“Oh, thanks.”
“You okay?”
I shook my head, tears streaming down my face again.
Stoney slid his hand to my neck and stroked my pulse. “He’s okay, Breezy. He’ll be even more okay because he’s protected by me now. Nothing bad will ever touch him... or you, again.”
“I don’t understand why it happened at all,” I admitted.
“Your sister made some really bad choices,” he said.
“Addicts usually do.”
“Yeah,” he said.
“How do I know these people won’t try again?”
“Because it’s settled.”
“What does that mean?” I asked in frustration.
He shook his head. “Not goin’ down that rabbit hole with you. You’re just gonna have to trust me.”
As crazy as that sounded, I did trust him. I nodded, leaning into his hand. “For now.”
He grinned. “Sure.”
I took a deep breath and forced a smile. “Let’s eat.”
“Okay.”
I led him back into the kitchen and served up our meal, and we sat at my dinette table and ate in silence.
“Do you have an issue with me takin’ him once a week?” Stoney asked as we carried our plates to the sink.
“I’d like to see where you live first, if that’s okay.”
“I’m crashin’ at the club right now, so I’d probably just do something with him. Like take him to the Summit.”
“He loves the Summit. I’m totally fine with that, but do you want to do that every week?”
He shrugged. “Why not?”
“And do you have a car or a truck?” I asked. “Because I’m not okay with him on the back of a bike.”
“I’ve got access to both, so you tell me what you feel more comfortable with and we’ll take that.”
I smiled. “He’ll love that, I think. Can we see how Saturday night goes and move forward from there?”
“Sure.”
“I don’t expect child support, Stoney. I want to get that out in the open. We’ve got him covered,” I said.
“He’s my kid, Sabrina, and I take care of what’s mine,” he countered. “We can hash out the details at a later date, but I fully intend to contribute, whether it be in the form of monthly support, college savings, or all of the above.”
I pressed my lips into a thin line.
“You’re not gonna give me shit about that, are you?” he asked.
