“Not anymore. She needs to go.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He’s on me in a flash. His hands seize the front of my sweat-soaked t-shirt and yank me towards hm.
Normally, he doesn’t match up in the slightest. He’s pushing sixty and spends his life behind a desk, whereas I’m fit, strong, capable.
But after the brutal session he’s put me through after dinner, I’m too exhausted to fight back properly.
“I know everything,” he growls right in my face. His breath reeks of whiskey. “Get rid of the girl as soon as possible, before she has a chance to ruin you. To ruin both of us.”
“Get off of me,” I grit.
He surveys my face for one more moment before dropping me back onto the bench.
“I checked on the other thing, too,” he says casually, as if that physical confrontation never even happened. “The Martin boy is in the hospital. Medically induced coma, but he’s going to be okay. He hasn’t spoken about anything. I’ll make sure he knows to keep his mouth shut.”
I nod grimly. So Dallas is going to survive. Lily will be relieved to hear that.
I’m not upset about it either. He’s a shit-stirring little fuck, and the Hell Princes have been a thorn in my side for years now. But it’s better not to have to deal with the consequences of a dead body.
Even if the bastard deserved it.
“Good,” I say simply. No need to let my dad in to all my thoughts on the subject.
My father turns and heads towards the stairs. He puts one foot on the bottom step, but just before he ascends, he looks back at me over his shoulder and adds, “Finish the job, son. For once, do what is expected of you. Take care of her.”
23
Finn
Lily is standing under the streetlight just in front of the stadium. The light around her is so bright she doesn’t see me lurking behind her in the shadows.
When I reach into the circle of light and pull her back with me, she yelps.
I clap a hand over her mouth and hiss in her ear, “Quiet, before someone thinks I’m kidnapping you.”
“Are you?” she asks when I pull my hand away and set her on her feet.
She has on the same sneakers she always wears, but she listened to me on one point—the dress she has on is tight.
Achingly tight.
Very similar to what I’m feeling in my jeans.
The material is a soft gray that pulls tight over her chest and hips, skimming down the seductive line of her ass and tapering off at the top of her thighs.
In the clothes she wears at school—and even the loose dress she borrowed from Cora for my party—it’s impossible to see the shape of Lily’s body.
But now, I don’t have to imagine the curve of her breasts and the slope of her hips.
Lily has a woman’s body. If it were up to me, she’d never hide it away again.
“That all depends on whether you come with me willingly.”
I hold out my hand. Lily studies it for a moment, waiting for the trick.
When she decides there isn’t one, she lays her hand gently in mine.