“Hey, I was playing that,” she said.

“Sorry, kid. It’s mine now.”

“You can’t cut in front of me. I was getting coins.” She held one in front of his face, and he gently pushed her arm away.

I leaned toward Reno until our arms touched. “I bet he’s one of those friends of the family who doesn’t have kids of his own. What kind of man would put his needs before a child?”

“A dirtbag, that’s who.”

Humans fascinated me and I wanted to see how Maizy would react to his bullying. A girl needs to stand her ground and not let a man run over her.

Which is exactly what she did. I almost burst out laughing when she grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled it so hard that a button popped off the front. He regained his balance and glowered at her.

“You can play when I finish my game,” she said matter-of-factly. “It’s not nice to disrespect a woman.”

I laughed heartily that time. “I see the Cole brothers have been teaching her well.”

Reno folded his arms.

“Kid, if you don’t scram, I’m going to tell your mom you ruined my shirt. Then you’ll really get a spanking.”

Maizy retaliated by slamming her hand on one of the buttons, looking up at him defiantly.

“Does this kid belong to someone?” he shouted out to the room.

“That human is two seconds away from getting his ass kicked,” Reno muttered, leaning forward, his chair creaking.

Maizy changed her strategy and offered her coins to him. “You can have all my tokens if you let me play one last time before I have to go.”

“Thanks, kid.”

He took the coins, stuffed them in his pocket, and kept playing. Maizy gripped the stick on the machine and when he seized her wrist, Denver materialized.

“Shit’s about to get real,” Reno muttered, leaning back in his chair and extending his left arm behind me.

Denver snatched the man by the wrist and severed his grip on Maizy. He put his straw hat on Maizy’s head and, without removing his eyes from the man, said, “Go help your mom. We’ll play a game as soon as you’re done.”

Maizy walked away, and Denver’s expression became explosive.

“I think you need to cool off,” the young man said, snapping his arm back. “If that’s your kid, maybe you should send her to obedience school.”

Wrong. Choice. Of. Words.

Denver gripped the man’s trachea so firmly that his eyes bulged. “Don’t you ever put your hands on a child,” Denver bit out. “That makes you nothing more than pond scum not fit enough to dirty the bottom of my shoe. Normally I’d knock your face in, but today is a special day, so you lucked out. But if you want to continue arguing, we can take it outside and I’ll show you how serious I am. Doubt me for one second, and I’ll make the beating twice as bad. Your call. Now why don’t you get the fuck out of here?”