Cook County: Lucky in Love by Love Crystal-Rain

Author:Love, Crystal-Rain [Love, Crystal-Rain]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Contemporary, Western
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press, Inc
Published: 2013-07-22T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“So, what’s your name, Dad?” Lucky leaned back against the hood of his truck and studied the man responsible for bringing him into his shit existence. “Seems like the type of thing a person should know.”

“No one ever told you?” His sperm-donor looked genuinely surprised by this fact.

“Your name?” Lucky shook his head. “Why would they? You never claimed me, never gave a dime to help raise me. Hell, you sent thugs after my mother.” He laughed. “Nope, no one ever got around to engraving your name on the father of the year trophy.”

“Look, Charlene wasn’t exactly an innocent schoolgirl,” the man said, combing a hand through his hair. “She saw me, and she saw money. I was just a target. One of many from what I later found out, only I was the one she got what she wanted from. Well, partly.”

“Yeah, she got the kid, but not one dime of the money,” Lucky commented. “It’s a shame a kid had to suffer for the mistake the two of you made, but it’s all right. It didn’t fuck my head up too bad.”

“I had a wife and two kids. I wasn’t about to let one drunken mistake destroy my family. I did whatever it took to protect them.”

“Do they know your name?” Lucky asked, growing tired.

“Roy Johnson.” He sighed. “My name is Roy Johnson. I’m not a bad guy, Lucky. Surely you’ve known women who—”

“Before you finish that statement, keep in mind you’re talking about my recently deceased mother, and I’m already tempted to punch you in your throat just for kicks.”

Roy shoved his hands into his pockets and had the grace to look apologetic. “I heard she passed away. She was awfully young. My sympathies.”

“What the hell do you want, Roy?” Lucky crossed his arms, the insincere condolences doing nothing to soften him toward the jerk who’d helped bring him into the world, then took off so fast he’d left skid marks.

“I came to make amends.” Roy reached inside his jacket and pulled out an envelope. “I never paid child support because Charlene didn’t just want child support. Charlene wanted me to fund her entire income while she just sat back and reaped the money. She wanted to control me and threatened to destroy my marriage if I didn’t snap to her command. I am not a man who can be bought.”

Lucky eyed the envelope, unmoved by Roy’s weak explanation as to why he’d abandoned his own flesh and blood. “What’s that supposed to be, a written apology?”

“Something like that.” Roy held it out. “It’s the child support you should have gotten when you were younger.”

Lucky took the envelope, lifted the flap, and peered inside. His eyes widened at the large number on the check. He looked at the man who’d given it to him, the same man who hadn’t acknowledged his existence for the past thirty-four years. Now, all of a sudden, he’d grown a conscience? No way was Lucky stupid enough to fall for that. “This is a hell of a lot of hush money.

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