Page 106 of Altered

"He's messing with the wrong fucking woman."

"I don’t want Lee knowing. She needs to be kept as far away from this bullshit as possible." I watched Kyle as he looked from me to Noah then back to me again. "This doesn’t touch her."

"Agreed."

Thorn stays out of it, too," Noah added. He tightened his hands on the wheel before biting out, "She needs to focus on the pregnancy. No more goddamn stress."

"All either of you have to do is nothing," I said. "Do nothing, and shit gets handled."

"You love her?" Kyle asked finally, tone resigned.

"With everything I have," I replied without a hint of hesitation. I had no problem laying it out there. My feelings for Hope Carter weren't something I had ever tried to hide. From day one, I had laid it all out there for the world and its mother to see. If anyone had a problem with that, then it was their fucking issue because I wasn’t stopping – couldn’t even if I wanted to.

"You know she's married."

I arched a brow. "I did manage to catch a glimpse of the ring."

Kyle's jaw worked. "And it doesn’t change anything for you?"

"Not a damn thing," I came right out and said. "Doesn’t matter whether she's with him, or with me. I would still take the whole damn world down to keep her safe," I explained, feeling the need to lay all my cards down for her father to see. Didn’t matter whether he approved or not. I'd already lost. "There's no limit I wouldn’t stoop to if it kept her safe." Smirking, I added, "I'd kill you if I had to."

Kyle stared hard at me for a long ass time before letting out a heavy sigh. "Good."

"Good?" I arched a brow in wry amusement. "I just told you I wouldn’t have a problem taking your life, and that's your response?"

"I needed to know the kind of man I'm trusting my daughter's life with," he shot back gruffly, steel blue eyes narrowed on mine. "And now I do." I watched a vein tick in his forehead and noted that this wasn’t an easy conversation for him. "You're the kind of man who protects what's his. The kind of man who doesn’t hesitate to eliminate a threat. I'm undecided on whether you're a ballsy son of a bitch or just plain crazy for sitting here and laying it all out there like this, but I can respect you for it– Idorespect you."

Well shit…

Was that approval?

"Appreciate the vote of confidence," I told him before taking a drag off the end of my smoke then tossing the butt out the window, watching as it disappeared into the windswept rain.

"You need to quit that shit," Kyle grumbled, gesturing to the cigarette being carried away by the wind. "You'll be no fucking use to me without any lungs left."

"Noted." Rubbing my hands together, I leaned forward and said, "Now, are you both ready for some exciting news?"

Both Noah and Kyle turned their heads in my direction. "What?"

"Daddy David had a daughter," I announced, tone bright. "Congratulations, boys, you've got yourself a little sister."

"Sweet Jesus," Kyle groaned, rubbing a hand down his jaw. "They just keep jumping out from the woodwork."

"The fuck you talking about?" Noah growled, glancing from me to the road. "What daughter?"

"Who?" Kyle demanded.

"Do we know her?" Noah chimed in.

"You guys more than know her," I chuckled. "Does the name Annabelle ring any bells?"

"No fucking way!" Noah hissed. "The one with Porter's son?"

"The very one," I confirmed, unable to stop the shit-eating grin that was spreading across my face.

"The counselor?" Kyle said, gaping in shock. "Wait – hold the fuck up! Jordan has a son?"

"Unofficially," Noah replied. "Says it's not his, but he aint fooling anyone with that bullshit."

---