by C. M. Owens
“Ass,” Bella gripes while walking away, but she can’t stop the chuckle that slips free.
“It’s always entertaining here,” I say as Allie turns around in my arms. “I’m just glad you weren’t practicing on Bob. I was hoping he might be retired since I work really damn hard to keep you sated.”
Her eyes widen, and I nod slowly, waiting on her to process.
“How do you—”
“Angel brought it up on our first daddy-daughter date. She said you had a secret boyfriend named Bob. I thought I was going to need the Heimlich in the middle of the restaurant.”
She covers her face before burying her head against my chest, and I laugh again while holding her to me. It’s always so natural to touch her, and miserable when I can’t.
“Balls,” she grumbles.
“It has balls?” I joke, snickering when she pinches my chest.
“Not funny,” she mutters.
“So? Where is Bob these days?” I prompt, grinning when she laughs in defeat.
“Bob has been retired. You make Bob look pathetic.”
I smile harder while pushing her back against the counter, tilting her head up so that I can get at those lips. “Good to hear. I’d rather not have to be jealous of an inanimate object.”
That’s when her eyebrow goes up in challenge. “Oh, Bob is very animated.”
I laugh as she rolls her eyes, and drag her to the living room just as Bella returns, a smoothie in her hand. Angel walks out, her face focused on her screen, and she climbs up in my lap the second I sit down on the sofa.
Allie smiles over at us as she flips on the TV and starts talking about cooking dinner. I just relax and let Angel get comfortable on me, wishing Allie would admit this thing between us isn’t going to cool off.
We’re at two very different places. I want her and Angel to move in with me, and she’s still wanting to hide us.
My phone rings, and I glance at the unknown number. Probably another reporter. That’s one more thing for me to take care of. Soon.
***
WREN
All throughout dinner, Allie is massaging her temples, her food barely touched. Angel gets up and goes to her room to put on her pajamas, as Bella talks to me and goes to grab something from the cabinet.
“You okay?” I ask Allie, since Angel is finally out of earshot. I didn’t want to ask with her in here and get her worried about her mom.
“Just a headache.”
Bella snorts while bringing a bottle of pills to the table, handing them to Allie.
“That’s a universal woman code for you’re not getting any tonight. Serves you right after showing up early today.”
I half smile, but I’m more worried about Allie. She looks like she’s in a lot of pain.
“Take the pills,” Bella sighs.
“You know what they do to me.”
I perk up immediately. What do they do to her? Am I really so juvenile as to hope they make her horn—
“I’ll take care of Angel,” Bella says, interrupting my thoughts. “Take them before it gets worse.”
Allie scowls at her, and her gaze flicks to me.
“What do they do to you?” I ask, now feeling like an ass for what I was thinking.
“I crash and burn any time I take any sort of painkiller—no matter how mild. Headache medicine knocks me out almost instantly. I’ll be fine. I hate feeling that out of it.”
“Take the damn pills before it gets worse. You have to be able to work tomorrow,” Bella continues. “I’ll get Angel showered and ready for bed. Wren and she already did her homework. Take them. It’s not far from her bedtime anyhow.”
She sighs while looking up at me. “Sorry. I really do need to take them.”
Why is she apologizing?
“Take them. I’ll go lie down with you. It won’t hurt me to turn in early.”
Her eyes soften, and a small grin tugs at the corners of her mouth. “If I take these, you really won’t be able to do anything with me but sleep.”
I really feel like a dick.
“Take the pills, Allie. I can live without sex. I’d rather curl up with you and go to sleep.”
It sucks that she apparently thinks sex is all I want. I don’t come over just for sex, damn it.
She smiles while popping the pills, and Bella takes the bottle to go put it back on the top shelf of the high cabinet—far out of reach from Angel. The second she swallows them and a sip of her water, I go to scoop her up, cradling her to me.
“I want one,” Bella says, sighing and feigning a dreamy expression as Allie laughs lightly.
“Can’t have mine,” Allie says, and Bella chuckles at my back while I carry Allie to her bed. “Kiss Angel goodnight for me.”
“I will.”
I kick the door closed behind me, putting Allie down on her side of the bed. I’ll go kiss Angel goodnight before I fall asleep, and I’ll pretend to leave and sneak back in through the window—the usual routine.
Allie is wearing her T-shirt and a pair of pajama shorts already, so at least she doesn’t have to change. I lie on the bed, and Allie snuggles up to me.
“Take your shirt off. I want to feel your skin,” she says softly, already seeming to be a little sleepy.
I tug my shirt over my head, lifting up just enough to do so, and she immediately curls against me once more. She breathes me in as I kiss the top of her head, and I hold her just like that.
It’s peaceful, and it’s more natural than anything in my life. Allie Thrash is it for me. I finally understand why guys go so bat-shit crazy over the women they love.
Chapter 30
WREN
“Daddy, what are you doing here?” Angel asks as she climbs in bed beside me.
My eyes fling open wide, seeing the bright alarm clock next to the bed. Shit. I never even kissed her goodnight, and now it’s two in the morning. And… fuuuuuck.
Angel’s face is hovering above me, and she pokes a small finger into my chest, as though she’s prompting me to answer.
“I…uh… um… I…”
My stammering tapers off as I look over to see Allie still curled against me, sleeping right through Angel’s words. She said that shit would knock her out, and she was not kidding.
“Are you and Mommy sharing a bed now? Because it’d be easier if you just lived here instead of driving all the time. Aunt Bella says that sharing is caring.”
I almost laugh, but I swallow down the urge.
“Why are you in here?” I ask instead of answering any questions.
“Aunt Bella said Mommy was sick and went to bed early. I had a nightmare. I thought I’d come sleep with her and we’d make each other better. Did you stay to make her better?”
Sure. I can work with that.
“I stayed because I was worried about her. Here, curl up against me. I’ll make you both feel better. I’ll scare away your nightmares and help Mommy’s headache go away.”
She grins like I’m the greatest person in the world, and she tucks herself against me just like Allie. With Allie on one side and Angel on the other, I close my eyes and decide to deal with the fallout tomorrow.
Allie is going to be so pissed.
“I love you, Daddy,” Angel whispers softly before yawning.
My heart clenches in my chest, and I try to slow down my breathing.
“I love you, too, Angel.”
She grins against me, as her little hands grip me tighter, and I drift off into the most peaceful sleep I’ve ever had.
***
WREN
I slowly crawl out of bed, squeezing out from between Allie and Angel. I’ve heard my phone vibrating like crazy for the last forty minutes. It’s not even five in the morning yet. But Allie will be getting up soon.
Angel stirs just barely before sliding over next to Allie, but she does it in her sleep as though she’s searching out a touch. I grin over at the two of them, and my chest tightens. Fucking perfect.
My eyes fall back
down to my phone that is lying haphazardly on the floor. I must have knocked it off the nightstand at some point. It starts buzzing again, and I see Rye’s name on the screen. What the hell is he doing calling this early?
Damn prank war.
I sneak out of the bedroom, closing the door behind me. Bella is wide awake in the living room, and she jumps when she sees me as though I just scared the shit out of her.
“What are you doing up so early?” she asks.
“Me? What are you doing up?”
She takes a bite of her cereal before saying, “I don’t sleep much. What’s up?”
My phone buzzes again, and I answer. “What the hell are you calling me so—”
“Big problem, Wren. Your shit has blown the fuck up, and Allie’s name is getting crushed right now. The paper came out this morning. And she didn’t just make the gossip column, she’s on the front page. It’s bad, dude. Brin had to get up early, and she woke me up when she saw the newsfeed on her phone.”
Shit. Shit. Shit. How bad can it be? I fucked her over, not the other way around.
“What’s wrong?” Bella asks.
I pull on my shoes, not bothering to answer. My shirt is still in Allie’s room, but I don’t want to risk waking them up to retrieve it.
“Do me a favor,” I tell Bella, balancing the phone between my ear and shoulder while continuing to pull on my shoes. “Tell Allie I’ll see her later. I have to take care of something urgent. And tell her not to worry.”
Rye starts talking in my ear. “Tell her not to go to work.”
That has me freezing. “What? It’s that bad?”
“Wren, to paraphrase it, they’re saying she’s a gold-digging slut that broke up your marriage. They’re also saying that you never had a paternity test, and that Allie is playing you, letting you get close to Angel so that you don’t want a test to be done. And that’s the nicer stuff. They interviewed her foster parents. Those are some cold as fuck people.”
“Fuck,” I growl, grabbing my keys from the table beside the door. “I’m leaving now. I’ll call the editor.”
The door shuts on whatever Bella is saying, and I run to my car. My temper boils as I toss the car in reverse and rev out of the driveway.
“They can’t print this shit and get away with it. It’s slander. I’ll fucking bury that paper,” I tell Rye while driving toward my house to grab some clothes and make some calls. I’ll have this sorted before Allie even gets ready. I’ll demand they retract the story.
“They have two sources, Wren. They say one is from inside the family. With two trusted sources, they can and will publish it. But you can still fuck them up. You’re a Prize, after all. A few phone calls will squash it. But they’re going to need to print a new story to kill the buzz this has created already. People are hitting up social network boards like crazy, and Allie is essentially getting a scarlet letter tattoo in their eyes.”
Damn it.
“I’ll give them a fucking story. Billy and Erica—that’s their two sources. They’ll fucking regret this shit.”
“Where are you going?” he asks, but I’ve already veered from the path I was on. Billy’s will be my first stop.
“I’ll call you back.”
“Don’t do it, Wren. You’ll kill him. You’re too pissed right now, and Billy can’t fight a goldfish. He has no idea how to throw a punch.”
I turn again, taking Billy’s road that isn’t too far from Rye’s subdivision.
“He’d better learn fast.”
I hang up before he can argue, and I squeal to a halt in front of Billy’s house. I don’t even bother knocking since I know all his codes to all his houses. I key in the entry number, and the door swings open, slamming hard against the wall. It takes even less time to disarm the alarm.
The door must have woken him up, because my brother staggers into the room in nothing but his boxers.
“The fuck, Wren?”
His face appears to be healed. Good. It makes this a hell of a lot easier to do, since he looks like he can take a punch.
I slam my fist into his face before he can process what’s going on, and he staggers backwards as blood spews from his already broken nose.
“You stupid son of a bitch! What the fuck?!”
He puts the sofa between us, and I leap over it, going after him again.
“Damn it, Wren,” he says while running through his house, trying to put rooms between us, but none of them have doors. I bet he regrets that decision now. “Tell me what the fuck is going on! I haven’t seen or spoken to Allie.”
My fists clench as I stalk through the house, hunting him as he heads toward the back sunroom.
“No, you just send in the fucking vultures! What the hell were you thinking? Is it that important for you to lash out at me? Come after me, you stupid bastard. Not her!”
He looks genuinely confused, and that’s the only thing that stops me from lunging at him when he finally runs out of room to run.
“I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about, Wren. What vultures?”
Billy is a lot of things, but he’s not a good liar. In fact, he sucks at it. He looks genuinely confused and frustrated right now, which makes me slow down and question things.
“The paper has two sources about Allie, and they made up a bunch of lies. One is from within the family. You’re the only one who would lash out, Billy. It’s always you trying to hurt me.”
His eyes widen. “Yeah. I want to hurt you, fucker, not Allie. I wouldn’t go after her. If I wanted to give them a story, I’d give them your story. I’ve ignored their phone calls because I didn’t want your big jerk moment to get printed. Angel would have seen it, and people would have been hounding Allie for a comment. It would have hurt both of them. Believe or not, I really don’t want my niece getting hurt. I’d actually like to get to know her, but I’ve been letting shit cool down between us since our last run-in. I didn’t even go to Aspen because I didn’t want her to see me with a busted up face and have to tell her why I looked like I did.”
I take a step back, trying to digest his words. Billy does hate me. He does try to ruin me. The only reason I believe him right now is because this story was more focused toward Allie—not me, according to Rye.
“Who the fuck else would be in our family that would do this?” I ask, more to myself than him.
But it hits us both at the same exact time, and in unison we both growl, “Keith.”
“He’s pissed at you for divorcing Erica because he thinks she’s perfect,” Billy says, and I drop my head back.
“He made a snide remark about Allie in Aspen. I almost decked him. If Erica just flirted with him, he’d do this for her.”
Billy nods, as though he agrees. Unbelievable. We finally agree on something.
“I’ll go track down Keith,” he says, his nose still pouring blood, and I wince. I actually feel bad about that now. I also feel very, very queasy now that my adrenaline is slowing down. Blood… so much blood.
I turn, unable to hold back, and I retch what little bit of food my stomach hasn’t digested—right on Billy’s hardwood floors.
“Damn it,” he hisses, gagging as he runs away. I can’t stand blood and he can’t stand vomit.
Weak stomachs must be hereditary.
After I get myself and the floor cleaned up, I walk back toward the door.
“Maybe I should track down Erica, and you take on Keith,” Billy says, tissues hanging out of his nose to stop the blood from coming out. He also has on clothes now.
He looks ridiculous, but at least I can’t see blood anymore.
“I’m not going to hit her. What I plan to do might take a day or two to accomplish. Hopefully not that long. But when I’m finished, she’s going to wish that I’d hit her. Find Keith. Shut him up. And don’t let him warn her.”
His eyebrows go up. “What am I supposed to do? Kidnap him?”
I weigh my options. Kidnapping would definitely be good. Especially if he was scared
shitless and pissed himself… “No. Don’t do that. Don’t even let him know that he’s been figured out. Just keep an eye on him. I need to contact the paper and get that shit down.”
“Don’t kill anyone,” he says, half-laughing, but I swear there’s a hint of concern in there.
“After the slander suit I slap them with, they’ll be forced to shut down or sell out. I feel like going into the paper business.”
He smirks, and I walk away. I’ve never been known to be ruthless, but right now I feel about as cutthroat as someone can get.
Chapter 31
ALLIE
“So he didn’t say where he was going or what he was doing?” I ask Bella as we clock in at work.
She shakes her head. “No clue, but he was on the phone and he seemed pissed. What’d Angel say about him being in your bed? I didn’t know she was in there when he left.”
So much for keeping our relationship a secret from her. The cat is out of the bag now, and I had one seriously confused six-year-old this morning. I decided to break down and tell her the truth—that Wren and I are together, in a relationship, even said boyfriend and girlfriend, even though it sounds so innocent to use those terms.
I really hope this doesn’t all blow up in my face, because I’ve never seen her so excited. She’s ready to move us all into his big house because it has a swimming pool. And she’s happy that he’s going to be around all the time.
I knew she’d expect a lot if she found out. Her heart could end up in a blender if this goes wrong. I’ll hate myself and him if she gets hurt.
“I don’t want to talk about it right now. Let’s just say he’d better not let her down. I won’t forgive him if he does.”
She nods in understanding. “Just remember that it takes two to make it work or fall apart. Don’t be the one to ruin it because you’re too scared. Stop holding back.”
I snort, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders. “I’m not holding back.”
“Pretty sure you are. You always do. You give him more than I’ve ever seen you give someone else, but you keep your guards up at all time, as though you’re waiting on a bomb to go off and this to suddenly end. Stop worrying.”
