Page 163 of Relentles
“Fine, Dinah. Fine. I won’t…let’s just end it, babe. I don’t want to turn you into someone you aren’t.”
She blinked. “End it? You don’t want me?”
“Daddy!” Meggie yelled, flying down the hallway toward him.
Joe was so fucking glad to see her. It gave him a chance to muddle through Dinah’s reaction.
Crouching down and opening his arms, he laughed when Meggie launched herself into his embrace. It dawned on him she was soaked. He pulled her back and stared at her. Her T-shirt and jeans were wet and her hair hung in drenched waves. “What happened to you?”
“I fell in the water,” she explained.
“Youwhat?” Dinah shrieked, hurrying to his side as he stood, lifting Meggie into his arms.
“I couldn’t reach the hot pedal on the other side of the water post after it fulled up.”
“Fuck, baby.” Joe held her tighter. “You could’ve drowned. No more filling up tubs for your mama.”
“She’ll do whatever I tell her to do,” Dinah said. “Meggie, for the umpteenth time, you turnedknobsfor thefaucettofillthe tub. There is no such word asfulled. My god! The more I teach you, the more stupid you sound.”
“She’ssix,Dinah! Her birthday was two weeks ago. If you don’t remember that, I sure the fuck do. Stop treating her like she’s fucking sixteen.”
Meggie covered his mouth with her little hand. “Shhhh, Daddy. S’okay. I sing you a lullaby.”
“Lullabies are for me,” Dinah said.
“Not Daddy?”
“No—”
“Of course they are,” Joe interrupted, his body pulsing with the overwhelming desire to kill Dinah. She was endangering Meggie. Instability as his old lady was one thing. Instability as a mother was dangerous to their daughter.
“Did you hear me, Joseph Foy?” Dinah’s shrill question sliced the heavy silence.
Roaring to his feet as he swept Meggie into his arms, he stared at Dinah, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “Nope, and at the moment I don’t give much of a fuck about what you said.”
Dinah’s mouth dropped open, while Meggie laid her head on his shoulder, his leather cut a barrier against her wet clothes.
“Joseph…”
“Shut the fuck up,” he warned. “I’m about to lose my shit because…”Meggie could’ve drowned. He couldn’t bring himself to say the words. “My daughter isn’t your fucking nursemaid. You’re her mother. She isn’t yours.”
“Fuck off. I need someone to love me. She does.”
“Fuck you. You’re not doing this to her, Dinah. Either you’re acting like her fucking mother or I’m taking her.” He’d find a way to make it work, keep her from Joey so he wouldn’t eliminate her because he saw her as another threat.
Camas, he reminded himself. He didn’t even need to pack her things. He’d hit the road with her and buy whatever she needed once he got her to safety. He didn’t own any property in Camas, but he knew a few people there. He’d leave Meggie with one of them, until he settled shit, then he’d hire Hopper to be her nanny and Christopher to be her guard. Once he told the boy he needed to hide her from Joey, Christopher wouldn’t see it as an insult to have his primary duties switch from all club related to a child’s babysitter.
The wallop to his jaw shocked him into reality. Tightening his hold on Meggie so he wouldn’t drop her, he just managed to evade Dinah’s fist a second time.
“Mama!” Meggie screamed. She’d lifted her head. As Dinah tried to hit him a third time, she screamed, then buried her little face in the crook of his neck.
Dinah’s fist grazed his jaw.
“Stop!” he roared, shocking her into stillness.
Panting, she stared at him, tears streaming down her face.
“Do you really fucking think this is helping your fucking case, woman?” he demanded, patting Meggie’s back and hating her small sobs.
