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His mother screwed her face up "Oh, I hate that name he uses Do I look like I’d name my son Bubba?" The way she said the naaze down upon my precious bundle that I had succored for iven all my devotion to and say, ‘Dear Lord, thank you for this wonderful gift Let row up and be mocked before he even opens hisnickname?"

"No, ht his nicknaet me started on that topic Cheese? Really, Michael? For that I sent you to the best private school in town" She shook her head as if to clear it "Nah, they naone up to Ohio State for a su my baby Bubba because of his accent that they constantly round like he should have, he started using Bubba as a joke"

"Mama," Bubba said as he came out of the back "I can’t beat up everyone in the world for being stupid Have you seen how many of them are out there? I work retail Trust me The world’s eat up with it And aren’t you the one who’s always saying, ‘you can’t fix stupid, son, so don’t try?’ Besides, I got better things to do with ht every idiot I come into contact with"

She snorted "Please It wouldn’t be aped at her words He couldn’t believe she’d encourage Bubba to fight when all he did was get dogged out by his

The universe had a sick sense of huaze "I don’t knohere he gets his gargantuan size from My entire side of the family is mutantly short Heck, I’m taller than two of my brothers They are truly concentrated evil which is why they’re e, his daddy is average Genes make no sense to me"

Bubba snorted "You know, Maiven the fact that you’re one of the top pediatric surgeons in the country, and have written several defining works on genetic links to diseases" He glanced at Nick and Kody "It’s kind of like the time she baked me cookies when I was a kid, and then ca dressed for Halloween"

"Oh Lord, not that again," his mother said under her breath

Nick was so confused "What’s wrong with cookies?" His mom tried to bake, but it was not her forte They were always burnt on the outside and still raw dough on the inside

Bubba snorted "Nick, I’ood If a woman, even your owna black apron with a skull and crossbones on it … decline Just saying"

His rief Who knew I’d scar you for life by offering you a snickerdoodle? I can just hear that conversation with your therapist now ‘Oh, Doctor, it was so awful There I sat as a little innocent child, playing ames on my little baby tummy, when all of a sudden, my mean, awful mama, who’d just come off a thirty-six-hour shift at the hospital, who had driven two and a half hours to get ho upafter my daddy had accidentally sewed the sleeve shut, and bake s and snickerdoodles, offered me one’" She held the back of her hand to her forehead "‘Oh the humanity, Doctor Oh the humanity I have seen You just don’t know ave Kody and Nick a droll stare "I’ll bet if you tried to give hiirl and run for cover" She paused and narrowed her eyes Then a wide s for dinner" She grinned at Bubba "You got any cinnaaboo? Or is it all half-eot a loaf of bread and some peanut butter, too"

She rolled her eyes "Oh I’m so sorry, honey I didn’t hter and sarcashed "I like your mama, Bubba She’s a lot of fun"

"That’s ’cause she’s not busting your chops As my dad would say, she’s like a head injury Only funny when it happens to soue that No one was iue ofBubba’she just couldn’t wrap his ed nonchalantly "For a little while"

"Little while, my pink patootie" His mama turned her attention back to Nick and Kody "Letlinebacker One of the best you ever saw When he wasn’t blowing stuff up around the house conducting bizarre experilanced sideways at Bubba, "like the time he tried to launch the TV into space for the aliens to see--"

"Ma … Do so stupid around your mama, one time, when you’re four years old and you never live it down"

She ignored his interruption "… He had a football in his hands and was leaving everybody in his wake No one could catch him The people who knew better than to round Bulldozer Burdette or Trip B for short He had a full-blown football and academic scholarship to MIT, where he was one of their most valued players all four years he was there He had offers to go pro and I don’t mean one or two teams He was the nuine if he’d sign He could have played for any NFL team, anywhere"

Nick was completely stunned He’d had no idea Bubba never really talked about his past, and the fact that he was a football star…

That absolutely shamed Nick’s Peewee Bowl Chao pro?"

A deep sadness creased Bubba’s brow "I had a lot of reasons that made sense to me back then" He sed hard "It doesn’t matter anyway… I’d have probably had a massive injury on the field that would have cut s co out of the past ’cause there ain’t no reason to be there, let’s talk about this cybernut on the loose at your school You guys got a major problem"

"Yeah, we know"

"No, Nick, you don’t" He crooked his finger for him to follow into the back of the shop

Nick headed in and as soon as he saw the , he froze There were all kinds of photos on the site about his classross And so breath "If this weren’t cruel, I’d be impressed by the skill level Someone spent a lot of time and they’ve done some incredible PI work on a whole lot of people"

"But what concerns us most is this link" Bubba took the mouse from Mark’s hand and clicked on the word "Sources" "They’ve naave theround his teeth as he read over the list and saw his own na I never told anyone anything about Spencer Nothing Not even my mama" In that moment, he wanted to find the site owner and back over the’?"