Ride Steady(137)

“Well, I was excited,” she stated, bouncing Travis further up on her hip, which brought Joker’s attention to the kid and he saw belatedly that Travis had a ring with a duck head in his hand. The minute he got Joker’s attention, though, the ring was on the floor and he reached out to Joker with both arms, twisting to do so.

Carissa contained him but Joker didn’t make her do it for long. He strode forward and pulled the boy out of her arms and into his.

Travis reached up and latched onto his lip.

Joker ignored it and lifted his brows to Carissa.

She gave a start, her eyes on her son, and looked to Joker.

“I was excited,” she repeated.

“Said that,” he told her, and when he did, Travis made a noise, clearly enjoying the feel of Joker’s lip moving while he was latched on to it.

“So,” she went on immediately. “I went to the bank. I made a deposit. Started a savings account. Then I went to my old attorney to settle the bill.”

When she stopped and didn’t go on, he prompted, “And?”

“And… it was paid.”

Joker’s hold on Travis tightened just as Travis lost interest in his lip, let it go, and started to bang his hand against the base of Joker’s throat.

He looked down at him and muttered, “Be with you in a sec, kid.”

“Bah, lah, gah,” Travis replied.

“Gotta talk to your ma,” Joker told him.

“Bah, bah, dah!” Travis cried.

“Patience, son,” Joker advised.

“Gah!” Travis yelled on a throat slap.

Joker looked back at Carissa.

“Neiland,” he guessed quietly.

She nodded her head. “I asked. They confirmed. It wasn’t anonymous. He wanted me to know.”

Joker put his teeth to the back of his bottom lip, about to clip f*ck but stopped himself just as Carissa kept talking.

“As you know, Angie said to keep the money he gave me Monday, use it, but keep track of it, what I used it for, and don’t go crazy. But this…”

She trailed off and he asked, “You call her about this?”

“Yes, right before I called you. She said it’s not my problem if he makes a decision to pay those fees. We didn’t request it. It was done by his own choice, so he can’t come after us or use it against us. And she thought it was a bit fishy that my old attorney accepted it without informing me, but payment is payment and everyone likes to get paid. Once paid, if he doesn’t get what he wants out of that gesture, Aaron can’t go after them to get it back. Since the request didn’t come from us and we didn’t do anything else to lean on him to do it, she also can’t see any way he can use it to get to me. But she’s wary.”

She had a right to be wary.

This was the beginning.

“He’s starting his game by tryin’ to buy his way back. It’s a faulty strategy,” he stated. “Straight up, he gave you that debt, Carrie. It’s his. Always been his. It’s never been yours. He’s not finally mannin’ up and accepting his responsibility for that f*ck-up. He’s makin’ another play. But that’s not on you. He did what he did. Only thing you can do is move on without that liability that wasn’t yours in the first place. If it means you breathe easier financially, then good, ’cause you shouldn’t have had to take that hit in the first place.” He hefted Travis up a couple of inches and finished, “Done.”

“You think it’s that easy?” she asked.

“Why would it not be?” he asked back.

“Because nothing with him is ever that easy.”

Joker finally moved to her, and when he got there, he curled his hand around the side of her neck and bent close.

“You got two choices,” he began. “You can worry about this or you can let it be done. He’s got more to throw at you, we both know that. But no point in you makin’ something easy into somethin’ hard just by frettin’ about it bein’ easy.”

“That makes sense,” she muttered, her eyes drifting to her boy as her hand did the same to come up and rest on Travis’s back.

“Butterfly,” Joker called and got her attention. “He wants in. He’s startin’ that by tryin’ to make you think he’s sorry. I can see that play. That gets in there, he can build on that.”

“He won’t build on that,” she returned sharply.