"What's wrong?" Call it an old habit, but the moment he flinched, I was instantly on alert. "Are you hurt?" Panic flared to life inside of me. "Did something happen –"

"I'm good, Molls." He forced a smile. "It's all good."

Daryl King used his smile as a shield.

I knew it when I was five years old and I knew it now.

He wasn’t good, something was wrong, but we weren't in a place where I could demand he tell me his secrets. Not like he used to.

"Listen, I'm gonna take off," he said, pushing off the hood of the car. "I need to get to practice."

"Oh." Swallowing down my disappointment, I flashed him a bright smile. "Well, have a great practice."

"Molls?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you wanna hang out afterwards? I can swing by and pick you up?"

My heart leapt in my chest. "H-hang out?"

He nodded. "If you don’t have any plans –"

"I don’t!" The words were out of my mouth before I had a chance to tell myself to be cool. "I can hang out."

"Good." The smile he gave me this time was one hundred percent genuine. "I'll see you later, 'kay?"

"Yeah." I exhaled shakily. "Okay."

14 Thirteen years ago

Daryl

"Wash your mouth out, Daryl King. That's your father you're talking about."

"No, it ain't," I growled with a scowl. "I hate him, Mama. Wren ain't my daddy and I want him to go away!"

"Well, I love him," she replied calmly. "And he's Sophie's daddy. So, you're just going to have to come to terms with the fact that Wren is here to stay."

"But he's mean to me."

"Only when he needs to be."

"He does bad things."

"Nobody is perfect, Daryl."

I thought Molly-Dolly was perfect. I thought she was the most perfect girl that ever walked the whole wide earth. She was special.

"Mama, he ain't good to me –"

"Well, he's good to me!" Mom snapped, turning to glare at me. "So, if you love mommy then try to be a good boy. It will make life so much easier if you stop giving Wren reasons to get mad…"

15 Present Day

Daryl

"Everything okay at home?" Rourke asked when I stepped out of the showers after practice on Thursday.

Wrapping a towel around my waist, I moved for my locker and grabbed my clothes. "Yep."

"Yep?" He gave me the standard 'don’t bullshit a bullshitter' look and cocked a brow. "That's all I'm getting?"

"Yep," I bit out, dropping my towel and pulling on a fresh pair of boxers. "Because that's all there is to know."

"Bullshit, D," he growled. "Sophie told Amelia about you and Wren going at it Friday night."

"If you already know then why'd you ask?" was all I said in response.

"You know you can always crash at my place," he said. "Always, dude."

"Yeah, man, I know." Wouldn’t be happening. "Thanks."

He was quiet then, clearly trying to figure out how to get me to talk.