Chapter Ten #3
her father replied. “I have obviously been too lenient, and that stops now.”
“Liam, please,” Avery begged.
He shook his head. “No. Avery, you know I love you. You’re
my world. But she’s my responsibility, and I’ve failed.”
He watched Daisy’s skin go pale as her father’s words hit
her.
“I’m a failure?” Daisy asked.
Damn it. “He doesn’t mean it.”
“I didn’t say you failed,” Liam replied, a shocked
expression hitting his face. Like he hadn’t thought those words through. “I
said I did. I should never have let you go off to college. I should have known
you would run wild.”
“Oh, Da.” She shook her head. “I started running wild so
long before college.” She’d gone a bit cold. “You want to know all the reasons
why I’m a failure? Let’s talk about who stole your whiskey when I was fifteen.
You were so sure it was Aidan. It was me. And then when you locked it up, I
still got into it. I replaced it with the big jug of iced tea I always made Mom
get from the store. The one I kept in my room and everyone wondered how I could
drink it without ice. You told me a proper Irish girl wouldn’t drink it at all.
Well, that’s because this proper Irish girl was drinking your whiskey.”
Devi held up a hand. “Okay, could we maybe not mention this
particular part to my parents?”
Liam pointed a finger his daughter’s way. “I knew it wasn’t
whiskey. I convinced myself it had gone bad.”
“It was delicious,” Daisy replied, a dark gleam in her eyes.
“And the time the school let out because the fire alarms went off? I made good
use of the free time, Da.”
“Yes, you went to the library.”
“I went to the lake with Leo Hall, and you do not want to
know what we did in the back of his truck,” Daisy taunted.
Liam went pale. “No. You wouldn’t.”
Avery threw up her hands. “Of course, she would. She is your
daughter, Liam. You know I love you, but you have blinders on when it comes to
her, and it’s not doing either of you any good. She feels like she’s forced to
lie because you won’t love her if you see the truth, and you’re trying so hard
to not notice she’s your mirror image except she’s got boobs, and that makes
her even better at getting what she wants than you were. And I swear if you
wreck her shot at happiness with Nate, we’re going to have serious problems.”
“I did a spot of underaged drinking myself,” Nate admitted.
“And there’s this billabong on the station. I actually lost my virginity in it.
Damn lucky it wasn’t full of crocs.”
“Oh, I can do so much worse, Nate,” Daisy promised.
“She can,” Bri agreed. “She probably shouldn’t, though. Hey,
bestie, remember all those ‘we’re never telling anyone about this’ vows we
made?”
“I don’t need to hear it.” Liam stepped back. “I’ve got work
to do.” He pointed Nate’s way. “If you get my daughter killed, I swear on my
soul I’ll take yours. And I’m leaving my wife here, too. I’m going to go fix
this for Daisy. Avery…”
Avery’s eyes narrowed. “If this is anything beyond a polite
‘will you please stay here while I run off to do something dangerous that will
save our beloved daughter,’ you should rethink.”
Liam sighed. “Avery, would you please stay here for a few
days while I take care of this situation for our beloved daughter?”
“I will,” Avery promised.
“Daisy?” Liam’s voice had gone soft.
Daisy was stubbornly silent.
“I love you, girl. No matter what.” He glanced down at his
phone. “They’re here.”
“Who’s here?” Nate’s morning had gone to complete crap, and
now he was probably going to have to deal with more bodyguards. Bodyguards who
would question him.
The door opened, and Nate realized it was much worse because
Erin Taggart walked in, and she wasn’t alone.
“Nate?” His mother rushed into the room. “Are you okay?
Sweetie? What happened to your pants.”
“Well, hell,” his father said, looking at him first and then
Daisy. “I suppose that was inevitable.”
“Ain’t nothing inevitable about it. Come on, Brody,” Liam
said. “We’re going to El Salvador.”
“We’re what?” His father looked deeply confused.
“You’re not taking my jet.” Ian was suddenly at the railing
of the lounge, a glass in his hand.
“Already pinched it, mate,” Liam said, walking out.
His father looked to his mother.
“You should follow him.” His mom had her worried mask on.
“It’s obvious something’s going on, and we don’t understand. Avery, is
everything okay? Li called and said Nate was in trouble and we had to get here
as soon as possible.”
Avery pulled his mom in for a hug. “I’m so happy to see you,
old friend. Come on. Let’s join Ian and Alex, and I’ll fill you in. By the way,
the kids are together now. In a biblical sense.”
His mom smiled. “He always had a thing for Daisy.”
“I did not. I mean I thought she was sweet and everything,”
Nate argued and then realized he wasn’t this dumb. “I mean. I did. Always.”
Daisy’s eyes were on the door her father had walked through.
“You did,” his mother said. “You just didn’t understand at
the time, but I knew.” His mum moved over to Daisy. “Sweet girl, are you all
right?”
Daisy burst into tears, and all the women surrounded her.
His heart ached, and he hoped they could make it through
this particular storm.
* * * *
Daisy sat outside on the rooftop section of Sanctum. It was
pretty and had a great view, and she hadn’t known it existed until today.
They definitely needed something like this at The Hideout.
If she was allowed back at The Hideout.
The morning had been perfectly horrible, and she wondered if
her father would ever speak to her again. Oh, he’d said he loved her, but that
might be habit.
Bri and Devi had brought more of her things. And she’d
definitely noticed someone had slipped a box of extra-large condoms in. It was
either her friends being cheeky or Uncle Ian being true to form. Her friends
had been sending her texts all day, checking in on her. And she’d gotten a
surprising amount of texts from the guys at The Hideout asking if she was
coming in next weekend. What was up with that?
What she hadn’t gotten was an update from her da, who was
apparently on his way to Central America.
“Hey, I made you some tea,” Nate said as he walked out onto
the balcony. The sun was starting to move to the west, and this particular part
of the rooftop space faced east. He had a tray in his hands. “I added some
pastries Bri and Devi brought. Remind me to thank them for breakfast. Mum is
making us a late lunch, but I thought you might be hungry. The moms are taking
the apartment, by the way. Do you want to stay in the jukebox room?”
She forced herself to look up at him. “Do you want to stay
with me at all?”
Nate had been with Ian and Alex most of the day, or helping
his mother get comfortable. They hadn’t talked much after he’d held her while
she cried. She’d wanted some time alone. Was reality hitting him hard?
He frowned. “Why wouldn’t I? Is this about the mess with
your father? Love, I never once thought you were some saint. Or a virgin who’d
saved herself for her one true love. Though you should know I do intend to be
your one true love, and I’ll keep you so satisfied you won’t look at another
man.”
She wanted to believe him. “Nate, I wasn’t lying to my
father. Not this morning. I got into a lot of trouble as a kid. Or rather I
didn’t. I was good at covering my tracks. I drank and I had sex probably way
before I was truly ready. And I can’t blame them because they were great
parents.”
“There’s no blame, Dais. You were a kid and you
experimented. I was sixteen.” He sat across from her. “I shouldn’t have done it
in the billabong. There was probably bacteria and stuff, but she was seventeen
and I was willing to risk a lot.”
Daisy couldn’t help but smile. And realize there was zero
jealousy because this was his past and she wanted his future. “I was nineteen.
Though I’d done a lot of sexy stuff before that, it was my first penetrative
sex. It wasn’t great, but I knew I was just missing something. I’ve read a lot
of romance novels. I know I should say I never had decent sex until I met the
man of my dreams.”
There was a dimple in his chin when he smirked that made her
heart beat faster. “Well, you met me practically at birth.”
She was so crazy about this guy, but she had to give him
every out. “I’m trying to be honest with you.”
“No, you’re letting guilt seep in, and it could ruin
everything. There’s no reason to feel guilty about having good sex. I had some
good sex, and I hope it was good for the women I was with. Now I’m only going
to have sex with you, and it’s going to be the best,” he said. “I love your
past because it made you who you are.”
She sniffled and stood up, moving into his arms. “Thank you,
Nate. I wish my father felt the same.”
She moved back and looked down at what he’d brought her. A
tea setup with a couple of mini sandwiches and some cookies. She poured the tea
into one of the cups.
“He’ll come around. I assure you my father’s working on
him,” Nate said, standing over her. “What do you think your father meant about
saving you?”
She was sure her da was doing something ruthless. Her father
was incredibly smart, and he could handle things when the going got rough.
She’d been thinking about this all afternoon. “He’ll probably figure out a way
to start a war between cartels so the guy who wants me dead gets killed in
prison. It’s what I’d do.”
Nate huffed, but he leaned over and kissed her forehead.
“Now I understand what your mum meant. You think a lot like him.”
Daisy pointed to the second cup. “Do you want me to pour you
one?”
He shook his head. “Can’t. I’m hopping on a call with my
boss. I’m supposed to report in. It shouldn’t take too long. Then I’ll check on
Mum and come back and hang out with you. Besides, you have other company.” He
nodded as her mother stepped outside. “Avery, you should try the lemonade. The
tea is… Well, it’s for my proper Irish girl.”
“Oh, then I’ll definitely have some of that. It’s been a