Page 46 of Another Round
The tiny women cling to each other. Shae beams with the love of a new grandmother despite the tears sliding down her flushed cheeks. “That’s all that matters.”
Forgiveness. Understanding. Joy. At least from her. Nick motions for me to follow him into the hallway. I only go because she’s with her mum, and we need to end this. I’ll allow him to say his peace but then I’m not going to keep arguing with him because there is nothing to argue about.
I stand and kiss the top of Evie’s head. “I’ll be right back.”
Worry pinches her face, and she grabs for my hand. Fearful of her father’s wrath. I shake my head before she can protest. “It’s okay, I swear.”
Once I step outside, three of Nick’s men hustle past. None of them look at me as they file in. Indicative of the death sentence they think I face. Yet both Nick and I know I could take all of them if I needed to, so any attempt to keep her from me would be a worthless effort anyway.
Two more bodyguards stand near us in the corridor. Neither one seems ready to attack. I can’t say the same about Nick when his fist drives into my jaw. Slamming my back into the wall from the force. Motherfucker.
“I paid you to protect her not fuck her. I fucking trusted you.”
I nod at his accusation while I rub the burn on my face. No explanation will appease him, so I don’t bother with rationalization or retaliation.
“I mean god damn it Andy you’re old enough to be her fucking father. I knew I risked her meeting someone while she was out here, but I never expected it to be you.”
Calm. Calm for Evie. Calm for the baby. “I didn’t expect it either. Neither of us did.”
“You’re a real bastard for taking advantage of her.”
He comes at me again, and I square up. One hit I deserve. Two hits will get ugly because his men will dive into the fray if I defend myself. I’d never purposely hurt my future father-in-law, but I won’t allow him to upset Evie either with a brawl twenty feet from her recovery bed.
The handle clicks next to me, and Nick shoves off my shoulder, restraining himself too from the implication of the noise. The taller blond man holds the door open for the real boss, and Shae thanks the bodyguard before bee lining straight to her husband. He curls her to him, cupping his palm over the back of her head. Still as protective and affectionate as ever despite his gaze boring into me even as he caresses down her hair.
“How’s she doing, sweetness?”
“Good. She’s exhausted but too worried to sleep. She doesn’t want you two to fight.”
I own this. “We’re not fighting. The discussion is over. Both of us are going to do what’s best for Evie.”
“Which is coming home with us.”
This is an impasse he won’t ever win but I choose my words carefully for Evie’s sake and in Shae’s presence. “I don’t care where she lives but you need to know I will be with her wherever that ends up being.”
“I can’t even trust you to protect her. You claim you love her and then you let her walk that dog alone in the middle of the night and get attacked.”
That’s the charge that hurts the most because he’s a thousand times accurate and I can’t forgive myself for my mistake. I can only tell him the truth. “I messed up because I trusted her not to leave without me. But she’s as stubborn as you are and thinks she’s just as tough.”
The accuracy of my statement flickers in his expression. She’s totally him in that regard, and he can’t deny reality. “But I won’t ever let it happen again.”
“You sure as hell won’t because I’m taking her home and making sure she’s guarded by someone who can actually do their damn job without fucking her while he does it.”
Shae answers before I can.
“No one wanted me and you together, remember?”
I can’t see her face as she looks up to her husband. But the implication relaxes his. He nods, growling low in his throat because she’s right and it’s true. They defied everyone else and made their own happiness. Just like Evie and me.
“You need to let them work it out for themselves. We’re just the grandparents now.”
Now he smiles. A little bit at her anyway. It’s still Nick but Shae’s the only person who can generate the sentiment in the ruthless mobster. With her out here now, maybe I can get him to listen to some logic. “I really do love her, and unlike Caleb or some of those other punks she could’ve met, I won’t ever hit her or cheat on her. I’ll protect her with my life because I know what it means to be in your family, Nick. You don’t have to worry about hiding that world from me.”
Deep down he knows I’m right. She can’t marry some random guy and if she marries into another mafia family, she’ll never be free. At least with me she has a chance. The choice to break away if she wants. Optimism releases some of the worry from Shae’s expression although he doesn’t seem placated by my reasoning.
“I want to talk to her myself.”
I get a terse chin bob before he leads Shae back inside. Giving in to his wife if not to us. Leaving me outside my own damn apartment. But I owe him this. I stand down and give them the chance to talk with their daughter. One last time as a family before I become a member of it too and won’t ever be excluded from any conversations that involvemywife or child.
