Page 81 of Tamed

I faced him and didn’t try to avoid him as he abruptly shoved me hard against the wall, his forearm over my throat. “What thefuckare you doing with my daughter, Caleb? Answer me!”

“You know what I’m doing with your daughter.” I kept my voice calm. “She’s mine, Ten.”

He shoved his forearm harder against my throat, pressing against my windpipe, making it difficult to breathe. We were evenly matched in terms of strength and Ten knew how to fight. But I was a dirty fighter and he wasn’t; I could bring him down if I needed to.

“She’s twenty years younger than you.” His furious blue gaze was inches away. “You babysat her, for fuck’s sake!”

“And I’m a criminal with a dark past,” I added, because someone had to say it. “A murderer, with no boundaries and no morals.”

His lips peeled back in a grimace, his arm like an iron bar. “You fucking bastard. How long has this been going on? Did you seduce her? Did you manipulate her?” He shoved me. “I’ll fucking kill you.”

“She wanted me,” I said, hard and flat. “She’s had a crush on me for years and it couldn’t go on. It was putting her in danger with the Hamiltons and so I took action.”

“What the fuck do you mean you took action?”

“I told her nothing was going to happen between us, and I meant it. But Isabel doesn’t like the word no in case you hadn’t guessed, and she took matters into her own hands.” I gave him a level look. “You think I seduced her? I wouldn’t have touched a hair on that girl’s head. No, she seduced me.”

Ten gave a harsh laugh. “She’s twenty-three. What the fuck does she know about anything? You could have said no. You should have fucking said no.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I agreed. “I should have. But I didn’t. I didn’t want to hurt her.” An anger I hadn’t expected was gathering in me too, on Isabel’s behalf, and even though I knew it was a bad idea, I said, “You left her without any emotional support, and someone had to fucking give it to her. And she decided that person was me.”

Ten cursed savagely under his breath then pushed hard against my throat one last time, almost choking me as he pushed himself away. I stayed where I was and when his fist came back and launched itself at my face, I didn’t avoid it.

It hurt, but I let him take two and when the third one came, I caught his fist in mine and gripped it. “You can have two hits,” I said. “But that’s it. If you have anything more to say, you can say it to me, but you will absolutely not talk to Isabel, not until she’s ready to talk to you.”

“Don’t you dare fucking tell me what to do with my own—”

I closed my fingers around his fist, squeezing it. “Do you understand, Ten?”

His jaw hardened, fury still burning in his eyes. He ripped his fist from mine. “You hurt her, I’ll kill you. I might kill you anyway.”

“Hurting her is the last thing I want to do, believe me.” My jaw throbbed but I resisted the urge to touch it. It was no doubt bleeding, but I welcomed the pain. I deserved it.

Ten’s face was white, and he looked ready to hurl something else at me, a chair maybe, when a light, delicate female voice came from somewhere beyond the end of the hallway. “Sir?”

He stiffened and glanced behind him a moment. Then he looked back at me. “Get out. Get the fuck out of my sight. We’ll have this conversation later.”

I wasn’t going to argue. He’d need some time to come to terms with it — if he ever came to terms with it, and with Ten you never knew.

There was regret inside me, heavy as a stone. Ten and I had been on the streets together, we knew each other better than we knew ourselves. We were brothers.

And you let your fucking dick get in the way.

No. Reducing the bond between Isabel and I to one that was all about sex felt wrong. She was more to me than that, which was a problem. Especially when I couldn’t afford for it to be more.

Just then a woman appeared at the end of the hallway. She had some kind of soft woolen throw wrapped around her, her hair loose across her shoulders in a long, blonde fall. She was young and very beautiful and somehow familiar. Was that the virgin from the Arcadia auction? Had Ten actually bought her? And what the fuck was she still doing here?

Before I could say anything, Ten stepped in front of me, blocking the woman from sight. “Get out,” he growled. “Get the fuck out now.”

Interesting. Considering the woman looked at least as young as Isabel, Ten’s high horse wasn’t looking quite so high. Then again, that woman wasn’t my daughter, so I guess I couldn’t talk.

I’d said my piece though and now he needed to deal with the fallout.

We both did.

Without a word, I turned, pulled open the door and walked back out again.

My driver was at the curb, so I got into the car, pulling out my phone to check my messages. There was one from Isabel:Where did you go?

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