by Tl Reeve
On the flip side, everyone knew her dad worshipped the ground her mother walked on. It was his goal to make sure she never wanted for anything, and she knew every single day how much he loved her and their children.
“Uh, Bell.” Raquel’s voice broke through her musings.
“Yes?” She placed the phone on the table when Raquel’s normal balls-to-the-wall demeanor dimmed. “What’s up?”
“There is a guy...I mean, a man here. Big, scary-ass guy. Demanding to see you.”
“Me?” She pushed out her chair and stood.
“Yeah. Want me to get Hayden and Zoe?”
“Hayden’s with Nico, and Zoe’s with Rocky.” She took a deep breath in the hopes of steadying herself after the letter she’d received. “I got it.”
“I’ve got you covered.”
When she walked past her, she reached out to capture her sorority sister’s hand and dragged her behind her.
The big, scary-ass dude had his back to them, but the shape of the body, the hair. It all looked familiar, plus his scent.
“Dad?”
“Dad? Wait. He’s.... That’s your dad?” Raquel stammered.
“Hello, princess.” Her father turned to face her, his arms spread wide and a wicked grin on his face. Running directly into her father’s embrace, he proceeded to swing her around till she got dizzy. She tapped him on the shoulder, and he immediately put her down. In the past, he’d do it till she puked, which pissed her mom off.
“What are you doing here?” Nothing smelled better than her father, Rapier Dryer, nor could anything calm her down with just one inhale. A mix of outdoors, masculine spice, and a hint of dark, bitter chocolate.
“I got some business to take care of in town. But first, I wanted to stop by and see my girls. Is Spawn here?”
She giggled at her father’s nickname for Zoe. Her sister would tell anybody who listened she hated it, but secretly Zoe loved it.
“Spawn?” Raquel piped up.
“Zoe,” she replied.
“Zoe’s with Rocky.”
Her father stiffened at Raquel’s announcement. Crap, it wasn’t her fault. She didn’t know her father. Later, Bell would have to lay down some ground rules.
“Who the fuck is Rocky?” her father demanded.
“Her boyfriend.”
His gaze locked with hers.
“Some say mate. Zoe hasn’t confirmed it, though.”
“Boyfriend? Mate?” Her father growled, a sure sign he’d blow his top.
She turned to Raquel. “You should leave. Like now.” Gently, she began to push the girl from the room.
“I’m not leaving. Your dad is hot. Like panty-dropping hot.” She elbowed past Bell, reentering the room.
“Bell!” Her father roared.
Holy hell, people across the campus must’ve heard that!
“Does he know about Christoph and Jackson?” Raquel attempted to whisper, but her father had amazing hearing, and she knew he’d hear it.
“Who the fuck is that, and what the fuck don’t I know?”
She cringed. When her father started dropping multi f-bombs in one sentence, it meant only one thing. He was pissed.
“Daddy.” Without any fear, she walked to her father and laid her hand on his forearm.
“Don’t fucking Daddy me, princess,” he yelled. “I blame your mother. I didn’t want you girls going so far away. But she insisted. Said you both need to learn to spread your fucking wings and fly. Like you’re a fucking butterfly or bird. You both should have stayed your asses home in Apache County. We have an excellent fucking school!”
“Neither of us wanted to go to Apache County College.”
“Don’t fucking remind me,” he spat, sitting down on her beat-up, old couch. Any second, he’d start to rub the nape of his neck. Sure enough, he did, and Bell bit the inside of her cheek so as not to smile. No use pissing him off even more. “Have you and your sister been keeping shit from me?”
Never able to lie to her father, she looked him in the eye before she answered. “Yes. Several things.”
“If you tell me you’re pregnant, I’m killing someone. I swear it!”
“I’m not pregnant.” To get pregnant, she had to have sex, and that hadn’t happened yet. “I can’t speak for Zoe, though.”
He growled again, only this time longer and louder.
“I mean. I’m sure Zoe isn’t pregnant, either.” Please don’t be pregnant, Zoe!
“Do you need a minute?”
“I need fucking twenty-four hours to digest all this shit. But looks like that won’t be happening anytime soon.” He patted the seat next to him. “Get over here, sit down, and start talking.”
So she did. She told her father everything about the house being in disrepair and how it had to be fixed in a little under three weeks. She then went on to explain the issue with the pledges and how they’d lose everything if she didn’t fix both issues.
“Well.” He looked around the room. “I can help with the repairs. I’ll call your uncles, and they’ll help, too. What I can’t do is fix your pledge issue.”
“Oh, Daddy,” she cried. “That would be amazing. Are you sure they will come?”
He gave her a stern look and all but rolled his eyes at her. “Of course, they will.”
A knock came at the front door. It had to be Christoph and Jackson. Darn it. She’d just calmed her father down.
“I got it!” Raquel moved quickly to the door before she could even get off the couch. “Hey. Come on in.” She stepped away from the entryway and Christoph entered. Bell gave a silent prayer of thanks when Jackson hadn’t joined him.
Christoph’s eyes immediately locked on to hers then darted to her father who had his massive arm wrapped around her shoulder. A deep frown formed between his sky-blue eyes and his body tensed.
“Hey.” She jumped up and out of her father’s hold. Hopefully, Christoph didn’t turn into a dominate alpha lion and go after her dad. He’d lose. Her dad had the advantage. Older, bigger, and way more experienced. “My dad surprised me and Zoe with a visit.”
“Your dad?” Christoph quirked a brow.
“What the hell? Why does everyone seem surprised I’m your dad?” Her father stood. She couldn’t help but notice he also puffed out his chest.
“Because you’re fucking hot,” Raquel answered.
“Ew, Raquel. No. Just no!”
Christoph scooted around her, heading directly to her father. His whole demeanor relaxed, which, with her father, wasn’t always the smartest.
“Hello, sir. I’m Christoph St. John.” He held out his hand toward her father.
Rapier accepted the greeting while giving Christoph a once-over. “You’re actually the reason I’m in town. We need to talk.”
She didn’t miss the look of surprise that flashed across Christoph’s face. She couldn’t blame him. Her father flabbergasted her with his announcement.
“Why?”
“Personal business, princess.” He glanced down at her. “I have to talk to him first. If he chooses to inform you, then it’s on him. Until then, it’s between him and me.”
“Okay.” She knew by her dad’s tone she couldn’t sway him.
“I want you to come with me.” Rapier motioned for Christoph to follow.
“Yes, sir.”
“None of this sir bullshit. My name is Rapier. Use it.” Her father leaned down to kiss her forehead then walked to the front door and opened it. He stepped outside and waited.
“You better go. It’s not really smart to make him wait,” she informed Christoph.
“Is he always this intense?”
She nodded.
“Your father is a fucking scary-ass dude.”
“Yeah, so I’ve been told. Zoe and I just follow our mom’s lead. Let him scream and yell then calm down. Once he does that, you can rationalize with him.”
Christoph nodded.
“Sometimes. You
better go before he comes looking for you. Oh! He doesn’t really know about you and Jackson. Tread lightly.”
“Are you seriously advising me to lie to your dad?”
“No. Skirt around the truth whenever possible,” she replied making a shooing motion. “Go!”
“I’m screwed,” Christoph mumbled, trailing behind her dad.
Chapter Four
“Don’t worry, son. My pride is your pride. You’ll always have a home with us.”
Rapier’s statement bolstered his confidence, even though he felt like he’d puke any minute. His stomach rolled worse than a roller coaster ride on crack. His gut knotted, and, for the first time since his thirteenth birthday, he had sweaty palms.
“You don’t know them like I do.” The words had sat on the tip of his tongue, but the man had given him sanctuary when he needed it the most. Didn’t mean it scared the shit out of him any less. For the first time in his life, he’d be on his own. Which meant his schooling might have to be put off for a while. Wonder how Bell will feel about a college dropout for a mate.
Yet, beneath the fear, a thread of calm flowed through him. Relaxed to the point all seemed right for him. When Mr. Rapier pulled him aside to talk, he expected the normal, “She’s my daughter, what are your intentions?” type stuff. Instead, he got the surprise of a lifetime.
“I’m here because Hui and Min sent me. They said you needed help.”
Boy, did he ever.
For an hour, they sat on Bell’s dilapidated front porch and talked about his life. What he had planned for himself and how he knew to the very fiber of his being, he’d do whatever it took to give Bell the life and happiness she deserved. He also purposefully forgot to mention Jackson at her request, and, after meeting her father, he understood why.
By the time Rapier walked into the house, Christoph had some semblance of a plan. Or he thought he did, until Bell walked out onto the porch. She took his breath away. “Did you make your dress?”
A cute pink blush covered her cheeks. “Yes. Do you like it?”
No. He loved it. She reminded him of those 1950s women. Always with the pleated skirts and fitted bodices. The neckline of her dresses were tasteful but teased the hell out of him. The scarf in her hair matched her outfit. Tonight, she wore a knee-length frock made of powder-blue material. See-through lace, or something, covered the skirt of her dress. Around her neck lay a simple strand of pearls.
“I don’t like it.”
She frowned.
“Bell, I love it.” He pulled her into his arms and rubbed his nose against hers before placing a quick kiss to her lips.
“I wanted to make a good impression with your parents.” She placed her hand on his hip. “With everything going on lately, I almost forgot your parents would be here this weekend.”
“All of our families will be here.” He tucked her into his side. “Let’s go get Jackson.”
She nodded. “I really need to come up with a way to explain this to my father.”
“When the time is right, you will.”
He helped her into his red sports car then came around the front and got in behind the wheel. “I should prepare you for my parents.”
“I’m sure they’re great people. They raised you, and you turned out to be the most caring, generous man I know…besides the men in my family.”
Oh, how naïvely wrong she’d been. “My parents are…complicated.” They believed in power. Not love or mating. Heck, if he had to guess, his parents hadn’t been fated but betrothed to each other to keep the purity of the alpha bloodline.
“Complicated?”
“They’re not the most approachable type of people.” They’d rather see him marry a girl for her status than for mating. He couldn’t even say, “But once they get to know you, they’ll warm up.” He didn’t think they had an appreciative or loving bone in their bodies.
She frowned. “Oh.”
“We’ll make it work.” He took her hand in his as they pulled away from the curb and headed for Jackson’s place. “I’m sure they’ll be completely blown away by you.”
She relaxed into the seat next to him. “Oh, I am sure they won’t know what to expect since we’re, well…a ménage.” She’d lowered her voice to a whisper, and he got a perverse pleasure out of it. His kitten. All purr, no bite. Soft and caring.
“We’re not a ménage yet, kitten.” He winked at her. “We still haven’t gotten past first base.”
The subtle perfume of her arousal had him gritting his teeth. Bell controlled this. He and Jackson came to the agreement after the ball. Between them, they had all the time in the world with her.
“I wanted to talk to you about our arrangement.” She hurried through her statement. The kick of her pulse increasing made him curious.
“Oh?”
“Yes. Tonight. After dinner. All three of us.”
He gave her a moment to gather herself before he responded. “We have time, kitten. We don’t have to rush this. We know you’re ours, like you know we’re yours.”
“I got to thinking about it.” She smoothed out the pleats of her dress. “After everything with Hayden and Nico, I want to experience it.”
He stopped in front of Pi Beta Alpha. Once Jackson got in, he continued their conversation. “What part of it, Bell? We have to have the words.”
“Uh, mind telling me what’s going on?” Jackson sat forward, leaning between the seats.
“Kitten wants to experience it. With us.”
A cocky grin tugged at his mouth. “Does she? What part of it, blondie?”
She nibbled on her bottom lip, and his groin tightened. Not something he needed twenty minutes before they met with his parents. “Don’t do that. You might get more than what you bargained for.”
She gasped and swamped him with her sweet scent.
“Damn. I don’t think going into dinner with your parents with a hard-on is a good thing.” Jackson ran his finger down Bell’s cheek. “What brought about this change?”
She turned into his touch, and Christoph swore he heard her purr. “The games. Hayden and Nico. She said it had been one of the most amazing experiences of her life. I want to know that feeling, too.”
Jackson gave him a look. One filled with desire and lust for this woman, their mate. Christoph had no doubt the same reflected in his gaze, too. “Well, then I guess we’re going to have to make this official.” But, probably not tonight.
***
His dad had never bothered to tell him exactly where they’d meet for dinner. Instead, he had just sent him a text with an address. So, the fact he pulled up in front of the swankiest, most expensive restaurant in town didn’t really surprise him. Piss him off, yes, because he had specifically told his parents nothing expensive. Had they listened? Nope. His parents always felt the need to show off. It disgusted him.
“I think I’m underdressed.” Bell played with the hem of her skirt as the valet walked up to their car and opened the passenger door for her.
“I’m sorry. I told them nothing fancy.” He reached over, pushing her fingers away from her hem. “You look beautiful.”
“Stunning,” Jackson concurred.
After stepping out of the car, Christoph grabbed Jackson before he could move over to Bell. “No matter what happens or what you hear tonight, it’s imperative you do not respond. I’ll handle it.”
“That bad?”
“Yeah. It’s bad.” He glanced to Bell. “Protect her.”
“Always. But I’m also going to want to protect you, too. You understand what I’m getting at, right?”
He nodded, unable to respond due to the varying emotions swirling around inside of him. First Rapier, now Jackson. It was unexpected, but welcome. He finally had people who cared for him and would protect him. Two things he’d never gotten from his parents.
He smiled when Bell’s smaller hand touched his. Without hesitation, he intertwined his fingers with hers. He
didn’t miss the fact she’d done the exact same thing with Jackson. Slowly, Bell became the glue binding them together. Because of her, he’d realized he didn’t always have to be the strong alpha. Jackson could share the load. A couple of weeks ago, he’d had issues with it. Today, he hardly had any, and contentment filled him. Something he hadn’t experienced in a long-ass time.
Reaching the front entrance, he pulled open the elegant glass door to Haute Restaurant. Once he released Bell’s hand, he gestured for them to enter and followed them. Bell fiddled with her dress again but stopped when he flicked at her fingers. Their gazes clashed, and a sweet smile filled her full pink lips. Christoph’s dick pushed against the zipper of his pants. He wanted to experience those sweet lips wrapped around his cock. Jackson growled, obviously sensing the sexual tension in the air.
“You guys suck,” Jackson hissed, reaching down to adjust his own erection.
“And how may I help you?” The maître d’s condescending tone set Christoph’s hackles up.
“Christoph St. John,” he replied, making sure to mimic the tone his father took when dealing with people he thought inferior to him.
“Ah, yes.” The man recovered quickly, his tone softer. “Are you all together? The reservation stated four.”
“The reservation is obviously wrong,” Jackson snapped, insulted by the man’s tone and attitude. This was nothing compared to his parents. Jackson had to get a thicker skin for sure.
“Your party has already been seated.” The man handed their menus to a hostess. “She’ll take you to your table.”
Christoph made sure to be first, placing Bell between him and Jackson—where she belonged.
“You’re late,” his mother’s cold, refined voice stated. “It’s rude. Very rude, Christoph. We raised you better than that. You should always be ten minutes early for any and all appointments. It sets the tone. You know this.”
Fuck. Everything’s always a lesson. Either in etiquette, businesses, or how to treat people.
“Yeah, Mother, but the world won’t end because I’m five minutes late.” He swallowed what he really craved to say. “I hope you don’t mind, but I brought another friend.”