Chapter Fifteen
“Well, there you are, girly.”
The blood vanished from Sky’s face as the man she had hoped never to see again in her lifetime slid into the other side of her booth. Sky bit back the whimper and the nauseous feeling this man caused.
“Wh-what are you doing here, Dad?”
“Well, I had to come because my slut of a daughter wasn’t taking care of her father the way she should. I have given up my dreams to make sure you get everything you need, and this is how you repay me? I was sick of waiting and calling you, because you’re not doing what I’ve told you to do.”
Sky put her hamburger down when her appetite fled and wiped her hands on a napkin. She didn’t want to show this man any weakness and kept her eyes down.
“I’m not sure I understand. What do you expect me to do?”
“Get me some money. That husband of yours is rich and can afford to part with some of it. That’s why I picked him for you instead of the other guy who wanted to pay good money for you, but no, I think my daughter deserves to have the family she’s always wanted.
I would never have thought you’d push me away. ”
Sky didn’t believe him for a minute but was curious who the other man was.
“You already took money that didn’t belong to you. You took the money he gave you to buy the things I’d need.”
“Everything you have belongs to me and always will.”
Sky felt her stomach start to cramp. Stress always made her menstrual cycles worse, and lately, she’d been under more than usual.
She knew the pain that would come and wanted to get away from her dad before it debilitated her.
When she got home, she would take the medicine she’d picked up at the pharmacy.
“Who was the other guy, Dad?”
“Some Marcus guy. He seemed a little slimy to me. The kind of guy who would have sold you on the black market or something.” He laughed when the blood drained from her face. “See, I did you a favor, girly.”
Sky bit her tongue and tried not to show her horror.
“There is nothing I can do for you, Dad. I have no control over anything at the ranch. Besides, I think it’s best if you’re no longer part of my life.”
She gasped in pain when he reached across the table between them and clutched her arm. She cringed when his nails bit into her tender skin.
“You’re wrong. I will always be a part of your life until the day one of us dies.”
“You’ll be dead in about two seconds if you don’t take your fucking hands off my wife,” Jared growled.
Frank dropped her arm and jerked back.
Sky sat and stared up at Jared as if she’d never seen him before, and frankly, she hadn’t seen the caring side of his personality because he had been too afraid to show it. He moved her over and sat next to her. Jared put an arm around Sky and pulled her close.
****
“Now tell me, Frank, what exactly do you want?”
Frank looked back and forth between the two young people and felt his hopes rise at the emotion he could detect in Jared’s eyes.
“Listen, I gave you my daughter. The least you can do is to spare some money for an old man.”
Jared held Sky tighter when she tried to move away from him. “For one thing, you didn’t give me your daughter.”
Frank laughed and relaxed back. “I didn’t give her a choice. She would never have been yours if not for me.”
Jared leaned forward a bit as his eyes pierced the man. He wanted to beat him for the abuse he knew he subjected Sky to her whole life.
“I don’t care how she came to be here. She’s an adult. She can make decisions for herself now.”
Frank snorted. “An adult? She’s an idiot. There is no way she has the brains to act like an adult. Hell, she’ll always need someone to take care of her. She would never be able to take care of herself.”
Jared gritted his teeth and reminded himself that murder was against the law, even if the person was a total scumbag.
“You made sure of that, right?”
Frank raised his chin. “I did what I thought best for my little girl.”
“So, you’re telling me, selling your daughter to a stranger is in her best interest?”
Frank leaned back with a smirk on his face. “Don’t be so dramatic. I checked into you before I sent her to you.”
“You checked to see how much I was worth, not if I was a decent man?”
“Jesus, what’s your problem, you got a woman. She’s not much to look at, but she’s very obedient.”
Jared hated that Sky was being subjected to his verbal abuse again.
“What’s it going to take to get rid of you for good?”
“One hundred thousand,” her father said.
Sky gasped.
Jared watched Sky pale before she turned her head to look out the window.
“I don’t know how you think you’re getting anything from me,” Jared told him.
“Then I’ll take my daughter back and find a more generous man. Hell, I can probably get the other guy to take her off my hands for a better price. Ten thousand isn’t going to cut it.”
Jared laughed. “Don’t hold your breath. I am keeping my wife with me forever. You’re never going to get your hands on her again.”
Sky turned her gaze to her father and spoke in a firm voice, surprising both men.
“There will never be a chance in hell I’ll come back to you. I’d rather be dead. Even if the marriage doesn’t work out, I know I have the strength to move on and make a life for myself.”
Frank scowled at her. “You need to shut your stupid mouth, little girl.”
She leaned forward and placed both arms on the table.
“No, I’ve had enough. I don’t know what happened to make me think I matter, but I know I deserve better.
You need to leave, and I never want to see you again.
If need be, I will get a restraining order against you to protect myself.
” Sky curled her lip in disgust. “You will never get another penny from someone because of me for the rest of my life.”
Frank sat forward, ready to grab onto her arm, when a large hand reached out abruptly and twisted the other man’s arm away from his wife.
“Damn it, you’re gonna break my arm, you son of a bitch,” Frank cried out.
“You will never lay another hand on Sky again, or I’ll break you into little pieces.”
Frank yanked his arm from Jared’s grip. “You can’t threaten me!”
Jared laughed, leaned closer, and whispered so only the three of them heard the words.
“You wanna bet? I’ve lived here my whole life.
I can tell you at least a hundred places where I can hide a body.
But that’s not a threat, you bastard. I’m just telling you there is nothing I wouldn’t do to protect my family.
Now tell me, do you want to take a chance I’m lying, or can you see the truth in my eyes? ”
Frank swore before he looked at Sky. “Are you going to let him talk to your dad like that?”
Sky tried to smile, but it fell short. The nausea was back, but this time with a cramp twisting her insides, making it hard to breathe.
“As far as I’m concerned, you are no longer my father.”
Frank’s face turned a darker shade of red. She could tell he was trying and just barely succeeding to bite back the hateful words he wanted to spew from his mouth because he was rightly afraid of Jared. He stood abruptly but never took his eyes from Sky.
“I hope he finally gets sick of you and pushes you away, because I know it will happen eventually. I just don’t know when. Don’t come crawling back to me. I want you to hurt.”
Jared tore his gaze from Sky. He stood and towered over the other man.
“It’s time for you to go.”
Frank turned from them angrily, but no sound came from him again. Sky released the breath that had stuck in her throat since her father first sat down.
Jared watched until the door closed after the man before sitting back down. He immediately turned in the booth and faced Sky, one of his arms on top of the booth seat, his other on the table in front of her, deliberately caging her in. Her body stiffened as she stared out the window, ignoring him.
“Look at me, Baby.”
A shiver raced down her spine at the honey tone of his voice. One she hadn’t heard in such a long, long time, not since her first few days on the ranch. She turned to look at him.
“Can you let me up? I want to get back ho ... to your ranch,” she stuttered.
Jared’s eyes stared into hers, trying to find anything that would be better than the emptiness that shone back at him.
Dammit, he did this to her. Why hadn’t he seen the sadness that veiled this woman when she lived under the same roof?
He hated himself right then for the pain he had caused her. She’d had enough of that in her life.
“In a bit, Baby. I want to talk to you.”
Sky stayed frozen and waited for his criticism and disapproval, trying to solidify the wall she had erected around herself for protection against the damage this man caused her.
“What did you want to talk about?”
Sky gasped, and a visible shiver wracked her body when his hand wrapped around her neck. She tried to pull away from him.
“Easy, Sweetheart,” he said as he massaged the tightness he could feel in her neck and upper shoulders. “Why did you come to town?”
“I came to town to get a few things for Abby and myself. Why? It’s not nighttime. I’m not running around the ranch. Was I forbidden to come to town, too?”
Jared rubbed his thumb up and down her neck.
“Actually, I don’t like you coming to town without me. I think this has been discussed before.”
Sky swallowed back the tears that choked her.
“I don’t think I can take much more, Jared.
I thought I’d be able to find some kind of happiness.
I tried filling my days with anything, just to pass the time.
I grew up in a type of prison of my father’s making.
Now, I’m in another prison, one that’s worse, I think.
I don’t think I deserve to be treated like a dog most of the time and a whore or broodmare the rest. I think I should leave. ”
“I agree.”
Sky shuddered out a breath. She hadn’t expected him to agree so fast. Maybe it had to do with not conceiving yet? Or maybe he couldn’t bring himself to touch her anymore?
“If you can give me a few days so I can look for a job and an apartment, I’d apprec...”
A scowl darkened his face. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You just said you agree with my leaving.”
“Oh, hell, no. I agreed with the way I was treating you.”
She paused for a moment. “I still need to leave.”
“You’re not going anywhere, Sky,” Jared growled.
Sky stared at him for a moment. “You’re confusing me, Jared. What exactly do you want from me?”
“Let’s go home if you’re done with your errands in town. It will give us some privacy to hash this out. Are you about finished with your sandwich?”
Sky frowned in confusion. “I’m done. I’ll just meet you ba—”
“No, we’ll drive together. I’ll get a few hands to come back for the truck.”
Sky shrugged. It didn’t matter how she got back.
She just needed to get back before her menstrual cramps got too bad.
She’d been trying to breathe through the pain, but it was getting worse.
She would take a pill when she got back to the ranch and away from Jared.
She didn’t want him to know about her condition.
It would give him another reason not to want her.
She needed to concentrate on relaxing. Somehow it seemed to help, and right then she needed strength to get through the next few hours.