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I wanted to run my hand over her ass one more time before we collided with my family, slide it under that skirt and squeeze. After two nonstop days of being molded together we'd spent nearly two nonstop days apart. When I got Marley home after this we weren't leaving until someone called a well check on us. I'd been relieved of my Super Uncle duties and it was time to dedicate serious thought to my future with Marley.

"Surprise."

I froze, my gaze snapping from the heaven of Marley's ass to the horror in front of me. The table was set but there was no Logan, or Thomas, or Minna. Instead, it was just my father sitting at the bar drinking a beer.

"Where's Eve?"

He flipped a hand. "Sent her on a wild goose chase. She's so fucking stupid."

"We're leaving." I spun us as a unit but before we could take a step his voice boomed enough to echo off the walls.

"She should know who she's fucking," he said. "Who she's really fucking."

I hated this man. Hated the way he treated me, all the words he'd ever unleashed at my expense, hated that he made me do things I never wanted to do because it was the only way I knew to keep my siblings from dealing with the same shit I had.

Marley knew the pretty edges of my problems with my father but not the ugly details. If I had my way, she'd never know them. But I knew that wasn't realistic, not if I intended to keep her in my life.

And I damn well planned on that.

But hearing the truth from this poison of a human wasn't it. We kept walking.

"You're pathetic. Always have been and always will be. A piss poor excuse for a son. Acoward." He used that word to get a reaction and I refused—refused—to give him that satisfaction.

We stepped out into the sunshine. Before the door swung shut he got in one last insult. "Run away, just like you always do, you little shit. Tuck that tiny dick between your legs and run."

I spun, keeping Marley behind me because I didn't want her any closer to George than necessary. I think in the dark, caveman part of my brain I honestly thought I could shield her from his presence. "I'm not running. I'm walking away from a human piece of garbage."

His goddamned eyes lit up, enjoying the opportunity to spar.

Except I wasn't sparring. I was warning.

He snarled, "A real man would have the guts to face me in town. You're no man."

"A real man wouldn't beat his son to a bloody pulp. But we're not really pulling our dicks out and comparing them, are we? Being a man is your excuse. You have no idea what a real man is or how to be one."

"I can still put you in your place." He stood up from the stool.

It was laughable. Honestly, truly laughable. Maybe he was hoping I'd take a swing. Maybe he wanted me to lose control and beat him the way he beat me, make me a pariah in town. "We both know that hasn't been true in a very long time, old man. My fist doesn't need to touch your skin to remind you of how true that is."

Fuck, it would suck to tell Marley how I left things with my father all those years ago, but she needed to know the details. My father was right, she needed to know who she was planning a future with and decide if that was something she could live with.

Thirty-Eight

Marley

I swear they're acting like this is their Olympics

The older mansitting at the bar dragged his gaze up and down my body in a way that made me want to vomit. The saloon was empty except for him. No Eve and no rowdy and unfamiliar younger Finn siblings.

Jackson must not have noticed him because his hand caressed my ass and he hummed.

"Surprise," the man said, holding up his beer. Then he licked his lips as he openly ogled my chest.

I knew men like him. They always squeezed a little too hard, crammed into your personal space, breathed like they were unfamiliar with the concept, and rubbed their tiny dicks against you like they knew it was supposed to go somewhere but they weren't quite sure where.

Jackson's arm wrapped around me, his hand clamping down on my hip. It was hard and possessive but also like he wanted to know he could throw me over his shoulder and run at a moment's notice.

"Where's Eve?"