Just Kidding (SWAT Generation 2.0 #1)(20)

“No offense, Mom,” Derek said. “But nobody needs moral support when they move. They need muscle.”

That was when I intervened.

“I can get it all myself,” I interjected. “I just need to pack it up. Nothing will be too heavy anyway. At most, I’ll need a truck.”

Derek was already shaking his head.

“I’m working every weekend for the next month,” Derek said. “It’s my month on.”

Dad piped in then.

“I have training the next two weekends that’ve been scheduled for months. I can get off Sunday, though. If we can turn around and make it home by Monday,” Dad said.

That probably wouldn’t work.

As much as I wanted it to, I still had a lot of shit that I needed to do there on a workday, and that would likely mean at least a two-day stay. If not more.

“I could help you move,” Dax offered. “I have a covered horse trailer that I can borrow from my parents. And I’m not doing anything this weekend.” He paused. “And there was something that I was wanting to get in San Antonio anyway.”

I narrowed my eyes at the man that was suddenly being so very helpful.

“I can handle it,” I said. “I just need to borrow a truck.”

“You’re not borrowing my truck, Row,” Derek said. “Sorry. And Dad’s truck is in need of new tires. I highly doubt that he’ll allow you to take it until he can get that done. The car guy already has them on order. They should be here next week sometime.”

I scrunched up my nose at him.

“Why are you so selfish?” I asked him.

“I’m not selfish,” Derek said. “I’m a realist. I don’t want to have to wait for my truck to be repaired after you fuck it up.”

I gasped in outrage.

“I wouldn’t fuck it up!” I cried out.

“You always manage to fuck something up,” he countered. “And wasn’t it just you that ran over a curb in your car and bent the rim so that it had to be replaced?”

“That could’ve happened to anyone!” I countered.

“Sure,” he agreed. “But wasn’t it also you that drove Mom’s Tahoe to the store last night and…”

I gasped and pointed at him. “You said you wouldn’t tell!”

Mom’s attention was now fully on me.

“What did you do, Row?” Mom asked.

I sighed, shooting my brother a murderous look.

“Some guy dinged it,” I said. “He was old and could barely walk. So I don’t really think it’s something we should pursue, even though he gave me his information.”

Mom scrunched up her nose.

“I was hoping to fix it before you noticed,” I admitted. “It shouldn’t cost too much.”

Dad turned to Dax then.

“I’ll pay you gas money and pay for a hotel for the night if you can take her this weekend,” he said, taking the empty tea jugs from him and shoving them into a big black trash bag.

Dax was already nodding his head, his eyes on me.

“I can leave Friday around eight in the morning after my workout,” he offered. “That’ll give us about four workable hours during business hours. Is that enough time to get done what you need to get done?”

I was already nodding my head, even though my knees were starting to feel weak.

“Great,” he said as he walked to the sink and washed his hands. “It’s a plan.”

With that, he shook my brother’s and Dad’s hands, then walked out the door and didn’t look back.

“He’s such a good kid,” Mom sighed.

Good? That wouldn’t be the word I would use to describe him, that’s for sure.





Chapter 5


I’m a F-bomb girl. I sprinkle that shit like confetti.

-Rowen to Katy

Rowen

“Thank you for the ride,” I said to my dad the next morning.

My dad rolled his eyes.

“Love you. Be careful.” He paused. “And don’t run over any more curbs.”

I sighed and got out of the truck but stopped to look at him before closing the door.

“It’s not my fault,” I said. “I was distraught.”

“And what happened when you hit my parked cruiser when you were sixteen? Or when you…”

I held up my hand. “Must you bring those up every time?”

Dad’s face turned into a grin.

“Meet me for lunch?” he asked, sounding hopeful.

Of course.

“Where and when?” I asked, never one to turn down a lunch. Especially not one with my father.

Luke hadn’t always been my dad.

At one point, some man that hadn’t paid much attention to me had been. Then Luke had come along, and my father had passed away.

Luke had treated me with kindness that he hadn’t had to show me, and over time, I’d learned to trust him as a daughter would a father.

When I was around eleven, I’d asked my mother why I didn’t have the same name as everybody else, and she’d been shocked that I would notice or care.

It wasn’t even a week later that adoption papers were filed by Luke—my dad. From then on, I was officially Luke’s daughter. Not that I needed his last name to have that proven to me. He’d been my dad since my mother and he had gotten together.