Free The Safety of Nowhere by Iris Astres Page A

“I got a woman next door to me refuses to keep her animals locked up and off my property. So instead of taking my son out on my bike like I promised, I got dragged into a fight with the guy she’s fucking. I understand exactly why my boy’s upset. That’s why I’m here. To talk it out. You need to get inside and get my son, ’cause I’m not leaving till I make things right between us.”
    “What do you mean, make things right?” Cindy’s pruney face wrinkled a little more. She stared at the big bike behind him. “You’re not thinking of putting him on that, are you? You can’t.”
    Rocco folded his thick arms across his chest. “You’d be surprised at what I can do.”
    For a minute there it looked like it would be a standoff. Then Cindy huffed a breath, her eyes all teary as she shook her head and went inside.
    She’d left him on the porch, which might be for the best. The atmosphere at the in-laws was a little less than welcoming. It also irritated him to see the tidy little Liarsland his son had been subjected to. Most days old Pat and Gordon sat there staring at images on the screen, letting Cindy run the show, the balls between their legs turning to dust. He’d kill himself before he let that kind of life grab hold of him.
    Sure he was hoping to marry Julie, but that was for his son’s sake. A stable home was all he needed to get Gordon back with him for good. But Julie had run off after the fistfight on the lawn. He imagined it would take a lot more than a motorcycle ride on a nice day to smooth her mood. Rocco didn’t see the point in pandering to women. He’d tried it with Joanne and gotten shafted hard. That wasn’t happening again. No thanks.
    When the door reopened he wondered if he hadn’t gotten Cindy wrong. His boy did look a little green around the gills. “What’s going on?” he said. “Come out here; let me see.”
    Head hanging, Gordon did as he was told. Rocco squatted down and checked him out.
    “I’m sorry, son.” Hugs put the kid on edge, so Rocco grabbed his head and wiggled it a little. “I let you down. I know I did.” He waited for those words to settle in. When they did, he got what he was after: that look of curiosity that said his boy still loved his daddy. The strong connection he felt to his son was the best thing in Rocco’s life. The most important thing.
    “Come on,” he said. “Let’s you and me go have some fun. Can’t let a great day like this go to waste.”
    Gordon wasn’t a great mover, but it was cute the way he scampered down the steps, across the driveway. Rocco got him settled on the seat, meticulous about his safety. Not to satisfy that old cunt staring through the window, but because he was a loving father, just the man Gordon needed in his life. Rocco put the helmet on him. Tightened up the chin strap, adjusted the footrests so that everything was A-okay. Then, with Gordon’s chubby fingers curling tight around his belt, he steered the bike around and put her into gear, tearing off into the open road.
    They traveled a good twenty miles west, going at a fair clip. Nothing most people would think was dangerous. At the roadway rest stop south of Highway 40, he pulled in for a snack. They told him the ice-cream truck wouldn’t be back till April, which pissed him off a little. Gordon settled for a soda and some candy happily enough.
    He was a happy kid when they were out together. That’s what nobody could stand. Not Joanne, her father, and her old bitch of a mother. None of them could bear the fact that Gordon loved his daddy more than any of the rest of them. And damn if he didn’t love the boy right back.
    “What do you want to do now, champ? You wanna keep going, maybe stay the night in Nordhup? Or we could head on back to my place. Grab some grub on the way?”
    “Can we stop at Dinah’s so she sees me riding with you?” The idea had come over him all of a sudden. Something in it made his face light up like Christmas, eyebrows almost