Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
He could think of a couple of reasons, but that wasn’t the point. “Kala, that heckling is part of baseball. It’s not a silent sport, and I think what Coop was trying to say was you embarrassed him. I know you weren’t trying to, but guys can be hard on other guys. Especially in a locker room.”
“I don’t know why he would care what they think. They don’t matter.” Kala let out a long sigh. “I don’t get the whole popularity thing. It doesn’t matter, and it’s all fake. They’re all sheep. Who cares? How have my sisters not figured out that all those girls they hang out with aren’t their friends?”
“I think you’re a lone wolf, Kal. And that’s a hard thing to be.”
Kala frowned, an expression he’d seen on her father’s face many times. It was the expression Tag used when he thought he was misunderstood. “I’m not alone. Though sometimes I wonder if people put up with me because they want to be around Kenz and Tash. Lou gets me.”
“Of course you’re not alone, but you keep your pack small,” Boomer pointed out. “I’m glad you let Lou in. She has been alone. She’s been alone for a long time, and you and your sisters are helping her.”
Kala’s expression went blank, a sure sign she was thinking about something. Something she thought she shouldn’t say or expose. Probably something he really fucking needed to know.
“What’s going on with Lou that I don’t know about?”
“Oh, I think you know. It’s her grandparents. I think she’s underestimating them. They’re kind of old-school, pure evil from what I can tell.” Kala sat back up, getting serious. “She told me she saw the guy again but didn’t want to freak her mom out. She’s happy right now, and she’s worried if her mom thinks something’s going wrong, she’ll screw things up with you. Tell me you’re planning on like moving in or something because Lou sometimes slips up and calls you her dad.”
It was good to know they were all on the same page. “I’m going to marry her mom when the time is right.”
There was nothing he wanted more. He was sure some people would tell him he was moving too fast, but he knew what was in his heart. He wanted a life with Daphne and Lou. If she wanted more kids, he’d happily give them to her. If she didn’t, he would be grateful she shared Lou with him. He would honor her for giving him a kiddo and bringing light into his life.
He knew better than anyone on the planet that he didn’t have to have a blood family. Sharing DNA didn’t always equal love.
Kala nodded, her decision made. “Okay, then you need to figure out a way to prove her grandparents are doing something bad and get them hauled off to jail.”
“That’s an interesting plan.” He wasn’t sure how to handle the grandparents. Simply cutting them out of Daphne’s life didn’t seem to be something she wanted. He fully intended to offer to pay for Lou’s school if she wanted to stay. He’d done some research and figured out they could make it work. He could afford it because he’d spent very little of what he’d made over the last twenty years. Ever since his Army days, he’d saved, and when he’d come to MT and Big Tag offered to introduce the younger guys to his money manager, he’d taken him up on it. Boomer didn’t understand most of it, but his investments were going well, and he’d grown his money. Taking money out of the relationship would allow Daphne more freedom to decide how to handle her in-laws. Still, he wasn’t sure tossing them in jail was on the table. “But it could be problematic.”
“People do it all the time around here. Deke wanted Maddie to move to Dallas, so he figured out how to blow up her boss’s life. Same thing with Hutch. MaeBe was too slow. She should have done the same thing to Uncle Kyle’s boss. You have to be faster.”
Kala didn’t really understand the way those ops had gone, and there was another reason her stance was problematic. “Uhm, Uncle Kyle’s boss is your dad.”
“Is he? Is he really? I think the jury’s out on that one.” Kala pulled her phone from her pocket. “To get back to the problem at hand, I told Lou if she saw that guy who was following her again, she should try to take a picture.”
Boomer was the one sitting up now. “No. She should call me and let me handle it. Kala, she’s twelve. She has no training at all, so she shouldn’t be doing anything like that. What happened?”
Kala unlocked her phone. “Well, I told her to only do it if it was safe. It’s just a picture, and she’s got good instincts.”