Page 11 of Two Wrongs

Liam heads toward his car. “How much have you had?” he asks my son, acting more like a father than I am.

“One beer. I’m fine,” Liam snaps.

Charlie points his finger in my son’s face. “Get your ass home and stay there. If you should happen to talk to your side piece, man up and fucking end that shit. If you can’t do that, let Wren go.”

Liam gets into Charlie’s face. “You don’t get to judge me old man. You’ve never even been married. You don’t know how hard it is to be with one woman forever.”

“Then you’re in luck. You don’t have that problem anymore,” Wren says, surprising us all.

“No,” Liam tries to move around Charlie. “That’s not what I meant.”

Charlie holds on to him to keep him from getting to Wren. “Boy, get your ass in your car and go home before you make this worse.”

He thrashes against Charlie’s hold. “Let me go. I need to talk to my wife.”

“You need to leave her alone. Give her time to think,” Charlie advises.

“I can’t leave her alone. She’s my wife.”

“Why not? You’ve left me alone for six months. What’s a little bit longer?” she taunts him.

Liam lunges for her, and Charlie struggles to hold on to him. I toss my keys to Charlie, who manages to catch them while trying to hold on to Liam. “Take him home. We’ll get his car tomorrow.”

I grab Wren’s elbow. “You and I are going to have a chat.” I hold out my free hand for her keys.

She clutches them tighter in her hand. “Go home, Griffin. I don’t want to talk to you or your son.”

“Too damn bad, baby bird.” I rip the keys from her hand and drag her to her car. “Get in the car,” I bark, holding her passenger door open for her.

“You’re not driving my car,” she argues, and drags her feet.

I laugh. “You’re a fraction of my size. Either get in on your own, or I’m going to pick you up and drop your ass in there.”

She assesses me. Her plump lips slip into a pout, and I know I’m about to be graced with a dose of sass. “Are you trying to fix our relationship too? Did we miss out on special daddy-daughter time? Am I being bad, daddy?”

She blinks her large kewpie doll eyes at me, no idea what effect her words are having on me. I press her against the side of her car. My body burns everywhere it touches hers. I hate her for making me feel this yearning I can never indulge. Most of all I hate her for marrying my son, because knowing she belongs to him makes me hate him a little too.

“You want me to act like your daddy, little girl?” My brain short circuits, which is my only explanation for leaning forward and whispering in her ear. “If I were your daddy, I’d spank your ass red and put you to bed for sassing me.”

A throat clears behind us, and I jump back from her. My heart pounds as I turn around. “Donovan,” I say, relieved. “I was just leaving. I’m making sure Wren gets home without my son bothering her anymore.”

“Looks to me like the one she needs to be protected from is you.” He looks at Wren, and I notice she’s trembling slightly.

“I’m fine. It’s like you told me inside when you said I should try my first night again tomorrow. I’m shaken up seeing Liam.” She slaps my chest harder than necessary. “Griffin, is a pain in my ass, but he is just trying to make sure I’m okay.”

He nods his head over and over as he’s working through whether he believes what she’s saying. “Okay, take care of yourself and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“We’ll see about that,” I mutter under my breath.

Her face screws up in confusion. “What did you say?”

“Get in the car, Wren. We’re going to chat.”

* * *

Wren twistsaround in her seat after I drive away from the bar. “Where are you going? This isn’t the way to my new place.”

“Kinda hard to take you to your place when I don’t know where it is,” I point out. “Also, did you expect me to drop you off and take your car?”

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