Chapter Ten #2
“Ugh.” She polished off the last sip of her beer, then set the empty bottle on the bar without asking for another, as initially planned. Time to go. If she sat there much longer, mooning over an untouchable man, she’d hit an unacceptable level of pathetic.
After a quick goodbye to her parents, she’d head home.
She weaved her way through the crowded clubhouse to where her parents sat laughing and drinking with their chosen family.
“Hey, sweetie, having fun?” Shell asked as she reached their table.
“You bet,” she lied with a smile that probably fooled no one.
“P-cess!” Gator seemed to materialize from nowhere. “Where you been all night?” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and yanked her close, planting a long, sloppy kiss on her cheek.
“You’ve got one second to get your filthy lips off my daughter before I slice them off and turn them into earrings.” Copper’s voice boomed over the music. His narrowed eyes burned with outrage.
Gator immediately released her, stepping away as he raised his hands in the air. “Sorry, Prez. Meant no disrespect.”
“Seriously?” Beth shook her head.
“Dead serious.” Copper folded his massive arms across his chest in a move meant to intimidate Gator, but it only pissed Beth off. For fuck’s sake, she wasn’t a child and didn’t have a lick of interest in Gator.
“Dad, it’s no different than you kissing Aunt Steph on the cheek or vice versa, and you guys do that shit all the time.”
“It’s very different. Gator is a stupid shit who only thinks with his dick.”
She scoffed, and Gator, proving he was in fact a stupid shit, said, “He has a point.”
“Really?” She stared at him, incredulous. “Not gonna help me out at all?”
He shrugged. “Just trying to get back on my prez’s good side.” He spoke out of the corner of his mouth as though Copper wouldn’t hear him somehow.
Maybe if she hadn’t been lusting after one of her father’s men just two minutes ago, this wouldn’t be an issue.
Perhaps if she hadn’t left a horrible relationship less than two weeks ago, she’d have been less sensitive, but her father’s lack of faith in her ability to choose her own partner got under her skin in a way it never had before.
“Are you done?” she asked Copper before he could bark another order. She tried to keep her temper in check, but her hands curled at her sides, clenched with annoyance. “Because if you’re finished threatening my friend over a kiss on my cheek, I’d like to say something.”
Shell’s eyes widened, and for a moment Beth worried her mom was about to step in and try to diffuse the situation, but instead her lips curled. More than one set of eyes watched her, people she’d known and loved all her life, but she didn’t care.
She hadn’t stood up for herself in so long, a surge of power kept her mouth moving. If she was overreacting, it didn’t matter. She needed this. Needed to speak her mind in a situation where she’d be safe no matter what she said.
Her dad’s jaw tightened. “Gator crossed a line.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You did, Dad.” Her heart pounded so hard it felt like it’d burst right through her chest, but she didn’t back down. “He kissed my cheek. Like family. Like someone who knows me and respects me, and you threatened him like I’m some piece of property you need to guard.”
Someone whistled, and Maverick, snarky as ever, yelled, “You tell him, girl.”
“Hey, p-cess, it’s really okay,” Gator whispered from beside her. “I shoulda kept my lips to myself.”
“No. It’s really not okay.” She turned back to her Dad.
“I’m an adult. I have been for a while. Hell, Mom already had a toddler at my age.
I want to stay. I want to be back here in Tennessee, home with my family permanently, but when you act like this, you’re telling me you don’t trust me.
And if my own father can’t trust me, or the men he calls family, then why would I stay here? ”
Copper reared back with a flabbergasted expression, as though she’d smacked him.
Shell put her hand over his, linking their fingers as she looked between her husband and daughter with heartbreak on her face.
Shit.
She stepped back, her chest heaving. What had she done?
That was too much, too over the top. She knew how Copper was.
She knew he loved her and only wanted to protect her body and heart.
She hadn’t meant to spew all her pent-up feelings at him, but that’s precisely what they were—emotions that had been building over weeks and months, festering in silence while Jason chipped away at her piece by piece.
They’d finally exploded from her mouth at the man who’d shown her unconditional love her whole life.
The wrong man.
The safe man.
“I’m sorry.” She shook her head, walking backward. Luckily, people moved out of her way, allowing her escape.
“Beth…” Copper called after her.
“No.” Tears burned behind her eyes, threatening to spill, and she refused to cry in front of the club on top of her emotional vomiting. “Not tonight. I… I need to go.”
She turned and rushed through the parting crowd with her face burning. At least the music still played. If not, the place would probably be as quiet as a cemetery at midnight. As quiet and as depressing.
Shame washed over her, hot and suffocating, as she walked out into the warm, peaceful night. All that was missing from her epic tantrum was a foot stomp and an eyeroll.
God, she was a mess. A complete fucking disaster.
“Dammit,” she muttered, jamming her hands on her hips.
She tipped her head back and stared at the stars, blinking hard against the sting in her eyes.
The night air cooled her flushed cheeks, but nothing could cool the sick churning in her gut.
She’d just publicly dressed down the man who’d taught her to ride a bike, who’d held her when she cried, who’d probably stayed awake countless nights worrying about her while she was with Jason.
And she’d done it because she was jealous of a woman touching a man she had no right to want.
Pathetic.
The door opened behind her, and her stomach dropped. Probably her dad. She exhaled slowly, trying to prepare herself for his outrage or his pain. She wasn’t sure which would be worse.
But it wasn’t Copper.
Saint stood a few feet away, looking fierce and sexy, and something inside her cracked open with relief. He’d come after her. Not her dad, not her mom, not Lindsey—him. The man she had no business wanting had followed her out into the night.
“Come on.” His voice was low, steady. “Let’s go for a ride.”
Her breath caught. “Where’s Melody?” She didn’t bother to keep the snark from her question.
Saint’s lips quirked as he shrugged. “Fuck if I know.”
Well then…
He started toward his bike with long, sure strides. “You coming?”
Her gaze fell to his ass, where it filled out those jeans in a way that made her groan. This was a terrible idea. If she had any brain in her head, she’d turn back, go inside, and apologize to her father.
“Yeah.” She hurried after him. “I’m coming.”