Rushing the Goal (Assassins #8)(135)

As long as Angie was okay.

Slamming the door behind him, he went around the car as Angie shot to Lucy, wrapping her body around her mom, hugging her tightly. “I don’t ever want to go back,” she whispered, and Lucy held her daughter’s face, searching her eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, but he wouldn’t let me out of my room, and—”

“She kept screaming at me,” Rick said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I won’t stand for that shit.”

“You were screaming at him?”

“He locked me in my room and wouldn’t give me any toys. He gave all my toys to Nina!” she said, her eyes welling up, tears falling down her cheeks.

“Please, she had a notebook and crayons.”

“Yeah, that’s enough for a whole weekend,” Lucy spat back, kissing Angie’s forehead.

“He wouldn’t give me my medicine either,” she said then, and Benji looked up at Rick.

“She don’t need it,” he said simply, but even Benji knew that wasn’t true.

“So you locked her in a room, unmedicated? How could you do that to her?” Lucy asked, her voice dripping with acid. “Angie, get in the car.”

Angie nodded and then she looked over at Benji. Her face lit up and she ran to him. He lifted her up into his arms, hugging her tightly. Planting a big kiss on his cheek, she said, “Oh my God, I missed you!”

His heart couldn’t take it. “I missed you too, sunshine,” he said, hugging her again and kissing her temple. Carrying her to the car, he said, “I think you got bigger.”

“I did! And stronger! You gotta see my slap shot. I watched you do it for like an hour last week, and I think I perfected it.”

“Awesome,” he said, putting her in the car. “You’ll have to show me later.”

“We are still doing our dance party, right?”

“As soon as we get home,” he said with a nod before handing her his phone. “Sit here for a minute, okay?”

She nodded, pushing at his phone as he shut the door and walked around to hear Lucy say, “You basically had her in a room with nothing to do, and you expected her to be okay? Her mind is going crazy, and she has nothing to distract her? No outlet? How dare you? That’s child abuse,” she accused and Rick rolled his eyes.

“Please. It’s no big deal. She don’t need the meds.”

“She does, Rick,” she stressed, her voice full of emotion. “Her ADHD is serious. I don’t understand how you can just overlook that.”

“’Cause it’s some made-up shit you are trying to use to cover up that she’s a bad kid,” he spat back and Lucy’s eyes widened.

“A bad kid! Are you f*cking kidding me?” she roared, but when she went to step forward, Benji stopped her.

“Let it go. You know that’s untrue,” he said quickly, taking her hand in his. Looking over at Rick, he cleared his throat. “We will have the doctor write up something in simple words for you so you can see this is a real issue that Angie is dealing with. Since, apparently, Lucy’s word is not enough.”

“He’s seen the paperwork. He should have come to the appointment, to therapy, but he’s too f*cking busy,” she spat from his side and Rick rolled his eyes.

“I have a life, Lucy.”

“Angie should be a part of it!” she shouted and Benji shook his head.

“Babe, come on. It won’t help,” he stressed and she looked away, swallowing hard. “Then what do we need to do to help you understand her need for the meds? Do we need to add that into the parenting plan?”

Rick scoffed. “Dude, there won’t be a parenting plan when she’s in my custody. Everything will be under my control.”

“Do you know how stupid you sound? No one is going to give custody to you. You are wasting everyone’s time,” Lucy yelled at him, shaking her head. “We’ll go to court, add your latest bullshit, and that will be it. The judge will laugh at you, especially with all the information I’m bringing. You’ll be lucky if you get to see her every other month after this weekend. And add in the fact she doesn’t even want to see you at all.”

“I’m bringing stuff too. Don’t forget that,” he spat back and Lucy shook her head.

“You have nothing—”

But Benji stopped her, shaking his head before looking back at Rick. “Okay, then. So we’ll factor that in, no big deal.”

“It ain’t no we. You aren’t a part of this,” Rick hollered at him and Benji held his hand up.

“I am. The sooner you realize I am a part of their life, the better. The easier this will be for everyone involved.”

“Please, you’ll be gone soon. I can promise you that,” he warned and Benji glared.

“Good to know you’re a psychic. Did you see that my lawyer will be contacting yours for invasion of privacy? To have you sign a nondisclosure agreement since you took it upon yourself to dig up my past? You had no right to do that. I—”

“I have every right,” Rick said, and he looked nervous as he shook his head. “You are trying to be a dad to my kid.”

“I mean, someone has to,” he said simply and Rick’s eyes widened.