Page 60 of Snared

I felt a tiny sting that he didn’t give me any more information. I was his wife, and his father was in the room. An introduction made sense.

“I can’t believe he showed up,” Tristan said.

I wanted to ask what the deal was, and then I remembered where I’d seen him before. Hitting on my old bandmate, Sadie.

“Harvey Braun is your dad?” I asked before I could stop myself. Josh clearly didn’t want to talk about him. Not that I could blame him. The guy was a world-class prick. He’d been a music producer for decades and had probably been hitting on young musicians just as long. He always gave me the creeps, and I was glad that Sadie had never actually hooked up with him.

And he was Josh’s dad? I’d never made the connection because they didn’t have the same last name, and Harvey was fair, with graying blond hair, while Josh still had a head of dark, luscious hair that my fingers wanted to sink into.

Dammit. Not the time.

“Yep. Wait, you didn’t hook up with him, did you?” he asked.

My desire was quickly replaced with rage.

“What the fuck, man?” Jax bit out.

“What? Sorry. It’s a habit. He screws everything,” Josh said, lowering his voice.

“You want a shovel, man?” Cameron asked, shaking his head.

“Are you kidding me right now?” I asked, trying to remain calm when I currently wanted to junk-punch him. I couldn’t believe he asked me that, and in the middle of a damn party. He was lucky that no one aside from Cameron and my bandmates had heard what he’d said.

He put his hand on my arm and I resisted the urge to shrug it off and walk away from him. I knew it was part of the ruse, but dammit, he’d pissed me off.

“I’m sorry. He’s an asshole and a predator, and I don’t like seeing people get taken in by him, especially people I respect,” he said.

“Nice save, CH.” There was no humor in Jax’s tone.

“I’m being honest. I barely have a relationship with him. He’s been a dick my entire life,” he said. My heart twinged at the brief moment of vulnerability.

But no, I was still pissed. He’d come out guns blazing with that comment and I hadn’t deserved it. It took me back to his comments about Connor when he’d outed our marriage, and together, they painted a picture I didn’t like.

“I’m sorry you don’t like your dad, but just a tip, don’t you dare slut-shame me or get pissed because you think I’m fucking or flirting with someone you don’t like, whether it be your dad, bandmates, or anyone else. It’s not a good look,” I said, turning back to my drink and taking a sip.

He reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, and I fought back how my body tingled at his touch. Stupid, stupid body.

“He… he gets under my skin in the worst way possible. I’m sorry, Charlie. Truly.” The sincerity in his voice startled me, and I wasn’t sure if it was real or part of the act.

And that was one of the massive problems with the situation we were in. I didn’t know where I stood.

Not that I should stand anywhere, necessarily, except I was his client who had entered a fake marriage with him. Any feelings weren’t real and pursuing them would only end in heartache and the potential loss of my career.

No matter how much he made my spine tingle, that risk wasn’t worth it.

“Make him grovel, Charlie,” Jax encouraged.

“We good?” Josh asked.

I stared into his green eyes and my breath caught. I wanted to feel that he was genuinely sorry, but we also had a role to play.

“Yes. I get it, he’s a known dick. One of my old bandmates hooked up with him, and he tried to hook up with another one, but I knew to avoid him. I just didn’t know that he was your dad.”

His chest moved like he was taking in a sigh of relief since I was letting it go.

“It’s not a secret, but I definitely don’t advertise it. And I have no plans to reintroduce you, if that’s okay,” he said.

It’s not like I actually wanted to meet the man. I’d heard enough horror stories about him. “Fine with me.”

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