“I said, stop moving,” Johnny warned.

Perry stopped and shouted in his face, “And I said, get outta my way, man!”

“You need to calm down,” Johnny told him.

“You need to fuck off,” Perry returned.

“Listen to me—” Johnny started.

“Kiss my ass,” Perry sneered.

Johnny went on like he didn’t speak. “You got one minute to turn around, get back in your car, go somewhere and cool off then make a meet with Addie when you’re in a different frame of mind.”

“And if I don’t?” Perry asked snidely.

“I’ll detain you while Eliza calls the police,” Johnny answered.

“Fuck you.” He shot to the side, yelling, “Addie!”

Johnny shot to the side and Charlie moved with him, both of the men crowding Perry and moving him back.

“Jesus, fuck off!” Perry shouted, bouncing his chest against Johnny’s.

A low, pissed noise rolled up Johnny’s throat and out his mouth.

“This is not the way this is gonna go.”

A new voice in the conversation made all the men still.

Addie rounded at their free side.

The good news was that she was no longer holding Brooks.

The bad news was that she’d rounded at their free side.

“Get back, sweetheart,” Johnny murmured, taking a step away from Perry but toward her.

“I’m fine, Johnny,” she returned, but her eyes were on her husband.

Perry launched right in.

“Are you fuckin’ serious with that fuckin’ shit you pulled?”

“Are you serious, asking me that crap?” she shot back.

“You didn’t give me a chance to explain,” he retorted.

“Explain? Explain how I came home from work with a migraine and found our son in his crib without even a toy to pass the time, fretting and freaked, and you in my bed with some skank, pumping away at her?” she asked.

Johnny felt himself go solid and he felt something new beating at him from all around.

He knew Izzy was close to her sister even if he couldn’t see her. Charlie was right there. But he had a feeling Deanna had disappeared with Brooks.

He didn’t look.

He stared at Addie, avoiding looking at Perry so he wouldn’t have the urge to break the man’s neck.

“We need to have words,” Perry decreed.

“We aren’t doing anything anymore,” Addie returned.

“You took my kid,” he stated.

“Sorry, let me explain this to you, Perry,” Addie began. “You see, when a sperm donor squirts, that’s the start and end of it.”

“I’m not a fuckin’ sperm donor,” Perry bit out right when Johnny sensed they had more company.

He looked to the drive to see another truck joining the fast-forming parking lot.

An old red Chevy with silver panels.

Johnny knew that truck.

Jesus Christ.

It was Toby.

He had no clue not only that Toby was coming to town but also how Toby knew where to find him.

At that moment, he couldn’t think about it either.

“You apparently aren’t a very good babysitter either,” Addie noted casually, either so tuned to what was happening with her husband she didn’t notice Toby arriving or so tuned to what was happening with Perry, she was determined to focus on it.

Perry was also either/or, proving this by replying, “I’m not a babysitter. I’m Brooklyn’s father.”

“A father bathes his child, Perry,” she educated him. “He gives him bottles. He rocks him to sleep. And oh, another thing, he pays at least a few bills.”

After Toby climbed out of his truck, Johnny gave him a short jerk of his head before he returned his attention to the situation at hand.

“You know I’ve been lookin’ for gigs,” Perry pointed out.

“I’m not sure how you’ll find gigs camped out on the couch with a six pack or humping some chick in my bed.”

“Addie, don’t lay this shit on me. You haven’t been giving it up for months.”

“That’s because I’m tired, Perry. I’m exhausted. I’m a single mother of a baby boy with a deadbeat dad who lives with me,” she fired back, and Johnny knew she was losing it by the tone of her voice turning scratchy.

“I love my kid,” Perry flung back.

“He’s a toy, like I was a toy before I wasn’t shiny and new anymore and life became a drag, but you didn’t give me away. You tossed me aside and looked for a new toy just like I know you’ll do with Brooklyn when he’s not fun anymore,” Addie replied.

Johnny saw Toby approach, not getting close but close enough to hear.

His brother’s eyebrows shot up.

Johnny gave him another short jerk of his head and again looked at Addie.

“That’s not true, baby,” Perry was now coaxing. “I love you. I love Brooklyn. You know that. It’s just been tough since the band broke up and—”

“God, spare me,” Addie drawled cuttingly. “You’re such a cliché and I’m such a moron for falling for it.”

“We got it good, we just gotta get that back,” Perry said.

“You had it good because you had someone paying your bills and doing all the grunt work taking care of your son so he’s nice and clean and fed when you feel like playing with him. I didn’t have it good. And even after sharing this about seven million times, it didn’t sink in that you might wanna give your wife and son better. I know this because nothing changed. I also know this because I walked in on you fucking another woman.”

“I’ll get in another band soon and then—”

“Do not try to feed me that again, Perry. I believed it two years ago. Do you honestly think I’ll believe it now?”

“So, right,” Perry clipped out, coaxing gone, he was back to pissed. “Now you get to make the decision we’re done then you clean out the apartment and the bank accounts and take off?”

Johnny’s eyes slid to Charlie and he grinned.

Charlie grinned back.

“You cheated on me and we were done so I moved, Perry. I took my stuff. I left yours. That stuff that’s mine includes what’s in the bank accounts since every penny in them I earned,” Addie explained.

“When I got back after you split, there was nothing in the place but my clothes,” he returned.

“Which is what you brought to our marriage and all you contributed to our marriage so that’s all you’ll get out of it.”

“It took me a week to get up here because I had to raise the cash for gas since you took it all and canceled our credit cards,” Perry complained.

“My credit cards. Your name was on them. I paid them.”

Perry suddenly raised his hand quickly to his forehead, slamming his fingers against it and then sending his hand flying out, stating, “Can you not see how totally fucked up it is some bitch cleans out an apartment and takes a man’s kid then takes off without even a fuckin’ note?”

Johnny braced to lock things down.

“You were inside her,” Addie whispered.

At that, Johnny instead shifted more toward Adeline.

Izzy became visible as she got up close to her sister’s back.

Toby even moved nearer.

“Baby, can we please talk about this without an audience?” Perry begged.

“She looked at me. You looked at me. You looked right in my eyes when you were connected to another woman,” Addie said, her voice filled with pain.