Page 42 of Deviant Reign (Knight's Ridge Empire 6)

“Em, you’re doing a way better job than most, I assure you.” A sad smile tugs at my lips, although my heart is still in my throat at the thought of him taking my baby away. “I’m not taking your bike, Em. I’m pretty sure all of this has been punishment enough. But…” he quickly adds, “you’re not going to spend this week moping about. You get today, and today only to do what you need to do. Tomorrow, I want you either here doing the work your teachers have set you, or you’re at work showing Mickey just what you’re made of.”

“Really?” I ask lightly.

“Yeah, really. And as for today, Cruz is downstairs. He really wants to see you.”

I nod, reaching for my mug of cooled coffee.

“Okay, I’ll freshen up and come down.”

“We’re gonna get through this, kiddo. Just be honest with me, yeah? I don’t care how bad it is, how scared you might be to get it off your chest. Nothing, and I literally mean nothing, can be as bad as having Theo turn up on my doorstep looking like he’d just walked out of a war zone and tell me that you’re gone.”

My lips part as I try to picture it, my heart shattering for the broken boy I know hides behind Theo’s impenetrable exterior.

“He did?” I ask, unable to keep the question inside.

“Em,” Dad sighs, his eyes softening as he looks at me. “There are many, many things I could say about that boy and the family he belongs to, but… there’s no point. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. I saw the pure, undiluted fear in his eyes yesterday as he stood before me, thinking that something had happened to you.

“I’ve been that boy. And I was about the same age as you when I handed myself over to Piper, knowing that it could only end one way but also knowing there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. She owned me back then and she still does now.

“Sometimes, it’s not worth fighting. Sometimes you just need to let go and grab life by the balls. Not his balls though,” he adds quickly. “I could happily go through life thinking you’ve never seen let alone touched a pair.”

“Dad,” I laugh, both moved and amused by his little speech.

“I know, I know. You’ve been on the pill for years. I know you’ve experienced things already that I never want to know about.”

“You were young once too,” I remind him.

“I remember it well. But let me tell you…” He leans in as if he’s about to whisper the world’s secrets in my ear. “It’s way more fun with someone you care about, someone who would take a bullet for you.”

I gasp, and I’m about to chastise him for talking about things I also don’t need to know about when he glances at my shoulder. I reluctantly allowed Stella to clean and bandage it up last night after my bath.

“Dax is alive, right?” I finally ask the question that’s been burning within me since I woke up in Theo’s car with that acid making my head spin.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Dad assures me. “Theo said it was just a shoulder wound.”

“And you trust him?”

“With that, yeah.”

“With me?”

Dad pushes from my bed and stalks toward my door.

I start to think he’s not going to answer me when he looks over his shoulder.

“Like I said, it’s always more fun with someone who cares enough to take a bullet for you.”

I’m about to tell him that Theo hasn’t taken one for me. Not like Seb did for Stella. But I conclude that it’s just a figure of speech and nod, knowing that Theo has done plenty over the past few weeks to prove his loyalty. And clearly, it’s worked with my father. Something I never thought I’d ever see.

“I swear to fucking God though, if he so much as waves a gun in your direction again, he’s going to be looking down the barrel of mine, and it may just be the last thing he sees.” With that ominous threat hanging in the air, Dad lets himself out of my bedroom, leaving me sitting there with my jaw on the floor.

The second I’ve recovered, I reach for my phone and finally tap out a reply to the messages that went unread last night.

Emmie: You were right… I fell asleep. I hope you slept well, you looked like you needed it. How is your head?

I wait for a few minutes, but when it doesn’t show as read, I finish my coffee and drag my aching arse out of bed.