Page 41 of Hell of a Mess

Thirty-Six

Luther

Lace didn’t stir when I got out of bed. I watched her sleep peacefully as I pulled on my boxers and picked up my clothes.

Taking the covers, I straightened them and bent down to kiss her cheek before taking my gun and heading for the door.

She hadn’t been sleeping since leaving me, and she needed the rest. As much as I wanted to stay in bed with her, it was after nine, and I knew there was a good chance Mal would be here soon to get her.

I had to handle that. How exactly, I wasn’t sure, but she belonged here. She wanted to be here.

Opening the door, I stepped into the hallway and barely had a chance for it to register that I wasn’t alone when Mal’s fist connected with my jaw. I reached up and rubbed it, glad he’d not gone for my nose.

“That’s the only one you get,” I warned him.

“She’s my daughter! You fucking sorry-ass son of a bitch!” he snarled at me.

I nodded. “Yeah, she is. And she’s also a grown woman.”

“I don’t give a fuck how old she is! She has lived a life of hell! Goddamn, Luther, you know more than anyone what she’s suffered. Yet you still took advantage of her!”

I shook my head. “No, I didn’t.”

“You’re carrying your clothes, walking out of the room she’s sleeping in,” he said, pointing at the door. “And don’t tell me that’s not Lace in there because I checked the other rooms to be sure. They’re all empty. Even yours.” He was red in the face; he was so damn worked up.

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” I explained.

He needed to calm down before he had a damn stroke.

“Not what I’m thinking?” he asked acidly. “What, you didn’t fuck her? I’ve known you for too damn long to believe that bullshit.”

“Okay, well, that part—”

He moved like he was about to take another swing, and I pulled out my gun from under my clothes.

“I said you only get the one hit. And that’s just because she’s your daughter.”

His eyes dropped to my gun, then shot back up at me. “You’re a sick bastard. She’s suffered, and you…you just what, decide that because you found her, it gives you the right to use her and abuse her trust in you?!”

“I’m not using her!” I growled angrily.

“Well, what the hell do you call it?” he demanded.

The door opened behind me, and I closed my eyes and sighed. We’d woken her up. I hadn’t wanted her to see or hear this. Plus, dammit, she needed the rest. I’d been letting her sleep.

“What’s going on?” she asked hesitantly.

I turned back to look at her. Thank God she’d put on the long white bathrobe I kept in the guest bathrooms.

I slipped the gun back under the clothes I was holding. “I’m sorry we woke you.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she reached up and touched the side of my face gently, and then her eyes swung over to Mal. I’d never seen her scowl. Hell, I’d never seen her angry.

“Did you hit him?” she demanded.

Her sharp tone sent my eyebrows shooting up. Yep, definitely never heard her use that tone of voice either.

“Get your things, Lace. We’re going home.”

She crossed her arms, but the defiance in her gaze was making my dick hard. Probably not the best time for that, seeing as Mal was ready to kill me.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m an adult. I am thankful that you want me in your life. But I’m not a child. And Luther has done nothing wrong,” she said, taking a step in front of me like she was going to defend my ass with her tiny, little, cute-as-fuck body.

“You don’t know Luther. I do. He’s not some hero. He’s not a good guy. I want you to have all that was robbed from you.”

She stiffened as if he’d just insulted her. “Don’t talk about him like that! Technically, none of you are good guys. You’re criminals in the eyes of the law. To me, he’s been…he’s been everything I was missing in life. He is every wish I didn’t know to make.”

Fuck, my chest was getting tight again.

Mal let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his face in frustration. “Lace, honey, trust me, there is a man out there for you. One who will love you. Luther isn’t that man.”

“You don’t—”

“I’m in love with her,” I said, the words cutting off whatever she had wanted to say in my defense. They were words I’d been ignoring, denying, refusing to believe.

Mal stared at me.

Silence.

Lace spun around, her eyes wide, and the hope in those ocean pools made me want to go put it on a damn billboard for her.

“What the fuck did you just say?” Mal asked, saying each word slowly and precisely.

I ignored him and cupped the side of Lace’s face. “Not words I’ve ever used, sugar. Never imagined I would. But that was before you.”

A sob escaped her, and she covered her mouth as a smile spread across her face. “Really? You…you love me?”

Hearing her ask it as if that was so impossible to believe sent a pang through me. I hated that she didn’t know how easy she was to love.

“Yeah, Ocean Eyes, I do.”

“You,” Mal said, and I lifted my eyes from Lace to look at him, “aren’t capable of loving her. Not properly.”

Lace’s eyes heated, and she started to turn around, but I stopped her, grinning at her immediate need to defend me.

“Easy, Wildcat,” I teased her.

“I never believed in miracles, Mal, but it seems we got ourselves one,” I replied as I looked back at him. “I love her, I’ll kill any fucker who hurts her, and I’ll have to hurt you if you try and take her with you.”

He shook his head, disbelief replacing anger as he looked from me to her. “You’re serious.”

“Yep.”

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered.

“You love me?”

My gaze went back to Lace. “Yeah, sugar.”

Unshed tears glistened in her eyes. “I love you.”

I smirked. “I know.”

She laughed and then sniffled as I wiped a tear from her cheek.

“I need a fucking drink,” Mal said.

“Help yourself to the good stuff,” I told him, taking Lace’s hand and backing her into the bedroom we’d both come out of.

Mal muttered several curses as he stalked away.

“I’m sorry he hit you,” she said, her sweet mouth turned down at the corners.

“Eh, I owed him one shot,” I told her.

“Why?”

I closed the door and laid my shit down on the table beside us, then backed her up, caging her in with my arms. “Because, sugar, I fucked his daughter,” I replied, then pressed a kiss to one corner of her lips.

“I took her virginity on his kitchen table,” I added, kissing the other corner. “I ate her sweet pussy.”

She giggled, and I pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose.

“And I’m gonna continue to defile her delectable body until they put me in the ground. So, he deserved one hit. Maybe more, but I’m just giving him the one.”

She let out a shaky breath, and her eyelashes fluttered. “Will you defile me now?” she asked.

Grinning, I reached for the belt of her robe and pulled it until it fell open. “Since you ask so sweetly,” I told her, then shoved my hand between her legs and found her already slick and ready for me.