Page 27 of Boss Unavowed (Boss 2)

“Yeah, it’s a good job. I enjoy it,” she answered, though it hurt to think about. She tried her best to tuck it away to deal with later if she must. “What about you?”

He waved a dismissive hand and shook his head. “Oh, you know, just some odd jobs here and there. So you make good money, then?”

Her brows furrowed. “Um, I guess so.” She moved her salad around on her plate without taking a bite. “Have you talked to Gramma since you’ve been back?” she asked.

“A little…” He nodded. “Listen, Princess, do you think maybe you could loan me a hundred? I’ve got a, uh, car payment due tomorrow, but I don’t get paid until Friday.”

She began noticing his jerky movements that she had apparently missed before, or maybe he’d managed to hide until now. His request made her uncomfortable.

They hadn’t even made it through the main course yet and he was asking her for money?

Her arms crossed over her body and she rubbed her right hand down the side of her left bicep.

“I really need to save up my money right now, actually. I’m kind of… in a bit of a transition at the moment, and I’ve got Harley to think about. I’m not sure how everything is going to affect me, financially.”

She looked back down at her plate, unable to look him in the eyes, realizing things were starting to get a little seedy. She looked over at Harley who was beginning to stir.

“Come on, Princess. Can’t you do a favor for your old man this once? I promise I’m good for it. I’ll pay you back in a couple days.”

Harley began to cry, indicating he was hungry, so she picke

d him up from his carrier and held him to her as she dug through his diaper bag for a bottle she’d prepared.

“I wish I could help, I really do. I’m just not able to right now. I’m sorry.”

She was startled when her father’s hands hit the table, palms down, with a loud crash.

“That’s bullshit!” he spat in a raised voice.

Farren’s heart started racing, and she pulled Harley in tight against her body. She could see from the corners of her eyes as heads turned in their direction, but she wasn’t about to take her eyes off him.

“I think this was a mistake,” she said. Then she began trying to inch her way out of the booth, but realized there was no quick escape between the confined area she was sitting in, the baby she held, and his carrier and diaper bag. She could ditch the bag, she thought, but she couldn’t get far without the carrier since it doubled as his car seat. That was the thing that would hold her up the most.

Shit!

Her father leaned forward and put a hand out in front of her, so she froze in place, tensing up in defense.

She watched as his face slowly relaxed as if he’d realized what he’d done and was now trying to play it off as some kind of sick joke, but the smile was short-lived.

A hand grabbed her father’s shoulder from behind him and yanked him back against his seat.

Farren took her eyes off him just long enough to see it was Rogan standing behind him, his tight grip still on her father’s shoulder.

“I think you owe Farren an apology,” Rogan demanded in a deep, angry voice.

“Rogan!” Farren cried with emotions torn between relief and disbelief. How had he known she was here?

Mr. Fields swatted to knock Rogan’s hand from his shoulder, but this only served to anger Rogan even further. There was a commotion of movement as her father pushed his way out of the booth to stand, and Rogan moved around to stand between him and Farren. It was the first good look he got of the man, and that’s when all hell broke loose.

NINETEEN

Everything in Rogan’s line of vision went red. This man, whoever he was, father or not, was putting Farren and his child in a precarious situation, and that was not something Rogan would ever stand for. He moved to place himself between Farren and the older man, helping her out of the booth.

“Who the fuck is this?” the father bellowed, sliding out of his own side of the booth to stand.

When Rogan’s gaze returned upward to look the man in the eyes, recognition slammed into him like a brick wall going ninety.

“You,” Rogan sneered. “You have some nerve showing your face here.”

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