Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
WREN
"Bray sent you to check up on me." I opened the door to let Dad and Jenny into the apartment.
"Believe it or not, he's worried about you." Jenny gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek as she stepped past. "So are your father and I."
"As you can see, I'm fine," I said. I tried to smile, but my work tools were spread out on the kitchen island. Including several half made cock pendants.
I closed the door, locked it and moved to stand in front of my workspace. "Totally okay. It's really sweet of you to worry about me." I cleared my throat. "Would you like a coffee?" I reached for my phone.
"I'd love one," Dad said. He sighed heavily, his expression serious, concerned. "You'd worry too if your child got drugged and could have died. I shouldn't have left you in the shop alone. If I hadn't—"
"It wouldn’t have changed anything." I activated the coffee machine with my phone.
"We think it was from the muffin I ate for afternoon tea.
" I couldn't meet his eyes for a couple of reasons.
Mostly because of the pendants, but also the suggestion he drugged my coffee.
I didn't want to see that on his face and I didn't want him to see the accusation on mine.
I wasn't entirely sure I could keep it from showing.
"I could have driven you home," he said. "I would have seen something was wrong and insisted you stay with us or go to the hospital. You wouldn't have been alone when someone broke into your townhouse."
His tone forced me to look right at him. I'd never heard or seen him like this. Regretful that he could have prevented all of this and didn't. Like somehow he’d failed his little girl.
"They might have done something else," I said. "They might have gone after Jenny because you were with me. This was a warning. It's possible they didn't care who they messed with, as long as they made their point."
He clearly hadn't considered that. He moved closer to her and put a protective arm around her shoulders.
"I've made some choices in my life I'm not proud of.
I've often wondered if working for Caleb was a bad idea. In the end, it’s lucrative, that's why I do it.
Not to mention how difficult it is to walk away.
You know what the Brantley family is like with people like us. "
"Trying to walk away could get you dead," I said bluntly. "I don't blame you for anything you did. None of this was about you." I didn't think it was anyway. "This is about Tiger going after Nicholas Fiorelli."
"Which he wouldn't need to do if it wasn't for Fiorelli abducting you." Dad’s jaw clenched with fury at the memory. "Which wouldn't have happened if Sinclair wasn't associated with Coast Riggs."
"She can date whoever she wants to," I started.
He rested his other hand on the top of the island. "Of course she can, but is it wise for you to associate with her?"
"She's one of my best friends," I said, more snappy than I intended. "Are you going to try to tell me I can't see her or Elenna anymore? Because in case you hadn't noticed, I'm a grown woman and I can be friends with whoever I want to."
Jenny reached out and put a hand on my forearm. "Of course you can, sweetie. We're just worried about you, that's all. Your father is right. You never would have been abducted if you weren't with Sinclair that night. Tiger would have had no reason to start searching for Nicholas."
"I have a feeling he would have found a reason," I said. "He was right there when Nicholas attacked Sawyer. He was held at gunpoint by Geneva and her goons. He wants to put an end to all of it."
"Even if it means putting you at risk?" Dad asked. "If he really cares about you—"
"He does," I interrupted. "Everything he's doing is because he cares about me." I spread my hands to gesture around the opulent apartment. "If he didn't, I'd still be living in my townhouse, not here."
"If he left it all alone, you'd still be living there," Dad said.
I was saved from having to respond by the coffee machine beeping. I forgot all about the cock pendants and stepped around the island to pick up the steaming mugs.
"Tiger has the best—" I turned around to see Dad eyeing the pendants lying out in front of him. "Um."
He looked up at me, completely unamused. "Um? I presume you have an explanation for…" He waved his hand over them. "These."
Jenny leaned in for a better look. "Are they— Oh!" Her hand flew up to her mouth. She pressed the tips of her fingers against her lips. "Golden penises. How adorable."
Dad looked at her in surprise. "Adorable?"
She lowered her hand and laughed at the expression on his face. "You don't think so?"
She picked up one that had a Jacob's ladder piercing on the underside. "Look at the craftsmanship. It's absolutely charming. How much?"
Dad snatched it out of her fingers and placed it back on the island. "That's not something you need."
She huffed. "I'll decide if it's something I need or not, Martin."
I couldn't help saying, "Your birthday is coming soon."
Dad looked outraged. "Don't encourage her. It's bad enough you're making those."
"I make pussies too," I said. What the hell, I was in enough trouble as it was. I might as well dig myself a deeper hole. "I can make one with a piercing in the clit hood if you like."
Jenny stifled a giggle, but Dad looked just this side of disgusted.
"No thank you. This is what you've been doing when you're supposed to be making jewellery for my business?"
"I've been working on them once my work for you is finished," I said, my irritation rising.
"In my own spare time. I'm making hockey sticks and pucks too.
" I hadn't even thought about doing that until the words were out of my mouth.
Now I said them, I'd have to do it. Fortunately, I wanted to.
Little personalised sticks and pucks would be too cute to resist.
"Have you been selling them on our website?" Dad asked.
"Of course not, I set up my own. I figured they wouldn't match our brand, so I kept it separate.
" If I hadn't, I could potentially look forward to a one-way trip off Tiger's balcony, courtesy of my father.
If he was possessive of anything apart from Jenny, it was his business. I knew better than to fuck with it.
"Does anyone know you're doing this?" he asked.
"My guys and my friends," I said. "Bray knows. I guess he didn't tell either of you."
"Leave your stepbrother out of this," Dad said. "This is about you and me. It's nothing to do with him."
Okay, I was about to make this a thousand times worse or… No, there might not be a second option.
"Those guys I mentioned," I said slowly. I swallowed hard. "Bray is one of them."
I placed Dad’s coffee on the island and pushed it towards him, like someone might do if they were scared of getting bitten.
I winced and waited.
Jenny looked unconcerned, but my father stared at me like he wasn't sure he recognised me.
"You're seeing your stepbrother?"
"Yes."
"Romantically?
"Yes."
Dad grimaced. He looked like he had a question on the tip of his tongue that he didn't want to say or know the answer to.
"If you're wondering if we're sleeping together, the answer is also yes," I said. "Although, not a lot of actual sleeping takes place. At this point, I'll remind you we're both grown adults. And we're not related biologically."
"Thank fuck for that," Dad said. He picked up his coffee and swallowed half of it in one gulp.
"Would you like some alcohol in that?" I asked dryly. "Something to numb the pain of having a daughter who's such a disappointment." I didn't try to keep the bitterness out of my tone.
Dad set the mug down on the island with a thunk. "Wren Elizabeth Valentine, you are not a disappointment. I'm just surprised. This is a lot for an old man to process. Penis pendants and dating your stepbrother. And the whole drugging thing on top of that."
"It's a lot to have gone through," I said quietly. "But I'm happy making these." I jerked my head towards my pendants. "And I am happy spending time with Bray and the direction our relationship has gone. Don't worry, we still give each other hell."
We just gave each other orgasms now too.
"Do you want to keep working for me?" he asked. There was something intense in his eyes. He wanted a straight answer with a firm decision behind it. He didn't like to have conversations about things more than once if he could help it. One and done, that was him.
"Is this where you tell me I have to choose between you and making genitals out of metal?" Because that would be an impossible choice.
He flinched. "No. I want to know if I need to train someone to replace you.
I don't want to lose you. You're my daughter and I love you.
You're good at what you do. I don't want you sneaking around behind my back anymore though.
If you want to keep making these, and doing that doesn't affect your work for me, then you have my support. "
He hesitated for a moment before, with some reluctance, he added, "I might even be able to give you some tips to make them better."
"No pun intended," Jenny teased.
He turned a droll expression on her and shook his head. "I never thought I'd have this conversation. Let's maybe keep it to a minimum until I get my head around it." He closed his eyes, shook his head and groaned. "No pun intended there either."
"That's good, because I don't really want to think about my father's bits," I said.
Ewww.
"No more than I want to think about yours or anything you might get up to with Bray or anyone else," Dad said.
He picked up the rest of his coffee and swallowed it in two gulps.
"Alcohol might be a good idea next time, but we all need to be on our guard right now.
We don't know what move they'll make next.
The minute we get complacent will be the minute they try something.
We can't afford to be impeded by alcohol. "
"Unless you're locked away in a tower like a princess," Jenny said.
She moved over to the window and looked outside. "This is incredible. Martin, do you think we could—"
"No," he said immediately. "We couldn't afford a place here." He rolled his eyes towards the ceiling, as though he'd expected the question at some point. There was something about this apartment that seemed to provoke that sentiment.
She clicked her tongue in disappointment, but the smile on her face suggested she knew exactly what his answer would be before she spoke. "I guess we'll be content visiting once in a while. You can show us more of your little, precious penises."
"That's not a sentence you expect to hear every day from your stepmother," I said with a smile.
She laughed, lines around her eyes crinkling with humour and warmth.
Jenny was an easy person to love. Dad was lucky he found her. So was I.
I used to wonder exactly where Bray came from. The more I got to know him, the more of her I saw. They both had a wicked sense of humour and generous spirit. They kept the people around them on their toes.
"We should get going," Dad said. He pushed his empty cup back across the island.
“Yes, we should—” Jenny took a step towards me when something slammed into the window behind her, cracking the wall of glass.