Page 71 of Outlaw

There was a smirk on Garrett’s face as he listened to me. Why was that fucking funny?

“What?” I asked him.

“You really think that’s what’s gonna happen? You are going to live with her for a year and then move her out. To live her life. Date men. Fuck other men. Belong to another man.”

My nostrils flared as I inhaled sharply. No, she wasn’t going to fuck other men. I’d take care of that for her. She’d be addicted to my cock in a year’s time. But I wasn’t explaining that plan to them. I had a feeling Levi would give me another lecture and Garrett would laugh.

After today, there was going to be some convincing on my part to let me touch her again. There was an uncomfortable tightness in my chest and gut from the pained, dejected look in her eyes when she’d walked upstairs with Stevie tonight. Fuck. Maybe I had taken shit too far. But she hadn’t told me about the dentist coming to the house. I was still pissed about it, but not as much as I had been earlier.

“I think we will work it out,” I replied.

“You need to give up and admit you just want to fuck her and you don’t hate her. You might hate that you want to fuck her,” Garrett said. “And don’t lie to me about it. I’ve known you my whole life.”

“If he wants to fuck her, then he’s shit out of luck. He’ll be lucky if she ever speaks to him again,” Levi added.

I smirked. He was obviously unaware of my charm.

“Don’t underestimate your father,” Garrett said. “When he wants something, he usually gets it.”

Levi cocked an eyebrow like he wasn’t so sure he believed that.

“Just watch,” Garrett told him. “When he gets his head out of his ass, it’ll look different.”

I didn’t say anything. Because my head wasn’t in my ass. Fawn just had Garrett seeing things in a light that wasn’t realistic. His obsession with his wife was unhealthy and had softened him. Thankfully, Blaise hadn’t been softened by marriage and kids. The only soft in him was with Madeline and the boys. No oneelse got that. He was ruthless and ran the family the way the Hughes boss always had. The way Garrett once had. Now, he was making out with his wife on the patio in the middle of the fucking day.

Rolling my eyes, I put the cigar back between my teeth. It was up to me to at least keep my generation of the Shephard name from becoming weak because of a woman. My brother, Stellan, had been married for years, and he’d not been the leader he once had been. Luckily, his oldest son was a crazy fucker, even if he was married. He’d make a good head of the Georgia branch when the time came.

Standing over the bed where Branwen slept with Stevie, I stared down at them. A mess of blonde curls spread out over both pillows. Stevie’s arms were wrapped around one of her mother’s, and she pressed her face to her mother’s shoulder. They were stunning. Both of them.

But then I’d watched Branwen that night at the club, unable to look away. She’d held me transfixed for an hour at least.

Had my subconscious recognized her? I’d been drawn to her, and I couldn’t resist walking myself out of the private viewing area to go down to meet her. Hear her talk. She’d not disappointed. Sure, I was high, but she still pulled me in. I hadn’t seen the little girl I had once known when I looked at her, but that didn’t mean that something deeper inside me hadn’t. Now that I knew, I could see it and wondered how I had missed it.

“How did my little Ringlets hurt me the way you did?” I whispered. “What made you hate me so much that you chose to do something I can’t ever forgive?” I reached down and flippedone of her curls between my fingers.

But that didn’t mean I couldn’t fuck her. Own her. Sharing her body with anyone else was out of the question. Her needs would be taken care of, financially and sexually. Levi and Garrett were both wrong. I knew what I was doing, and without relationship shit to get in the way, we’d be better parents.

Stevie would be our only focus.

Love and commitment fucked things up. She didn’t need that. She sure as hell didn’t need the dentist. The man couldn’t take care of her cunt the way I could. I wasn’t sure he even had a dick after feeling how tight her pussy was. Tomorrow, I would ease up on her. But I’d get her to tell me about the dentist and make sure she understood keeping things from me was lying. And I fucking hated being lied to.

Thirty-Three

Branwen

Last night, I had kept it together until Stevie fell asleep. Once she was breathing deep, I let the first tear fall. As I covered my mouth to keep my sobbing from waking her up, the bed shook. But I fell asleep, and rest had seemed to help.

Linc had yet to humiliate me today. I might make it through this day without crying myself to sleep tonight.

Stevie had been slow to warm up to Levi. I thought his appearance made her unsure what to think about him. When he spoke to her, she would get quiet, which was rare for her, and duck her head, as if she were shy. But it seemed they had found a way to bond.

I stood over by the fence post, where I used to sit as a child and watch my dad work with the jockeys who took the horses out to run the practice track. Levi was currently holding Stevie up so she could rub the mane on a large black thoroughbred.

Being here again made the past seemed like another world in one way and like it was just yesterday in another. Helping feed the horses, cleaning up the tack room, even cleaning out the stalls—it had all been a part of my life. There wasn’t much that went on here that I didn’t know about. These stables had been more my home than the actual house Dad and I lived in. When we were awake, we were here. We only ate dinner, took baths, and slept in our house. The best memories we shared had been on this property.

I glanced over at the buildings that were larger than they had once been. They’d been added on to, and the already-elaborate features had been upgraded. But the land was the same. The smell was the same. I inhaled deeply and wished I could hear my dad’s laugh one more time.

“Little Branwen Hester, all grown up,” a masculine voice said, bringing me out of my memories.

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