Page 46 of Under Your Scars

“I think it’s that southern charm,” Gavin chuckles. “My wife’s from Texas too. You southern belles have a knack for taming us feral brutes from MC.”

I laugh. “We’re three for three. My dad is from Meridian City and married thequeenof the southern belles.”

Gavin chuckles. “See? You Texan ladies are like sirens. It’s the accent.”

“I do not have an accent!” I protest, and he does nothing but laugh.

Gavin drops me off at my apartment and I thank him politely for entertaining me all day. He reminds me that Christian will pick me up at six and waits patiently until I’m safely inside the building before driving off. I haul my shopping bags up the stairs and jitter with excitement as I do my makeup and hair, styling it into big, loose curls.

I’m pinning the last one up to set the curl when my phone starts ringing. It’s my father. I smile lightly and press the answer button, and then put the phone on speaker as I rub moisturizer over my freshly washed face.

“Hi, dad,” I giggle into the phone speaker.

“Hi, sweetheart. You sound happy today.”

I bite my lip. “I’m just having a good day. What’s up? Anything fun happening there?”

“Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary,” he quips. “I’m taking your mother to upgrade her wedding ring. I’m thinking five carats is sufficient, don’t you?”

My father absolutely adores my mother. Would do anything for her. He’s sixty years old, but doesn’t look a day over forty-five, despite his nasty habit of smoking and a lifetime of hurt.

Because of his past, he’s incredibly overprotective of his family, and it’s one of the main reasons he and I argue. He hates that I live in the most dangerous city in the country. He’s just itching for an opportunity to force me to move back. I think sometimes he wishes something bad would happen to me, to scare me into coming home.

My dad’s a good man, but he lets his own paranoia rule his life.

I hold up my hand to try and imagine a five-carat diamond on my mother’s dainty fingers. Even my humble, ‘southern belle’ of a mother can’t resist the appeal of diamonds. “I think that’ll do just fine.”

“How have you been? I haven’t heard from you in almost a week. You don’t got time for your old man anymore?”

“Dad, I told you I was busy. Things are finally starting to look up for me out here.”

“You certainly sound happier. What’s going on? You got a promotion or something?”

I suck in my cheeks to try and avoid blushing. “Sort of. I got a raise. And I’m uh…I’m actually…seeing someone now.”

I can practically hear my dad’s brain short circuit, and I brace myself for the incoming interrogation. “Name?”

“Christian.”

“Age?”

“Thirty-six.”

“Too old.”

“Dad—I’m twenty-nine!”

I hear my dad mutter incoherently into the phone. “Yearly salary?”

“He’s…comfortable. I met him at work.”

“No good will come out of dating your coworker, Ellie.”

I uncomfortably frown at myself in the mirror because he’s probably right—and Christian isn’t just my coworker, but the CEO.

“Everything’s going to be fine, dad. I promise. Maybe you can meet him soon. At Thanksgiving or the wedding.”

I hear my dad sigh. “I miss you. I hate that I only get to see you on holidays. I hate that city you’re living in. Scares me to death. Anytime I don’t hear from you for a while, I think you’re rotting in a dumpster somewhere. There are plenty of law firms here in Texas. You could come live with your mother and I while you study for that test. You could get a good job that pays you better than Reeves Enterprises.”