Tempting Evil by Allison Brennan Read Free Book Online

silence. The storm had kept the wind whipping half the night, but now it was calm. Some might call it peaceful.
    It made Aaron nervous.
    “That it is,” Stan agreed.
    “And you’ve been thinking for thirty years.”
    Stan laughed, a deep, guttural sound that made Aaron think the man didn’t laugh much. “When we stop thinking, we die, young man. But I did my heavy thinking years ago. Now, I contemplate lesser evils than my past. Like how long it’s going to take you to dice up those potatoes.”
    Aaron busied himself at the task, a little disturbed at being criticized by Stan, but with an urge to please him that he didn’t understand.
    Aaron barely remembered his father. Aaron and his mama moved around so much that Aaron didn’t see his dad for months at a time. Even when he stayed with his paternal grandparents, his dad rarely visited.
    Joe Dawson hadn’t wanted him. That’s what Ginger Doherty said.
    There were few male figures in Aaron’s life, and none that lasted more than a couple months. His paternal grandfather had been a foreboding man, not one Aaron could confide in or ask for advice. And the last time he’d seen his dad? He’d been six or seven.
    “Don’t bring him here again.” Grandfather glared at Aaron’s mother. “I won’t have you putting Lottie through this again. She cries for weeks after you take the boy.”
    “He’s your grandson. Your flesh and blood,” his mama said. No one knew Aaron was eavesdropping. He was good at hiding.
    Even when he didn’t hide, people often didn’t notice him.
    “I told you we would take him in if you’d stop coming by.”
    “I’m not giving you my son!”
    “But you’d sell him fast enough, wouldn’t you?”
    Grandma Lottie came into the room, tears in her eyes. “Ginger, I love Aaron. Please let him stay here. With us. We’ll provide for him. Give him a good, stable home.”
    “And what about me? He’s my son!”
    “You haven’t acted like a mother since the day you gave birth!” Grandma Lottie said. “You complained that you were fat and then had a tummy tuck!”
    “How can I provide for my son without a husband? Oh, wait, you didn’t teach your own son to take care of what is his.”
    “Leave Joe out of this.”
    “What, he has a couple minutes of fun and gets out of his responsibility, but I have to pay for it the rest of my life?”
    “We’ll take care of Aaron. Give up your parental rights, and we’ll give him a real home.”
    Aaron sat around the corner just out of sight, arms hugging his legs, back flat against the wall, breath caught in his chest. He didn’t know what he wanted. When he was here, he missed his mama something awful. He loved the way she smelled, the way she held him, the way she told him that he was her little man. But Grandfather was smart and Grandma Lottie let him lick the spoon when she made sugar cookies. And she told him he was the best angel in the school choir…
    Mama hadn’t even come to the play.
    He wanted to be with his mama, but he didn’t want to leave Grandfather and Grandma, either.
    What were parental rights? Sometimes his grandparents would talk when they thought he was sleeping. They said bad things about his mama. Especially Grandfather. Why did they hate his mama? Why couldn’t they all live together and be happy? Why did his mama make him move all the time and live with strangers?
    “How much?” Mama asked.
    Grandma Lottie sobbed. “We don’t have a lot of money, Ginger! We’ll buy Aaron’s food and clothes and we can start up a college fund—”
    Mama laughed. “College? I never got sent to college. I love Aaron and he’s mine. He’s the only thing that is all mine, and you’re not getting him. Not unless you have a good reason for me to give up parental rights.”
    “Aaron is not a possession!” Grandma cried.
    Silence. It lasted nearly forever to Aaron as he huddled alone.
    “Get out.” Grandfather had spoken. His voice was barely audible, but Aaron started