Page 12 of Dear Bad Boy Next Door
“We are just going to sit down, so you can be a good host and pay attention to your guests.”
It’s a subtle dig at my mother to someone who doesn’t know her. But questioning whether or not she is a good host, I might as well have slapped her across the face in front of everyone here.
Her eyes narrow on me, and she lowers her voice to barely a whisper, "You listen to me, Lucy. I will not have you coming in here late and ruining everything that I've done to make this party the success it is. It’s bad enough that you are wearing that off the rack smock that does nothing for your figure, but you couldn’t even be bothered to attempt the diet I told you to start three months ago so that you wouldn’t ruin the pictures today.”
I feel Beck tense next to me, but I’m so stunned by the hurtful things she’s said to me I don’t react quick enough to stop him.
“And you listen to me,” he says, his voice low too but not enough that some of the people standing around still hear him. “If you ever speak to Lucy that way in front of me or ever again, it will be the last time you will be seeing either of us at a pretentious, stuffy, lame-ass party hosted by you."
My mother sputters a few nonsensical sounds, unable to respond. I turn and stare in shock at Beck. He looks over at me, completely unfazed by what he just did.
“Do you want to leave?” he asks.
“Yes,” I laugh.
He turns us around, and we make our way back into the house.
“Hey, wait up!” I hear my dad call behind us.
Beck tenses again, ready for a fight. We both turn around and see the biggest smile on my dad's face.
“That was amazing.”
Now it’s Beck’s turn to look shocked. “I’m sorry?”
“No.” Dad holds up his hand. “I’m sorry. To the both of you. She should have never said that.”
“It isn’t the first time,” I grumble.
The smile on my dad’s face disappears. “I didn’t know that.”
"She's good at making sure she only shows that side to certain people. I guess I'm just one of the lucky few."
He shakes his head. “Okay, I’m going to talk to her about this. But in the meantime, why don’t you come back to the party. I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” he says to me and then turns to Beck. “And I’d like a chance to get to know this fine young man.”
Dad holds out his hand towards Beck. Beck’s jaw ticks like he isn’t sure that this is on the up and up. I squeeze his arm gently to let him know that everything is okay. He takes my father’s hand, and they shake.
We don’t stick around too long after that, just long enough for Beck and my dad to get to know one another. My mother disappears upstairs, and I doubt she will make another appearance until we leave.
“Thank you for coming with me today.” I kiss Beck on the cheek as he drives us home. “And thank you for sticking up for me.”
“I can’t stand by and watch anyone attack someone that I love.”
I try to contain my excitement of him finally admitting that while he isn’t asleep. “And I love you for that.”
“You loved me before that,” he teases.
“I did. And you’ve got the letter to prove it.” I kiss him again.
Epilogue
BECK
Today is the big launch of my game today, but the only thing I can think about is the ring in my pocket. It feels like forever since that first day when I first got the letter from Lucy, and now I'm going to ask her to be my wife.
“You ready?” Lucy’s dad asks, patting me on the back.
We already talked about the plan last night for me to ask her today when I called him about getting his permission to ask to marry Lucy. He didn’t need to remind me that his oldest daughter is a strong and independent woman who doesn’t need his permission to marry me, but he liked that I asked anyway.
