make it into the truck before his dad made it to the passenger side? He could keep the doors locked and just drive away without letting his dad into the truck.
But then John Duncan opened the passenger door. Fuck, had Jack not locked the truck up? He should have. He thought he had. Clearly not, though.
His dad climbed into the passenger seat and slammed the truck shut with enough force to rock it.
Two days. He’d had his new truck, officially, for two days and now his dad had soiled it with his stench and presence. How could he have Lilly, Jenna, or Mrs. Zarin in his truck again? Have them sit in the same seat where his father now sat, tainting the old cloth?
Jack didn’t know what business his father claimed they still had to deal with together. He wantednothingto do with his dad. Why couldn’t the man question Jack’s paternity as he did Lilly’s? Then hewouldn’t care about Jack. Wouldn’t care if he was clothed, fed, or sheltered. Wouldn’t care if he lived or died. He would leave Jack in peace and not be sitting in his truck.
Jack hated that. Jenna and he were planning on waiting to have kids. Once they were ready to have sex, Jenna said she would go to her doctor to get on birth control, which apparently was some sort of prescription pill women could take to keep them from getting pregnant. As much as Jack knew he wanted kids someday, it needed to remain a fantasy until Jenna and he were ready. If Jack was concerned about being able to financially provide for Jenna once they were married, it was nothing compared to the concern that he wouldn’t be able to provide for a child if he got her accidentally pregnant.
If he knew one thing from taking care of Lilly as an infant and then a growing child, it was that kids were expensive.
But he wanted it. A son or daughter with Jenna’s bright orange hair, her beautiful hazel eyes, and her amazing smile. He could be patient, though. He would not risk bringing a child into this world that they weren’t ready for.
More than financially, though, Jack needed to ensurehewas ready to be a father. That he was the sort of man a kid could look up to, would be proud to call ‘Dad’. Any man could father a child, but it took something special to be adad. Mr. Zarin had it, yet he’d never fathered any children. John Duncan did not.
Jack did not want to be anything like his father. He needed to be better—and that also meant not being a kid himself. He’d made a lot of mistakes with Lilly because he didn’t know any better. He needed to be ready as both a man and a husband before Jenna and he considered having kids.
He would not follow in his father’s footsteps.
He would not have his son ever look at him with loathing and disgust as Jack was looking at John Duncan now.
Other students milled about, heading to their vehicles. Most of them steered clear of Jack. He might not be known as the kid from Four Corners anymore, but his reputation around school hadn’t improved so much that others wanted to be friends with him.
He was still John Duncan’s son, even if he hadn’t lived with the man for a year.
Someone walked by Jack’s truck. The whiskey bottle was knocked over. The glass clattered and clanged like a bell, rolling and rolling until it hit a pile of snow by a tire across the lane. If Jack was accused of having alcohol on school property, he’d be suspended or expelled before he could claim innocence. Principal Foote would not give Jack the chance to explain, too gleeful for a reason to finally be rid of him.
All because he was John Duncan’s son.
Not knowing what else to do, Jack opened the driver’s door. His dad had a bottle of liquor already in hand. The thing was so small that the man’s hand completely hid it from view and it was only the motion of hand to mouth that had Jack realizing he was still drinking.
Jack closed the truck door. He nearly gagged. John Duncan’s stench permeated the enclosed space of the cab.
Jack turned on the truck and cranked the window down. He would rather be cold than suffocate from his father’s rankness. The fact that his dad started shivering gave Jack a twisted sort of satisfaction.
As he pulled out of his parking spot, he joined the line of cars to get out of the parking lot. Due to the snowfall during classes, everyone was driving cautiously. Normally, Jack wouldn’t have minded and would have even been appreciative of his classmates’ care, but not just then. He wanted to gun the truck out of the parking lot and speed away.
“I have to get to work,” he informed his dad when he couldn’t take the silence anymore.
At least he didn’t have to pick up Mrs. Zarin or Lilly. There was that silver lining. Towards the beginning of the school year, Mr. Zarin had picked Jack up from school, switching places with him to let Jack drive, and then informed him that they needed to go to the elementary school to get the ladies. Mrs. Zarin’s car wouldn’t start that day, which was why they were now looking into getting Mrs. Zarin a new car.
“Not anymore,” his dad snapped. Whatever liquor was in that small bottle did not last long. John Duncan finished, tossed the bottle ontothe floorboard of Jack’s newly cleaned truck, reached into the pocket of his ripped sweatshirt, and pulled out a new bottle.
Vodka, Jack guessed out of the corner of his eye. The liquid inside was clear with a blue cap. Jack had to wonder where John Duncan had been recently that he had the little bottles. Weren’t those usually offered on airplanes or in hotel rooms?
Based on what he knew about his father, as well as how he was currently dressed, John Duncan could afford neither of those things.
“I’m not missing work,” Jack snapped as he pulled onto the road from the parking lot. He was not risking getting fired because of this man.
John Duncan threw the empty bottle onto the floor to join the other. “From what I hear, you don’t need to work. You’re fucking the youngest Scanlon bitch.”
Jack slammed on the brakes and forced the wheel to the right to take the truck none too gently over to the shoulder of the road. The car behind him blared their horn before it continued past.
