Betting the Bad Boy

by Sugar Jamison

  “It was my dad’s. He’s been gone a little while now, but I couldn’t let it go. It still runs.” He took the keys out of his pocket, and the engine roared in only the way an American classic could roar. “I did a lot of the mechanical stuff myself. It was kind of a hobby of mine.”

  “So why are you getting rid of it?”

  “My wife. She wants it gone, so it has to go.”

  “But if you like it, then you should fight to keep it.”

  He shook his head. “This car has made three moves with us. It’s time to let it go. I would like to sell it to you. Then at least I know it’ll get the treatment it deserves.”

  “What do you want for it?”

  “Give me what you think is fair.”

  When Duke walked out, he was satisfied with the deal he’d just made. He was heading to his car when he heard the unmistakable sound of rocks hitting metal. He looked across the street to see a kid tossing pebbles at the judge’s car. A huge part of Duke just wanted to walk away, but instead he crossed the street and walked over to see the kid who was ballsy enough to throw rocks at the judge’s car.

  If the kid noticed his presence, it didn’t seem to deter him. He kept flinging pebbles at the car, all in the same spot, flaking away the surface of the pristine white paint job.

  “You do know whose car you’re flinging rocks at, don’t you?” he asked, admiring the kid. Edward Truman was the reason he’d ended up in prison for so long. He wanted Duke away from his daughter and he did everything in his power to make it so.

  “Yup. This asshole deserves it.”

  “What did he do? Lock your father up?”

  “He’s my grandfather.” He flung a bigger rock at the car. “I don’t have a father.”

  It took a moment for the kid’s words to sink in. He said the judge was his grandfather. But Grace was an only child. He stepped closer to get a good look at the kid, but his head was down.

  It couldn’t be. This kid just couldn’t be … He grabbed the boy by his shoulders and lifted him from his spot on the ground. And then it struck him.

  Viciously.

  He had been in many fights in his day, but he had never been hit this breathtakingly hard.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” The kid struggled to get away from him, but Duke held on to him, looking down in his face, cataloging his features. The features that were the same as his own. Same eyes, same stubborn chin. Same build. It was like Duke was looking at his younger self.

  “Who is your mother?”

  “Get off me!”

  “Tell me, damn it,” he snapped at the kid.

  “Grace Truman.”

  “And what’s your name?”

  “Ryder.”

  Duke knew that he was looking at his son. He didn’t need to be told. He didn’t need a paternity test. He knew in that moment that Grace had had his baby and never told him about it.

  “Do you know who I am?”

  “A fucking lunatic.”

  “Damn it, boy. Look at me! Do you know who I am?”

  Ryder stared at him for a moment, then shook his head.

  The front door creaked open, and out walked the judge. “What the hell is going on here?” he asked. But then he saw Duke and exhaled slowly. “I heard you were back.”

  “Grandpa, you’re going to let this asshole grab me?”

  “It would be best, boy, if you learned to mind your manners.”

  “Watch your mouth,” Duke warned Ryder as he let him go. “What do you know about this, old man?”

  The judge had definitely aged in the past decade. He was thinner than before, beaten-down looking. It was such a stark change from the man Duke knew when he was younger. That pompous way he carried himself was gone. He looked deflated, almost miserable. “I don’t know anything. Maybe you should be talking to the boy’s mother.”

  “What’s going on?” Ryder looked between his grandfather and Duke. “Who is this?”

  “Duke King,” Judge Truman answered. “Go in the house, Ryder.”

  “No!”

  “Do as he says, boy.”

  Ryder looked like he was going to balk at the idea but Duke took a step closer and Ryder took off inside. “Where is she?”

  “She picked up a shift in a hospital out of town. They were short nurses last night. She should be home in a couple hours.”

  And he would be back. Grace had a hell of a lot of explaining to do.

  Chapter 6

  There was a shortage of registered nurses in that part of Nevada, so sometimes Grace traveled the thirty miles to the next hospital to work some shifts when they needed her. It was good money, nearly twice as much as she made working in Destiny, and there were times she considered taking the permanent position the hospitals kept offering her. They needed the money. But nursing wasn’t a nine-to-five job. She had to work long irregular shifts, weekends and holidays, and there was Ryder to look after. It was bad enough she had to ask her father to help her with him over the summer; she couldn’t do that all year round. She didn’t want to do that all year round. She liked being on the same schedule as her son, liked knowing that she could get to him in a few minutes.

  She had been working a lot these past few days, but it was usually only a couple of shifts a week she had to work over the summer to make ends meet. But this summer her car was on its last legs, and if she didn’t sock away enough money for a down payment she would be screwed. Destiny wasn’t known for its public transportation. She was hoping it would just be a couple more weeks of this; then she could spend the rest of her time at home with Ryder.

  She stepped outside after her long overnight shift. The sun felt good on her skin after so many hours in the air-conditioned building. Her phone beeped a few times, alerting her to messages she had missed while she was in the building with the bad cell service. The calls were all from her father and she grew panicked that something happened to Ryder until she saw the text message he sent her.

  Duke was here.

  “Shit,” she cursed, which she rarely did. She had planned to tell him, to tell them both, but she just hadn’t had the time yet, or any idea of how she was going to do it. It was clear from their meeting in the park that he had never gotten her last letter—or if he had, he hadn’t read it. Because he didn’t act like a man who ignored his son.

  But now he knew. Only she couldn’t figure out who’d told him.

  She had been afraid that as soon as she came back here a little over a year and a half ago, the people of Destiny would take one look at Ryder and realize he was Duke’s, but nobody had.

  Her father, unbeknownst to her, had laid the groundwork. He told them all that she had met someone while she was living in Newport. A wealthy man she’d ended up engaged to. It was all a lie. That may have been his plan, but she’d never agreed to it. She had never corrected her father’s tale. She didn’t want anyone questioning Ryder’s paternity. She didn’t want the whole town of Destiny knowing that Duke was Ryder’s father before Ryder did. So she let the town think that she had a failed engagement or that her fiancé had died or whatever the hell they wanted to think. She had wanted to do things on her terms.

  But she had lost her chance. Because Duke knew, and he was probably gearing up for a fight.

  *

  “What the hell are you up to, old woman?” Duke asked as he stomped into Lolly’s hospital room feeling so hot he thought he might spontaneously combust. He stopped when he noticed Colt standing there, looking an absolute mess. His hair was mussed; he was covered in dirt and didn’t look at all like the man Duke knew. For a moment he forgot to be pissed, because he was so surprised to see his brother looking like he’d rolled around a pigpen. “What happened to you? You look like you been dragged behind a motorcycle.”

  Colt seemed incredibly annoyed. It gave Duke a small sense of pleasure. Colt never looked anything but cool. “I was trying to fix the air conditioner in the storage room.”

  “You were trying to fix something?”

/>   “Fuck you, Duke. Just because I choose to spend my life working without grease under my fingers doesn’t mean I can’t fix shit. Pop taught me just as good as he taught you and if I wanted to I could probably fix cars better than you.”

  Fix cars better than him? “Oh, now you’re fucking delusional.”

  “And you’re a prick.”

  Duke took a step toward him, his tolerance for bullshit today at an end. They hadn’t fought since they were teenagers, but Duke was longing to give his brother one good punch.

  “Enough of that, you two jackasses. What kind of boys come to visit a sick lady in the hospital and get into a fight? Now, Duke, what the hell are you mad at me about?”

  Duke shook his head, remembering why he had come. “I’ve got a kid!”

  “What?” Colt’s head spun, shock spreading across his face.

  “At least I think he’s my son.” Duke looked at him and shook his head. But that was a lie. He knew Ryder was his son. He just needed to hear it from Grace’s lips before he could tell them for sure.

  “Who’s the mother?” Colt asked him.

  “Who do you think the mother is?” he snapped.

  Grace. Goddamn Grace, who he saw in the park and almost made love to. Grace who was too ashamed of him to tell her son who his father really was.

  “How did you find out, Duke?”

  “I caught him throwing rocks at his grandfather’s car and couldn’t help but to see the family resemblance.” It was his face. His attitude. His boy.

  “Maybe he’s not yours,” Colt said. “Have you talked to her? Did she deny it?”

  He shook his head. “I can’t get in touch with her. Believe me I’ve tried.” He had found her name in the phone book and called her house, but he knew that was a fool’s errand, because her father had told him that she was working. “She’s been avoiding me since we got back to town.” He thought about how she’d scurried away from him that day in the park. Seeming shocked that she’d ended up with him again.

  He looked back to Lolly, feeling disgusted with the entire situation. “You knew all this time that that boy was mine. You didn’t say a goddamn word. You let me miss out on my boy’s life.”

  “I did not,” she said firmly. “Grace moved out of town after you got locked up. Nobody knew she had a baby until she moved back when her mama was dying. I suspected that the boy was yours, but I didn’t know for sure and she sure as hell wasn’t spilling the beans.”

  Colt looked over to Duke, and there was sorrow in Colt’s eyes. Sorrow in Colt’s eyes. Duke knew he was fucked. “What are you going to do?”

  He rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m going to find out if he’s mine and if he is, I’m going to do what’s best for him. We grew up without a father. I’m not about to let my boy do the same.”

  *

  Duke packed his bag and left Lolly’s house after having a quick conversation with his brothers. He didn’t let Levi in on what was going on yet, even though Colt knew. He wanted proof before he told him. He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to keep it from him. They had always tried to shield Levi from the brunt of what happened to them. When their father was in a drunken rage, they shielded him. And after he left and they had no food or money, they didn’t want to let him know how bad it was. Duke and Colt went without or with very little to make sure Levi’s belly was full. Duke used his savings to keep the lights on so that Levi wouldn’t be worried about how they would survive without any parents. Levi was always so happy and carefree, and Duke wanted to keep him that way. But now … He just couldn’t break the cycle.

  He found out that Grace lived in the old Phillips place, which was a shock in itself. The house had been one of the oldest, creepiest places in town when they were kids. It was a monstrosity of a home with an odd layout and painted in a brown color that Duke could only describe as shit-toned. But if the house wasn’t creepy enough, it was its residents that kept people away. An older couple lived there with their son. The rumor was that he was a serial-killing cannibal that they wanted to keep locked away, but Duke knew the man was mentally ill and harmless. He felt bad for the guy. He almost understood what it was like to be him, because he had lived as an outsider in this town, too. He also knew that Colt had found housing for the Phillips boy and was paying all his bills.

  He had been surprised when he learned about it, because Colt seemed like such a smug, cold son of a bitch, but he was a good man, too. It was probably why, even though they had nothing in common, they’d never lived more than five miles apart from each other since he had gotten out of prison.

  He pulled up to Grace’s house a few minutes later, finding it even uglier than he remembered. The porch looked like it was about to fall off. The misshapen roof was shedding shingles. He couldn’t believe that she’d gone from that beautiful house with the manicured lawn and the pool in the back to this. And what bothered him even more was that she was driving around in a rusted piece of junk. Taking his kid around town in it. He knew what it was like to grow up poor and he would be damned if he let his son live that way.

  As soon as he was done here he was heading back to Vegas and right to his lawyer. Ryder was never going to live like this again.

  Grace stepped out on the porch as soon as he cut off his car. She was wearing a khaki-colored skirt and a pink top. Her light-brown hair was pulled back, her face pale and tight with worry, and yet Duke still found her beautiful. He hated that the air sizzled around him anytime she was near.

  “I’ve been waiting for you to come,” she said when he stepped out of the car. For someone who had been keeping his only child a secret, she sure as hell didn’t seem like she was about to back down. She stood there with her chin up and her back straight.

  Her gaze never wavered from his.

  He almost admired her for that.

  He stood staring at her for a moment, not knowing where to begin. There were too many thoughts crashing around in his head.

  He had waited for her to come visit him in jail before the trial, or write him a letter, or call him, but there was nothing. He knew her father had sent her away, but he still expected something. Some kind of communication. Just to let him know he wasn’t alone in there.

  He thought she had loved him, but he guessed it was more teenage infatuation than real love. And the whole time she had been keeping a son away from him. Probably too embarrassed to let to world know that she had made a baby with a piece-of-shit criminal.

  “Please come in.”

  He walked inside her house, finding the interior a little better than the outside. He could see all of Grace’s little touches that made it homey. The handmade quilts on the couch. The fresh flowers on the side table. Pictures covering nearly every spot on the wall. He walked over to them, seeing Ryder as a baby with a big drooly smile. Seeing him as a toddler walking and as small child at his baseball games. He had missed it all. Every single part of his kid’s life. And now he was a teenager.

  Duke knew right then that he would never miss another important moment again. “He looks just like you,” she said quietly from behind him.

  He turned to face her, more furious than he had ever been. “So you admit it? You’re not going to lie and say that I’m not his father.”

  “How could I deny it? I’m assuming somebody told you. Who was it? Who knew?”

  “Nobody told me. Of course nobody in town knows. You would have never told them that you had a baby with Duke King.”

  “Wait a minute.” She looked outraged. “I tr—”

  “No. You don’t get to do the talking. You had years to do the talking and you didn’t, so it’s my turn. Nobody had to tell me that he’s my kid. I caught him throwing rocks at your father’s car and realized that I was looking at my own goddamn face. How long did you think you could keep this from me? It would have come out. You may think you’re fooling the world, but these people here would have figured it out when he grew into a man who looked just like me. You’d rather let him go fatherless than
let the world know that you had a baby with a King boy.”

  “I don’t think you’re trash,” she yelled back at him. “I never thought you were trash. I was in love with you.”

  “Bullshit. I did what I did for you and I never heard from you again.”

  “He sent me away! And I—”

  “You weren’t the fucking prisoner. That was me, remember? I was the one who couldn’t get out, who couldn’t contact you, but you knew where I was the whole time.”

  “Let me explain. I wr—”

  “Let you explain what? That you were just a bitch who screwed the wrong guy.”

  “Duke, I…”

  He saw Grace’s expression change to one of horror and then he felt the fist slam into the back of his head. Ryder had flown at him and started pummeling him with the force of a grown man. “Don’t you call my mom a bitch, you fucking bastard.”

  Duke caught the enraged kid’s hands, twisted them around his body, and pulled the boy close to him to stop the assault. “I’m sorry, Ryder. You’re right.” He held him tighter as he struggled against him. “You’re right. I should never talk to your mother or any woman that way. I was mad. I’m sorry, Grace. I won’t speak to you like that again.”

  “Ryder, honey.” Grace touched his shoulder, tears in her eyes. “Please calm down.”

  “Don’t touch me,” he snapped at her. “Is it true?” He looked up at Duke and into his eyes. “Are you my father?”

  Duke looked at Grace for a moment before he answered. “I am.”

  Ryder broke down, a sob tearing from his chest, and Duke felt more pain than he had ever felt in that moment. He didn’t know this child, but he knew Ryder was his and seeing him in pain was like being stabbed in the gut with a hot knife. He loosened his grip on Ryder’s arms and put one hand on his back as Ryder cried into his chest.

  The other hand came up to Ryder’s face, wiping away his tears. It was then that Ryder seemed to realize what was happening; he yanked himself away, looking embarrassed and angry at himself for breaking down. “If you’re my father, then where the fuck have you been?”