Crazy Heifer (The Valentine Boys 2)

I didn’t let her hand go when he went in for a hug, causing Desi to awkwardly pat his back with one hand, and then frown when she felt the bones underneath his clothes.

“Malloy, you’re losing weight,” she said softly. “Are you trying to?”

Mal snorted from his seat. “Maybe you’re just getting fatter.”

The way he said it so low under his breath made me think he didn’t want anyone to hear what he had to say, but unlucky for him, I’d always had superb hearing.

Letting Desi’s hand go, I walked to Mal and said two words. “Leave. Now.”

Mal stiffened even further. “I will not.”

“If you don’t leave, I’ll make you leave,” I snapped harshly. “Now go, or else.”

“Or else what?” he snapped.

Not wanting Malloy to see his son get beaten to a pulp, I grabbed Mal by the collar of his Polo shirt and helped him from his seat.

His hands went to my wrist to tug my hand away, but I held strong and frog-marched him out the door.

When the garage door closed behind us, I tossed him unceremoniously in the direction of his car.

He slammed against the panel so hard that a small dent appeared where his elbows hit.

I grinned at the curse that came out of his mouth.

“Leave, and don’t come back,” I ordered. “This is your one and only warning. I know for a fact that your father would willingly take you in. Try going there next time Margie gets a wild hair and kicks you out.”

Mal narrowed his eyes and stiffened his jaw, and I knew that there were some words that were about to escape his lips that I wasn’t going to like.

And he didn’t disappoint.

“That fat bitch doesn’t deserve your concern,” he snapped. “And this has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with us.”

I snorted. “It has everything to do with me when I’m the one who’s sleeping in bed next to her.”

His eyes narrowed. “She hasn’t been dating you long. It’ll pass when you realize what a fat slo—”

I was on him in seconds.

“Don’t,” I snarled. “Just get in your car and leave, last warning.”

“Mal, leave,” Malloy ordered softly. “It’s done. You can go to my house, and we’ll discuss this further then.”

Mal turned his nose up at me, then got into his dented car and accelerated way too fast down the driveway, narrowly missing taking out Desi’s back bumper before he swung it wide to pull forward.

“My son…” Malloy started.

“Is a dick bag, and always has been,” I finished for him. “The only reason he’s not in jail right now is because you literally do everything but wipe his ass for him.”

Malloy didn’t say anything.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Mal’s not here, which I’m assuming is the reason you didn’t want to say anything inside. What’s wrong, and what can I do to help?”

Malloy’s eyes stayed on his son all the way down the driveway, then winced when he screeched out of it and accelerated up the street.

“I have stage four pancreatic cancer,” he said quietly. “And I’m dying.”

I swallowed hard. “Have you been to the doctor? What did they say?”

That’s when I saw Desi, looking devastated in the doorway with her hand covering her mouth and tears forming in her eyes.

My gaze went from her back to Malloy, who was looking at the driveway blankly.

“They found it on a fluke test that they ran.” He shook his head. “I went in for a crick in my neck and came out with stage four cancer. They said that I could try to fight it but… there’s no use. They say that even with trying to fight it or keep it contained, it’ll still kill me. It’s too far advanced. I could live for another three months max.”

“Malloy,” Desi whispered.

Malloy’s head dropped and he groaned.

“Dangit,” he said.

That was when Desi wrapped her hands around him from behind.

He sighed, long and loud, then turned in her arms and wrapped her up in his large frame.

“It’ll be okay, darlin’,” he murmured.

She shook her head. “But I’ll miss you.”

“And I’ll miss you,” he answered right back. “But, saying that, you don’t need me now. You’re free of my son… which is all I’ve ever wanted.”

My eyebrows shot up at that announcement.

“I know,” she murmured.

Malloy, who was resting his cheek on the top of Desi’s head, looked at me and grinned.

“She didn’t tell you that I told her not to marry my son in the beginning?” he asked.

I shook my head.

There was a lot of stuff that Desi and I hadn’t talked about seeing as we weren’t really seeing each other. But Malloy didn’t know that.

“I did,” he said. “I tried to warn her, but at first, she thought it was because I didn’t want her marrying my son. That she wasn’t good enough. But I couldn’t have her thinking that, so I had to enlighten her to my son’s true character. Unfortunately, she didn’t heed my warnings and ended up hitching herself to a man that was still quite unable to take care of himself.”