Page 70 of Mountain Men Heroes

Riley stiffened beside her and Holden slid a hand into her back pocket, drawing her closer to him.

“He’s just here because he’s worried about Riley,” he reassured her.

Yeah, no. Not entirely true. In all the touching and kissing and coming she’d failed to tell Riley about what happened with his father today. Looking at the anger on the old man’s face, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. She didn’t want to be the reason a fight broke out.

Dust rolled in from the lack of rain over the last couple of weeks as the older Ashwood rounded the last bend in the long dirt drive leading up to the Savages’ home.

A sudden unease settled over both men as Riley’s father busted out of his truck. He didn’t even bother to kill the motor or close the door behind him. Anger boiled behind his eyes and tightened his face into a grimace so fierce she feared he’d have a heart attack if he wasn’t careful.

“Let’s go, boy. Time to get home.” Ashwood wavered on his feet and used the truck for balance.

“I’m not a boy anymore, Father. You’re drunk off your ass and making one out of yourself. Go home.” Riley broke rank and approached his father. She could see the second every muscle in his body went rigid the closer he got. “Sleep it off and we can talk in the morning. Or not. I don’t care anymore.”

Ashwood stumbled forward and Riley caught him. “Boy, you’re the one that almost died today. All because of that bitch you’re sharing. I didn’t make all those sacrifices raising you for you to piss them away.”

Riley jerked away as if burned from his father’s drunken and slurred words, letting the older man stumbled forward.

For a man almost three times her size and older than her by almost six years, she’d come to find Riley rarely played nice with anyone who dared disrespect him. So to see him not pummel his father was a relief.

“I’ll forgive you once, but you ever call our mate another insult, father or not, you’ll eat the words before they leave your fucking mouth.”

Mate? As in soul mate? His words clung to her thoughts. Zahara’s gaze rose to find Holden’s. “What does he mean by mate?”

Riley faced his father head-on like a wall of protection blocking his view of her. “I didn’t die. You see me here, breathing. Now if you’re done putting your nose into my business, get in your truck and sleep it off.” Riley walked past his father and yanked the key from the truck.

She’d never heard such disgust come from him. Could this be the man she knew, because his usual easy-going tone vanished? The command in his tone held no room for negotiation. She feared what would happen between father and son if he knew the confrontation they had earlier.

“I’m your family. Along with your mother and sisters,” Ashwood continued his slurred argument.

“No one said you’re not,” Riley roared, slamming a fist down on the hood of the truck. Anger tightened his muscles in a way she’d never witnessed before and she could tell from the intense look in his eyes that Riley wanted to pound something, someone.

“You put the Ashwood mark on that bitch and you’re out. Get her pregnant and you can forget coming home. The family business will belong to one of your sisters. The Ashwood name lost. Is that what you want?”

Only a flicker of movement was the only warning. Riley grabbed his father by the collar and hauled back.

“No!” she yelled, fear at the regret he would suffer later from striking his father pulling her into action.

Riley had him bent over the hood of his truck, and every word Riley uttered came out rougher than the one that followed. “You have her to thank, that I’m standing here old man.”

Holden let out a long-winded sigh. “I’m sorry, baby. You really shouldn’t have to see this. Don’t think for a second any of this is about you.”

He can’t be serious. This was all about her.

Who the hell did he think it was about? She gave him a hard side-eye. Neither Holden nor Riley knew the Ashwood Sr. had come at her in the bar earlier. She twisted her braid and looked down at her shoes, willing the dampness rimming her eyes away with all the might left in her. It took all she had not to jump in the truck and burn rubber all the way back to Houston this second.

Riley released his father and stepped back as Jasha walked between them. “Ashwood, why don’t you come inside and we can talk about this.”

Zahara didn’t need to hear anymore or see what her presence did to Riley’s family no matter how Holden wanted to paint it.

“Take me home,” she whispered to neither in particular.

Riley slammed his fist into the hood of his truck, his eyes leveled on nothing in particular as he rounded his shoulders.

“Yeah, let’s get back to the house. Dad can help Ashwood settle down. Everything will work out.”

“No.” She looked up into the eyes of a very pissed off mountain man. “My home. Take me home. On second thought, you know what, I can drive myself.” She swiped the keys out of Holden’s hand.

The look in Riley’s eyes cut her like a razor blade as his gaze tracked her progress to the driver’s seat of Holden’s truck. Settled behind the wheel, her gaze connected with the hurt she saw and it killed a little bit of her heart. But it didn’t change what she had to do next.

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