Chapter 2
LEO
It may have been a joke to Amy, chasing away the coffee shop boy this morning, but I was deadly serious. I may not break anyone’s arms—although I can’t be sure—but I sure as hell won’t let any horny young kid get his hands on My Amy.
I think of her as My Amy even though I know it can never be. But goddamn, I am obsessed with my best friend’s daughter.
She’s always been a great kid, funny and smart. I got protective of her when Tony split with her mom, and that feeling has never left.
Only it’s changed over time.
One tour we went away and she was still a girl in pigtails climbing trees. Then we came back and she was a woman, graceful and curvy.
Still funny and smart but in the body of a woman that my eyes can’t help following around. Whenever Amy’s in the room, I get a few degrees hotter. My pulse races just knowing she’s in the building. Since she started working as our receptionist, it’s been pure torture.
I’m waiting for my obsession with Amy to pass. It’s got too. She’s still a goddamn teenager and I’m nearly forty years old. But when I see some young kid trying to hit on her, I see red. The threat to that boy was real.
Amy may be off limits to me, but I won’t let any other man touch her.
“Leo.” Tony thumps me on the shoulder, his meaty hand making my teeth rattle. “Can I ask a favor?”
“No, Tony, I told you before. I won’t hold your willy while you pee.”
We’re in the kitchen, and the cheap joke gets a laugh from the other guys. Tony just shakes his head as he pulls out the chair next to mine.
He’s had a lifetime of my jokes, so he’s practically immune.
“I gotta go out of town this weekend and I need a favor.”
The chair creaks as he sits down, and I frown, wondering if it’ll take his weight. He’s big, my best friend. Huge.
That’s how we became friends.
I was a small kid for my age, and on the first day of elementary school, another boy stole my schoolbag. A bunch of kids stood in a circle and threw it around between them.
It was a second-hand bag that my mom got from the charity shop, and it had a broken zipper and another kid’s name on it that I’d tried to scribble out.
I grew up in a shitty neighborhood, but even by their standards I was poor. Me and Mom lived in the trailer park in Temptation Bay.
“We don’t want white trash in our school,” one of the kids taunted.
I stuck my fists up ready for a fight. I might have been poor, but I knew how to defend myself.
“Come here and say that, fuck face.”
Yeah, I also learned some pretty choice language in the trailer park.
The whole circle of boys rushed me, and with a roar I ran at the leader, landing him a punch in the nose.
The other boys came at me, and as they took me down, I thrashed blindly, fists and feet connecting with flesh. Then there was an almighty roar, and the biggest kid I’d ever seen started grabbing boys and pulling them off me.
I scrambled to my feet, and we stood side by side, throwing punches like our lives depended on it. We might have been outnumbered but we made up for it in intensity, and together we thrashed our way out of the circle.
The boys ran away, clutching bloody noses and sore stomachs. I could feel warm blood trickling down my face, but I felt elated.
I had beaten the bullies, and I had a friend.
“I’m Tony,” the kid said. “You fight good.”
I grinned at him, and he grinned back through bloody teeth. Then the teachers came running and we took off.
Tony and I both got suspended from school for a week, and we’ve been inseparable ever since.
We’ve been through a lot of shit together, enlisting at the same time, getting into the Special Forces together, and going on countless tours. I’d do anything for Tony.
If he’s away for the weekend, he probably needs me to feed his cat or water his tomato plants or something.
“Sure. What do you need?”
“I need you to keep an eye on Amy for me.”
Fuck. I keep my expression neutral, hoping he can’t detect the turmoil inside me at the mere mention of her name.
“She’s going to a music festival.” He snorts and shakes his head as if he’s just told me she’s going to meet the devil. “There’ll be drinking there and God knows what else.”
Amy moved in with Tony when her mom relocated to LA, and it tortures me every time I go around. But even I can see he’s too protective of her.
“She’s a sensible kid. I don’t think she drinks. You gotta let her have some fun.”
“And there’ll be boys. It’s an overnight festival.”
The words freeze the smile on my face. Tony cracks his knuckles, and I feel my anger rising as much as his.
I’m jealous of the teenage boy that will get to touch her creamy thighs, kiss her soft lips, touch her heavy breasts.
My hand forms a fist and I punch my palm under the table.
“Is she going with a boy?”
It comes out strained, but Tony’s too preoccupied to notice.
“She’s going with a group. Sarah organized it, and there’re guys in the group. She says she’s not interested in any of them, but she may not be telling me the truth. Although I don’t know why she’d lie to me,” he adds thoughtfully as he cracks his thick knuckles.
“No, can’t think of a reason why she’d lie,” I say blithely.
He gives me a sharp look. “Are you trying to be funny?”
I was. She’s probably terrified of her father. The story about ripping off a boy’s arms may be made up, but it’s probably not far from the truth of what Tony would do to anyone who touched his little girl.
The thought sobers me up. If I ever did move on my feelings for Amy, it would be suicide.
“I’ve got a ticket for the festival.” He pulls it out of his pocket. “I was going to go, but something’s come up.”
He pushes the ticket at me, and I stare at the piece of paper
“Summer DubFest,” it says. “You want me to go to a music festival with a bunch of kids?”
“I know it’s a lot to ask, man, but anything could happen to her there. She’s only nineteen. I don’t want to ruin her fun, just make sure she’s safe.”
Oh man, he is far too protective. Even I know you have to give your kids space, let them leave the nest and all that. But this is My Amy we’re talking about. I hate the idea of her hooking up with another man as much as Tony does.
“I’ll do it.”
Relief floods his face. “You don’t have to tell her you’re there. No need to cramp her style. Just keep some distance and make sure no one’s taking advantage of her. There’ll be older people there. She’s still so young…”
He trails off and looks away.
I know how hard it was for Tony to leave his family every time we went on tour. He feels like he missed out on a lot of Amy’s life, and now he’s trying to make up for it the only way he knows how.
“Caroline thinks I’m being overprotective.”
His lips pull together in a thin line. He doesn’t talk about his ex-wife much. He’d never say it to me, but I can tell after all these years that it’s still painful for him.
“That’s why I’m letting her go at all. To prove to Caroline that I’m capable of letting Amy grow up.”
“Except you’re having her followed?”
Tony grins. “Neither of them needs to know about that part. It’s our secret ops mission.”
He taps his nose and gives me a wink.
We did a hell of a lot of missions together over the years, but protecting his daughter may be my most important.
I take the ticket out of his hand and pull out the pamphlet it comes with. There’s a list of bands I’ve never heard of. I’ll be surrounded by twenty-somethings who are drunk or high and horny. Sounds like my idea of hell.
But I’ll do it for my best friend. I’ll do it for Amy. If any fucker tries to get close to her, I might just break his fucking arms.