Page 61 of Obey

“Not that she owes you an explanation, since she’s a grown-ass woman and all.”

Her mom twitches at the word ass. Just wait till I get to the F-bombs.

“But our plane got grounded, and we got snowed in together. There was one room left, so we shared.” I gesture at the pile of blankets on the couch, half-dangling onto the floor. “I’ve been sleeping on the couch. I’m half naked because Talia was napping after her shower, and I was drying myself off when you tried to beat the door down.”

My words are pointed, clipped, and the last part is directed to Harry. I point my finger at him. “Watch yourself, asshole. We aren’t in college anymore, and I don’t care what the fuck connections you have, if you so much as make a single tear trickle down her face, I will end you.”

I’m not sure at what point my finger rammed itself into his chest, nor when I stepped forward to tower over him, but my chest is rising and falling with heavy breaths.

“You’re letting this lout speak on your behalf now, Talia?” Fuck. Her mother is a piece of work. Daddy dearest stays suspiciously quiet, but the way he’s eye-balling me doesn’t suggest he shares his wife’s opinion, he’s more curious than hostile.

“She can speak for herself. I’m simply saying I won’t stand for her being treated like shit. So if that’s your intention the three of you can fuck off all the way back to Kentucky.”

She cringes at that one. Good. It’s petty as fuck but I want her to know her hoity-toity bullshit won’t fly with me.

Talia’s hand touches the small of my back. “Jagger, I’ll be okay.”

I want her to encourage me. I want her to stand up for herself, to advocate, to use her voice. I need her to communicate with her parents the way she did for me a few short hours ago when my fingers were in her ass.

The mother’s face slowly spreads into a slow smirk that drips with victory, and Harry flips me off before reaching a hand out to Talia.

Thankfully, she doesn’t take it. If she did I might break the door off its hinges. I try to plead with her silently with my eyes. I try to convince her not to go, to draw the boundary. I mean, what kind of crazy fucker brings his almost-in-laws through a blizzard to scold their grown-ass daughter?

“Wait.” I hold my hand out to stop her from going with them. “How did you know where she was?”

Harry avoids my eyes. “Find my phone.”

Of course he did.

“Then I had a local P.D friend do a drive by to see if her car was in the parking lot.”

The fucking audacity of this guy. I want to snap his neck like a fucking twig.

“Riiiiight. That’s red flag as fuck. And it tracks that you want your daughter to marry a sociopath.” Stopping the words spitting from my mouth is impossible, and Talia recoils at the insult to her parents like I slapped her across the face. She steps toward her parents, and with one last mournful glance back at me over her shoulder, she goes with them.

Fuck this shit.

Chapter Twenty

TALIA

“Did you screw him?” Harry’s accusations start before we’ve even taken our seat in the restaurant. I wanted to stay vaguely public in case things got, well, yelly.

“Everything okay here, Talia?” Maeve, one of the ladies from the knitting group, pats my shoulder.

I force my face into a smile. “Yes, thank you, Maeve.”

Her side-eye game as she mean-mugs my parents and Harry is impressive as all get out. She leans toward me. “Where’s Jagger?”

My body heats, more from the weight of my parent’s stares than from Maeve’s cheeky question. “He’s upstairs.”

“He asked you out on a date yet?” Man, this woman does not let up.

One of the other ladies saves me from having to answer by grabbing Maeve’s arm. “Leave the girl alone, clearly she’s got things to do.”

Maeve tosses me a wink before she lets her friend lead her away from our table.

“Talia, what can I get you?” Steph, the server, is all smiles as she approaches. “Cappuccino?”

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