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Luckily, I could see my father, who’d been very cautious lately with my mother and me, waiting in the spot he usually occupied since Mr. M had lost his life.
Now, he waited every single day for us to get out, and he’d walk me to my car and my mom to hers. If for some reason he wasn’t there, Bayou or one of the other guys from the Bear Bottom Guardians were. And, if one of them couldn’t make it, one of my pseudo-uncles were.
I was literally never left alone.
Though, I had a feeling it’d be a common occurrence until I gave birth to the two babies that were currently occupying my body.
“Ms. Mackenzie,” Kelley sneered, falling into step next to me.
I felt my heart rate start to pick up. “Yes, Kelley?”
I managed to keep the sneer out of my voice, but barely.
The fact that he was here, still working at the hospital after the shit he’d pulled in the break room, was a slap in the face. The worse part was that he wasn’t even reprimanded. After explaining his actions as ‘innocent,’ he’d continued on as if nothing had changed.
Meanwhile, I’d been freaked way the hell out and could barely be around him or in the same vicinity as he was without having a minor freak out that he’d pull the same shit and this time Hoax wouldn’t be there to save my ass.
I was almost to my dad’s bike when he spoke next, and I knew that he’d said what he said for my dad’s benefit, enabling him to hear just so he could get a rise out of him.
“I was wondering,” he said, sounding proud of himself. “Are you planning on making that child legitimate, or are you going to let it be born a bastard?”
I felt something inside of me chill at the man’s words.
Of course, my father wouldn’t leave something that vile, said by a man that was supposed to be my superior, go untouched.
“Listen here, Kelley.” My dad’s body was strung taut as he came to stand beside me. “I don’t think my daughter’s marital status, or her physical state, is any of your business. And even if you for some reason thought it was in your delusional, oversized head, it’s not.”
Kelley’s lips tilted up slightly, and his eyes lit with amusement.
Kelley’s eyes returned to my father. “I don’t think I asked your permission. If her performance at work is suffering, then it’s our business, because she’s made it our business.”
“I’m not quite sure you understand how this whole ‘business’ works, but I could enlighten you,” my father offered.
Kelley’s smile was mean. “Oh, please do. You’ve just started to dig your daughter’s grave deeper. Soon, you’ll have only to cover her up with the dirt you’ve already dug out.”
Dad’s arms crossed over his large chest, and he looked at Kelley like he was a bug he was about to use to bait a line with.
“Why are you here again?” Dad asked. “I’m not quite sure that it’s appropriate to confront an employee of yours in front of the ER parking lot where anyone can walk up and hear you carrying on.”
“If I see my employee acting in an unsavory way, which’ll reflect on our business, I have no problem with confronting her in a public place,” he countered.
“Go away,” Dad ordered.
My eyes flicked back and forth between the two men, and I barely noticed that we’d drawn a crowd because I was too worried about what my father was about to do.
“And,” Kelley ignored my dad’s jibe. “Saying that, if she didn’t want her personal matters splashed all over the community, maybe she should first start with not posting disgusting comments about her personal life on Facebook. I haven’t said anything that she hasn’t said over the last three weeks.”
My dad moved until he was standing beside me. Once he was at my side, his hand raised and he squeezed my neck, urging me to calm down. Outside, he appeared calm, cool and collected.
Though, like me, he also had a volatile temper. Just a few more sharp, targeted words out of Kelley’s mouth, and I might very well snap. My dad’s reassuring hold on my neck or not.
“I’m sorry, but am I not allowed to announce my pregnancy?” I asked tartly. “I wasn’t aware that was against the rules.”
It wasn’t.
In fact, the worst thing I’d said on social media in the last month was that I was gassy.
“I think,” I heard a menacingly, tightly controlled voice say from behind me. “That you’ll either back the fuck off of my girl, or I’ll make you.”
My heart started to pound, and all it took was one look over my shoulder to see the man standing behind me to send it into overdrive.
Holy. Shit.
Hoax stood behind me, but this wasn’t the same Hoax that’d left.
