Own the Wind (Chaos #1)(79)
I ignored Dad knowing Shy had “one f**kuva power punch” and, more to the point, how he might come about that knowledge and instead, snapped, “I’ll repeat, that’s insane!”
Dad’s brows went up. “He apologize?”
Oh. My. God!
Ty-Ty was totally right. Shy was Dad, just younger.
“Yeah, he did, but that isn’t the point,” I answered. “Shy didn’t talk to me about it and, I’ll add, he didn’t tell me about it after the fact either.”
Dad’s face registered surprise and he asked, “Jesus, why would he do somethin’ stupid like that?”
I stared at my father.
Then I replied sarcastically, “I don’t know, maybe because it’s me”—I jerked my thumb at my chest—“who has to work with this guy.”
“Bet that’ll go better,” he muttered.
I rolled my eyes.
“Thinkin’,” Dad continued, “we’re gettin’ in the zone where you should be talkin’ to Red.”
“Well, Tyra isn’t here, so you’re going to have to guide me through this one, Dad,” I pointed out, and Dad’s gaze locked to mine.
“He loves you.”
I sucked in breath as that hit me in the gut.
Dad was far from done.
“He loves you, Tabby. Boy’s totally gone for you. He don’t like you eatin’ shit, he can do somethin’ about it, so he did. He let you have your time to sort it, let you have your time to stew about it, but you didn’t make a move, so he did.”
“But—” I started, but Dad shook his head.
“This is the life. It’s the only thing you know. It’s different, when you’re a kid, you’re shielded from a lot of shit but that don’t mean, darlin’, that you don’t feel the umbrella of protection that Club provides to family. I know my girl’s not dumb, she’s not gonna sit there and tell me she doesn’t know every brother in that Club was willin’ to have her back every breath she took on this earth. Now, you got a different position in the Club, one you chose, one you fought for. You’re still shielded but you are no longer a kid. You’re an adult and you’re puttin’ things together and you now are seein’ how they can directly affect you. Do not fall down at this first hurdle with your man. As his woman, you got a job, that’s to let him be who he is and do what he feels he’s gotta do. You find common ground in your home with the life you live together day to day. But what it takes to make him the man he is, you give him.”
I pulled in another breath.
Dad still wasn’t done.
“That other guy, your Jason, I liked him.”
Another hit to the gut, and I pressed my lips together.
Dad kept talking, his tone gentle, his eyes on me the same.
“He loved you. I liked the way he treated you, liked the way he looked at you, liked the way he handled you. I hated you losin’ him. But I’ll say this, what Shy did to that ass**le who was makin’ work an unhealthy place for you to be, I like more. You asked me five years ago what I’d want in my daughter’s life, I’d pick a man like Shy. I told him that after we had our fallin’ out. And, as far’s I’m concerned, him steppin’ in and sortin’ your problem, Tabby, darlin’, proves I was right.”
One could not say I didn’t like his words (as lunatic as they were).
Still, I turned my head away and took a drag of my beer.
I was contemplating it in my hand when I heard Dad order, “Cajun popcorn and two meatloaf cheeseburgers. We’re eatin’ at the bar.”
Well, at least dinner was going to be awesome.
I sucked back more beer.
“Tab,” Dad said, and I looked to him just as his hand came up, curled around the back of my neck, and his face got close. “You made the conscious choice to step back into our world. You live here again with all of us. And you made that commitment when you took on the Club and Red and me to have Shy. You knew what you were gettin’. You can’t pick the parts you want and force out the parts that make you uncomfortable. He is the man he is. With men like us, you accept him as that or you don’t take him at all. You gotta decide, what’s it gonna be?”
“I love him,” I whispered, and his eyes lit immediately as he smiled.
“Then that’s what it’s gonna be.”
I sighed.
Dad pulled my head to his, tipping it down and he kissed the top of my hair. Then he let me go, turned to the bartender and ordered us another round of beers.
I guessed that was that, that was how it was going to be, and I knew my guess was right.
Dad was not dumb.
I made my choice and that was how it was going to be, and sitting next to Dad I realized, really, after the shock wore off, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
* * *
Two hours later, I walked into my apartment to see Shy on his back on the couch, one leg bent, bare foot in the seat, the other leg to the side of the couch so his foot was resting on the floor.
His head was turned, eyes on me.
I walked to the back of the armchair and threw my purse on the seat.
“Come here, Tabby,” he ordered gently.
I went there.
When I got close, he grabbed my hand, pulled me closer, so I put a knee on the couch between his legs, moved in and settled on him, h*ps between his legs, chest to chest, cheek to shoulder.