Praise (Salacious Players Club, #1)(91)

She was scared of her father, so she called me. It makes me hate that asshole even more when I think about it.

It’s nearly impossible to keep my words to this human piece of garbage civil, but that’s what Charlie and her mother and her sister deserve right now. So I tell him everything. We might as well lay it all on the line now.

I’m not ashamed of who I am or what I do.

And I love Charlie.

And…I don’t even have the guts to look at her face as the words come tumbling out of my mouth.

“Enough!”

It’s Sophie’s young voice that breaks the tension, just as her dad opens his mouth, ready to argue with me. We all stare at the feisty blue-haired teenager as she stomps out to the yard. I see so much of Charlie in her—fearless and reckless and smart as hell.

“Dad, Mom’s right. You should just leave. I was the one to call Emerson because you scared me when you showed up,” she says, staring at him with a look of fierceness in her eyes that makes my chest swell with pride.

Charlie’s head snaps up to stare at me in shock. “Sophie called you?”

I nod. When I look at her father, I notice that for the first time since I got here, he looks more remorseful than angry. His eyes are glued to Sophie, and his brows are pinched together. He looks seriously wrung out, but I recognize the emotion written in his features—a father’s guilt.

“Dad…” Charlie says, stealing his attention. When he finally looks toward her, his eyes moist and apologetic, she continues, “I’m not ashamed of who I’m dating or what I’m doing, and it may be hard for you to believe, but Emerson didn’t do anything wrong. I’m tired of everyone acting like they know what’s best for me. I’m twenty-one years old, and I’m not stupid or too young to know what I want.”

Her small hand finds mine, intertwining our fingers, and it takes everything in me not to gather her up in my arms and kiss her harder than I’ve ever kissed her before.

“You chose to leave, and you have no right to talk to me the way you did today. If you had been around the last year, maybe you’d see that I have never been happier than I was the last three months.”

I can’t help myself now. I pull her against me, resting her against my chest as I wrap my arms around her, kissing the top of her head.

“Gwen, you’re really going to allow this?” he asks, still putting up a fight, but Charlotte’s mother just lets out a heavy sigh.

“Just leave, Jimmy.”

“Fuck this,” he grumbles in my direction, but I ignore him, inhaling the familiar scent of Charlotte’s shampoo and the soft skin of her arms as I stroke my fingers against them. “We’re not done,” he says to Gwen. “We need to have a serious talk about this later.”

I watch him stomp through the backyard toward the side gate, pausing a moment as he stares at Sophie. She holds up an awkward hand toward him as a way of waving, and we all wait in anticipation to see what Jimmy will do.

“Bye, kiddo,” he says to her, sending her the same awkward wave before stomping away, and it’s hard to miss the disappointment on Sophie’s face. The sound of his car engine echoes before we hear him speed away down the street.

Gwen rushes over to Sophie to wrap her up in her arms. I watch as Beau follows behind, setting a warm hand on Sophie’s shoulder in a comforting touch.

Pulling away, I look down at Charlie. “Are you okay?”

Those fierce brown eyes gaze back up as she nods. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

I wish I could stop myself, but I can’t. I still don’t know where we go from here or what will happen next, so I take what I can get right now, and I press my lips to her forehead.

“What happened?”

“He came out of nowhere. Said someone he worked with at his law firm told him about me at the club. Me being auctioned off and sleeping with the owner.”

Clenching my jaw, I let out a groan. “I’m going to look into this person and have their membership revoked immediately. It’s against our policy to disclose other members outside of the club. I’m so sorry, Charlie.”

“It’s okay,” she says, and maybe by instinct, she leans back into my touch, wrapping her arms around me. The relief from having her back is intense, but I’m too afraid to thank my lucky stars just yet. “Why were you with Beau?” she whispers.

“I called him this morning. Told him I needed to talk to him.”

“Oh,” she replies, looking up at me. “Where were you guys going?”

“To grab a drink. I had something important to talk to him about.”

“Oh…” she says again, her eyes lingering on my face, probably wondering what this very important thing was.

It takes everything in me to let her go and slowly pull away. “I have to talk to him,” I say, and I watch her swallow. Then she nods. I wish I could convey exactly what I’m thinking right now. I want to tell her I was about to tell my son everything. No more waiting for permission or asking him to accept us the way we are. I want her to know that I’m choosing her now, the way I should have before. But there will be time for me to tell her that later.

“Can I call you later?” I ask.

She nods eagerly. Then I stroke her cheek delicately, fighting the urge to hold her for the rest of the day and for as long as I can. But this has to be taken care of first.