Fiasco (Dirty Aces MC Book 6), Lane Hart [most interesting books to read txt] 📗

Sierra and Asher are back to playing with their Lego blocks like nothing happened.

Phillip sits down and asks to see Asher’s hand, turning it this way and that to assess the damage. Then, finally, he places the bandage over it.

“He’s been fine,” I tell him softly when I sit down next to him and rub his arm.

“He’s not fine,” Phillip whispers to me. “His mama is going to have my balls for this.”

“What do you mean? The teeth indentions are already fading. There’s barely a mark on him.”

“She’ll still blame me,” he says.

“He grabbed an injured dog’s leg, and the dog reacted. It’s not your fault, Phillip. Just an unfortunate accident.”

“It could’ve been a lot worse,” he says, his jaw clenched tight as he watches the kids play. “You told me not to let them around the dog, and I didn’t listen.”

“Now we know. I’m sure Ace will be fine to play with them once his leg is all healed.”

Phillip shakes his head but doesn’t comment.

In fact, he doesn’t say much to me the rest of the night, mostly playing with Asher and Sierra.

When there’s a knock on the door, Phillip jumps as if he’s been struck.

“It’s going to be okay,” I tell him as we both get up from the floor to answer the door. “We’ll just explain to them what happened. I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“No, they won’t,” he grumbles as he stands there and waits for me to open the door.

“Hey! How did it go?” Giselle asks. “Did Sierra behave?”

“Sierra was great,” I tell her. “She’s so sweet to her brother.”

“Yeah, they’ve always got along great since they’re only a few months apart.” She smiles at me and then looks to Phillip, who still looks angry. “What’s wrong, Fiasco?” she asks, her brow furrowed, calling him by the awful nickname again.

“I may as well tell you because I know Katrina will if I don’t,” he says. Taking a deep breath, he launches into the story. “Ace bit Asher. It didn’t break the skin, but he hurt him, and he cried bloody murder for a while.”

“He’s fine,” I reiterate. “Just left a few teeth marks, but he didn’t bleed or bruise.”

“Who is Ace?” Giselle asks me.

“Our…my dog. I haven’t had him long. He’s a stray that I took in after an accident that hurt his leg. That’s the only reason why he snapped at Asher.”

Her face turns a bright, bright shade of red. “You have a wild dog and didn’t think to tell me that when I dropped off my daughter? What if he had taken a bite out of Asher’s face or Sierra’s?” She pushes past me, going over to scoop Sierra up in her arms, propping her on her hip.

“We didn’t intend to let Ace near the kids. I took him outside; and when we came back, the kids saw him and wanted to pet him.”

“Well, you should’ve watched him better!” she yells at us before she turns her attention to Sierra, making sure she doesn’t have any injuries.

Shit. If Giselle is this upset when the bite didn’t even happen to her kid, then Katrina is going to go nuts. She may very well physically hurt us.

Unfortunately, we aren’t able to calm Giselle down and convince her to leave before Katrina comes waltzing into the open door without knocking.

“What’s going on?” she asks, picking up on the tension in the room.

“They have a psycho dog that bit Asher!” Giselle tells the other woman before we can tell her calmly.

“What?” she exclaims and then hurries over to kneel in front of Asher, pulling him to his feet.

“I got a boo boo, but Daddy got the Avengers band-aids, so I’m all better now.”

Katrina yanks the bandage off so fast that Asher starts crying again. “There are teeth marks in my son’s hand!”

“Ace has a broken leg in a cast, and Asher touched it…” I start to explain, and then Katrina is on her feet and getting in my face.

“Are you saying this is all Asher’s fault?” she yells at me.

“No, of course not.”

“That’s right. It’s your fault and his,” she says, pointing her finger at Phillip. “If you had told me about the rabid dog, I wouldn’t have let my son stay here with you!”

“I’m sorry Asher got bit, but Ace really is a good dog,” I assure her.

“Come on, Asher,” Katrina calls to her son through gritted teeth. Asher comes over and takes her hand. “Tell Daddy goodbye, because this is the last time you’ll ever see him!”

“What?” I gasp and look to Phillip, who drops to his knees and hugs Asher like he may never get to do it again. “You can’t mean that,” I say to Katrina. “It was an accident, and Asher is fine.”

“This time maybe. There won’t be a second time!” she shouts at me, her face enraged.

Sierra runs over to join her father and brother. Phillip opens his arm to bring her in for a group hug, holding her tight.

“Giselle…” I start since she’s the much more sensible mother.

“No,” she grits out. “Let’s go, Sierra.”

“Come on, Asher.”

The little boy and girl run to their mothers when called like good children, and out the door they go, leaving Phillip on his knees, tears glistening on his face.

“God, Phillip, I am so sorry this happened,” I tell him. “They’ll probably cool off in a few days…”

“No, they won’t,” he says when he pulls the collar of his t-shirt, hiding his face as he dries it. “They won’t ever let me see them again.”

“That’s not true. They can’t stay upset about this forever. You’re paying child support, so they have to let you see them.”

“I knew this was a bad fucking idea!” he exclaims, raising his voice like I’ve never heard him do before as he stands up. “You asked too much of me, Joanna, and now I have nothing!”

“I’m sorry. We’ll figure this out, I promise.”

“You can’t promise that, not after you ruined everything,” he says without looking at me. He then walks out the