Page 190 of Steel

Fuck.

I shoot off a text to Lee, letting her know I’m meeting Heather because she wants to talk, then I scrub a hand over my face.

I’m not in the mood for Heather today. Hell, not any other day either, but she’s Lyric’s mom and I’m stuck with her.

My mind is so fucking messy as I make the ride to the diner that it takes me a bit to register her appearance when I pull up and walk to her outside table. Her eyes are bruised, there’s a bandage over the bridge of her nose, and scratches run down the length of her neck.

“The fuck happened?” I growl.

I may despise her, but she’s still the mother of my kid. Hell, I had a relationship with her for nearly seven years on and off, so seeing her like this makes me uncomfortable.

“You won’t like it,” she whispers.

“Lot of shit I don’t like lately,” I mutter, dropping into the chair across from her. “Lyric in danger from whoever did it?”

“Considering you’re with the person who did it, yeah,” Heather snaps.

“The fuck?” I whisper, my head jerking back.

“You heard me, Steel. Your precious Bailee did this,” she snaps, waving her hand around her face.

“The hell she do that for?” I ask, raising a brow, not sure I believe this for a second.

“Why else? Because she’s jealous.” She sniffles, her eyes watering. “I told her Lyric misses her mom and that she isn’t me. She didn’t like that and just attacked me. Told me that she’s Lyric’s mom now. Steel, I was so scared,” she cries.

I sit stunned, unable to understand the words coming from her mouth. My Hummingbird beating her ass? Attacking her because she’s jealous? It doesn’t make sense. Bailee knows that Lyric loves her, and she’s never tried to take over Heather’s role. That’s not the woman I love.

But then I recall the way she’s kind of been avoiding me. The way she evaded my hands when I tried to check on the side she kept holding.

My eyes run over Heather’s injuries again, remembering Bailee didn’t have any.

Lyric does miss her mom, and there’s still a part of me that feels guilty she doesn’t have both parents together like I did growing up, but this makes no damn sense.

Could Bailee really have done what Heather’s accusing her of? After seeing her in action and hearing the story of her past, I know she has the skills.

I nod absentmindedly and climb to my feet. “Thanks for tellin’ me.”

Heather jumps from her seat and into my arms before I can process what’s happening.

I stiffen, hating the way my skin crawls at her touch. Not wanting to cause a scene in public, I wrap one arm around her and pat her on the back before pulling away.

“Steel, I don’t want her around Lyric. She’s dangerous,” Heather demands in a hard tone.

“Lee won’t hurt her,” I growl.

Heather shrugs. “I can’t know that. Look what she did to me over nothing. I won’t have her around our daughter. Don’t make me cause problems.”

As much as I want to snap her fucking neck for the threat, my daughter wouldn’t appreciate it. The last fucking thing I need on my plate right now is Heather kicking up a mess.

I can’t give in to her demand. Lyric loves Bailee, and after what I heard in the kitchen between them, it’d destroy my little girl to keep Bailee away from her. Hell, it’d destroy my woman.

“I’ll figure it out,” I mutter, turning away from her and striding to my bike.

Chapter forty-seven

I had every intentionof confronting Bailee that day, but before I gathered the damn courage, Crow and Sage were getting married, and I let Heather’s threat fade from my mind.

I’m still not sure I believe Heather despite the evidence behind her accusations.

---